Suggestions for EndeavourOS Growth

  1. Provide EndeavourOS to dedicated and virtual server vendors/hosts. Arch is not available with many server providers and the installer is a key opportunity to offer EndeavourOS to server vendors.

  2. Offer a paid tech support plan. (E.g. Other Linux distribution(s) have grown tremendously using this model. This also relates to #1 above).

Hope Helpful!

I don’t feel like this path for :enos: development is highly likely.
I will wait for other devs to chime in before adding detailed comments.

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My first question would be: Why growth? What is the target/reason/ plan behind it?
Second wuestion would be: Do you know that our beloved EOS is based on the work of a handfull persons? Who should perform the paid support?

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Using an Arch-based distribution for a server OS can be fun, but not necessarily a great choice if you want the best reliability and uptime possible. The aggressive rolling release model with software updates constantly being pushed out can introduce instability and unpredictability in a server environment.

I think it is available with all of them. Hint: Arch Linux is typically installed from scratch. :wink:

I was actually thinking the opposite–for example, if you are setting up a headless server the GUI installer may be an obstacle for getting started.

I don’t think EndeavourOS needs or wants this type of growth. It also does not really align with the spirit of an open-source, community-driven Linux project.

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We are a very small team of Volunteers. Most pop on and off in between work, school and other activities. We are a KISS distribution and I think with the team we have and the reputation we have we just need to stay true to who we are. However We thank you for you suggestion.

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I left Manjaro because of holding back updates for weeks/months and the feeling that the team was more focused on its corporate partners, not the regular users.

EOS of course uses the Arch repos and has a different philosophy…

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Frankly, this sounds horrid.

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Why do you think growth is important?

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What is a server vendor/provider for you? The company that provides the hardware, like HP, IBM, Dell? Or the company that offers server as a service to customers, like Hetzner, Strato, etc.?

In any case I believe there is no appetite for a rolling release distro in server environments.

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@Greg_M I’m sure your intentions are admirable, but I’m assuming you’re talking about Ubuntu (Canonical started by a billionaire 30 years ago who poured vast some of money into it) and Red Hat (Now owned by IBM and was started 30 years ago by an already successful business).

Aside from the sterling work the team on EndeavourOS does, I’m not sure their intention is to take over the world or pour vast sums of money into something as a business venture.

I run around a dozen Linux based virtual servers in cloud infrastructures where I currently am and can’t think of something worse than running an Arch based distro on them. I need above all else stability and LTS versions that last for many years with/or without commercial support. I can’t say I’d class Arch as highly stable and as far as EndeavourOS it is also a graphical based distro which just isn’t required in that space.

Many large cloud providers also offer their own paid support for things such as Debian which doesn’t have direct support. We personally run Ubuntu server 22.04/24.04 LTS as it helps the directors sleep at night but I’d also be happy running Debian Bookworm.

EndeavourOS is good at what EndeavourOS does. It is not an LTS server distribution such as Debian, Ubuntu or Red Hat (there is also things like Alpine but then we are generally talking about containerization).

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I’m not certain how much “growth” you are wanting, because already EOS is on the top of Distrowatch’s most downloaded list (of course how accurate that is is debatable, but anyway :wink:). So I think that indicates that there is growth. :slight_smile:

In certain way I get what you are after on your proposal of paid support, but in my opinion it really ruins the point of free software. It’s free because it’s free, you know.

It’s always nice to hear new ideas, but I’m afraid these are not probably going to get much of support here.

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Frankly, it runs counter to the principles of Arch, which include learning to deal with stuff yourself vs paying someone else to do it. I know…businesses are like that.

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But this principle is not true for EOS - over here we are very helpfull. I hate Archs rtfm attitude towards (new) users, and I LOVE LOVE LOVE the approach of EOS. So that argument does count for Arch but not EOS.

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EOS is growing by leaps and bounds. “To Infinity & Beyond!” We will endeavour … :rocketa_purple:

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We would only offer EndeavourOS to Space Journey Agencies to use the OS to drive their Space Shuttles.

Not to make fun on your request… EndeavourOS is for personal use case as your Desktop to do what every you feel like personally, it does not really targeting Server usage, nor general professional usage as the main OS for production Machines.

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Perhaps Linux could have the majority desktop market share.

I would like this also, but the likeliness of EndeavourOS being the distro that does it is extremely small, despite the distro’s growing popularity.

This is because once/if big investors were to come to the Linux world, they’d quickly realise that most of the population is way too tech-illiterate to use an Arch-based distro. So, they’d look at Ubuntu, Fedora, etc. Heck! Even Nix OS has a better shot because it’s “idiot-proof”.

So, unless the world’s tech literacy raises significantly, Arch is for more patient, tech-savvy users who don’t put convenience above control.

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Hi Joe, if it comes from you (and generally all involved in EndeavourOS), I know that it’s meant well, and it’s good to keep a sense of humor. :smile:

Thanks kindly for information.

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Although Linux desktop may appear to be a niche OS, I do think that is changing, because NVIDIA Base OS (AI Desktop OS) integrates with Linux desktop OS and no other OS that I know of. I don’t doubt that mainstream non-Linux desktop OS vendors are staying away from Nvidia Base OS because it’s seen as rival to their own OS market. A great fit for an Arch-based Linux, I think.

That has not stopped some notable idiots using EndeavourOS on their main business machine, with testing and unstable repos enabled. Who would do such a thing, you ask? No comment here…

To address the main thrust of this topic, rolling release distributions like EndeavourOS are attractive only for tech enthusiasts. Vendors are unlikely to ship EndeavourOS (or a rebranded fork of EndeavourOS) on OEM hardware because they will be blamed if an update breaks anything. This is likely to be a frequent occurrence given the bleeding-edge nature of Arch Linux. While you do see Manjaro shipped on certain devices, that’s because they do additional testing before releasing updates over and above what Arch Linux does (and these devices are really aimed at the adventurous tech enthusiast). If EndeavourOS did go down this route, it would lose its core essence.

With that said, I do think that Linux would benefit from a distribution offering something like a budget version of RHEL Workstation for personal use cases. When I was using Windows 10 Professional, I could request live technical support from Microsoft. This was not particularly expensive - certainly much cheaper than what Red Hat charges for RHEL Workstation support. So it would be nice to see a Linux distro offering an affordable support package for home users.