SparkyLinux is rolling release and Debian based.
I have no idea how its user interface performs.
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According to their website you get the choice between semi-rolling and stable, not rolling. That leaves the question, what do they mean with semi-rolling?
Also: their website is full of ads. Not particularly trustworthy.
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Like MX. Works like a full rolling distro until they hit a new major release. So you get package updates as well as security updates in between major releases.
Dont like the sound of that. Next step is adds in the updates.
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Iāve been using Artix as my main guest in KVM / virt-manager (with dinit) - because it starts up and shuts down so quickly! Iām impressedā¦ Still troubleshooting my bridged (host) mode VS NAT VS āmacvtapā - and itās handy to fire up a VM and see if it worked (BTW - itās still broken [bridged host mode] - and I have NO idea how I got it working in the first place!) - Artix starts in maybe 15 seconds or less - i.e. grub to desktopā¦ Just timed it - under 10 secondsā¦
I actually hate it when distros remove tiny stuff - like āncal / calā why? Most CLI / tty / ncurses apps are tinyā¦
ā update ā
If I ever dig out my Samsung N150 netbook (2 GB RAM and 64 GB SSD) - I reckon Iāll stick Artix on itā¦ But when Iām going through my crates of obsoleted tech junk - I only ever find either :
- Samsung power brick
- Samsung N150
never the two togetherā¦
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I have not tried it but there is Rolling Rhino Remix.
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That seems like a better choice if you want rolling + deb.
Main thing is a team that knows how to manage a rolling release.
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Do bridges self-configure?.. like switches
That may explain erratic behaviour
I never got a bridge to workā¦ on the back burner.
Yoh are suppised to be able to
- create a bridge at CLI
- go into virt-manager and configure it to use existing bridge.
but it does not work for me.
A hard install boots considerably slower. Drivers I guess.
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It worked for me for a little while - until I started playing with the WRONG USB ethernet adaptor 
(thought I was configuring a USB ethernet āgadgetā on a Pi Zero 2W plugged into USB port)
I have several USB 3 gigabit ethernet adaptorsā¦
I might try another one and see how I goā¦
āmacvtapā sorta works - but not as transparently as a host-bridgeā¦ I think āmacvtapā uses the same vibr0 device that NAT usesā¦
I prefer āregularā network bridge like how it works in Oracle VirtualBoxā¦ But thatās not enough to make me jump from kvm/qemu back to VirtualBoxā¦
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Here are some instructions for a bridge used by qemu ( not virt-manager) in Netbsd
30.3. Configuring bridged networking on a NetBSD host
While QEMU user networking is easy to use and doesn't require root privileges, it's generally slower than bridged networking using a tap(4) device, and doesn't allow the use of diagnostic tools like ping(8) inside the guest.
To configure bridged networking on a NetBSD host, you must first make note of your host machineās primary network interace. Find the one with an address assigned and a route to the outside world with ifconfig(8).
In this example, the host machineās primary interface is wm0. All of these commands run on the host machine.
Create a virtual tap(4) interface:
# ifconfig tap0 create
# ifconfig tap0 descr "NetBSD VM" up
Create a bridge(4) connecting the actual interface and the virtual interface:
# ifconfig bridge0 create
# ifconfig bridge0 descr "LAN VM bridge" up
# brconfig bridge0 add tap0 add wm0
Configure NetBSD to do this all at boot time by editing /etc/ifconfig.tap0:
create
descr "NetBSD VM" up
! ifconfig bridge0 create
! ifconfig bridge0 descr "LAN VM bridge" up
! brconfig bridge0 add tap0 add wm0
You can now pass the arguments to QEMU to run with bridged networking:
-netdev tap,id=tap0,ifname=tap0,script=no -device virtio-net-pci,netdev=tap0
It says what I was sayingā¦ you set the bridge up first in the host with CLI, then access it from the VM.
Now, can you explain to me what tap0 is for?
OK I read a bit and found this
" Hypervisors like QEMU/KVM use TAP devices to give virtual machines access to the network, allowing them to send and receive traffic as if they had their own Ethernet ports. "
So if that is all it is, virt-manager already has a tap interface? Why make another one?
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Yes,ok,but if you have a small drive you donāt want stuff like libreoffice asnd other stuff
i rather install it myself,which is in Artix and other Arch-based distroās very easy!
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This warning when you attempt to use Macvtap device :
āIn most configurations, macvtap does not work for host to guest network communication.ā
Iām pretty sure Macvtap uses the same vibr0 as NATā¦
Which is precisely what I experiencedā¦ i.e. Iād like to be able to SSH to my guest, from my hypervisor / kvm hostā¦ hence why I was chasing up the bridged networking (host based)ā¦
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You can do that without a bridge. Host can talk to its guests, even with NAT.
Do you mean from some other remote host?
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Yeah - with NAT you can from the host - if you know the NAT IP address of the guest - but you canāt SSH to the guest from another host on the VLAN (except to use ProxyJump in .ssh/config). With Macvtap - you can ssh to the guest from another host on the VLAN - but not from the āhostā itselfā¦
Bridged mode on VirtualBox just does this automatically without fiddlingā¦ i.e. a guest presents itself on the ethernet LAN just like a real device, requests a DHCP lease, and you can reach it from anywhere else on that VLAN (including the machine running VirtualBox).
So I know all the workarounds - but - I wonāt be happy until I can make it (once again) work like it does on VirtualBox (and I think VMware is the same - or similar)ā¦
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Opened to take a look. The first window that pops up: one of these āCan we use your data to sell and show you personalised ads?ā.
OK, thatās it. Never using this distro unless it finds a more ethical, less user-annoying and privacy-friendly monetary approach and until it stops tracking. Ublock blocked 15 trackers on 3 secs on that site.
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Talking lifespan of hardware ,my equipment ranges from 2010 -2011 -2013 and 2014 all happily running 64 bit versions of the latest Mint and Zorin distros.
Frank in County Wicklow -Ireland
2-14
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OK, I missed the bit about ānot from host itselfā.
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Think I am in a similar boat with the age of my netbooks one is still on 32 but itās that old 2008
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Just today I watched a video on YouTube about to resurrect an old Asus Eee PC 1000HE Netbook and in some comment was mentioned
Not sure if was mentioned before what I am just sharing just in case
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It seems wattos is x86 and x86_64ā¦ so yes it has 32 bit.
It is a lightweight Debian.
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According with this link
among many points appear these two at the top practically together:
- Based on Debian 12 Bookworm - Stable release
- Kernel 6.1 for 64bit PC installation
So it seems it does not support 32bit
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