I have a thinkpad lying around. I have used Linux over the last 5 years and I an NOT a power user. I use Mint and it gets the job done for me.

Lately though, the whole libre software bug bit me and I want at least one machine that is libre compatible through and through. I have heard some stuff like Parabola and GNUIX or something like that, but thought it best to ask around first before even thinking about something like this.

My work essentially involves writing documents (LaTeX and LibreOffice), doing statistical analysis, and making lectures. I access emails via Thunderbird. That’s it.

Does anyone here daily drive a fully libre laptop?

  • Sims
    13•2 days ago

    Guix is a great and modern Operating system, where most things are thought through in the FLOSS (free libre open source software) spirit. but besides the installer, you will get your hands dirty in the terminal, with a little Scheme coding (configs are in Scheme (a Lisp like language (that uses an insane amount of ()'s (!!)))) - imagine that. Anyway, standard Guix doesn’t come with proprietary drivers, so you’ll have to add the non-guix repository (gitlab/github) for many wifi drivers. Not quite as easy as other Distros, but doable if you take small steps and copy&paste your first configurations.

    I use Flatpak’s to enhance the software selection, installing from git/pypi and others is also possible.

    ONE anecdotal downside is that I have experienced a few machines where the installer fails, and I have to do it manually. Doable, but it does require a little nerdyness to fix.

    All Guix experts have apparently mind-melded with Emacs, and are nerdy compared to normal users ! The main focus is not on UX, but its a cool environment if you become interested in the inner workings of the system, or any of the nerd tool (LaTeX is a Classic, so you are almost there ;-).

    If that all gets to hairy, you could try out https://www.pantherx.org/ that are a guix based distribution. I think they have enabled non-free firmware by default, and you get a nice® desktop experience out of the box, so there’s that. I haven’t tried it yet, tho.

    Guix is both very advanced under the hood (where all the lovelyness happens), very stable, and very FLOSS, but for doing light work only, you might overshoot on raw Guix. PantherX is likely easier, but you’ll perhaps have to live with a few proprietary blobs (closed source drivers) in the kernel.

    I’m tired, sorry for errors…