Hi 👋 I'm a web developer and desktop Linux user of 5 years (Ubuntu and Mint). Not a Linux dev unfortunately. In my former job at Google, I was a developer advocate, so I learned a few things about presenting projects to developers, power users, and casual users alike.

I arrived here from Ubuntu Budgie, while looking for a window manager that allows switching among tasks with Super+numbers. Someone on the Budgie forum said that feature needs to be worked on upstream in Solus (if I understood correctly).

Since Budgie is a Desktop Environment, I'm not sure why Solus needs to support that window switching feature. When I landed on the Solus homepage, I expected it to be a desktop environment on which Budgie was based on, or another distro like Ubuntu Budgie. But then the About page says it's "The Personal OS for Personal Computers"... OK. I'm putting myself in the shoes of a new user:

"Is this some new OS, or a Linux distro?"

"Is it compatible with Linux?"

"What is it based on?"

"What is the relationship with the Budgie DE?"

The homepage goes on to mention bundled software. That to me is not really a differentiator - I can install the software I prefer myself, and the bundled versions of applications like LibreOffice tend to be old anyway (the asterisk at the end of "Shipping with the latest version of the free LibreOffice*" made me further suspect that), or branded in annoying ways (like Firefox in Mint).

Support for many languages, including: Go, Rust, PHP, Node.js, Ruby, and many more.

Any Linux supports those?

At that point, I assume the copy on the homepage targets the (very) casual user. But then it continues with "Whether you're writing drivers in C or writing backend web services in Go, we have software that will fit your needs."

What I would like to see is, what exactly differentiates Solus from other OSes (if that's what is is, rather than another Ubuntu-based distro). To keep targeting non-technical users, the could perhaps be a Features page, or a "Learn more" about the slightly more technical details. IMO, very non-technical users are steered towards Ubuntu as the canonical (pun intended) flavor Linux, so those who choose Solus are presumably more selective, therefore more likely to be interested in what sets Solus apart from other OSes/distros.

    dandv Since Budgie is a Desktop Environment, I'm not sure why Solus needs to support that window switching feature.

    Budgie is a project created by Solus https://github.com/solus-project/budgie-desktop

    So if a user wanted to request a feature be added to the core of Budgie. The link above is where you would request that feature. Ubuntu Budgie are not the developers of Budgie although they do make some contributions it is not their project.

    Which I suspect is what fossfreedom was referring to.

    but in reality this needs to be implemented within the icon-task-list applet so needs an inspiring dev to work with Solus upstream.

      QUESTIONS/CONCERNS

      "Is this some new OS, or a Linux distro?" "What is it based on?

      Solus is an independently developed OS/distribution built from scratch, offering four DE's - Budgie (also independently developed from scratch), GNOME, MATE or KDE Plasma. Unlike most Linux distributions, Solus is not based on earlier Linux distributions such as Debian, Ubuntu, Arch and so on.

      Solus can be characterized as either a "operating system" or a "Linux distro", I suppose, but I suspect that "neither/both" might be a more accurate characterization. Solus, as I understand it, takes the core Linux operating system and reorganizes it conceptually to a greater or lesser extent, and that is why I think "neither/both" is appropriate. As Ikey Doherty put it in a 2019 interview: "The whole thing is going to be about merging streams, so conceptually we’ll be building in a completely different way, and at that point it stops being a distribution. A distribution is exactly what it says on the tin: it’s a loosely organised, badly interconnected set of packages, and you kind of hope that they all stick in the same place when they land."

      Nomenclature aside, I think of Solus as an extremely efficient implementation of Linux, much as I think of Clear Linux, which also reorganizes the Linux core.

      "Is it compatible with Linux?"

      I'm not quite sure what you are asking about when you ask "Is it compatible with Linux?" Solus is a Linux implemenation, but it is not based on earlier implementations such as Debian, Ubuntu, Arch and so on. As a result, users can't simply plug .deb or .rpm software packages not included in the Solus repository directly into Solus; software packages not included in the Solus repository need to be converted to .eopkg or installed as a Snap or Flatpack.

