GNU/Linux Distributions and Operating Systems: Immutable Options, NixOS, Arch, Vanilla OS, and More

posted by Roy Schestowitz on Feb 15, 2026

• XDA ☛ Immutable Linux distros solve a problem most home users don't have

  If this is truly the year of the Linux desktop, immutable distros are playing a part in that. Projects built around read-only base systems, atomic updates, and easy rollbacks are increasingly framed as the future of Linux for the average user. The pitch is compelling on paper: an operating system you can’t accidentally break, updates that either work or cleanly revert, and a system that behaves more like an appliance than a computer.

  As elegant as that design is, it doesn't actually solve a problem that home users have. More people that aren't knowledgeable about Linux won't be doing things that cause unrecoverable damage to their OS, and would be better off with a normal distro that gives them a bit more freedom.

• XDA ☛ I found a free tool that makes setting up NixOS instances incredibly simple

  NixOS is famous for letting you define an entire system in configuration, then rebuild it with the confidence of a repeatable recipe. It is also infamous for making newcomers feel as if they have wandered into a language lab run by a very stern librarian. The gap is not the idea; it’s the on-ramp. The faster you can get a working instance into the environment you actually use, the sooner NixOS starts feeling practical.

  That’s why nixos-generators is such a useful little utility. It takes a NixOS configuration and produces output images that match real-world targets, like installers, virtual machines, and other deployable artifacts. Instead of treating “NixOS install” as a single path, it lets you pick the destination first and then generate the appropriate build for it. In practice, it turns experimentation into something you can do in an afternoon rather than the weekend.

• XDA ☛ I switched from Arch to something boring, but I still want to switch back

  For the past several months, I've been using Arch Linux as the operating system of choice on my laptop, and I've been enjoying it. But a rolling release like Arch isn't for everyone. There are some risks that come with getting updates as quickly and frequently as you do on Arch, and things don't get as much testing, so compatibility can sometimes be a problem.

  So I decided to try and switch to something a little more "boring" — and more importantly, more stable — and I switched to Aurora. This is one of the most stable options you can get since it's an immutable operating system based on Universal Blue. And while I appreciate the stability and reliability, I still find myself wishing to go back.

• XDA ☛ Vanilla OS 2 lets me run Ubuntu, Fedora, and Arch apps at the same time

  Linux is a big and rich ecosystem, but one of the annoying things about how flexible it is as a platform is the disparity that can appear between using the different flavors of Linux out there. Even app compatibility can be a problem, because distros like Debian and Ubuntu support DEB packages, others like Fedora may use RPM packages, and others still may just rely on a package manager, and even those package managers are different between distros. There are "cross-platform" packages like Flatpak, but not every app is available in that format.

  So what if there was a system that could run all of these app types at the same time, and even added support for Android apps for good measure? That's where Vanilla OS 2 comes in, and it's kind of amazing. I spent some time with this platform and came away very impressed with what it can do and how easy it is to use.

• XDA ☛ Linux distros are finally competing on design, and it shows

  Linux desktops used to treat design as something you handled after installation finished. If the wallpaper was decent and the panel landed where your muscle memory expected it to, that was considered a win. Everything else was a pile of options, plus a quiet assumption that you would enjoy sorting them out. That era is fading fast. Today, more distros ship with a deliberate look, a consistent tone, and a clear opinion about how the desktop should feel.

  This shift is not only about aesthetics. Design has become shorthand for trust, usability, and everyday comfort, because those things are tightly linked. When a distro feels coherent, it signals that someone cared about the whole experience, not just the kernel version and driver support. It also raises expectations across the board, because once you’ve lived with a polished setup, you notice every jagged edge elsewhere. The pressure created by that contrast is now reshaping the ecosystem.