This is some general feedback and probably some rambling as well. Yeah, if you don't want to read, I get it. TLDR I love Solus, wish it had a few things.
To kind of put this all into where my pov comes from, I have been using and contributing to Linux and FOSS since 92, when I was in my late teens. I started off learning to code Assembly and C when I was 11 in the mid-80s as my dad was in the computer industry. So I have seen Linux grow from the early days of MCC, SLS, Slackware, etc. to what it is today.
It is rare for a distro these days to surprise me or even be something that just makes me desire to use it. Most have become tools. In generally, I use Fedora to run my business systems and Arch-based EndeavourOS for my gaming/tinkering system. I also enjoy trying out different distros just to see what people come up with, and I have literally tried 100s over my 33 years, both Linux and BSD. I generally try on VM, but occasionally if I live them, I will throw them on one of my laptops (I have a lot from running my business). Again, most never make it that far. Then I came across Solus. I had heard about it and Budgie a while back, but had not had a chance to really check it out. It intrigued me as it was not just another distro based on Debian, Arch, or Fedora and all the technical debt they bring.
So I loaded it up and sure, it's a desktop, so at first glance it is going to look like anything else, but what I found is that instead of trying to just be different, it was pleasantly clean, light, and ran well even on older hardware. The packaging system was different, but the same in the good way. It was rolling, but not too aggressive and not too slow. Now, I did not get heavy into it right away. I ran the Budgie edition for a month on my trusty Dell XPS 13 from 2017 (8th gen Intel I7, 8Gb Ram) and it ran really well. I noticed that the package count was even lower than what I get on a general Arch install, which is excellent.
I moved on, like I normally do after my month of driving it, but for some reason I kept wanting to give it another go. I loaded up the KDE version on another XPS 13 for my daughter to use and it has worked great. I then loaded the KDE version back up on my XPS 13 and then the Budgie version on a VM running on my NAS that I use for remote access when away from home. Something just clicked with me and Solus. I heavily use Fedora as mentioned for work, I would absolutely LOVE to move it to Solus, but unfortunately since I work in cyber and have clients that have base requirements I cannot since my system has to have either AppArmor or SELinux. Its a bummer on that for sure, but I understand having a small team and trying to manage either one of those is a pain. So I don't hold it against the team at all.
So as for my feedback in general of Solus.
Pros
- Not bloated
- Performance is great, even on older hardware
- Reliable staged updates
- Rolling
- Simple to manage
- Small but great community
- No Snap! I do not like where Canonical is going with that
- The team has stated what they want to be and have stayed the course
Cons (all minor, but had to be fair)
- No AppArmor / SELinux (prevents business use)
- Few clean up items on the Plasma install
- A user-based repository could take this to new heights
Conclusion
So while I use Fedora for business to fit requirements, I can honestly say that Solus has become my favorite distro along with EndeavourOS, another distro that has a simple goal and stays true to it. I know this is long-winded and probably not all that helpful to the Solus team, but I just wanted to say how much I truly appreciate what has been built here. Is Solus perfect? No, nothing is, and that would be boring anyway. But, I really do like it.
I have started small donations, but I am happy to help in other areas as my time frees up as well. Not so much in code anymore, but I love spread the word and help on community stuff as needed.
