Linux

When exploring the libre distributions recommended by GNU.org or broader FOSS communities, I find myself questioning whether being „blob-free" is truly enough. Some suggested distributions - such as Guix - host their code on GitHub, which is owned by Microsoft.

Similarly, systemd is maintained by Red Hat, a company closely tied to IBM and known to collaborate with Microsoft. It's used in distributions like Parabola and Trisquel. This raises concerns about centralization and corporate influence, which makes me wonder whether these choices truly align with the spirit of software freedom.

That said, maybe I’m misunderstanding what „libre“ fully entails.

Yes, Trisquel GNU/Linux on 2 laptops, a desktop, and a HTPC. I've been using Trisquel for 15 years(since Awen release), after running Debian with non-free disabled for a while.

The laptops are Thinkpads from minifree.org which provides libreboot and ensures compatibility with libre firmwares.

Trisquel is Ubuntu, with all the non-free software and binary blob firmware removed. Hardware that does not have a fully free driver will not work.

It is an easy install, rock solid when using, and has a knowledgeable and helpful community.

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The other libre distros I think about checking one day are Guix or Parabola. https://www.gnu.org/distros/free-distros.en.html

I recommend everyone to have at least one fully free distro installed, just to experience what the original vision of libre computing is.

Yeah like other people mentioned, guix is great but in terms of how it works it's pretty much a libre lisp version of Nix, so you have to actually be interested in that type of system where you configure everything declaritively through a programming language. I personally use NixOS because i'm not really into the libre stuff, but i really love this way of configuring my system, but be prepared to spend months on learning and configuring depending on how far you want to take it. I don't know much about parabola, but if i'm not mistaken i thought it was similar to arch but libre, so it might be a better fit if you just want to use a more traditional linux distro that is also libre.

Guix is a great and modern Operating system, where most things are thought through in the FLOSS (free libre open source software) spirit. but besides the installer, you will get your hands dirty in the terminal, with a little Scheme coding (configs are in Scheme (a Lisp like language (that uses an insane amount of ()'s (!!)))) - imagine that. Anyway, standard Guix doesn't come with proprietary drivers, so you'll have to add the non-guix repository (gitlab/github) for many wifi drivers. Not quite as easy as other Distros, but doable if you take small steps and copy&paste your first configurations.

I use Flatpak's to enhance the software selection, installing from git/pypi and others is also possible.

ONE anecdotal downside is that I have experienced a few machines where the installer fails, and I have to do it manually. Doable, but it does require a little nerdyness to fix.

All Guix experts have apparently mind-melded with Emacs, and are nerdy compared to normal users ! The main focus is not on UX, but its a cool environment if you become interested in the inner workings of the system, or any of the nerd tool (LaTeX is a Classic, so you are almost there ;-).

If that all gets to hairy, you could try out https://www.pantherx.org/ that are a guix based distribution. I think they have enabled non-free firmware by default, and you get a nice(r) desktop experience out of the box, so there's that. I haven't tried it yet, tho.

Guix is both very advanced under the hood (where all the lovelyness happens), very stable, and very FLOSS, but for doing light work only, you might overshoot on raw Guix. PantherX is likely easier, but you'll perhaps have to live with a few proprietary blobs (closed source drivers) in the kernel.

I'm tired, sorry for errors..

A coworker who's a quarter of a century younger than me is well on the way towards that ideal. Libreboot and all. I caught the bug and decided to start with Guix on my home server, but it turns out a Mac Mini is not the platform to go fully libre with XD The itch does persist...

If by GNUIX you mean GNU Guix, they yeah it's good enough. I've tried it on real hardware and didn't find any issues. I would consider switching to it, but my day job is Nix-related so I'm running NixOS to make things easier. The learning curve is really steep for both Guix and Nix but I think their approach is great in the long term and worth investing some time into.

To be |TRUE| you'll need some hardware that is mostly open. I believe the Asus C201p is quite close.

Can someone clue me in to why Mint wouldn't be "libre"? What does "libre" mean in this context exactly?

I recommend Debian Linux.

https://www.debian.org/social_contract