Gandalf_The_Grey
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- Apr 24, 2016
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Here's something I've not done before - I haven't tested an immutable AKA atomic Linux distro just yet. The idea is, your system is sort of read-only, and it can only be updated in a robust, reliable, atomic manner. Sounds like a cool concept. Necessary? Good for the end user? Well. We need to find out.
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Conclusion
My brief adventure with Fedora Kinoite, version 41 to be exact, was fairly good. Surprisingly so. I didn't swear or curse or feel like bludgeoning my computer, even when the installation on a real laptop failed, twice. Now, that's a massive problem on its own. But I managed. Next, software management is a bit clunky and confusing, and it's a data guzzler, but it was better than I expected. Plus, you have the beauty, elegance and customization of the fine Plasma desktop. Solid speed, too.
One day, this might be a really cushty project. But for it to succeed beyond the nerdy cycles, there really needs to be an official application store for all Linux-related software, free, libre, paid, and proprietary. Without those taken into account, people will look elsewhere. If they cannot trust the store(s), they will look elsewhere. The model needs to be ultra-robust. Can it rely on community packaging? Unlikely. Would I want to use unofficial software for my serious work? Also unlikely. Alas, as history has shown us, there's no such thing as unified, joint efforts in the Linux world. It's fork, fork, fork. This means there never will be one store, there will be nine or fifteen, all 60-80% complete and all not good enough. And I'm not sure that atomic systems will provide the necessary security (reliability yes, most likely, maybe). If they somehow manage to do that, then the user experience will probably suffer. Well, let's see. To sum it up, Kinoite is a cool endeavor, give it a go.
Fedora Kinoite 41 review - My first taste of immutability
Review of Fedora Kinoite 41 immutable distribution with the Plasma desktop environment, covering basic concepts of immutability - security and reliability, existing examples and projects, attempted failed installation on physical hardware, successful installation in a virtual machine, look and...