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Hello!

anarcobuda - over 4 years ago -

Hey, all! I've been using Parabola GNU/Linux-libre since Oct 14 and so far have been enjoying it quite a lot. It's been a fun ride packaging, installing and configuring it and I've been trying to convince my close friends to use it as well since I've been so satisfied so far.
At first, I tried installing the OpenRC version, but I failed miserably since there is so little documentation on it so far, so I'm using systemd for now.

Before Parabola, I was using PureOS, but decided to switch OS's because I had problems with the corporate-esque nature of the Purism company.
Went for Arch Linux feeling a bit defeated because I was hoping for a really libre OS and community, and so I spent a whole day installing and configuring Arch.
I didn't spend too much time on Arch because out of curiosity I went to check the FSF endorsed OS's and realized there were literally two Arch-based GNU/Linux-libre OS's, Hyperbola and Parabola.

Since I have the same nationality as most of its designers and maintainers, of course I tried Hyperbola first, but felt like its maintenance was really slow and was shocked to see GNOME lagged to version 3.24, contrasting with the current 3.34 version (which gave me problems with certain extensions).

Then I tried Parabola and spent 3 whole days trying to install the OS, and it was a confusing, but also entertaining and learning ride.

And at the moment I feel thrilled by the OS, the packages, and specially the community, which is surprisingly very active!
I've been having a few problems with the Forums, though, as I tried to post 3 different posts in 3 different times and couldn't, apparently because of spam-protection, since I'm a new user.

So this is exactly the reason I decided to post here, and it was a great opportunity to reflect on this beautiful journey so far :')
Thank you all for this great experience, and I hope that in here I could learn enough to start helping the free software community

Attached is a screenshot of my desktop with a wallpaper I assembled in Inkscape, running GNOME with Dash-to-Panel and Arc Menu extensions


Replies (3)

RE: Hello! - bill-auger - over 4 years ago -

the key thing to remember about hyperbola is that it is an LTS distro - it is not meaningful to compare the version of some software in one distro to the software with the same name in another distro - each distro decides which version of each program best fits into their current release - debian for example, has gnome 3.30 now, and that probably will not change for some years until the next debian release - even with a rolling distro, it is not necessarily the case that the newest upstream releases of every program will all fit together nicely in the same system

there are very good reasons for holding essential parts of the system at a stable feature-set; and there are very good reasons for users to prefer it that way - there is an article on the wiki that explains it more https://wiki.parabola.nu/Rolling_vs._LTS

RE: Hello! - anarcobuda - over 4 years ago -

Oh, wow, I didn't know that Hyperbola was LTS until now. It was certainly an unfair criticism under this perspective.
I read that article you linked, and it reminded me of what happened to some Arch Linux machines, where an user installed spyware into the code and sent to the repositories.

I haven't questioned myself about the need for 'bleeding-edge' software influencing my preference for Parabola, but as far as I know, even LTS distros have some kind of 'rolling update' model, especially when it comes to security.

Whether it is Hyperbola or Parabola, though, I feel grateful to be a part of such great communities.

RE: Hello! - bill-auger - over 4 years ago -

yes, the security updates are what the wiki article refers to as
"back-ports" - the idea there is not to upgrade the entire
package though; but to take only the parts from newer versions
that fix known bugs, and apply those back onto the current stable
version

    (1-3/3)