What are simple Operating System in these days? - Psychology, Philosophy, and Licenses

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strawman2511
Members
I always chasen my complex and massive mind. I have gone through a lot of Linux distributions after 2 years. Ubuntu, Debian, Arch, Fedora and even to Gentoo. I have understood that Linux isn't fun to play.

I can't find any place to put my passion and fun into it. And like it will be forever...

Now, I need to rest and thinking before what I should do next to have fun and get my passion in programming and operating system because Linux world is become a messy place for coperation and the complexity of software.

I really need some simple operating system to play with it. I'm just unsure which one. BSD or Linux? Or both them?

Hope this small and active forum can help me find a way.

Sorry, I am new to this forum so don't know how this place work.
venam
Administrators
Hello rainlofi0703, welcome to nixers.

Distributions cater to users, they are more shaped by them than the users shaped by the distribution. So maybe try to find users that have a need for minimal systems, it could be the embedded system engineers or others. We had a thread in that spirit here, take a look it can inspire you.
NetBSD thrives on all sorts of small hardware, so maybe give it a shot or check other distros that can be embedded into hardware.
strawman2511
Members
So that mean I should stop using Linux?

I guess I have to make my decision. I will leave Linux after a long stupid journey.
venam
Administrators
(12-03-2021, 02:02 PM)rainlofi0703 Wrote: So that mean I should stop using Linux?
Definitely not, it's seems like you're describing operating systems like a relationship with a lover. I think purpose comes before anything. There are a lot of embedded Linux operating systems too that are lightweight, you just got to look at what the engineers in that field use or people that have a utility for light system go for.
There are probably a lot of possibilities that you're dismissing, don't look for a single end-all-be-all solution.
opfez
Members
Welcome to nixers!
A lot of Linux distros cater to people seeking simplicity. Once I got tired of hopping distros I settled on the one I had the easiest time customizing, Arch.
But there are many alternatives. Alpine comes to mind as a small and simple distro.
To me, I don't want to struggle finding the correct libraries for stuff I want to compile. I even have trouble with that one Debian machines, which have huge repositories. Systems more niche than Linux therefore border on impracticality for me.
I would suggest just trying something like BSD out, and then seeing if it is right for you.
Good luck!
movq
Long time nixers
In the Linux world, I'd go with Alpine or Void, and OpenBSD for non-Linux adventures.

OpenBSD is certainly way simpler than Linux. They focus on security, but it often also results in simpler code as a side effect. But even without the security stuff, they try to keep things simple.

That comes with a price, of course: Linux has much more features than OpenBSD and much better hardware support. This may or may not be an issue for you.
strawman2511
Members
I guess I am tired of Linux in these day... Especially, Gentoo. Ebuilds and portage seem make program much more complex.
I was blind and I trust portage and ebuild, I have met more problems than I expected.

I used to try Void Linux, it was fun and a great distro. But I think I will give NetBSD a try since Void Linux have a lot of idea from NetBSD.

I will use 3 main BSD favors, I guess.
freem
Nixers
(12-03-2021, 01:25 PM)rainlofi0703 Wrote: Linux world is become a messy place for coperation and the complexity of software.

I really need some simple operating system to play with it. I'm just unsure which one. BSD or Linux? Or both them?

Few things to say, here.

First, welcome :)

Then, Linux is not an OS, it's just a kernel. Linux distributions are the OSes. What this means is, you can either do complex and messed up things with linux (that's the current fashion, with gnome/kde, systemd, pulseaudio, pipewire, etc) or you can do simple systems that just work (rely on simpler init system, stay with alsa, use a simple WM and a set of carefully selected tools, etc).

You say debian is complex, and seems in later comments to say that void is less complex. Well, here I disagree. Void actually uses XML files for it's package management, where debian uses deb822 format (https://www.mankier.com/5/deb822) for, e.g. /var/lib/dpkg/status.

Yes, by default, Debian is very, very complex, because it strives to "just work™" for everyone. But I believe any working system ends up with lot of complexity. Especially when they target stability (unlike void, which is rolling distro, despite it being pretty solid in my experience, but it's still far from debian).
And I also believe the debian I use is very, very simple, because I took the time to make it simpler. I don't use a DE, instead I use i3wm. I don't use pulse audio, I don't use systemd instead I use runit. I rebuild some packages to remove dependencies I consider useless.

What I want to say here is, I don't think there is any distro which will give you simplicity if you don't take the time to understand the lower layers and their alternatives.

Anyway, maybe you'll be interested in distribution like k1ss.org (seems dead? maybe related to OVH fire? https://github.com/kisslinux/repo ). You might play with alpine, too. The *BSDs seems pretty nice, too, but if you strive for simplicity, probably avoid FreeBSD, from the code I've read, it's more complex than Net/Open flavors.
jkl
Long time nixers
(12-03-2021, 01:25 PM)rainlofi0703“' Wrote: I really need some simple operating system to play with it. I'm just unsure which one.

You won’t get much simpler than what you get with Plan 9 (9front, 9legacy etc.).

(12-03-2021, 02:02 PM)rainlofi0703 Wrote: So that mean I should stop using Linux?

Yes. ;-)

--
<mort> choosing a terrible license just to be spiteful towards others is possibly the most tux0r thing I've ever seen
strawman2511
Members
Yeah, let's migrate out of messy linux world.
I will try plan9 someday. But can I run it in qemu or virtualbox?
opfez
Members
(13-03-2021, 08:17 PM)rainlofi0703 Wrote: Yeah, let's migrate out of messy linux world.
I will try plan9 someday. But can I run it in qemu or virtualbox?

Yeah, it works great on both in my experience.
I use Plan9 on my Raspberry Pi because it has great support for the hardware.
jkl
Long time nixers
Today I learned that Nokia had still owned valuable assets.
Well, one less now:

https://www.bell-labs.com/institute/blog...yberspace/

--
<mort> choosing a terrible license just to be spiteful towards others is possibly the most tux0r thing I've ever seen
opfez
Members
(23-03-2021, 02:31 PM)jkl Wrote: Today I learned that Nokia had still owned valuable assets.
Well, one less now:

https://www.bell-labs.com/institute/blog...yberspace/

Saw this the other day, excited to see how the Plan 9 foundation will evolve.