Was Solus love at first sight or what was your first impressions?

Brucehankins

I first heard about Solus while reading an article about it and the Budgie desktop. I grabbed an .iso and installed, I was on 3.999 I think. I had previously been using Elementary, but was in search of something performant and beautiful to run on basically netbook hardware from a decade ago. I had been hopping around, trying all the lightweight stuff. The closest I came was Mint Cinnamon, but it still lagged a bit. I did Peppermint, Lubuntu (the LXDE version), and others but they lacked the visual appeal for me. Mint almost ticked the visual box and almost ticked the usability box. Along comes Solus and Budgie and it just worked so well. I left for about two weeks, tried another XFCE distro, but missed the look and feel of Budgie. Now I've got that machine (very upgraded since then), another desktop, and a laptop all on Solus. My tastes have changed some and I use Plasma as my daily DE now, but Solus is home. I still like to install distros in a vm and play around, but nothing has tempted me to leave Solus behind and I don't feel like it ever will.

xjdwc

YES! Literally love at first sight....

I've always had a natural affinity towards computers & technology, for long as I can remember. I love learning and exploring the world of technology. All I knew was windows up until.

It was ~ 2016 when I became aware/awake to the realities of online/digital privacy and security. I responded in a serious way. I became curious about VPN's. Down the rabbit hole I went....

Fast forward to mid-late 2017, I started exploring the Linux universe. No experience or knowledge with Linux, period. Early into my exploration, without testing any distro, just browsing from a distance. I noticed Ubuntu, Linux Mint etc. I think I tried installing Ubuntu first but it didn't want to cooperate with my PC, so I moved on. Still yet to actually try Linux, I managed to stumble upon Elementary OS. I began to test it and was really attracted to it. My first impressions with Linux, I was blown away. I felt like I had found a hidden treasure no one knew existed. So much so that I thought it was the one. But before I could even really settle in with eOS, something happened.

I remember watching YouTube video's on Elementary OS/Linux, then, checking out the links at the end of a video & the recommended video's on the side (I can't remember exactly), a certain thumbnail got my attention. Once I clicked on the video. It was genuinely love at first sight. A true godsend. The aesthetic of Solus 3 budgie is what attracted me to Solus, then once I started using Solus, the complete UX is what made me stay. I believe the video was new, because of Solus 3 Budgie just being released. Haven't jumped ship since (Just changed from Budgie to Plasma).

So, for me, my introduction to Linux was basically Solus Budgie. My starting/reference point.
I'm home.
Sounds over dramatic 😆

For reference, here is the exact video which made me fall in love with Solus:

brent

xjdwc those big screen bevels make me feel old🙂

h3o

Long story short, it was 'like' at first site for me. Took some time to grow on my but it's been my sole Linux OS for 7+ months (previously had it dual booted w/ Fedora) and can't imagine using anything else now. Have to thank all the passionate members here for keeping me intrigued with their love for the distro while I slowly found my way lol

lf-araujo

Installed for testing, checking out what it could offer. Mostly seeking the speed I found on that dead intel distro , forgot the name. Sure enough, several speed optimizations are used in Solus. Devs are absolutely reasonable in their choices, not bleeding edge, but up-to-date across the board. Sound didn't work at first, but was fixed in updates. Three years in, and I am surprised this is not the most popular distro. Also gaming.

elfprince

lf-araujo You mean the Clear Linux by Intel?

tomscharbach

I used Ubuntu from 2006 to 2017. About then, Ubuntu made some changes I wasn't willing to live with, so I started looking around. I ran into Solus Budgie almost by accident, but it was love at first sight, and I've used Solus Budgie as my distro since then. The more I use it, the more I like it.

I tested a Ubuntu derivative (Zorin OS 16) for a particular use case at a railroad museum where I am a volunteer geek. I tested for about six months. The more I tested, the more I came to appreciate Solus.

