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Add to SafariWhen comparing Nix vs RebornOS, the Slant community recommends RebornOS for most people. In the question“What are the best Linux distributions for desktops?” RebornOS is ranked 41st while Nix is ranked 75th. The most important reason people chose RebornOS is:
You can choose from 15 different desktop environments. Choose from a list of software to install that lets you pick web browsers, Spotify, what kind of office suite, etc. Not as robust in terms of choosing what you install compared to Arch, but more than enough for newcomers and those just looking to get things done. Nice midweight OS.
Specs
Question Ranking
Pros
Pro No side effects when building packages
Nix is a purely functional package management system. This means that the act of building a package does not have side effects, such as destructively updating or deleting files that may be used by other packages.
Pro Isolated development environments
Nix allows the creation of project-specific shell and build environments which are isolated from the rest of the system. These environments are defined declaratively to ensure reproducibility.
Pro Can replace docker in some places
Pro Can use multiple versions of the same package
Because of the functional approach it takes, Nix makes it easy for systems to use multiple versions of the same package simultaneously, and ensure that updating or removing a package can't break other packages.
Pro The configuration works on "All machines"
No more of the traditional: "it works on my machine". When it says reproducible, this is the real deal.
Pro Arch Customization without the hassle
You can choose from 15 different desktop environments. Choose from a list of software to install that lets you pick web browsers, Spotify, what kind of office suite, etc. Not as robust in terms of choosing what you install compared to Arch, but more than enough for newcomers and those just looking to get things done. Nice midweight OS.
Pro AUR enabled by default
The Arch Users Repository is already enabled. Really helps with finding some proprietary software.
Pro Very stable
Pro Great community!
Pro Runs Android apps
Reborn OS has a program that allows you to install and run Android apps on your desktop. Great for app developers or those who might be addicted to a certain app.
Pro Flatpak support
Having Flatpak support adds a nice graphical app store to the OS. You can find most software you might need in there.
Cons
Con Does not work well for services on non-NixOS systems
When using Nix with anything other than NixOS you can run into difficulties with trying to start up services. For example, you can install docker with Nix, but it won't integrate with the host system's systemd leaving you to handcraft awkward workarounds in order to start the background service that docker requires. This seems like a critical flaw when using Nix on anything that is not NixOS, and it's unfortunate because this affects many of the packages many users would be most interested in using Nix to handle.
Con Steep learning curve
Con Cannot handle filetypes that have different semantics across different versions
While the functional approach that Nix takes is great for sandboxing binary artifacts of packages, it seriously lacks any power in handling configuration files or user data. It's difficult to upgrade and downgrade files where semantics and syntax can change between versions. Especially in Debian/Ubuntu it can cause severe problems where the upgrade process blocks and the user needs to resolve the 3-way merge.
Con Feels slightly over-complicated
Con AUR enabled by default
this is a security risk since AUR packages are maintained by users rather than a single company and anyone can insert malicious code into the AUR packages
Con Redundant
it is just Arch Linux with an easier installer and doesn't provide any functionality that neither Manjaro nor Arch doesn't already have.
Con Uses systemd
Con Can be a little buggy sometimes
Although not outright system crashes or freezes, but programs not working correctly after an update is quite common. Some desktop environments can be temperamental. Examples: running Deepin DE at first and the zoom for the display is 150%. You can fix this by going to settings and setting the desktop to 100%, but then something else might happen, e.g. you lose icons on the dock. Minor headaches and some are easily fixable. Certainly not a deal breaker.
