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Review: An alternative OS for work and play
In recent weeks I have enjoyed exploring some lesser-known open source operating systems. At the end of August I was playing with Tribblix and then, a short time later, I found myself trying to get Debian's Hurd port running. These experiences got me thinking that, for the most part, getting my tasks accomplished with Linux distributions is a bit too, well, easy.
Not that Linux distributions aren't interesting, many of them are, but (in most cases) if a Linux distribution works well enough to install and launch a desktop environment then I know I will be able to get on-line, consume multimedia, perform my work tasks, and maybe do some gaming. There isn't much of a challenge involved and so I tend not to go into the gritty details of my trials.
On the other hand, when I try out non-Linux operating systems my approach is different. In those situations I'm usually just testing to see if the operating system will boot, get on-line, and maybe perform some basic tasks. I don't expect most non-Linux open source operating systems to do everything I need my computer to do; I just want to see if they can perform some basics, in any environment (either on real hardware or in a virtual machine).
At the end of August I decided to try a slightly different approach. I wanted to see if a lesser-used, open source system could be used to do everything I currently do on Linux. I wanted to see if another operating system would not only get on-line and perform some common tasks, but whether could it be used to accomplish all of my (admittedly niche) day-to-day work?