Devuan it is then.

[jbowen@mast.hpc.social]

@oyoun @mhoye Yeah, there are also BSDs (I'm a NetBSD fan) and other Linux distros which don't use systemd, like Void, Gentoo (as an option), Alpine (also musl libc), etc.

[mhoye@cosocial.ca]

@oyoun My muscle memory is all linux and has been for a long time.

But is there a Good Starter BSD out there? I'd be happy to give it a shot.

(hey, @mwl, what's good?)

[oyoun@mastodon.social]

@mhoye @mwl https://docs.freebsd.org/en/

[mhd@tilde.zone]

@mhoye Slackware?

[mntmn@mastodon.social]

@mhoye ooof

[mwl@io.mwl.io]

@mhoye @oyoun

Truth is, an experienced sysadmin shouldn't have trouble with any of them.

OpenBSD has more of a learning curb.

With pkgbase, FreeBSD has some echoes of debian. (The installer is the worst part for new folks.)

NetBSD is minimal, but just works.

If you want a desktop OS, you might try GhostBSD. https://www.ghostbsd.org/ --FreeBSD with friendly installer, defaults, gui, etc

[oyoun@mastodon.social]

@mwl @mhoye https://www.ghostbsd.org/news/December_2025_Finance_Report uses claude LOL

[mwl@io.mwl.io]

@oyoun @mhoye well crap nevermind

[daisybranch@babka.social]

@mhoye goddamn it I just switched back to Debian from Void!! UGH!!!!

[mhoye@cosocial.ca]

@mntmn Very large ooof.

[c0dec0dec0de@hachyderm.io]

@mhoye goddamnit

[mhoye@cosocial.ca]

What options do I have, if I want an operating system and software that won't take a dependency on nondeterministic, proprietary generators?

[technomancy@hey.hagelb.org]

@mhoye among TempleOS, CollapseOS, and ReactOS, I think the latter comes out as the winner

but yeah, if Debian refuses to take the Debian Social Contract seriously then we badly need a fork that does

[otfrom@functional.cafe]

@technomancy @mhoye I'm a bit behind on the current discussions on the list, but possibly guix

[c0dec0dec0de@hachyderm.io]

@mhoye s6 and openrc still holding strong against the tide of bullshit, right? @ska @navi

[yoasif@mastodon.social]

@mhoye https://redox-os.org

[unlikelylass@mspsocial.net]

@mhoye I think one or two of the BSDs are about it at this point. I'd say Alpine or Chimera, but they use the linux kernel and the linux kernel is now accepting slop.

Maybe Haiku or ... the rust OS the name of which I can never remember?

[navi@social.vlhl.dev]

@c0dec0dec0de @mhoye

yes, both @ska and i have personal policies for not accepting llm contributions (i will get around to adding a contributing.md to openrc stating that, soon...)

[c0dec0dec0de@hachyderm.io]

@navi @mhoye @ska thank you

[owen@mastodon.transneptune.net]

@mhoye How are the various BSDs doing these days?