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If you could make a non-linux OS go mainstream, which one would you pick? (programming.dev)

submitted 1 month ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

85 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I make the specification of non-linux because otherwise this would just become a thread full of obscure distros that do the same thing as a million other distros.

Some lesser known OSs:

AROS - based on Amiga OS, has some derivatives like IcarOS and MorphOS
Haiku - based on BeOS
Redox - Unix-like, made in Rust (might technically count as linux?)
Serenity - Unix-like, very late 90s look and feel
Kolibri - Tiny OS, the image is ~44MB. It also has a smaller version that fits in a single floppy.
PhantomOS - When 3 Russians decide to turn everything about a typical OS upside down.

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

Qubes

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

Qubes is linux isn't it?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago

Technically it's based on the Xen type-1 hypervisor

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

But that's Linux

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Honnest question: why is it Linux? I can't find relevant information on the matter. Every source point the fact that it's a bare metal hypervisor therefore not Linux but that's all. Could you enlighten me on the matter? Thanks in advance.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

That was my first impression after a quick glance at it, since it listed Fedora, Debian and several other linux "flavors", plus wikipedia lists it as "OS Family: Linux".

Looking and paying proper attention, I see that it doesn't actually use the linux kernel, the OS just starts VMs for whatever applications you need. The dom0, the "main virtualized OS" and basically the bare minimum the user will interact with, runs Fedora, which is linux.

I see why I'd still call it linux, even if it's "not really" linux due to the kernel (Xen hypervisor) being something completely different, because all the user interaction goes through Fedora.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 weeks ago

Thanks for the explanation, I understand now your point of view. It sums up on which layer we consider then. BTW qubes is a fantastic OS if you want isolation of information or privacy. One VM could serve for work, another for browsing, and eventually for privacy. Take care !