The Linux ecosystem is vast and diverse, offering a multitude of distributions to suit every need and preference. With hundreds of distros to choose from, it’s a pity that most are rarely mentioned while the popular ones are constantly being regurgitated.
This thread aims to celebrate this diversity and shine a light on smaller projects with passionate developers. I invite you to pitch your favorite underappreciated distro and share your experiences with those lesser-known Linux distributions that deserve more attention.
While there are no strict rules or banlists, I encourage you to focus on truly niche or exotic distributions rather than the more commonly discussed ones. Consider touching upon what makes your chosen distro unique:
- What features or philosophies set it apart?
- Why do you favor it over other distros, including the popular ones? (Beyond “It just works.”)
- In what situations would you recommend it to others?
Whether it’s a specialized distro for a particular use case or a general-purpose OS with a unique twist, let’s explore the road less traveled in the Linux landscape. Your insights could introduce fellow enthusiasts to their next favorite distribution!
Slackware!
“But it has no dependency resolution.”
It does, but it’s optional. And it really isn’t an issue like you’d think coming from other distros. It uses a completely different paradigm: You don’t have to care about dependencies at all, cause you already have all of them taken care of after a default install.
It comes with batteries, meaning the default install includes everything you need for general computing. It’s the Anti-Arch. You don’t have to install a DE, your editor of choice, an office suite, TeX environment, image editing software, or configure a LAMP stack. You already have it. Granted, it works best if the default software selection suites you, and it’s a bit unconventional.
But in case you do need more, Slackbuilds are there for you, which work very similar to Arch’s AUR.
Also, it follows the KISS philosophy to the letter. It’s basically just a distribution of software in the classical sense, plus some bash scripts written by the benevolent dictator Patrick Volkerding himself.
Newcomers will often be put off cause the online documentation is very lacking and outdated. But again, Slackware is different. Documentation is included in the form of easy-to-understand and descriptive text files, which are also written by Pat himself, and are found right where you’d be in the filesystem when you need them. For more specific stuff, ask on linuxquestions.org, where, again, Pat is actively posting.
It’s not for everyone, or even for many people, but IMO still fills a niche for people who want a system that is as simple as Arch, as stable as Debian, and a blast from the past of Linux (without the hardware issues).
There’s a “Slack” way to do things, and once you get it, the distro becomes the easiest to maintain of them all. Cause almost literally nothing ever changes.