Why use immutable Linux ? And which one ?

lemmyreader@lemmy.ml to Linux@lemmy.ml – 101 points –

What are the pros and cons for desktops ? EDIT : Thanks all. I'll try Silverblue, bazzite and more.

81

You are viewing a single comment
View all comments

I'm using Bluefin right now, but I was using bazzite before that. I'd say the biggest benefit is that it's hard to break permanently. Sure, you can still mess up your home directory pretty bad, but system level stuff is nice and stable. The biggest problem is compatability and software instalation. Flatpak and toolbox/distrobox are nowhere near as good as the documentation makes them out to be. I'd suggest making sure you select a distribution with Nix pre-installed so it's still possible to install stuff.

(Edit: There is apparently a workaround for the following issue, though I have not tried if yet.) Just be aware that some things are just plain impossible with atomic distos, and you can't change it. Like the login screen. You can't change that at all, whether it's the background or the default zoom level. It's part of the system packages and can't be fixed.

The part about changing the login screen seems to be not entirely true. There is also this tool that claims to be able to generate rpm from sddm themes that you then can layer onto your system image. Take this with a grain of salt though, as I haven't tried either method because I honestly don't care how my login screen looks.

Like the login screen. You can’t change that at all, whether it’s the background or the default zoom level, it’s part of the system packages and can’t be fixed.

in /etc/fstab (ublue-kinoite, ymmv):

# enable sddm write accesss and therefore good themes
/var/sddm /usr/share/sddm none rbind 0 0

I've been trying Bazzite out for a few days, and it's really neat. Coming from a standard distro, I like the idea that I can install pretty much anything with the combo of Flatpak, AppImages, and Distrobox. I was unable to install DaVinci Resolve on the Fedora Distrobox however, and the lack of Snaps - although I much prefer Flatpaks or AppImages - kinda sucks because it would be nice to have the Snap for Flutter...

I don't like saying it but: Snap within a distrobox?

I've heard (but not been able to verify) that it's less secure, somehow. Although I would imagine the containerization would, somehow, mitigate this.