I just got a new SSD and decided to reinstall Solus, but before that, I wanted to give some other distros a whirl. One of the ones that I tried was Pop!_OS. It has some interesting features, and IMO, having those features in Solus would be a huge advantage:

  • Instead of having different downloads for various DEs, Pop!_OS provides a download for Intel/AMD and a download for Nvidia. This streamlines the post-installation process by eliminating the need to download and install specific drivers. You install, and you're ready to go. I find that Budgie is a sane DE, modern and customisable. It's all most users should really need, and you can always install another DE if you really can't live without Gnome, KDE, Mate, or Plasma... IMO, there is more value in differentiating the hardware rather than differentiating desktop environments, especially for new users. A newcomer to Linux knows what hardware he has. He doesn't necessarily know which DE to choose.
  • The Nvidia version has this cool switch that allows you to switch between the on-chip graphics and the Nvidia chip. I personally use the Nvidia all the time, but for some people, this could be very useful as a battery saving option.
  • The disk encryption. I know Solus has this too, if you choose LVM (I think Pop!_OS is LVM by default), but in this case, you unlock the disk in a nice graphical environment with the localized keyboard. I don't know how they pull the trick of having a graphical environment before unlocking the drive. In Solus, it's an ugly text screen and it defaults to the QWERTY keyboard, which sucks if you have a different layout, so I don't use it.

On the other hand, I can't stand the Gnome desktop. Pop!_OS is much less customisable than Budgie (many extensions didn't work), and I'm not too fond of the Ubuntu stuff that it's based on. And it has a stupid name.
So my dream OS is still Solus, but I was wondering if any of these features could find their way into Solus.
I'd also like to know if other people have encountered some unique features in other distros that they would like to see in Solus.

    Nibb31

    Instead of having different downloads for various DEs, Pop!_OS provides a download for Intel/AMD and a download for Nvidia.

    Yea, no. Having the proprietary drivers on-disk is legally questionable, which is one of many reasons why we don't do that (not to mention we provide multiple NVIDIA branches, each with a varying range of hardware support, and some NVIDIA cards don't even need the proprietary driver). Building on that, having 6 or 8 ISOs (two for each Edition, counting in Plasma) would just introduce unnecessary confusion and make it more painful to maintain and rapidly iterate on new ISOs.

    Pop_OS has a single desktop environment and a total of two images.

    I find that Budgie is a sane DE, modern and customisable. It's all most users should really need, and you can always install another DE if you really can't live without Gnome, KDE, Mate, or Plasma

    You're entitled to have that opinion and I'm entitled to tell you that you're wrong. It is not up to you to decide what users "really" need. We are not removing the other editions, period. I've had this discussion multiple times before with people claiming we're just wasting our time on the other editions and supporting other desktop environments, and frankly it's getting tiring to hear. Some of us want to support or use other desktop environments.

    The Nvidia version has this cool switch that allows you to switch between the on-chip graphics and the Nvidia chip. I personally use the Nvidia all the time, but for some people, this could be very useful as a battery saving option.

    This is no different than basically uninstalling the driver to disable the module. Not really fancy.

    In Solus, it's an ugly text screen and it defaults to the QWERTY keyboard, which sucks if you have a different layout, so I don't use it.

    Yes, this is something we can easily solve with a new installer (the QWERTY keyboard thing)..

      Fair enough... I didn't mean to antagonize. I'm extremely grateful for the work you put into Solus 🙂

        Nibb31 It's just that the team has heard these things many times and it becomes frustrating to see them over and over.

            Justin Understand the frustration, but not everyone knows that though. Me, I like choices. Thank you to the development team.