uBlue Linux: Immutable Fedora With Batteries Included

The use of immutable Linux distros is growing and people keep telling me about one in particular uBlue or Universal Blue which isn't really a distro in the traditional sense.

==========Support The Channel==========

==========Resources==========

=========Video Platforms==========

==========Social Media==========

==========Credits==========
🎨 Channel Art:
Profile Picture:

🎵 Ending music

#Linux #Fedora #Silverblue #LinuxDesktop #LinuxDistro

DISCLOSURE: Wherever possible I use referral links, which means if you click one of the links in this video or description and make a purchase I may receive a small commission or other compensation.

[speedytruck]

That’s the power of rpm-ostree! Even their alpha images are more stable than most distros because, well, it doesn’t change/break! Personally, I use regular Fedora Silverblue, but I also don’t layer many changes. Maybe in the future I’ll make my own custom image :)

[e-NDtj_y]

I'm on ublue-main nvidia version and I am very happy with the experience so far. Here are some things that make me prefer this configuration over the standard linux way.
1. Never worry about upgrades. I know stuff will work and if it doesn't I can rollback with one command and wait a bit for the issue upstream to be fixed.
2. The system is really stable and reproducible. What ublue really provides is the confidence that the image I receive from them is working, compared to stuff I layer myself in a classic silverblue config. That is because the image is created in the cloud. If it fails production there, then it won't get pushed to the end user. Especially true for nvidia users with proprietary drivers.
3. distobox/toolbox/podman open up more ways to experiment with stuff without worrying about breaking stuff too much ( /home and some other dirs still are being used ). I can spin up a box and test some stuff from one language, then another on for the next, etc. Furthermore, one main distrobox based on a Fedora image, lets me use dnf in the classic way for all my terminal apps and needs. Finally, it is really fun to try all the package managers in one system.
4. I feel the system is still open to a power user. Messing with these new technologies is really fun for the tinkerers. I have modified kernel parameters, grub options, gnome theming, systemd stuff with no issues other than learning, where is required, a different way of doing things.
Overall, I've had a really nice experience and I recommend for people who like to try new tech to give it a shot and see how stuff works for them.

[lgm]

I'm using fedora kinoite with the Nvidia rebase from ublue, I'm loving it, i set up a distrobox for arch and installed nix(still learning it thou)

[maxf]

What I think you may have faild to mention is that all of this is happening because upstream silver blue now allows OCI images. Which means it's no longer rpm ostree black magic, or nixos crazy config files to make an image. Its now strait podman container builds which EVERYONE already knows. I run silver blue but now all my vms are entirely images I build locally.

[udekmp]

Honestly I highly recommend a ublue ISO of their choice if they're looking to using one of the Fedora immutable desktop distros. The base ublue packages has stuff that you would be layering later anyways, and at the end of the day it's still the same immutable Fedora base/repos but just with better base packages IMO.

[NormanF]

openSUSE MicroOS desktop uses Tumbleweed with an immutable core to maintain and update the system. The default is install flatpaks. If software there isn’t available for it, transactional-update-name of package can be used to install an rpm. That should become available to the desktop following a reboot. Updates to the desktop can be performed by running transactional-update and then the changes made should appear following a reboot. You can run things in a container like distro box but its optional unless you’re into the geek side of things. MicroOS is now stable enough to be a daily driver.

[alexstone]

This was what i hoped silverblue eould be, images built on few layers with layer for every desktop

[OSSMaxB]

"docker is the technology behind distrobox": Kind of, but not really. distrobox can run with either docker or podman and in the context of ublue os, podman is used.
(That's also what I would recommend, I haven't had to use docker in 4 years because basically everything can be done with podman and can be done without requiring a daemon running as root).

[JimmySolution]

Project Universal Blue represents a remarkable advancement that the Linux community and the Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) ecosystem have long awaited. It has the potential to make Linux accessible to the average user, providing a truly stable operating system experience. Individuals of all ages can easily install it and benefit from automatic updates or a simple one-click process. The project supports a wide range of hardware and offers numerous images featuring various desktop environments, ensuring that users can find an option that aligns with their preferences. In situations where Flatpak is not viable, users can alternatively install software using the ostree command or run applications in a container. The efforts exemplified by Ublue may indeed herald the long-anticipated "Year of Linux" in the future. This operating system is designed to be user-friendly, making it suitable for anyone, including those who may not be technologically inclined. As advancements continue in Wayland and Flatpaks, the Universal Blue project is poised to surpass Linux Mint over time.

[salasin]

Thanks for recommendation im gonna install it on my main system right now

[gbknight]

uBlue is really interesting, I'have been using it for a few months "works like a charm", Nvidia drivers included is a nice bonus.
I just had to enable rpmfusion manually, since it's not enabled by default.

[jasonwoodson]

I use silver blue regular and enjoy distrobox and toolbox

[act..]

I prefer the rolling release model myself, but this is interesting. Like you, I knew Distrobox would be a game changer.

[bigpod]

I am using this for few months now basing my own image on top of bluefin and before on top of main

[speedytruck]

12:23 Why is that? You said in your previous videos that immutable desktops aren’t for you because you test and install random stuff for your videos constantly. But now you can do that with podman via toolbox or distrobox, and layer system changes either with custom images or rpm-ostree directly. So what’s stopping you from using it?

[FengLengshun]

Interesting. If there's a Nobara-like image, I'm definitely interested in running it. The only layer that I need are probably just virt-manager, and _maybe_ teamviewer. Though currently I also use free download manager, which is another major blockage due to requiring alien/ar to install due to lack of RPM and pending Native Host Messaging portal for flatpak. I guess I could just run my browser and fdm inside distrobox...

It's nice, every year, I grow closer to truly being able to be distro-agnostic. Looking forward to further developments on that. Maybe I could even run Debian soon, but that's pending confirmation if anyone's picking up the KDE backporting work.

[lua-nya]

Something to keep an eye on, perhaps. Might even eventually solve my ROCm issues.

[tdb]

I'm using vanilla silverblue, and today I now know why the layering thing can make rebasing difficult. Because I have the freeworld mesa drivers, I had an override on top of regular mesa to make that happen.. but rpmfusion's freeworld references mainline dependencies, like mesa-filesystem. Because mesa updates the group all at once, freeworld can get behind, and when it's behind. That usually isn't that much of a problem, except for when rebasing. During the rebase, I had to uninstall freeworld, thinking I'd be installing it after, but after installation, the new mesa is installed. When I try to override to install freeworld, it can't downgrade mesa-filesystem, so it fails due to a version conflict. I have to wait for rpmfusion to update freeworld before I can do the override now.

Kinda a bit of a pain. Also, found a bug where I can't reset the original override, as it tries to do a hardlink on a file that already exists. I would have to override on top of my existing commit/override stack.

[andreichicu]

tbh I'd like to be able to create my custom image, with my dots, system configs and all, and be able to install it painlessly.

There is an idea that I want to research, a bootable USB stick, but instead of having the whole system in ram, the USB stick would have an additional home partition that mounts at boot. This way I could have a portable and usable "immutable" system that I can boot from anything

[odarkos]

Speaking of Fedora based distro, have you heard about Nobara? It's a distro based on Fedora (mutable) with a lot of optimizations, patches and packages related to gaming: Drivers and codecs easy installation, kernel patches related to gaming, rolling release Mesa, patched Mutter for VRR, even they added a gamescope-session package recently to have a Steam Deck like session in your desktop, also a bunch of surprisingly nice utilities. I'd say it's a Pop OS! based on Fedora.

Worth reviewing!