💾 Archived View for gemlog.blue › users › kenny › 1660034525.gmi captured on 2024-03-21 at 18:40:51. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content
⬅️ Previous capture (2023-01-29)
-=-=-=-=-=-=-
proprietary software is horrible software you should never use; including proprietary operatings systems most people use like MacOS or MS windows. When I tell people about the horrible actions of MS windows to people, usually they start a unneeded fight or say windows is better, it's not. Windows is a horrible operating system which tells you your hardware is "monitored" which they never explain WHO it is monitored by. MS windows is also one of the most bloated operating systems i've used. It includes over 20 pieces of non libre software preinstalled, and a uninstallable browser "Microsoft Edge" which is just a google chrome copy from Microsoft; And the amount of ram MS windows uses is horrible; using over 70 percent memory on idle. Now at this point if youre still reading youre wondering (What operating system do i use then?) ill list a few here
Parabola GNU/linux-libre
Parabola is one of the operating systems i will always recommend; comes with a gui installer with lxde and a maunal "arch way" installer; and is also based on arch so it has the upsides of the AUR and pacman; but parabola will only work on fully libre hardware as it uses the linux-libre kernel (something like a thinkpad thats librebooted.)
Artix GNU/linux
This is also arch based; which is basically arch without systemd and a gui installer for all the main desktops (xfce kde and cinnamon are some) and it is the operating system i use due to the laptop i use not having wifi support from parabola.
Trisquel GNU/linux-libre
this is the only Ubuntu / Debian based distro i will recommend, due to Debian allowing non free software and Ubuntu being a "newbie" user bait which has spied on its users(https://yewtu.be/watch?v=CP8CNp-vksc). Comes with installers for mate, cinnamon, and kde and is basically the Debian version of Parabola.
Hyperbola
Hyperbola, like Parabola is a distro based off arch but also has security from Debian and is LTS like ubuntu. Hyperbola also has plans of forking the Openbsd kernel to use instead of Linux-libre, personally i don't care if they switch to a openbsd based kernel or stay with linux-libre; as long as the operating system is free; i'll use it.
Links to each distro here:
https://www.parabola.nu/
https://www.hyperbola.info/
https://trisquel.info/
https://artixlinux.org/
Now to the distros you shouldn't ever use. Most of this will be from https://www.gnu.org/distros/common-distros.html.
Ubuntu
Ubuntu maintains specific repositories of nonfree software, and Canonical expressly promotes and recommends nonfree software under the Ubuntu name in some of their distribution channels. Ubuntu offers the option to install only free packages, which means it also offers the option to install nonfree packages too. In addition, the version of Linux, the kernel, included in Ubuntu contains firmware blobs.
Ubuntu appears to permit commercial redistribution of exact copies with the trademarks; removal of the trademarks is required only for modified versions. That is an acceptable policy for trademarks. However, the same page, further down, makes a vague and ominous statement about “Ubuntu patents,” without giving enough details to show whether that constitutes aggression or not.
That page spreads confusion by using the misleading term “intellectual property rights,” which falsely presumes that trademark law and patent law and several other laws belong in one single conceptual framework. Use of that term is harmful, without exception, so after making a reference to someone else's use of the term, we should always reject it. However, that is not a substantive issue about Ubuntu as a GNU/Linux distribution.
Arch
Arch has no policy against distributing nonfree software through their normal channels, and nonfree blobs are shipped with their kernel, Linux.
Debian
Debian's Social Contract states the goal of making Debian entirely free software, and Debian conscientiously keeps nonfree software out of the official Debian system. However, Debian also maintains a repository of nonfree software. According to the project, this software is “not part of the Debian system,” but the repository is hosted on many of the project's main servers, and people can readily find these nonfree packages by browsing Debian's online package database and its wiki.
There is also a “contrib” repository; its packages are free, but some of them exist to load separately distributed proprietary programs. This too is not thoroughly separated from the main Debian distribution.
Debian is the only common non-endorsed distribution to keep nonfree blobs out of its main distribution. However, the problem partly remains. The nonfree firmware files live in Debian's nonfree repository, which is referenced in the documentation on debian.org, and the installer in some cases recommends them for the peripherals on the machine.
In addition, some of the free programs that are officially part of Debian invite the user to install some nonfree programs. Specifically, the Debian versions of Firefox and Chromium suggest nonfree plug-ins to install into them.
Debian's wiki also includes pages about installing nonfree firmware.
Thanks for reading to the end! :D
If youre a windows user reading this, Use one of the free distros here!
Or if you use one of the non free distros ive stated here or one of the other non free distros on gnu.org, switch to the free version of your distro! (arch to parabola etc; parabola comes with guides to switch from arch easily.)