What distribution 100% libre=

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Dew1618
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Hi everybody! I have hardware 100% libre, and I want to use (if it is good) a distribution free. What do you recommend me?

- Dragora
- Trisquel
- Parabola

I love simplicity, but I can use other distro xD. How is Dragora? There's very little information about it...

Thanks =)

akirashinigami

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Trisquel, hands down. Then again, this is the Trisquel forum, so I may be a bit biased ;)

onpon4
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Joined: 05/30/2012

I don't know much about Dragora either, but I've read that it's more or less similar to Slackware.

Trisquel is the easiest to use out of those three. Parabola will give you the most cutting-edge software. Dragora is the simplest (as in KISS principles).

There are other valid choices, too.

gNewSense is based on Debian, but currently a bit behind (it's catching up), the current beta being based on Debian 6. I think the main reason to use it is to work on architectures other than x86 and otherwise Trisquel is better.

Ututo XS is based on Gentoo. Everything on the website is in Spanish and it seems to be meant for Spanish speakers.

BLAG, Dyne:bolic, and Musix probably shouldn't be bothered with. They're all outdated, and Dyne:bolic and Musix aren't meant to be installed.

a_slacker_here
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Joined: 06/29/2013

Let see if I can help you to make a decision:

If you like simplicity I think dragora is a good choice. It behaves like Slackware just as onpon4 said; let me elaborate on that:

-Dragora is meant to be the user who makes all the packages so be prepared for compiling and configuring because it is a slow process.

-It shares similarities with the Slackware way of configurating the system; simple, and yet elegant scripts, that makes the user confortable in configurating your OS. It is easy to see and understand the source code of those scripts to see what are they doing and manipulate those files by hand if you don't like to use little programs to configure the system.

-The project seems very young but I can asure you that it's improving very fast.

-The documentation is not very abundant but are very well written.

-They do not use systemd or sysvinit but runit... be prepared for that.

-The installation process is very similar to Slackware.

-They do not mention how to compile with other mechanisms like cmake so I suggest you to consult (Do not use Slackware scripts in Dragora) in some Slackbuilds templates. The web page is:

http://slackbuilds.org/templates/

-I want to make clear that even if Dragora shares some of the Slackware ideas, Dragora is not based in any other distro.

Parabola is also based on simplicity but the Package manager (pacman) have dependency resolution.
The documentation in Parabola is very abundant do you won't have problems.
The project is basically Archlinux with only free as in freedom packages so the documentation for Arch is the same for Parabola.
I want to make clear that parabola is a rolling realease with all the pros and cpons it suposes (sacrificing stability for having the latest packages available).

Trisquel on the other hand, does not have the simplicity in mind, they want to be easy to use for everyone. You must have in mind that this idea doesn't mean to make a less elegant system for more people to use it... let me elaborate a little more:

-Trisquel is not only an ubuntu without the nonfree stuff. It have more than 100 customized packages, it's own repository, packages from others distros as well and many other unique features that makes it different from the others.

-Its package management is the same as Debian's so the quality is evident.

-The development is active and the comunity is very dedicated to freedom so you should be confortable if you care for the ideology.

-The documentation does not seem abundant but you must be aware that you can use the Debian and Ubuntu ones.

-I must say that it is harder to make your own packages in Debian based distros but you install packages from Debian and Ubuntu in Trisquel if you need it.

Well, I don't know if I helped you in making a decision but I've tried my best.
Untill next time.

dudeski

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Trisquel = Userfriendly freedom.
Parabola = Poweruser, bleeding edge freedom.
gNewSense = Outdated freedom.
Debian = Default freedom.

Sounds like an executive summary to me. =P

Dave_Hunt

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Joined: 09/19/2011

It's a good executive summary. Maybe it should be the text in prismbreak?

Cyberhawk

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That's how I would sum it up too.

Trisquel is faster to set up and ready for everyday computing needs. It is based on Ubuntu, this means it has the biggest pool of prepackaged software.

Parabola is better if you want to really tweak the shit out of your OS and stay on the bleeding edge. It's the Arch way and in some respects it is the most "elite" approach.

gNewSense is just like Trisquel, but it has another desktop theme and is more outdated. It does have a MIPS port, so if you use a Leemote Yeloong, it will probably be your OS of choice.

Debian is good if you want to really tweak the shit out of your OS and care more about stability and take no offense in using versions of software that are slightly outdated. My personal choice when running a server, but some progamms here still recommend non-free add-ons, so you have to be careful when using it as a desktop environment. Better yet, when you want a Debian based desktop environment - use Trisquel ;)

aloniv

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Parabola also has a MIPS port and has newer packages than gNewSense.

Dew1618
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Joined: 06/07/2013

Thank you very much!!

Trisquel and Parabola are the best for me at this moment. Can I use XFCE, LXDE, etc. in Trisquel? I tried to use GNOME 3 in the past and I couldn't :(...

BlinkingArrow

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Joined: 12/27/2011

Yes, those are available as well.

onpon4
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Joined: 05/30/2012

You're using GNOME 3 by default, just not GNOME Shell. You get GNOME Shell by installing gnome-session and gnome-shell, then choosing "GNOME" from the session list.