I’d like to settle on a distro, but none of them seem to click for me. I want stability more than anything, but I also value having the latest updates (I know, kind of incompatible).
I have tested Pop!_Os, Arch Linux, Fedora, Mint and Ubuntu. Arch and Pop being the two that I enjoyed the most and seemed the most stable all along… I am somewhat interested in testing NixOS although the learning curve seems a bit steep and it’s holding me back a bit.
What are you using as your daily drive? Would you recommend it to another user? Why? Why not?
Debian stable, the os for 50 year old nudists.
It’s the stable branch of one of the oldest distributions around.
mint
it “just works” and I dont have to update it constantlybut my daily driver is endeavourOS
Debian for servers and debian for desktop. Debian everywhere!
Don’t yell but Fedora/Ubuntu was my first exposure to Linux so I’m prejudiced toward them. I didn’t have a lot of exposure to 'nix in the 90s since the family only had Windows.
Currently NixOS having been a long time Arch user. The power of Nix is unbeatable once it finally clicks.
I keep hearing about NixOS, is it possible to leverage both NixOS and the AUR from arch?
Not that I’m aware of though it would be cool if possible. Thankfully everything I’ve needed has been found in NixOS Packages or Flathub as my last resort. My current setup if you’re curious.
Used to be Arch, now I shill for Debian.
What put you off Arch? I just started using it on an old (2015 era) notebook and it seems pretty decent so far
Nothing really. Arch is still great, I just kept having stuff happen where I’d suddenly find out there was a new bug in something at inopportune times. Just the nature of being bleeding edge. Nothing broke severely, but like if you want to join a Zoom call or play a game with friends or something, having something break randomly that you have to fix, even if it just takes a quick search or 5 minutes of troubleshooting can get tiresome.
Also, all of the customization stuff that Arch allows is not as appealing to me anymore since my skill level with Linux has reached a point where I can get super granular with pretty much any distro. Add to that flatpak reducing my need to depend on the AUR, and there you have it.
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Not to long ago I would of said Fedora but recently I’ve switched to OpenSUSE Tumbleweed and I’m really enjoying it. Still learning the ins and outs though.
Arch because I like simple.
Other distros are an exercise in patience I think. Each Ubuntu version has different names and versions of stuff like docker, mysql and everything else. It’s really annoying to work with. I assume all six month distros are like that. And you have to add extra repos, keys and whatnot for it to even find things.
With arch, since it’s rolling, I just install the latest version and I already know the command. It’s always the same. Always.
There are many reasons I like arch but the simplicity of the installations is one of my favorite reasons to use it, and the fact that it’s always the latest version.
I tried quite a few of distros and I keep on going back to Fedora. A lot of things come out of the box such as Flatpak, it won’t pester you about the password when you just want to install a app and i barely find myself solving issues with command line.
My other two favorites are Mint and Pop, i can recommend these to beginners and I really just like a good out of the box experience, avoiding command line where possible. Are there others that tick these boxes?
It used to be Fedora, and I still want it to be Fedora. It was solid, stable, cutting edge, and easy to work with both on the command line and in the super-up-to-date Gnome desktop. DNF is great once you make a few tweaks, I don’t care about systemd, and it supports all of my hardware with basically no tweaking right out of the box. And the Anaconda Installer isn’t all that bad once you get used to its idiosyncrasies. I’ve been a distrohopper for like 15 years now, but I always end up hopping back to Fedora. Or I did, anyway, but with IBM-RedHat’s shenanigans as of late, I’m looking for a new home. Current thoughts:
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I used to run Arch (btw), and could go back to it, but I’d prefer something more brainless to maintain (Arch isn’t hard to maintain - check updates before you install, be careful with the AUR, it’s golden - but I just don’t have the spoons anymore). It’s actually what I’m running on the laptop I’m using to post this.
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I’m not going to use Ubuntu or anything else involving Snap because I hate dealing with Snap (YMMV - I know it has its fans, but I don’t like the way Canonical is handling it’s stuff there, and I only have room in my depression-addled brain for one universal package format).
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I love the new Debian, but the Gnome desktop is already out of date, and it’s just going to get farther behind. I have to decide if I want to give up cutting edge Gnome in favor of holy-Mary-Mother-of-God stability.
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Some up and coming immutables look very interesting; blendOS and Vanilla OS in particular, but also OpenSuse Aeon. Just not sure I’m ready to go immutable, old grognard that I am.
But seriously, RHEL - just re-open the source code, thanks, you asshats.
Edit: I really need to learn how to proofread before I post.
As a Fedora user, I don’t understand why you care this much about RHEL? I agree the decision is very bad, but Fedora is downstream from RHEL and
- Is not owned by Redhat (although they are it’s sponsor)
- Will never go closed source, as it is community run and this would infinitely degrade the quality of RHEL.
If you really prefer using Fedora, I think the paywalling of RHEL’s sourcr code has little to no affect on you.
You make good points. My jumping off the Fedora ship was a knee-jerk reaction to the RHEL doofusry, and not one based completely on rational thought, sadly. And now I’ve been hopping around spending more time researching stuff and trying things out than getting things done lol.
So yeah. I might just go back to Fedora…
Yeah, I almost distrohopped for the same reason!
Even if you do go back to Fedora, you’re a more experienced user than you were before.
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Lubuntu my beloved. Ubuntu enough for me to google myself out of anything but lightweight enough to make me feel good about what I’m spending cycles/battery on… and familiar enough that I don’t need to learn a whole new desktop paradigm when all I’m gonna do with the desktop gui is start an app anyway.
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For desktop Linux, I use Arch. It’s a community driven base distribution, so the needs of the community are what drives development and there are no financial decisions of a company that get priority, which is refreshing. It also has access to the latest and greatest that Linux has to offer.
They have a philosophy of expecting basic effort from users and to have a tinkering mindset. Historically, Arch devs and users have a reputation of being grumpy greybeards, but many of the rough edges have been rounded off in the last few years. If you are willing to do a bit of reading or watching some YouTube videos, it’s not really that hard.
You can really build a lean and powerful machine that has just the software you want on the system with Arch. All it takes is a little effort and willingness to ask for help from the community after you have tried and failed to solve problems yourself. It’s really not the badge of elitism to use Arch in 2023. It’s never been easier to use and doesn’t blow up on you nearly as often as the reputation implies. Just use good hygiene and make snapshots so if you blow it up, it’s only a 5 minute recovery.
You tried most of them. You found Arch enjoyable, so I’d stick to that for the Wiki, the community, and flexibility.
NixOS looks interesting too, but nothing beats Arch in terms of having so much software at one-click distance with the almighty AUR.
