This may be a bit long-winded, so I get it if not everyone wants to read it all, but I figured might as well say what I would like to say here.
Back in May I wrote my initial feedback for Solus after having been using it for 6 months at that time. I was just scratching the surface of Solus and how things are done with the philosophy and how the team works to manage it. I have been using and contributing (granted mainly back in the 90s/early 2ks) and while nothing is really new and Linux is Linux, Solus felt different to me and in a good way. I wasn't really looking to distro hop anymore but loved testing and playing around with distros on my spare laptop. But here I was on a system that was not as mainstream or known as the big names like Ubuntu, Fedora, Debiam, Arch, etc., but was just going along on its own a truly independent distro. Something that is not common now, like it was back when I started.
So as I was more intrigued, I looked deeper into Solus. Not just the distro but the team and history. I have seen plenty from a distance, having been in the Linux world so long and I even knew more about Ikey due to his work on Clear Linux. I saw the hiccups and bumps in the road that Solus has had along the way. Some of which made me look deeper. But what stuck out the most was not the bumps in the road, it was that not only had they been able to move past that, but the distro and community, albeit small, were humming along. That to me, tells me more about the people behind it than a project that looks like it is always smooth sailing. It is like a proverbial duck on a pond. It may look calm on the surface, but underneath those legs are putting in some serious work.
Then I started really paying attention to the community and how the dev team interacted. I have to say, in the Linux desktop world, it was so refreshing. Several of the devs interact with the community as part of the community. That is unfortunately not always the case. Then you look on Matrix and see them putting in the work. There is no hiding, they handle it all in the eye of the public.
For the first time, in a very long time it made me want to contribute. It is why I put out a few guides at first, did some research for things to help improve areas, and of course the Solus package search website and Solseek. For so long I had lost my passion, maybe burned out having worked with projects over the decades, many of which had a lot of agnst among the dev team itself. But I truly want to contribute to Solus and help. I love working with the community and helping with little tools. May even start getting more involved with packaging as I had to learn it for Solseek. Working on Solseek and the packaging search site, I had to start really learning how Solus worked from the ground up. It has actually been fun.
I don't say any of that to boast. I say that as a thank you to not only the entire @Solus Staff , but to the community as a whole that has reinvigorated the old dev and has brought back the joy of being part of a community and truly desiring to help.
I know we are from all around the world and have different backgrounds and ideologies, but I truly want to wish everyone a happy holiday season. I look forward to what 2026 brings us all!
For those that skipped to the bottom, tldr... thanks 😉
