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NixOS, CachyOS, Other Distributions and Operating Systems
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XDA ☛ NixOS broke my brain, but it permanently fixed my home lab
My home lab has been working well for me, all things considered. I wasn't in a huge rush to completely revamp my container workflow, but seeing NixOS in action planted a seed. There are small annoyances I have with Proxmox that aren't fixable. Every time I broke something, recovery followed the same pattern, and it was getting on my nerves. I would restore a snapshot, reinstall a package, reapply a configuration file from memory, or dig through shell history trying to remember what I had done the last time this system was “working.”
Everything worked, but I didn't want to waste more time doing these small recovery jobs. NixOS was difficult to learn, and it took me a significant amount of time to get set up, but once I got the hang of it, it permanently fixed the issues I had with my home lab.
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XDA ☛ I ran Arch for a year before realizing I should have used CachyOS
Arch Linux kept me entertained for a full year, which is exactly the kind of compliment that’s also a warning label. I loved the control, the clarity, and the feeling that my system only contained what I intentionally put there. I also spent a surprising amount of time rebuilding “my ideal setup” after updates, driver changes, or one ill-advised tweak. Eventually, I realized I wasn’t chasing minimalism anymore, I was chasing stability without giving up the Arch ecosystem.
CachyOS is where that year of Arch tinkering finally made sense. It still feels like Arch under the hood, but it stops rewarding you for reinventing the same wheel every few weeks. The best part is that it doesn’t ask you to abandon the Arch way of doing things, it just trims the unglamorous busywork. That shift is what made me wish I’d started there.
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XDA ☛ 4 Linux distros you should use instead of upgrading to Windows 11
You're finally ready to leave Microsoft's ecosystem and try the dreaded Linux, but which distribution (distro) should you use? Like many things in the open source community, you have an almost abundance of choice, with heavy hitters like Ubuntu and newcomers including Pop!_OS. Although there's no wrong answer for which distro you should use as your first Linux installation, I've rounded up some of my personal favorites that should make the switch easy for Windows users.
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XDA ☛ Cool Linux distributions you should try out this weekend
As a staunch member of the Linux faction, I could list plenty of reasons why I love its ecosystem. But above all else, I adore the sheer number of distros I get to experiment with. And I’m not talking about Ubuntu, Debian, Mint, or other classic Linux flavors. Once you dig deep into the Linux iceberg, you’ll come across a wide variety of distributions that range from obscure and handy flavors to downright chaotic messes with surprisingly useful features. Heck, certain flavors fit all these descriptions at the same time!
So, here’s a quick piece featuring a couple of niche yet fun distributions you can chart on your distro-hopping roadmap this weekend.