
Ask HN: Would you choose Linux or BSD if you were building a new laptop for devs - thetanuj
Imagine starting a laptop company where laptops are built specifically designed for developers. Let&#x27;s assume that hardware is really good. Now we need to create a new operating system for an optimal user experience. Would you develop the your OS on top of BSD or Linux (or something else)? Why?
Whatever information is not provided, feel free to assume it.
======
cerberusss
No, don't develop your own OS. Then you'd get your own weird-ass badly
maintained OS instead of the standard Ubuntu or Red Hat or what have you.
Instead just offer two or three distros preinstalled, and offer (maintained!)
installation guides for when people want to do a fresh reinstall. Any weird
drivers should be easily installable with a single-line yum or apt-get.

This is exactly what some cloud providers do, like DigitalOcean or Linode.
They don't develop their own OS, they offer the stuff that people love and
expect.

Also, I'd expect the number of BSD users to be a single percentage of the
Linux users. I can't see that being a viable business, but it's worth some
research.

------
simonblack
If it were 25 years ago I'd say 'Definitely BSD'.

Today, it's 'Definitely Linux'.

"Don't reinvent" the wheel." \- "If it works, don't fix it" \- "Never teach
your grandmother to suck eggs" \- etc - etc - etc: Never fall victim to the
NIH (Not Invented Here) Syndrome. Bill gates had it, it ruined Microsoft. _In
other words, don 't think you can build a better OS than hundreds/thousands of
other brains can._

------
rvz
> Now we need to create a new operating system for an optimal user experience.

No we do not.

TLDR: Choose Pop!_OS or ElementaryOS as they both match the 'It just works'
requirement for all users.

Since you are targeting developers, it already indicates to me that you build
on top of Linux which meets the drivers requirement to support the laptop's
hardware. Linux already has the majority of the developer mind-share, so I see
no reason to use a BSD for the desktop in this particular use-case. Don't even
think about rolling your own distro unless you have a good reason to or you
can afford to maintain it.

Now, the real question is: Which distro to choose for developers for optimal
user experience?

To help you choose such a distro, there has to be one that must offer a level
of customization that doesn't sacrifice the consistency of the OS with
standard defaults to revert back to via both a CLI or GUI settings control (As
found in macOS and Windows). Another requirement is having a distro that has
software that feels integrated with the system software and it behaves
predictably such as desktop keybinding software must work across all windows
and apps or the availability of accessibility software built-in such as text-
to-speech. Following this, you have eliminated 70% of all Linux distros that
fail this.

Also, this distro needs an easy and consistent way of installing development
libraries or even the latest libraries without it getting in the way of the
developer's work. Whether if it breaks the OS or forces the developer to
decipher those cryptic error messages via googlgling for each distro / library
combination. Well done, you have eliminated some of the default Linux desktop
OSes that do just that.

Lastly, what happens when a dev tries to install your software / firmware
update? Is it as clean as a Apple software update? Is there a _easy_ way to
revert a failed system update without reinstalling the entire OS or trawling
through a blog to copy-paste commands for recovery options?

Unfortunately, every Linux distro requires the latter and there is no standard
or easy way of rolling back a bad update without typing a few commands. If we
have users that do not mind this issue, then a choice of either Pop!_OS or
ElementaryOS look like clear winners to me to pre-install onto a standard or
high-spec laptop to sell to devs and consumers.

------
mmphosis
> Now we need to create a new operating system for an optimal user experience.

No, we don't need to do this.

The devs will decide. I don't want Intel ME (I don't even want Intel), nor
secure boot, nor EUFI. I don't want the outdated, buggy, possible malware
filled "OS" that comes pre-installed on hardware these days -- that is the
first thing to go. I already multi-boot a laptop. I do want an easier way to
boot Operating Systems.

------
8draco8
The only thing that you need to do is to make your hardware 100% compatible
with Linux, BSD, Windows and MacOS (if it's possible). I even bet that if you
would build machine that is unofficially, dead simple to run MacOS on it (sort
of like everybody knows that Thinkpads run great under Linux) you would win a
lot of developers.

------
billconan
linux, larger ecosystem, more driver support

