Like the amber in “Jurassic Park,” immutable Linux distros safeguard the core system. Here’s a story about how I, like many of you, have been using Linux for a very long time. I’ve used most of the popular distros and have even seen some distros come and go over the years. I’ve run Arch, Ubuntu,… continue reading.
For me, I’ll follow up here after giving these distros a much more extensive hands-on comparison. It’s still too early in testing and trying them out to say which one might win me over.
That said, my answer to 5/5 of those questions is, yes!
My interested in Linux these days, is that I just want a setup that helps me get work done with minimal fuss:
A rolling release, 10 workspaces at boot with keyboard shortcuts (even more important than tiling WM), an immutable core that does not get in the way of my apps, and atomic updates. That would check all my boxes.
Excellent write up @hydn. I am looking into some of these technologies. I would say, that I don’t think I am ready for the immutable desktop just yet.
I see myself as you were probably 5 years ago, still enjoying a bit of the tinkering and tweaking, especially with the key bindings of tiling window managers.
However I have never taken a serious look at Flatpaks or other similar technologies. I might take a browse around them to learn a little more.
@toadie im still testing them out. It’s going to be several months before I can decide firstly if I will switch or which immutable distro I’m drawn to most.
Bluefin is part of the Universal Blue ecosystem. Universal Blue serves as a collection of spins based on Fedora Silverblue, offering a variety of customized, immutable desktop experiences tailored to different workflows and user preferences.
I may end up building my own using blue-build.org if that results is a true set-it-and-forget-it experience for years to come. But for now it’s something new for me to learn and wrap my head around.
Maybe thats part of what was missing with Linux distros as @shybry747 alluded to; over several years some of us will eventually try so many traditional distros that the appeal and buzz can wear off. The return on the time investment involved can be less appealing over time.
Immutable offers a new approach of choices being made for the user prior to install. While Linux has always been about choices, that very freedom also has been part of its weakness as mentioned in the first ~ 4 mins of that Yourube video I linked to in the article.
Exciting times. I’ve been learning so much in just the past 24 hours.
Yeah I’ve noticed that too @hydn
I am currently testing some Fedora Immutable. Simply installing or updating software via the terminal is not possible.
I can’t get any further without the documentation.
It feels like I’m not in control.
I’ll keep testing. Maybe that would be an alternative for my wife who just wants to work and watch video.
Ohh thanks, I didn’t know Manjaro. Also, it’s been confirmed that Ubuntu is working on an immutable distro as well.
Yes, your wife sounds like a good candidate; it’s really to be installed on the machine you really just want to work on top of Linux to get stuff done, rather than be working on Linux itself.
@hydn Nice writeup!
Given you mentioned Flatcar, I would suggest you also look at Talos Linux https://www.talos.dev/ and https://kairos.io/ - both Kubernetes specific immutable OS’s.
(Disclaimer - I work at Sidero Labs, who are behind the open source Talos Linux.)
@Steve_Francis feel free to showcase Sidero Labs and/or Talos Linux in our showcase category. Welcome to our community I’ve bumped your Trust Level up to 2, since you signed up with a company email.
Often the most useful part of my articles are in the forum comments. Thanks for the feedback with the distros.
No, they are definitely server OS’s.
They would be under the article section " Best Immutable Linux Distros for Servers", along with the other server OS’s there.
I am surprised that in an article about immutable OSes there is no mention of NixOs. The Nix package manager boasts to be the most complete package manager out there and its configuration handling is minimally rough to be honest.
So far it has become my OS for the little homelab and the main development machine, the times I’ve crashed it, just reboot to a previous version and it’s business as usual.
I’ve bumped your Trust Level up to 2, since you signed up with a company email.
Thanks for the feedback with the distros. 