Fellow open-source enthusiasts,
We all have that mental backlog of promising projects — those distros, tools, and systems we keep tabs on but haven’t yet deployed. Perhaps you’re waiting for that mythical free weekend, lacking a spare/compatible device or just holding out until that one killer feature drops.
FWIW, my ‘someday’ list includes:
Operating Systems/Distros:
- Gentoo – Source-based meta-distribution driven by Portage and USE-flags for near-granular control; binary packages also available if you’d rather skip marathon compile sessions.
- Guix System – GNU’s functional, declarative distro built with Guile Scheme.
- MocaccinoOS – Image-based, container-built distro that originated from Gentoo/Sabayon but now uses the Luet package manager and OTA-like updates.
- NixOS – Declarative Linux distribution using the Nix package language.
- Qubes OS – Security-focused OS that uses Xen virtualization to compartmentalize your digital life into isolated environments with a unified desktop.
- Spectrum – In-development security-oriented OS built on Nixpkgs using KVM-based microVMs for compartmentalization.
Desktop Environments/Window Managers:
- COSMIC - System76’s comprehensive Wayland-native desktop environment written in Rust.
- Hyprland – Dynamic tiling Wayland compositor with scriptable layouts and impressive animations.
System Security/Firmware:
- coreboot – Open source alternative to proprietary BIOS/UEFI firmware (though recent x86 still needs vendor blobs such as FSP/AGESA).
- Heads – coreboot + Linux payload providing TPM-measured, tamper-evident boot for select laptops.
- nix-mineral - NixOS module for convenient system hardening.
- TrenchBoot – Framework for dynamic root-of-trust (DRTM) launches via Intel TXT, AMD SKINIT, or SEV-ES.
Applications/Tools:
- Android Translation Layer - Run Android apps natively on Linux (still in early development).
- Emacs – The self-extensible Lisp machine masquerading as a text editor; someday I’ll embrace the config rabbit hole.
- Olive – FOSS non-linear video editor in alpha.
- systemd-sysext – Overlay read-only
/usrand/(or/etcvia confext) with extra images; extensions auto-activate at boot or can be merged/unmerged/refreshed live with a single command. Handy for immutable distros, though it’s additive-only and not a full package manager.
What open-source projects are you admiring from afar? Time to compare notes!
If it fails again, try these two tricks:
- Install without swap and create a swap manually later.
- When the installer gets to creating the swap, which iirc is about 49%, spam swapoff in your terminal.
I installed last October and had to do this, so it could be fixed now. For some reason NixOS mounts the swap immediately after creating it, which bugs the install process.
Huuh ! That’s somehow similar to how calamares treats LVMs. And also a hack/wacky workaround similar how to fix LVM installation
- mount every partition similar as chrooting
cdto each directory in a separated shell for each directory (keeps the mount points busy)- swapon the swap partition
Only then you are able to install your OS with calamares on a LVM filesystem hierarchy…Except this is a 5 years long issue/bug and they are discussing to drop LVM support :/.
Sorry for hijacking your comment with something unrelated to the actual post, I’m just amazed on how Linux fixes/workarounds can be odd at times.
Thanks, that might be helpful. Is this bug related to VirtualBox installation or Raspberry Pi?
Have you reported this bug somewhere? It might be a good idea to let nixos team know this problem occurs
