this post was submitted on 05 Aug 2024
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Linux
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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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The thrilling thing about arch is you get to put together your own user land applications, especially things that could form your desktop environment, audio stuff, etc.
I agree it is not that complicated. If you want more thrill, here is what I recommend:
gentoo Linux
has the option to compile everything from source. This isn't just for bragging rights. This resolves a whole class of software breakages that can happen on other distros (especially when using old or less common applications).
NixOS
Takes it a step beyond gentoo and uses a functional, lazy approach in package management. Every package is fully reproducible, has a kind of isolated environment. Your entire setup is reproducible and declared with a single file.
---- below this line is torture. Not recommended
slackware
Idk how it works exactly, but package management looks like a manual pain
Linux from scratch
A book where you create your Linux installation from scratch, compiling every single component until you reach a working system
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nix sounds cool but it also sounds like a PAIN to use until it gets proper support
It has a lot more support than you think. As a gentoo user, I am jealous of nixos often seeing more support than gentoo, when gentoo is older and seemingly easier to support. But nix seems to have a bigger hype nowadays.
Gentoo, while source-based and having an interesting approach with USE flags, does not come with NixOS' strengths.
I'd even say that Gentoo's packaging might be better in some aspects than that of nixpkgs, which does feature options that you can change via overrides but generally isn't as modular as Gentoo's system. But the mistake a lot of people – and I'd say you as well – make is that they look at the wrong parts for comparison, and don't understand what makes NixOS so powerful. It's not the sheer amount of packages or how they're built, but rather the module system, the declarative nature and the option for rollbacks at the "package manager" level. Yes, these features come with increased complexity. However, I recommend not to look into what people have published in GitHub as their configurations, as these are rather general and as such more complicated than one needs for casual use.