Hi there,

it took me a while to get comfortable enough with Linux to start a real test with your well done Solus OS.
My computer is medium level gamer computer, equipped with a SSD rack to switch OS by simply change over the SSD. Quite easy to test any distribution without the need to think about compatibility issues or GRUB.

I migrated from Windows 7 to ... the well known 'easy for beginners' Ubuntu, then switched to several Ubuntu forks (Xface, Mate aso.) until I found Linux Mint. After Budgie was developed I did a try with installing just the Budgie desktop with Ubuntu Budgie backdoors. It worked, but it wasn't the best performance.
After a while I ran a test with Deepin OS, they do have a very well done desktop UI, but their update times are quite long, so I checked for other OS to offer Deepin desktop. Then I found ArcoLinux, which was my first contact with Arch (do-not-use-Arch-if-you-are-a-beginner) which is appearantly easy to manage and use. Well, the B variant of course.

Lately I ran a test with Solus OS itself to find out how the Budgie desktop, which I found neat and lightweighted, would perform on it's very own Linux distribution. And here I am. 😃

My concerns up to now have been, to get the needed graphics driver (AMDgpu-pro), which I actually no longer need. So this point fixed itself. Then I wondered about the repository and how to install programs I like to use. Well, except one single app (VScodium) I really found every software I used in other distributions. Quite impressing.
The useability is excellent, Solus is rock solid, while running release, plus I found not a single issue to mention.

So I'm very happy with Solus OS.

Cheers!

    Kepos Wellcome to Solus Kepos. You can find vscode in Solus Repo. If you want to stick on vscodium then you can try to download the appimage version.

        @Kepos algent There is virtually no difference between VSCodium and vscode package in Solus. The former is just a rebuild of VSCode from its MIT-licensed source which doesn't include telemetry. Our package is built from the same source, so it's essentially the same thing, but better integrated with Solus.

            Yeah, thank you for the hints. I already installed VScode instead, but do not like telemetry included. That's the only difference, you're right.

            4 months later

            aleksvor so wait bro you are basically saying that vscode in solus that i can install from terminal and vscodium for other OS is the same? vscode in solus does NOT contain telemetry? is this is the case im gonna be so happy dude.

                discordmine Our VS Code contains telemetry, which you can easily disable from within Visual Studio Code itself as well as see the audit logs for (they have documentation on this). I'm not anti-telemetry and I'm not including a fork of VS Code for something you can easily disable yourself. It'd be like forking Firefox just because you didn't like the default of it sending telemetry (which it does) instead of just disabling it in your personal configuration.

                    JoshStrobl wanted to ask something. what would it take for you guys to add another package into solus's repo? how much time and can a outsider make a package and send it to you so you guys can verify and add it? Thank you.

                        discordmine
                        If you would like to request a package be added.

                        Package inclusion policy:
                        https://getsol.us/articles/packaging/package-inclusion-policy/en/
                        How to request a package:
                        https://getsol.us/articles/packaging/request-a-package/en/

                        The request will be evaluated and if it is accepted, it is then open for anyone to step up and become its maintainer, if no maintainer is found, it will not be included in the repository until someone is found.

                        If you wish to become its maintainer:

                        You will need to learn packaging for Solus.
                        https://getsol.us/articles/packaging/

                        To be clear you do not submit a binary package for inclusion. It's more like this https://dev.getsol.us/source/protontricks/browse/master/package.yml there is much more to it than that and this is an easy example. Some software is much more complex. Every submission is reviewed before it lands.

                            16 days later
                            a month later

                            Just wanted to reiterate with the OP how nice Solus OS has been. I too switched from Windows 7 alittle over two months ago, and it has been fantastic. With one exception (that was resolved), it has been extremely stable, lightning fast, easy to use, polished, and I've had no real compatibility issues. I'm very pleased, and have been spreading the good word.

                            I think right now I only have two things I'm sorting out, and I'd be appreciative of suggestions. I'm looking for a good web-browser that isn't Brave. I used to use Pale Moon on Windows. I'm also looking for a good Firewall/Antivirus. Right now I'm running some very basic security and would like to improve it.

                              MrMagniloquent . I'm also looking for a good Firewall/Antivirus. Right now I'm running some very basic security and would like to improve it.

                              Install UFW from repo. Very strict firewall at default setting. sudo eopkg it ufw

                              it took me about 2-3 years after coming to linux when I realized I needed no conventional av/am suite. believe I had W7 and used a arsenal of tools like you. It's hard to get over how ingrained that is.

                              edit: firejail is an efficient app-sandbox as well

                                MrMagniloquent

                                Nice to find a companion from old Windows 7 that also denied the step to W10 😀

                                As for browsers, there are a bunch of good ones, lateley it depends on your taste which one to choose.
                                I started to search alternatives that provide cloud bookmark management from scratch, because I still use Windows 7 and 2-3 other Linux distributions. This way will make sure I always have the same base of information at hand, whatever system I'm on.

                                I found one Russian based 'Yandex Browser', equipped with cloud bookmark management and surprisingly good support, but unfortunately I was not able to find it for Solus right now, so I only use it on ArcoLinux and Manjaro.

                                Vivaldi was already known from Windows and matured over the years, so I gave it a try. The UI is clean, nice and adjustable, it offers cloud bookmark managament and works without major issues so far. Updates every now and then provide more features. The bookmark system is a bit unique, but I managed to adopt me to it.

                                From third party tab you can install Google Chrome, but I'm not sure how your data is opened to the company.
                                The Brave browser seems new, fast and lightweighted, but I didn't test it too much either.
                                Opera is ok, but others offered more to me.
                                Tor is Tor and therefore has it's own target group.

                                Your choice!

                                  Thanks for the replies. I would be happy with Brave if it weren't chrome based. At it's core, Chrome basically tracks everything, and despite Brave's original intent, I feel like they've gone dark side. I've been looking at Vivaldi & Opera, but I haven't tried them yet. Pale Moon was just a 64bit fork of FireFox though, so I may just go with that.

                                  I'm actually using UFW right now. I'm so used to intensively tuning my firewalls, that this bare-bones one just seems...peculiar. I don't have reason to suspect it as inadequate other than my inexperience with Linux.

                                    MrMagniloquent I would be happy with Brave if it weren't chrome based.

                                    Then you can be happy since it is not chrome based.

                                        kyrios It's a pretty thin line. Chromium can be compiled with an API key for almost all of the services that Chrome has access to, so I wouldn't say it's a given that it's necessarily better for folks in the anti-Google crowd. It may not "phone home" in the same way as Chrome's analytics, but Google still can see all of the API usage for Chromium. Brave made it pretty clear that they want to use those APIs when they announced the switch: https://brave.com/development-plans-for-upcoming-release/

                                        Unlike the current version of Brave, this new browser will have support for nearly all Chrome features and extension APIs, but of course without including any code that phones home to Google, or to the Chrome Web Store.

                                          I used Solus Budgie some time ago on an old iMac. After using Manjaro, I decided to come back here for a more stable approach to updates compared to the Arch-based distros. KDE fits my workflow. Solus KDE appears to be the most trouble-free Plasma distro I know. Kaos was also good, but the Solus experience is much more friendly.