mattl, 2 months ago

Took a break for this week and got this going instead.

https://social.coop/@mattl/112205162642976400

publicvoit, 2 months ago

@mattl Well, #NixOS is, both, a rather old distribution but also the latest hyped distro many #Linux geeks are switching to.

Beneath #Plan9, this would be one of the more "different" operating systems you could cover. Requires a bit of a learning curve since there are many new concepts and many common concepts are removed.

I've installed it on two hosts as well last summer: https://karl-voit.at/2023/09/12/nix/

My personal position is not yet clear as there are some cool things and some very annoying ones.

foo, 2 months ago

@mattl I produce Finnix (@finnix), a console utility LiveCD, and the oldest live distro still in production, at just under 25 years old. Its claim to fame is it can get you to a full environment root prompt in about 3 seconds.

https://www.finnix.org/

(TECHNICALLY against your rules since it's currently based on Debian... and while it's been downloaded millions of times over the decades, it's a niche distro.)

mattl, 2 months ago

@foo I remember Finnix! I have a copy of Linuxcare BBC I found earlier on an old FSF-branded USB stick. There was an era when Live CDs were the coolest thing in the world for me.

foo, 2 months ago

@mattl Cool! Think you could dump it and see what version it was? The only actual Linuxcare BBC release which has been preserved to today was version 1.2, though I believe all known releases of the later incarnation of LNX-BBC have been preserved.
https://archive.org/details/lbt-bbc_1.2

foo, 2 months ago

@mattl I've also got a bounty out for whoever can find the original 1998 release of DemoLinux, a French distro which can be described as the first purpose-built LiveCD. It and the Linuxcare BBC were what originally inspired me to do Finnix.

sfalken, 2 months ago

@mattl OpenIndiana

vwbusguy, 2 months ago

@sfalken @mattl Ooooo!

OpenIndiana/Illumos is a good one!

royal, 2 months ago

@mattl There are always the BSDs (paging @RL_Dane). They are not based on Linux.

There's also Amiberry...
https://blitterstudio.com/amiberry/

RL_Dane, 2 months ago

@royal @mattl

#OpenBSD is a nice classic Unix. Also #NetBSD. #FreeBSD is great, but it feels like it's in between the other BSDs and Linux.

Also check out #Haiku on x86/x86_64. Very neat OS.

vwbusguy, 2 months ago

@mattl I'm a fan of CP/M personally!

Conan_Kudo, 2 months ago

@mattl I'm a fan of fiddling around with Haiku OS (the spiritual successor to BeOS). 😃

There's also OpenVMS if you can get your hands on it. 😉

mattl, 2 months ago

@Conan_Kudo I do like OpenVMS because it follows my rule that operating systems should have a shark in the logo.

vwbusguy, 2 months ago

@mattl @Conan_Kudo I brought a DEC VAX to SCaLE 2 years ago. Barely fit in my VW Golf!

popey, 2 months ago

@mattl

• PalmOS.
• CP/M.
• OS/2 obv.

mattl, 2 months ago

@popey OS/2 would be fun. I'm looking at WebOS on a Rpi4 as a possibility.

I used way too much CP/M (2.2 and CP/M Plus) back in the 90s, but might be convinced to look at it again.

popey, 2 months ago

@mattl Palm OS though, man...

https://cloudpilot-emu.github.io/

❤️

aeva, 2 months ago

@mattl TempleOS

mattl, 2 months ago

@aeva Does that actually run on real hardware? I'd assumed it only ran in a VM. I do have a 4:3 ratio monitor though.

aeva, 2 months ago

@mattl I thought it was able to run on generic X86 hardware, but I could be mistaken

aeva, 2 months ago

@mattl x86-64, apparently. I found a tutorial for how to get it running on a thinkpad https://web.archive.org/web/20220531003615/http://www.levi.pink/t60temple.html

mattl, 2 months ago

Suggestions so far:

• Plan9
• ReactOS
• HaikuOS
• Hyprland

SerenityOS can't run on real hardware yet, so isn't in the list.

hasnep, 2 months ago

@mattl I don't think hyprland is an OS, isn't it just a desktop environment?

ernie, 2 months ago

@hasnep @mattl it is, but it is usually Arch. I suggested he do it in BSD

mattl, 2 months ago

If someone wants to send me $150 I will buy a license for ArcaOS 5.1 (aka OS/2 Warp 4)

http://paypal.me/orangumovie

mattl, 2 months ago

Making a Gparted Live ISO so I can install Haiku OS.

mattl, 2 months ago

Okay, Haiku won't boot. Just hangs on the boot logo or reboots immediately.

ReactOS does something similar.

Maybe this system76 machine is a bit exotic? I don't think its especially weird.

mattl, 2 months ago

Blog post about all of this.

https://blog.mat.tl/2024/03/25/operating-system-trials-for-march-2024/

ernie, 2 months ago

@mattl what's the GPU like?

mattl, 2 months ago

@ernie Unclear. Installing Ubuntu now to get some base system on there. Also Haiku devs want me to try something from EFI Shell so installing Grub might help

mattl, 2 months ago

@ernie Here you go.

ernie, 2 months ago

@mattl Oh good, not Nvidia.

One thought: Is it possible that the use of Coreboot that System76 relies on could be a factor?

ernie, 2 months ago

@mattl NM, I see the Thelio uses something standard.

mcc, 2 months ago

@mattl If you try out ReactOS I would be super curious to read your recap of how this went

aeva, 2 months ago

@mattl plan9

TerryHancock, 2 months ago

@mattl

I'm sort of curious to know the status of ReactOS. I think that's 32-bit, but would run on AMD64 (I assume).

Looks like it's still being maintained/developed:

https://reactos.org/

bnys, 2 months ago

@mattl 9front http://www.9front.org/releases/

mattl, 2 months ago

@bnys Great suggestion. Thank you.

mattl, 2 months ago

@bnys @aeva another suggestion for plan9.

aeva, 2 months ago

@mattl @bnys oh! is 9front a continuation of plan9?

mattl, 2 months ago

@ernie finally doing that thing I told you about :)

ernie, 2 months ago

@mattl ReactOS and Haiku obviously, but I would be curious if you could figure out Hyprland. I sure as hell can’t

ernie, 2 months ago

@mattl for an extra challenge, Hyprland on BSD!