Out with the old, in with the new
GoboLinux

Explore this novel Linux distro, which throws out the old Unix filesystem hierarchy in favor of something more modern.
One of my favorite sayings comes from the mouth of Henry Spencer, author of the Regex regular expression parsing library (among many other things). He said: "Those who do not understand Unix are condemned to reinvent it, poorly." But, what exactly did he mean by this? Well, many hackers regard Unix as the pinnacle of operating system design. Unix pieces together many ideas and technologies that make it a truly universal operating system, running on everything from wristwatches to supercomputers. The concepts and foundations on which it's based will be solid forever.
Still, every few years, someone comes along promising a revolutionary OS that discards all the old 1970s baggage and implements everything using the latest buzzwords du jour. Why implement all that old Unix gunk when you can build an OS in a version 0.0.3 language someone just posted on Hacker News? Why should everything be a file when obviously JSON is the only sensible way to store data? And who needs a filesystem anyway?
But the same thing tends to happen to trendy OSes like these. Over time, they either die off or end up becoming more and more Unix-like. The developers realize that Unix isn't actually old and clunky but is actually a rather smart design crafted by hackers with a lot of experience. Unix may have been written for the mainframes and minicomputers of the 1970s, but it was very easily adaptable to smaller devices. It's no coincidence that Unix flavors pretty much run the world now: Linux and FreeBSD on servers, Android on phones, Mac OS on many desktops and laptops. Even Microsoft is trying to get in on the action with its Windows Subsystem for Linux.
[...]
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.

News
-
Linux Kernel 6.17 is Available
Linus Torvalds has announced that the latest kernel has been released with plenty of core improvements and even more hardware support.
-
Kali Linux 2025.3 Released with New Hacking Tools
If you're a Kali Linux fan, you'll be glad to know that the third release of this famous pen-testing distribution is now available with updates for key components.
-
Zorin OS 18 Beta Available for Testing
The latest release from the team behind Zorin OS is ready for public testing, and it includes plenty of improvements to make it more powerful, user-friendly, and productive.
-
Fedora Linux 43 Beta Now Available for Testing
Fedora Linux 43 Beta ships with Gnome 49 and KDE Plasma 6.4 (and other goodies).
-
USB4 Maintainer Leaves Intel
Michael Jamet, one of the primary maintainers of USB4 and Thunderbolt drivers, has left Intel, leaving a gaping hole for the Linux community to deal with.
-
Budgie 10.9.3 Now Available
The latest version of this elegant and configurable Linux desktop aligns with changes in Gnome 49.
-
KDE Linux Alpha Available for Daring Users
It's official, KDE Linux has arrived, but it's not quite ready for prime time.
-
AMD Initiates Graphics Driver Updates for Linux Kernel 6.18
This new AMD update focuses on power management, display handling, and hardware support for Radeon GPUs.
-
AerynOS Alpha Release Available
With a choice of several desktop environments, AerynOS 2025.08 is almost ready to be your next operating system.
-
AUR Repository Still Under DDoS Attack
Arch User Repository continues to be under a DDoS attack that has been going on for more than two weeks.