Reader supplied reviews for Guix System
Average rating
8.9 from 9 review(s)
Version: 1.4.0
Rating: 10
Date: 2023-03-24
Votes: 6
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Hello everyone,
I have been coaxed into writing a review by reading some of the other recent ones - I found them fair and measured, but had one or two little factual points to add. One reviewer, in a generally excellent review, makes the comment that Guix is heavy on the CPU/Internet Bandwidth, and that it is not to be recommended for old computers. I have two very relevant personal anecdotes to share on this.
Anecdote 1: My main machine is a Librebooted Lenovo X200, the classic chunky Thinkpad, and I have been running Guix with the Gnome desktop on it for nearly two years now, and it has been absolutely fine for all my usage. Before that I had been on various things, even going through a phase when I was trying out the less-free "light" distros (before I librebooted it). Guix was similarly smooth and quick as anything I'd tried (xubuntu, lubuntu, pureos, manjaro).
That said - I don't play computer games, I don't edit videos, and at the upper limit I might have ten tabs open, but it's rare. All other usage however - watching videos, listening to music, programming, writing, Emacsing, Info-page trawling; Guix is a joy on this old X200 for all that.
Anecdote 2: Last night I was installing Guix on a new laptop, a Lenovo 2016 X1 Yoga, and decided to time it for fun. I went through the graphical installer, added the five available lightweight window managers because I want to try them all (EXWM, ratpoison, i3, awesome, openbox), and then I was rebooting into a fresh machine in... 20m49s.
20m49s from booting the USB with the ISO image to booting a fresh Guix. That is pretty snappy, I personally feel.
The other point is that - EXWM should be included in the "Desktop" section above, it is an option in the installer!
Last point (that makes four in the end?) I was actually quite close to a total beginner when I started using Guix, and it was perfectly fine for me. I didn't know anything above the absolute basic commands for installing software for months and months, and it was grand. Gnome is solid.
Here I am, two years later, and the other day I packaged my first package. So yes, do join us, and get involved, Guix is wonderful, the documentation is great, the community are lovely. Software Freedom can be sleek and cool and exciting :)
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Version: 1.4.0
Rating: 10
Date: 2023-03-22
Votes: 0
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GNU Guix is by far the most underrated distribution as of now. There is quite nothing like it in the "market". Using GNU Guix has made my life easier, allowing me to easily keep my devices configurations and packages in sync.
I admire the fact that it treats Linux as just a kernel, which you have the option to switch with different ones, or just different versions of it, be it linux-libre, linux-lts or any other version with proprietary drivers you might like. It made me understand the point of view of FSF, and now it clicks.
Even thought it's an amazing distro, it still does not have everything packaged, so you might need to use something like flatpak.
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Version: 1.4.0
Rating: 10
Date: 2023-01-21
Votes: 2
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Guix is an underrated distribution, probably the most underrated distro as of now. There is nothing like it around, it offers you complete control of your system and reproducibility like no other, all with a general purposed programming language, scheme!
The downside of using guix, is that the official iso only supports the linux-libre kernel. You are going to have to search around for nonguix or just follow along system crafters installation video to get it working properly with the linux-nonfree kernel. As much as I appreciate FSF ideals, this is a huge barrier for the average user, that just wants something that works.
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See all 9 reader reviews of Guix System...
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