this post was submitted on 29 Apr 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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[–] [email protected] 36 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (3 children)

Always sad when Capitalism/monetization creeps in and cripples/pollutes open and free movements/projects :-( There are many many examples of projects dying off, converting to proprietary, etc. Luckily people are forking and creating new FOSS software all the time. I'm going more and more full FOSS, de-google/meta/m$ and so on. I'm tired always spending time changing software/workflow because of monetization creep, I'm tired of closed drivers, telemetry/spying, bitcoin scams and all the other utter garbage the Capitalist religion brings in to my life.

I have chosen Guix as my new home partly for this reason. Here, the default is that if I doesn't compromise, I know that I won't suddenly see these yucky things creeping into my system. That gives me a safe space where I can plan/build long term without wasting my time fighting Capitalism and all the shit that automatically follows..

I hope the Nix community finds a solution.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Does Guix have a Nix Home Manager + nixpkgs equivalent? I currently use them to install packages on other distros, but with nixpkgs maintainers leaving in droves, I'm looking for alternatives.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 6 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 months ago (2 children)

I am interested in GNU Guix, and I've tried the OS (on x86 platforms) a few times but found it quite slow to install and perform the next steps.When I searched today for running GNU Guix on Raspberry Pi 4 I can't find clear instructions or whether it will work.Am I missing something ?I guess I can run the Guix package manager on top of for example Debian, and then learn some more Guix.

[–] Shareni 2 points 6 months ago

I guess I can run the Guix package manager on top of for example Debian, and then learn some more Guix.

I'd suggest doing that first and checking the state of the packages you need.

I gave up on guix completely for now when I tried to use it on top of Debian and found that the docker major version is 20, while nix has 24, 25, and 26. If I remember correctly even the native Debian package was ahead.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago (1 children)

The best information I can find on getting Guix on the Raspberry Pi is the issues page for nonguix https://gitlab.com/nonguix/nonguix/-/issues/128

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago
[–] Shareni 4 points 6 months ago (1 children)

I have chosen Guix as my new home partly for this reason.

I'd love to use guix instead of nix, the language is far better and the repl is incomparably more useful.

But nix has 4x the packages, a third of guix packages are seriously out of date (last time I checked docker was behind even Debian), and those numbers are inflated by Emacs and lisp packages most people won't use. And that's before going into a serious lack of prebuilt bins causing you to leave large projects like firefox to compile over night, having to add additional repos to get nonfree packages, and essentially being forced to use Emacs for good UX.

Even installing guixos on a laptop requires a special ISO and instructions from system crafters due to nonfree packages.

Being Linux only is also hurting its applications for work, but that's not as relevant for personal use.

Guix is still really far away from being a real alternative.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

Not really. You can use a standard ISO, and you need to authorize the nonguix substitute server. Just make sure to add your channels, that's it. It is kinda similar to net-based setup in a way, though.