It's probably worth noting that for many purposes, devuan -- https://devuan.org/ -- is an alternative to debian.
I don't think they explained the systemd issue well enough, so here's a few high points (or... low points). Some of these may have been at least partially addressed, but it's been dreary: (*) Systemd is not modular, and replaces most of the linux infrastructure. (*) Systemd (and dbus) is poorly documented. (*) Systemd breaks compatibility with various internet standards. (*) The systemd boot process is non-deterministic, and can intermittently fail to boot for people who reconfigure it. It should be possible to fix all of these issues. But poor documentation slows everything down. (The systemd developer has, in the past, mostly simply stated that these are not problems.) Anyways... another alternative that I've messed around with a little is OpenBSD. J needs a few things changed for that environment, but it wasn't too bad when I was trying that. Thanks, -- Raul On Sun, Feb 23, 2020 at 2:58 PM Bill Harris <[email protected]> wrote: > > Devon, > > FWIW, I've used Debian Stable (https://debian.org) for >10 years. I trade > off bleeding-edge software versions for stability. > > I have used Debian Unstable (aka Sid). It is bleeding edge, but I don't > recall having many problems with it, and those that did occur tended to get > fixed quickly. Then again, that was perhaps 10+ years ago, and my memory > of that is probably not too accurate. > > I explicitly don't use Debian Testing anymore. I tried it once and ran > into the problem I had read about: > > > - I encountered a bug (happened to be with grub, so booting became > problematic IIRC). > - Debian fixed it rather rapidly and put the fix into a 2-week(?) > testing period in Sid. > - It failed--more than once, IIRC, resetting the 2-week testing period > each time. > - After multiple weeks, I finally got a working grub. > > I can't promise they still have the same process. > > With Sid, I would have gotten a fix immediately. The first two or so would > have failed, but the last one would have come my way without the two week > wait. > > With Stable, I wouldn't have seen anything until the new, tested, working > code was there. > > Have you seen https://distrowatch.com/? > > Bill > > > On Sun, Feb 23, 2020 at 9:53 AM Devon McCormick <[email protected]> wrote: > > > Hi - does anyone have a recommendation of a good flavor of Linux (includes > > MacOS) or a warning about the same? > > > > I'm interested in trying out Shakti which is a new version of K but it's > > not available on Windows. > > > > I mostly care about being able to run emacs which I assume is not a issue > > for any *nix. > > > > Thanks, > > > > Devon > > -- > > > > Devon McCormick, CFA > > > > Quantitative Consultant > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm > > > > > -- > Bill Harris > http://makingsense.facilitatedsystems.com/ > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