DrunkenAlcoholic

I remember watching some youtuber discussing a new desktop environment called budgie, it was in beta stage and I believe you could download and try it on ubuntu or some other similar distro. Since then I waited until Solus made their first public release at the beginning of 2016 with version 1.0, I have used Solus with budgie ever since, with the occasional jump to arch off and on during that time until now. before Solus I was a Manjaro user since their first public release 0.8 , I kinda stick to thing that I like

wingman-4

I was using Budgie via Ubuntu when it was added to their repositories in about 2017. I then became interested in rolling releases and after expeimenting with Deepin and Manjaro I read of Solus and tried it. A win/win, the Budgie DE on a very stable semi rolling release. I had put Win 10 back on a laptop until yesterday when Solus Plasma was installed for duration of the device's life.

I continue to use the Budgie De on a different distribution on the desktop. Needed to enable secure boot for Win 11 on a separate HDD.

Scotty-Trees

The year was 2018, the leaves around me were starting to turn a delicious color of mustard yellow when all of a sudden my iMac graphics card decided it no longer wanted to go on living. Left with this devastating dilemma, I searched around the web for grief counselling of my fallen silicon hero, but mostly searched around for best Linux laptops with graphics cards and bought myself an Acer laptop to install Linux. At the time in 2018 the top distros were Manjaro, Mint, Elementary, Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, but having tried all of them in the past I wanted something a little bit different. Solus was in the top 10 rankings of Distrowatch at the time, so I gave it a few spins testing it out. Being a Gnome user, I found the Budgie desktop based on GTK super elegant, yet simple and it just worked so well out of the box.

Now the stable rolling release model is what really compelled me in the first place to give Solus a go, but what I "feel in love with" wasn't Budgie like you might think, oh no, on the contrary it was something far more auspicious! It was the easy accessibility to talk directly to the developers of Solus. The openness and receptiveness was new and foreign to me, but I was absolutely enthralled with being a part of a Linux community. I suppose this isn't a big deal for some, but at the time being able to talk to the devs, mention an issue in IRC, have them confirm it, and push a fix, literally blew my mind wide open. It's like woah, wow, wait a minute! It's like... I actually kinda helped out in my own very small way. And that felt amazing!

Knowing I could help out directly, even in a small and limited capacity like mentioned bugs, was a game changer for me. I guess for some you could just say... uh yeah that's how open source communities work Scotty! But for myself that was my first introduction to a community like that, so I was hooked from then on! Also, it didn't hurt that the rolling release was very stable, the community was super helpful and nice, and Budgie used a lot of the GTK apps I used in my Gnome days so it was relatively easy to feel at home on Solus. I know I've said it a lot before, but my thanks goes out to the devs for their continued commitment and dedication and for the maintainers/community members that helped me out a long the way. Nvidia/kernel updates never made for a dull moment that's for sure 😛

craigtoyoracer

Liked it right from the start, and have never stray'ed. 😁

Surprising how many moved here in 2017 and probably most from Ubuntu 🤣

brent

craigtoyoracer and some of us straight from W7/10 🙂

brent

craigtoyoracer Surprising how many moved here in 2017 and probably most from Ubuntu 🤣

What was the in-joke there? Been wondering for days but haven't bothered to look. Some famous 07 fubar if I had to guess?

tomscharbach

craigtoyoracer Surprising how many moved here in 2017 and probably most from Ubuntu

brent What was the in-joke there? Been wondering for days but haven't bothered to look. Some famous 07 fubar if I had to guess?

Solus OS 3 was released in 2017, got lots of good reviews, and moved up to #7 on the DistroWatch ranking. I think that prompted a lot of people who might never had given Solus a thought to take a look at Solus.

jppelt

So I've been using Linux off/on since 2001 - slackware version (? - anyone remember all those CDs required to install). I am purely an aficionado, not a developer or programmer. I think I've used most mainstream distros since with the exception of Gentoo. I once made it a point to try Distrowatch's top 50. FreeBSd and Haiku have historically tested my tech limits although I do have a soft spot for Haiku. My favorite distro was #! until it was discontinued by the main Dev, Philip Newborough (aka corenominal) back in 2015. I was going through my KISS phase. I've been 100% linux at home user since 2016 and now only buy hardware from linux vendors such as System76.

