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?
For the past six years it has been Kubuntu, but I think it’s time to finally abort Canonical and their idiosyncrasies and choose Debian as a KDE base, especially now that Debian 12 includes non-free firmware by default.
I kinda hope they rebase KDE neon to debian. That would be dope.
This is what I need to do. Just too much inertia in my own stuff to make the switch so far.
I’ve always felt that Arch has the least amount of personal compromises. For “bleeding edge,” it’s also generally stable and has a wealth of community support and documentation.
Debian – The Universal Operating System
Because it’s universal, runs on everything rock solid and stable.
Fedora! To me it sits right at the sweet spot of stability and bleeding edge (they call it “leading edge”), and I’m very happy with how they run things (including the most recent controversy!).
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.
Just skimmed my AUR install list, and yea most of them seem to be on there, good to know! If my laptop ever shits the bed, I’ll give this a shot haha.
NixOS user now. Long time fan of Arch with BTRFS and snapshots but Nix takes everything to the next level.
Pop! It’s easy to install, stable, and works great with Nvidia drivers. If I have more time on my hands then Arch, because it’s good old-fashioned computing fun.
Fedora, really uptodate software, GNOME, stability of a server distro.
Debian for my work. It is stable and I’ve been using it for many years.
Debian stable, the os for 50 year old nudists.
It’s the stable branch of one of the oldest distributions around.
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.
Try Void Linux, or just stay at Arch. If you want to try Nixos (my current distro), watch this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGVXJ-TIv3Y .
I’ve checked https://voidlinux.org/, looks nice but there is no screenshot! How can I decide without screenshot?
/s
Mint. Simple, stable, efficient.
Fedora.
I can highly recommend fedora to a newbie. It’s easier to use than ubuntu. It doesn’t come with snaps. You only need one or two methods of installing apps. It’s safe. It’s well written. It’s supported very well. It’s updated frequently. It incorporates innovative technology.
Opensuse and EndeaverOS are also very nice.
I’ve slowly over the last 16 years come all the way around to Fedora. I started with Ubuntu Feisty Fawn, explored Mint and then Debian, then played around with Arch, moved to Opensuse Tumbleweed when it began, and now all Fedora and Fedora derivatives.
I think the most interesting Fedora projects rn are the immutable desktops, Silverblue and Kinoite. I might consider testing out Opensuse MicroOS when the desktop versions are more stable.
Unpopular opinion: Antix Linux for workstation, because:
- It’s Debian
- Very lightweight (100mb on RAM)
- Live to RAM
- Frugal installation
- Small size ISO (1gb) with full function utility
- Flexibel recovery, from old to modern system
- Responsive (no systemd)
- Retro-kind WM (icebox-wm), perfectly match on retro system
I’ve long enjoyed using antiX. Their forum is very friendly and useful. Highly recommend!
I use Pop!_OS on my desktop and laptop. Prior to that, I would distro-hop like it was my job. I bought a system76 laptop and figured, why not. So, I had Pop preloaded on it instead of Ubuntu. Here’s the reason I ended up settling on Pop as my one-and-only distro.
- Based off Ubuntu/Debian, which I am most familiar/comfortable with
- No Snaps
- Flatpak supported out of the box
- Relatively rapid deployment of updated kernels (currently on 6.2.6), so no need to worry about hardware support
- Tiling windows that are well implemented
- Backed by a company, but one that shares the same values as me
- Stable, even with semi-rolling release nature of it
The downsides are that their choice of colors are god-awful. I get it, it’s their company’s colors, but I don’t think it looks really all that good on an operating system. I’ve gotten used to it, and don’t care as much anymore.
I’ve been on Pop for a couple of years now (?3), I just keep upgrading, and nothing breaks. It has all the applications I need, no snaps, I’m very familiar with ubuntu/debian systems, and it just keeps ticking along. Usually I’d distrohop when whatever I was using would crap out, but Pop just keeps trucking along