      "What is the relationship with the Budgie DE?"

      Like Solus itself, the Budgie DE was developed from scratch, with the goal of creating (again in the words of Ikey Doherty) "a modern take on the traditional desktop, but not too traditional". Solus and Budgie, more or less, developed together. Budgie, I suspect, is one of the reasons that Linux users are initially attracted to Solus, and, more importantly, one of the reasons that Solus users tend to stick. As I understand it, the Budgie desktop is the most popular Solus desktop, by far.

      Budgie is clean, minimal and intuitive, in my opinion, and (having been a Linux user for close to 15 years, mostly Ubuntu) I have yet to find another DE that is as intuitive and internally consistent.

      Budgie seems to be tightly integrated with Solus. I base that observation of having tested non-Solus implementations of the Budgie desktop (such as Ubuntu Budgie), which, for the most part, seem to be almost crayon-like in design by comparison, with more than a few rough edges and performance issues. Josh Strobl is largely responsible for Solus Budgie, and the implementation is (again in my opinion) brilliant; Budgie gets better with every iteration. It is a delight to use.

      "The homepage goes on to mention bundled software. That to me is not really a differentiator - I can install the software I prefer myself ..."

      Solus is a targeted distribution. Solus is intended exclusively for use on personal computers and does not include software that is only useful in enterprise or server environments. The bundled software is a curated selection; we all can quibble with this or that selection, this or that inclusion or exclusion, but the software selected seems to me to be a well-chosen selection for an end-user desktop environment on personal computers.

      Because Solus is targeted, Solus does not drag around a lot of dead-weight, and that, I suspect, is one of the reasons that Solus is known to be fast and solid.

      "... and the bundled versions of applications like LibreOffice tend to be old anyway (the asterisk at the end of "Shipping with the latest version of the free LibreOffice*" made me further suspect that) ..."

      Solus uses a curated (that is, updates are released only after testing stable Linux and software releases, and integration into the way that Solus implements Linux) rolling release model, usually updated on Fridays, with periodic version releases (e.g. Solus 4 to 4.1, Solus 4.1 to 4.2, and so on) available for download and fresh installation. As a result of the curated rolling release model, bundled software deployed in Solus at any given time is usually the current stable version of the software and stays that way week-by-week, month-by-month, year-by-year.

      BOTTOM LINE

      Solus Budgie is as close to an intuitive Linux environment as I've seen.

      I used Ubuntu for close to a decade, and I've used other distros (e.g. Kali) for specific projects from time to time. Several years ago, increasingly unhappy with Ubuntu's design philosophy and frustrated with the dead weight that Ubuntu seems to carry with it, I went looking. I checked out various distros (Manjaro, Mint, MX Linux, Zorin, and so on), and, although each had strengths, non "spoke" to me.

      I eventually tried Solus Budgie, and I've never looked back. I still run Ubunto 20.10 in a Gnome Box to test Microsoft Edge for Linux, and I am reminded, every time that I fire up Ubuntu, that I have no reason to look back.

      It seems to me that you are overthinking the problem, in a sense. Why don't you just try Solus Budgie for a while and see what you think?

      dandv if that's what is is, rather than another Ubuntu-based distro

      Well, to my knowledge, it is definitialy not based on anything (like a base of Debian, Ubuntu), an independent Linux distribution with an in-house DE (besides other editions like with Mate, GNOME and Plasma). It perhaps could be added to the site for a little extra clarification, however a short Google search as What is Solus gives answer to that tiny part: " Solus (previously known as Evolve OS) is an independently developed operating system for the x86-64 architecture based on the Linux kernel and a choice of the homegrown Budgie desktop environment, GNOME, MATE or KDE Plasma as the desktop environment. "

      Such is true to KaOS, as an example, as is to Arch.

      And what more sets it apart?

      Well, people need to see that for themselves, just like I was eager to experience after annihilating my 'Buntu-based distro to try something new.