I use a highly unknown operating system. Are there others like me?
 

My laptop is a CR-48 from Google's Pilot Program for Chromebooks, and I haven't bothered to upgrade the SSD from 16GB yet. As a result, I need to use an OS that has a minimal footprint. I've tried Ubuntu, but even that left me with only 9GB of space after all essentials were installed. I heard about Haiku (http://www.haiku-os.org/ ) and decided to give it a try.

Pros:
-Minimal footprint, barely a gigabyte
-Fast
-Free
-Excellent rebirth of BeOS (http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BeOS/ )
-Highly customizable
-Includes lots of software

Cons:
-Not all hardware supported (I've noticed that my trackpad, webcam, and bluetooth aren't 100% if at all supported)
-Early alpha stage (Currently on R1 Alpha 4.1)
-Lacking major software support (Latest port of Firefox is a port of version 3.22)
-No user accounts or password (I got around this by using PLoP boot manager (http://plop.at/ )

I really like Haiku, and I'd love to continue using it. But the lack of a modern web browser, and pretty much a lot of software in general, really turns me off about it. I don't use this laptop for much outside, however, mostly just playing old DOS games in DOSBox or listening to some music or lightweight web browsing (Works great on ChiefDelphi and the FRC Q&A portal).

This is what it's like to use an unknown operating system. Are there any of you like me, using Haiku or something else?

Re: I use a highly unknown operating system. Are there others like me?
 

Try Puppy Linux, version Precise 5.7.1 (156Meg iso) or version Slacko 5.6 (165Meg iso). Install a complete development system (~150Meg iso) and build all the apps you want from source.

Re: I use a highly unknown operating system. Are there others like me?
 

Puppy even has support for ubuntu (precise) /slackware (slako) packages.

Re: I use a highly unknown operating system. Are there others like me?
 

There was a thread about Linux distros about 18 months ago, search is your friend. I have a system with Puppy on it, and it works well. Remember the RaspPi people are 4gb cards, so lots of small distros will work.

Re: I use a highly unknown operating system. Are there others like me?
 

Slax is so small it can run on a 256 MB flash drive.

Re: I use a highly unknown operating system. Are there others like me?
 

What about apps?

Re: I use a highly unknown operating system. Are there others like me?
 

I use Linux myself (Arch), but the highly unknown part of my computing is my window manager: Awesome. It's a small, configurable tiling WM.

That's why whem people talk about "linux," unless they are talking about the terminal, I will be thinking something very different.

I recommend that you install linux. Something small and light, like $@#$@#$@#$@# Small Linux, Tiny Core, or Puppy. That will problably do everything that Hiku does, and more.

Just my $0.02

Re: I use a highly unknown operating system. Are there others like me?
 

What about apps?

Re: I use a highly unknown operating system. Are there others like me?
 

Build from source, unless there is a package manager available (I think there is a package manager of some sort in puppy.).

Re: I use a highly unknown operating system. Are there others like me?
 

Does Tiny Core come with a development system? does Small Linux?


Yes there is. And one of those packages is a complete development system.

I've installed debian on 20 gb hard drives, and if you're comfortable playing around in terminal, you can use very simple window managers like fluxbox and install only the bare essentials on your system. I think the minimum space needed for debian is 2 gb with only command line

Re: I use a highly unknown operating system. Are there others like me?
 

I use Ubuntu 13.10 on my rMBP as a daily driver.

I've used other Linux distros here and there, but almost all of them have been Debian based.

I'd like to ask: what do you all Linux users use as your window manager or desktop environment? I use Awesome WM.

Re: I use a highly unknown operating system. Are there others like me?
 

Right now, I'm using the version of Xfce included with Xubuntu 13.10. It's fairly lightweight, and I like the menu system dropped in Ubuntu 11.04. I have a "dock" on the right of my screen with my most used apps, like Firefox, VLC, and the likes, and I also have a few utilities there, such as a CPU meter and a weather gadget. I also have a button to open the file manager, and quick controls to lock the screen, log out, or power off the computer. Small, but quick and useful. I've tried other window environments, but I don't know of many outside of KDE, Xfce, GNOME2, GNOME3, and Unity. I'd like to give Cinnamon a try, but I managed to break an install with that, so that kind of turned me away.

Re: I use a highly unknown operating system. Are there others like me?
 

I said earlier that I used AwesomeWM, but I've started playing with Enlightenment, and so far I like it. I'm not sure if I'll go back to awesome or switch to E yet though. I love tiling WM's, but E has a lot going for it.