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  • So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish!

So, after about 2 weeks of using Solus as my daily driver, I think I am going to be moving on from the distro. It's extremely impressive, and I believe it is an great distro (granted it's only my second one, but the first one only made it 2 days) however there are some serious issues that I am having that I can't ignore.

The elephant in the room is the NVIDIA driver situation. Doflicky installs them, I reset, the boot-up fails when the X-server is initialized. I drop into tty, uninstall them, reboot, and I'm back. Do some research, make a few changes, rinse wash and repeat. I STILL haven't gotten them to work. It seems like the general vibe is "well you used Doflicky, it should be working" but it's not. Without my NVIDIA drivers I don't have my HDMI slot, so no second monitor, especially with no Miracast support,. I've tried everything I can think of and everything that everyone online has suggested to no avail. Part of the problem is that things in Solus just aren't where they are supposed to be. From big things like eopkg and the distro's VERY strange relationship with old JAVA, to configuration files to log files, it's like the distro prides itself on being non-standard. I STILL haven't figured out how to kill the X-server. I even tried to compile the drivers myself, but again, things just weren't working right. I'm not going to even consider what a nightmare it would be to get both my GPU's up and running, and with no NVIDIA Optimus support, I loose a lot of functionality as well.

This leads me into the next point, the lack of support for eopkg. I think in my time here I've found one or two pieces of software, usually niche, that supported eopkg or Solus. Yes, we have a lot of great programs in the repository, but support could be a lot better. 1Password is a great example. Installing it through Flatpak or Snap causes you to lose some functionality, and it's not acceptable. Then there's the issue with compiling things. Libraries in Solus are another of those things that's just enough off that it's a pain to try to figure out what the name of that is. You can eventually figure it out with enough trial and error, but I've run into the issue where it's just not available so I can't compile what I need. A lot of people like to say that Flatpak or Snap make up for the eopkg issues, but it doesn't. Not when you expect us to use it, but don't even support it through your software center.

The final issue is, it seems like with Solus, things change in the blink of an eye or something won't work as intended on other Linux systems. Exhibit A:

That's my application launcher. The default one from KDE Plasma, Kickoff i think it's called. You'll notice how huge it is, and the fact that it's inc the center of my screen. Why? I have absolutely no clue. It was just like that after the update the other day and I have absolutely no clue how to get it back to normal. This is a great microcosum for Solus. A bit off, a bit weird, but honestly not that bad.

There's some other things that I really would like to see fixed, like the ability to use higher versions of Python (I need 3.12 dang it!) but ultimately you get the gist. It feels like... someone has done a fantastic job of rebuilding a home after a disaster, but they did it very quickly while also doing a lot of improvements that are shoehorned in, and from what I've learned about Solus, that may have been exactly what happened after the Re-Emergence.

Thank you for being a fantastic community. I've been negative in this post, but my experience with Solus has really been an amazing one. I have learned SO MUCH in these past 2 weeks about Linux in general, and I've enjoyed almost every moment of it. Ditching Windows and coming to Linux has made me love my computer again, and I have spent hours just tinkering, learning, and enjoying myself like I did when I was a kid and first learning MS-DOS. In regards to the community and presentation of Solus itself, stop touting the simplicity. It isn't there. From Doflicky, to the guess-a-lib game with compiling, to the sadly lacking documentation. Solus si for the person that loves puzzles, not those who like a simplicity. Sometimes you can simplify something so much, it becomes more complicated than it needs to be. I think that's where Solus is headed, if not there already.

I'll definitely be back for Solus 5. I want to see what Serpent OS brings to the table. There's a lot of good old bones here that can be brought back to life, and I wish you all the best. In the immortal words of the Dolphins (I promise i'm not making a crack at the file manager!) So Long and Thanks for all the Fish!

    EldrinSMP
    First off: Thank You for taking the time to write this feedback post.

    I'm sorry that Solus ultimately wasn't for you and I wish you all the best in your journey of discovering what Linux has to offer.

    Your comment on "the guess-a-lib game with compiling" has me curious: Can you be bothered to expand on that perhaps?

    On a related note: The reason we need to hold back Python to version 3.11 is that we are in the process of porting the eopkg and ypkg (the package build tool that uses eopkg libraries) code-bases from Python 2 to python 3. To limit the pain and potential for broken user systems when upgrading Python 3 interpreter versions in the package repository, we have decided to use a Python compiler called Nuitka, which creates portable, self-sufficient executables from Python source code. This in turn means that we are locked to the latest version of Python that Nuitka supports, which is currently Python 3.11.

