Review: Chimera Linux vs ChimeraOS
Quoting: DistroWatch.com: Put the fun back into computing. Use Linux, BSD. —
Chimera Linux and ChimeraOS are essentially complete opposite in many respects. One is independently developed and highly unusual in its mixture of technologies, the other is based on Arch and fulfills a common task. It was interesting looking at two projects with virtually identical names, but almost nothing else in common.
Their approaches are entirely different too. One tries to automate and streamline everything, providing an installer which really just has one interactive step. The other requires a lot of manual work and configuration to set up the operating system. One distribution has a narrow focus, placing all of its energy into providing a minimal gaming platform. The other has more general purpose and philosophical goals such as gradually removing technological complexity, hardening the core operating system, and making the distribution more efficient.
I would say I found Chimera Linux to be the more interesting of the two projects. It is working on something unique, something interesting, something a tad weird. I like that; I like the focus on efficiency and removing complexity. Everything is, as the documentation suggests, quickly understandable. This is a "keep it simple" style distribution that manages to be feature complete, even if it does require extra manual work.
ChimeraOS was, at least to me, less interesting, less unusual. On the other hand, it was more convenient to install and it has a clear, verifiable purpose. It didn't work well for me at first, but on my second day of evaluation, ChimeraOS suddenly started working (mostly) as intended. I could plug my machine into a TV and start fetching and playing Steam games. This kind of appliance-style distribution isn't useful to me, but I can see the appeal for a lot of people who might want to use a dedicated box for gaming and nothing but gaming.