Hard to believe it took me until October 2020 to "discover" Solus. I was using Manjaro KDE at the time and I think I ran across Solus in one of those ITSFOSS distros you need to try articles...maybe it was TechRadar....who knows. Since, I've only hopped on my laptop a few times (Bunsen Labs & Mageia - was so good years ago but seems stuck in the past) and once on my main desktop (Pop - I do have S76 hardware) when I borked my install via some ill advised 'tweaks' and issues with HPLIP. Now, I am to the point where I've deleted all my isos - use to keep a folder with well over a dozen ISO to image with Etcher on a USB drive.

The things I love the most about Solus, in no particular order: 1) eopkg, 2) home of budgie (and Raven) hence well maintained, 3) curated and really well considered set of apps (Josh has converted some of my taste with his selections - MPV as one example), 4) rolling release (has become a must for me over the years), 5) incredible stability given #4 (only time it failed was due to my own poor choices), 6) community, 7) access to developers, 8) super quick/responsive distro and 9) independent, not based on X, based on Y, in turn based on Z and 10) not attached to some corporate entity.

I also just really like the vision as set by B and Josh. I am in no hurry. The no ETA thing was initially off putting but given the product, it now makes complete sense.

I am sure I missed a few things but those are the things that really won me over. The less than half dozen times I've hopped on my laptop I came back within a few days. I just feel at home on Solus. It is incredible that such a small team created and maintain such a powerful distro. I happily donate to their OpenCollective.

Solus is home. I really hope it continues and remains true to its spirit 10 years from now. I've never felt more comfortable using a distro and associated DE. It is intuitive and clean. I only wish my work issued W11 machine was half as good.

Thank you Team Solus...this his hard work that I cannot full appreciate but I do fully embrace and appreciate the product of your labor - Solus Budgie is home.

Staudey

jppelt My favorite distro was #! until it was discontinued by the main Dev, Philip Newborough (aka corenominal) back in 2015

Off-topic but holy hell it has already been that long? That means my short stint on #! must've been at least seven years ago. Time flies.

synth-ruiner

jppelt My favorite distro was #! until it was discontinued by the main Dev, Philip Newborough (aka corenominal) back in 2015

apparently Bunsenlabs Linux is a community continuation of crunchbang, if that's of interest to anyone. I haven't used it myself...

Skyeun

It was love at first sight, came for Budgie and stayed for everything else (devs, eopkg, rolling, curated, community, ...). Solus is also what made me switch from Windows (never came back since now a bit more than 5 years), other distributions just never ticked with me.

Call me silly, but I just couldn't get past the first impression on other distributions. Be it the application management system (yuck apt), the process needed to contribute, available DEs (Gnome isn't my thing, I was never able to be productive with KDE, the rest isn't my cup of tea), and simply the fact that most things didn't worked out of the box, all those are what made me jump ship everytime.

I'm really thankful to Josh and Beatrice as well as the community for their work, Solus is da best!

jppelt

synth-ruiner I've used Bunsen. Lithium is their latest release. They are really cool. That and #!++ are the two projects trying to keep the spirit of #! alive. I lean Bunsen but ask Jay Lacroix on LearnLinuxTV and he is all in with ++.

tresjam

while searching a linux distro for me I read an article about ubuntu budgie and tested it. I felt in love with the budgie desktop. After then i read about the solus project. Now I'm using Solus Budgie since 2017 and it seems that I don't change it for a loooooong time....

(wrote a Lenovo Legion 5 17 with Solus Budgie)

brent

tomscharbach appreciate your reply, that makes sense. some of us got here from unconventional roads circa 2016/7...when I quit Win I studied the BIG distros....everything was a fork of a fork of a fork. and too clumsy on the eyes.
I went to Distrowatch intrigued and made "Independent" my ONLY criteria....nothing much there but Solus at the time. Burned the iso, booted, love at first sight!

edit/sp