    With regards to the NVIDIA situation: The sad fact is that, unlike AMD and intel, NVIDIA as a company has chosen not to follow an open source development model for their GPU drivers. This causes an untold number of frustrations for all Linux distributions, including Solus. If you want to continue to use Linux, I would strongly encourage you to shop for AMD or intel hardware instead, as this is much easier to support for all involved parties.

      EldrinSMP A lot of people like to say that Flatpak or Snap make up for the eopkg issues, but it doesn't. Not when you expect us to use it, but don't even support it through your software center.

      For sure I also much prefer native eopkg packages over flatpaks. And it cannot be denied that there are other distros out there with way bigger repositories, like Debian, for instance.
      Even greater was hence my surprise when I discovered lately that even in Fedora there a packages missing that we have in Solus repo and that I ended up compiling myself in Fedora.
      Anyway, just on the point that flatpaks cannot be installed via Software Center currently, I would like to mention that this is going to change. Discover and GNOME Software will be introduced to Solus with integrated flatpak support.
      So, whenever you return to Solus 5 (or earlier), you will be able to install flatpaks graphically.
      And of course there is also always the possibility to file a package request

      Anyways, I wish you all the best.

        I'm quite the opposite, I have really enjoyed my experience with Solus (Budgie) thus far, but admittedly, I'm happy as long as I have a web browser and my favorite text editor 🙂

        Anyway, with regard to the Python comment, you can always download the latest tarball and make it yourself, just a thought. Hope you'll come back, good luck!

          different strokes for different folks man.

          My backup distro is Arch....I can access every package known to man and an abundance of cool, strange stuff; and embarrassment of riches and all things all people ask for here. I could never get thru it all and some AUR stuff is mind-blowing.

          Yet I'm in Solus 95% of the time.

          You have dealbreakers. I never did. Solus' reward was just being part of this. different strokes, it's all good.

          edit: wrote more but said what's the point so deleted. so no edit at all.

          BloodFeastMan I'm happy as long as I have a web browser and my favorite text editor

          That's it, isn't it? Simple needs - less hassle. Almost any distro will do. Sorry for those who have complex situations and setup.

            Only the human brain Complicates things You can never be to simplistic
            One cant change the future unless he changes the present.
            How you do that is always the challenge.

            EldrinSMP There's some other things that I really would like to see fixed, like the ability to use higher versions of Python (I need 3.12 dang it!) but ultimately you get the gist. It feels like... someone has done a fantastic job of rebuilding a home after a disaster, but they did it very quickly while also doing a lot of improvements that are shoehorned in, and from what I've learned about Solus, that may have been exactly what happened after the Re-Emergence.

            When I was doing Python development it was common to use pyenv to manage the exact version of Python used by the application. You always want to be on the same version of python that other people working on the app are using even across different distros or Windows/Mac. Using the system Python installation is just asking for trouble frankly as environmental differences are a killer for productivity/bugfixing.

              EldrinSMP Which Distro will you try next? I have the feeling Pop could be the right one for you as it's based on the most popular one, Ubuntu, has great Nvidia support. What is annoying is that there's no official KDE edition and if you want a recent KDE on Pop you have to add other repositories. But once it works, it's great and stable from my experience.

                In summary:

                1. NVIDIA is awful, don't use it whenever possible (I only recently managed to get away from it)
                2. I can't see 1Password has been requested as a package, if you want it, request it here
                3. The odd floating Kickoff is interesting, I'd be happy to help you diagnose how that happened and how to fix it if you'd like
                4. pyenv as Reilly mentioned

                But alas if you're already on the way out do enjoy whichever distro you choose and we'll look forward to seeing you back for Solus 5.

                I've never had an Nvidia issue with Solus (been on Plasma full time on every device, 3 of which are Nvidia gaming rigs). In fact, Solus has been hands down the absolute best experience for Nvidia for me. I believe it is the only distro that doesn't require any terminal cut & paste junk to get it working. Heck DoFlicky even installs the 32 bit libraries for you. I came from some 'Buntu variants, all of which were an absolute dumpster fire when it came to handling Nvidia. I still have sudo apt purge *nvidia* etched in my memory.

                The repo is intentionally limited. That's one of the reasons Solus is so stable, fewer packages to juggle and make sure they all play nice. Lastly, for any distro, where do you draw the line on when to stop supporting a package? Do you support 27 text editors, or 28, or 52?, or just the small handful that the vast majority of users actually use? I personally love the Solus approach.

                Lastly it's my understanding that flatpak will be integrated into the new software center at some point.

                I hope you try it again one day!