People arrive on Linux for a huge range of reasons. Some people want an operating system that runs well on old hardware, some want a system that's free, and some want their PC to be controlled by the community, not a company. However, I don't think I'm being too unreasonable when I say that customizability is a huge reason why people turn to Team Tux.

As such, you see Linux distros where you can tweak everything and anything you want. Do you dislike your desktop environment? Change it. Want to install an app? Well, you can download it from GitHub, use a repository via the Terminal, Flatpak it, or set it up manually with an AppImage. Want to manually build your OS, brick by painstaking brick, as you sweat over a manual? Well, there's a good reason the phrase "I use Arch btw" is such a meme among the Linux community.

So it's a little weird when people discover that Fedora's atomic operating systems go completely against the grain. It doesn't do anything to showboat or impress people. And the really weird thing is, that's exactly why I love it.

Fedora Atomic's immutable base clamps down on customization

You'll get what you get, and you'll like it

Despite its name, Fedora Atomic actually features two huge shifts in how people usually use an OS. The first is right there in the name: it's an atomic system. This means that when you perform a system update, the OS will either successfully update everything, or it won't update at all. If even one thing goes wrong, all of the updates get thrown out to prevent things from getting misaligned.

However, Fedora Atomic is also immutable. This means the operating system won't let anything edit the system files by default, even you. An atomic system is very often also immutable, as updating an immutable system involves downloading a separate snapshot with all the changes, so that the "all or nothing" attitude is very important here. People often say systems are "atomic" when they actually mean "immutable."

Because you're using an operating system that, by default, forbids you from poking in the system files, ricing is pretty much out the window. In fact, changing desktop environments is pretty iffy; you'll typically want to pick the version of Fedora Atomic that comes with the desktop environment you like best and stick with it. Any customization tweaks past adjusting the settings in your desktop environments are a pain at best, and impossible at worst.

Fedora Atomic doesn't want you to install apps to your system files

It's Flatpaks and AppImages from here on out

Because Fedora Atomic blocks everything from accessing the system files, that means you're not allowed to install apps directly into the system files. In fact, if you try to install something via DNF in the console, Fedora Atomic will just straight up tell you that it doesn't know what DNF is. Which is a huge shock when you're coming from a Fedora distro where DNF is one of your primary ways to install apps.

So, running installers is out, as is grabbing apps via the terminal from a repository. That leaves you with options that don't modify system files, and usually, that means a Flatpak or an AppImage. Fedora Atomic comes with Discover pre-installed, so you can grab your favorite apps from there. It's a good idea to grab Gear Lever while you're there, so you can quickly set up AppImages on your system. But your days of loading up a repository and installing an app via the terminal are over.

Well, okay, that's not 100% true. For any apps that can't run as a Flatpak or an AppImage, there is layering. This is where you weave an app into the OS's image via the package layer. You'll usually use this layering installation when you're adding something important for your system, such as a driver, a VPN, or something like DistroBox. But you're not going to layer, say, Google Chrome or Steam. That stuff is handled via the Flatpaks and AppImages.

Fedora Atomic's boring nature is its greatest strength

An operating system doesn't need to be flashy to be useful

For some people, what I just described is a personal hell. Realising you have the freedom to do whatever you want, with whatever tools you want, is a huge freeing moment when moving from something like Windows to Linux. As such, using Fedora Atomic sounds like you're willingly placing the same constraints on yourself that you just left behind. And I don't blame people for not wanting to use Fedora Atomic because of that.

However, Fedora Atomic is great for people who don't want to mess around with their system. They don't want to swap out desktop environments on a whim, rice their distros, and add and remove parts to their operating system; they want something that works right out of the box. And going immutable means those users lose nothing while gaining the powerful benefits of an immutable OS, such as less data corruption and detritus from installs.

Fedora Atomic is boring, and that's its most exciting trait

If you want an operating system you can customize and tweak endlessly, you'll likely find Fedora Atomic too constrictive for your liking. However, if you're like me, and you just want a system you can rely on, Fedora Atomic may just be what you're looking for. As someone who loves both Fedora and KDE, the Kinoite spin gives me everything I want in a distro while also giving me the positives of an immutable file system, and that's why it's my daily driver now.