Linux distribution Solus joins Open Collective for funding hardware and developers

Solus, a popular standalone Linux distribution has announced they've joined Open Collective as they attempt to pull in funding to push ahead with it.

Talking about their aims for the distribution, developer Joshua Strobl mentions how Solus has been on a "multi-year endeavor to build and curate a unique and modern desktop experience for home computing platforms". Pointing out a few parts of what makes it unique like:

• Brisk Menu: A modern menu for the MATE Desktop.
• Budgie: A distribution agnostic, feature-rich desktop environment designed to keep out of the users way. This has been developed across several years and we continue to actively work on our Budgie 10 series while pursuing the next generation of our desktop environment.
• Optimized Gaming Experience leveraging our custom Steam runtime environment and Linux Steam Integration project, responsible for intercepting library requests by games and serving optimized alternatives.
• Package Repositories built and managed by our open-source toolchain: Packaging (ypkg, solbuild), Management (Software Center, eopkg, upcoming sol), Distribution (ferryd), Configuration (usysconf, qol-assist).

Pictured - the Budgie desktop on Solus

Previously Solus did have a Patreon, although that was closed when the previous Solus lead and founder (Ikey Doherty) up and left, leaving the rest of the team to pick up the pieces back in 2018. Since then, work has been "almost exclusively on a volunteer basis" but that changes now.

With Open Collective, they can pull in donations which will be used to initially fund various virtual and real hardware from data centre stuff for download hosting and such to needed hardware upgrades. After that, here's the plan:

• Enable part-time and eventually full-time development by one or more developers (e.g. myself and Bryan).
• Subsidize or pay in full necessary hardware for the Solus team and active contributors.
• Provide opportunities to finance specific approved works, such as various features, fixes, or rewrites that the Team would want to be done in a timely manner, by individuals in the our community that are well-known for high-quality contributions. These opportunities would be provided on a case-by-case basis with direct communication and engagement between all the Team and individual.

See more about Solus on the official website, and help fund the team on their Open Collective.

Best of luck to the Solus team.