4 ms·

Is anybody using this? What do you like about it versus a more typical linux or unix? Is hardware support good enough to run on a relatively recent laptop?

not2b 6y ago
That isn't the purpose. It isn't for end users to run. It's to be able to have confidence that the object code in a software distribution depends only on the source code, and not on something that a clever attacker has managed to sneak in, using a variant of the Thompson "trusting trust" attack.
- danieldk 6y ago
  I think dilandau is asking if anyone is using Guix.
rekado 6y ago
I'm using Guix System on new Dell servers, old Sun servers, a Dell laptop, a Purism Librem laptop, an old Thinkpad --- it works just fine. I think the fear of missing drivers when using Linux without blobs is extremely overstated. Yes, certain WiFi cards won't work without blobs, and yes, the 3D graphics situation is not great thanks to NVIDIA and AMD. > What do you like about it versus a more typical linux or unix? Oh, so many things... But most important for me is stateless configuration, reproducible builds, no-nonsense application bundles without all that Dockeresk cruft via "guix pack", ad-hoc environments, etc.
- jabirali 6y ago
  > 3D graphics situation is not great thanks to NVIDIA and AMD. AMD is now one of the good guys when it comes to open source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AMDGPU https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AMDGPU Basically, since 2015, AMD has offered an official driver under an MIT license for Linux and *BSD. Personally, I'm definitely choosing AMD for my next laptop :).
  - davexunit 6y ago
    Unless things have changed recently, AMD GPUs still require proprietary firmware and thus do not work on a fully free system. I bought an AMD GPU a few years ago to try it out and it didn't work.
    - tadfisher 6y ago
      As do Intel[1] and Nvidia[2]. [1]: https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/firmware/linux-firmware.git/tree/LICENSE.i915 https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/firmware/lin... [2]: https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/firmware/linux-firmware.git/tree/LICENCE.nvidia https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/firmware/lin...
janneke 6y ago
I have been using GNU Guix for over 4 years now on a modern Dell laptop (exchanged the WIFI card to keep my freedom), two older thinkpads, home server. Since three years our development team at work uses Guix; the reproducible offload builds are awesome. Extending the package graph with your own version of packages is very helpful. Since about a year we also use server(s) at Digital Ocean running GNU Guix.
zelphirkalt 6y ago
I am mostly using GUIX package manager as a package manager on multiple foreign distros. It makes it very easy to get up to date versions of free software, when the repositories of your distro lack behind. I've also experimented recently with using it for creating environments (actually called profiles in GUIX) for programming projects. That also works. There is a lot more to discover for me, once I get around to it.
dannyobrien 6y ago
I set it up on my laptop as an experiment, and am greatly enjoying using it: it's nice to work on a modern, well thought-out distribution in its early stages, with lots of opportunities to contribute. The ease by which you can manage and roll-out new configurations means that it's slowly spreading to other systems I manage. It's also interesting to work on a distribution that takes the GNU project seriously: the developers default to using GNU software where possible, and are clearly striving to make a coherent operating system out of its parts. This is less an ideological position than it sounds -- there's a lot of gold buried in nearly half a century of GNU work, and I've enjoyed learning about it all, and seeing how the Guix team go about improving and modernising it.
jnxx 6y ago
Just a reminder, you can also use Guix as a package manager only on top of, for example, a Debian or Arch system (I am using it currently on top of both). This works very much like Python's pip / virtualenv, and is extremely helpful if you use many different libraries and new tools when developing software, or if you want to try out new things without changing your base system, and without wanting to set up a full VM.

not2b 6y ago

That isn't the purpose. It isn't for end users to run. It's to be able to have confidence that the object code in a software distribution depends only on the source code, and not on something that a clever attacker has managed to sneak in, using a variant of the Thompson "trusting trust" attack.

danieldk 6y ago
I think dilandau is asking if anyone is using Guix.

rekado 6y ago

I'm using Guix System on new Dell servers, old Sun servers, a Dell laptop, a Purism Librem laptop, an old Thinkpad --- it works just fine. I think the fear of missing drivers when using Linux without blobs is extremely overstated. Yes, certain WiFi cards won't work without blobs, and yes, the 3D graphics situation is not great thanks to NVIDIA and AMD. > What do you like about it versus a more typical linux or unix? Oh, so many things... But most important for me is stateless configuration, reproducible builds, no-nonsense application bundles without all that Dockeresk cruft via "guix pack", ad-hoc environments, etc.

jabirali 6y ago
> 3D graphics situation is not great thanks to NVIDIA and AMD. AMD is now one of the good guys when it comes to open source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AMDGPU https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AMDGPU Basically, since 2015, AMD has offered an official driver under an MIT license for Linux and *BSD. Personally, I'm definitely choosing AMD for my next laptop :).
- davexunit 6y ago
  Unless things have changed recently, AMD GPUs still require proprietary firmware and thus do not work on a fully free system. I bought an AMD GPU a few years ago to try it out and it didn't work.
  - tadfisher 6y ago
    As do Intel[1] and Nvidia[2]. [1]: https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/firmware/linux-firmware.git/tree/LICENSE.i915 https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/firmware/lin... [2]: https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/firmware/linux-firmware.git/tree/LICENCE.nvidia https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/firmware/lin...

janneke 6y ago

I have been using GNU Guix for over 4 years now on a modern Dell laptop (exchanged the WIFI card to keep my freedom), two older thinkpads, home server. Since three years our development team at work uses Guix; the reproducible offload builds are awesome. Extending the package graph with your own version of packages is very helpful. Since about a year we also use server(s) at Digital Ocean running GNU Guix.

zelphirkalt 6y ago

I am mostly using GUIX package manager as a package manager on multiple foreign distros. It makes it very easy to get up to date versions of free software, when the repositories of your distro lack behind. I've also experimented recently with using it for creating environments (actually called profiles in GUIX) for programming projects. That also works. There is a lot more to discover for me, once I get around to it.

dannyobrien 6y ago

I set it up on my laptop as an experiment, and am greatly enjoying using it: it's nice to work on a modern, well thought-out distribution in its early stages, with lots of opportunities to contribute. The ease by which you can manage and roll-out new configurations means that it's slowly spreading to other systems I manage. It's also interesting to work on a distribution that takes the GNU project seriously: the developers default to using GNU software where possible, and are clearly striving to make a coherent operating system out of its parts. This is less an ideological position than it sounds -- there's a lot of gold buried in nearly half a century of GNU work, and I've enjoyed learning about it all, and seeing how the Guix team go about improving and modernising it.

jnxx 6y ago

Just a reminder, you can also use Guix as a package manager only on top of, for example, a Debian or Arch system (I am using it currently on top of both). This works very much like Python's pip / virtualenv, and is extremely helpful if you use many different libraries and new tools when developing software, or if you want to try out new things without changing your base system, and without wanting to set up a full VM.