- cross-posted to:
- linux@lemmy.ml
- cross-posted to:
- linux@lemmy.ml
cross-posted from: https://discuss.online/post/42673820
Looking for suggestions besides Kubuntu, KDE Neon, Debian, Arch Linux, or Kali.
Would be on a modest Dell Latitude with i5, 14" 1080p display with intel graphics, and maybe 16gb ram. I have previous experience with XFCE, Ratpoison, Openbox, KDE Plasma. Recently started trying out LXQT.
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hannah montana linux
If you didn’t comment this first I would have
The only issue with this is it is Kubuntu, which is exactly what I already use. The theme and icon pack can be added onto any other distro, so that works.
Trying for fun or trying to settle?
I like NixOS but Void is cool too
Just got void submitted. Will add Nix. Window manager preference? Any nix stuff to try?
Niri is a joy! Tried it once and never looked back.
Nix is a wide ecosystem and you have tons of tools to use for your config to your hearts content, so this is a bit tough. Id say: Make your config a flake (its an experimental feature, but it’s a de-facto default), use home manager or GNU stow to organize your .config and home directory, and if you like Nix and plan to stay, look into the dendritic pattern for your config (not the best for someone just testing nix, but for long term it’s a total life-saver)
Best of luck to you!
As in declarative?
Yup it is. You configure your whole system by setting options in your config files, using a functional language. It’s hard at first but with time you naturally get used to it
i noticed you havent tried fedora atomic cosmic. if youre just looking to run the gamut of DEs its probably the best cosmic distro right now. bonus points its fairly easy to rebase between each fedora atomic distro so you can DE hop without too much pain
Sounds fun. I did try Cosmic some time ago on a live disk and it had almost no features at that time, but was very snappy.
Hannah Montana
Didn’t I see something about someone bringing it back? They should call it Miley CyrOS.
It got a whole new release within the last week. Only thing- it is a reskin of Kubuntu, which is exactly what I already use.
it used to be that… the ‘new’ one is debian trixie-based. runs plasma but there’s also a ‘lite’ spin that uses lxqt
That is awesome!
Dam, beat me to it
Someone else just asked for it as well, lol
One I’m always interested in but never tried is Void Linux
I’ve just switched to Pop_OS and so far I’m really impressed. Very fast, and Cosmic desktop has a totally different design and aesthetic to any other DE
Here are options, which I’ll choose by dice roll. Laptop arrives eta today.
- Project Name Window Manager
- Devuan —
- Fedora default Gnome
- Gentoo Libreboot firmware
- Void Sway or Niri + noctalia-shell
- MXlinux Sway
- CachyOS Niri + Limine
- Bazzite
- NixOS Cinnamon + Guix + Flakes
- QubesOS Whonix
- Zorin Gnome
- LMDE
- OpenSuse Slowroll
- EndeavorOS Plasma
- Slackware
- Alma
- Aurora
Qubes OS. Enjoy a taste of absolute security.
I know a developer of it, but have never tried. Will add to the list of options. Anything else to consider in Qubes software?
The install can be pretty tough with Qubes as the compatible hardware for it is quite narrow. But if this is what you go with, be sure to setup and play with Whonix!
Dell Latitude 5410. edit, seems this model is not listed under qubes…
Fedora.
Its not new, its not special with some big changes or special kernels, it has sane settings.
It has releases every 6 months, and updates about as much as arch
This was the first thing recommended: Fedora with default Gnome. I’ve never even tried Yum, so would be interesting.
me and my homies are using fedora KDE, which we can greatly recommend. we use it not just for personal gaming, creative tools, and software development but also (especially) on our work machines.
Fedora.
I prefer the KDE spin over GNOME, but I hate GNOME.
Whatever DE you prefer, pick that one.
Nixos
Cool, I’ve tried Nix twice for a week at a time. Still have my configs. Struggling with lots of missing packages and the docs being frustrating, but love how it works once configured.
I want to set time aside to set it up but I’d rather go with a fresh drive
Exactly the sort of situation I am benefiting from, thanks to receiving a spare machine.
openSUSE. Either Tumbleweed (rolling) or Leap (stable). A few reasons for this:
- Their snapshot system is awesome (they develop snapper) and configured by default when you install it. It takes a snapshot of your system before and after updates and at other times as well. Uses minimal space because they use BTRFS and also have maintenance jobs by default. This is the main factor that made me settle on it. To me, it was the best of both worlds between the stability but restrictive nature of atomic/immutable distros and the freedom but potential for breaking your system of the traditional distros.
- They’re reputed to have one of the best KDE integrations of any distro. I’m not sure what this means in practice because I’m still a newbie, but I’ve seen this mentioned by others a few times. Other major DEs are also options at install time.
- They’re one of the traditional big distros. SUSE has been around since the early days of Linux. SUSE is also a commercial corporation, similar to Red Hat.
- The rolling distro, Tumbleweed has a reputation for being one of the most stable rolling ones because they apparently have an extensive automated testing system for updates.
- Their system configuration tool (YaST) is also supposed to be awesome and one of the best around, minimizing the need to resort to the command line, but I also haven’t used this too much.
- Their community is supposed to be really helpful as well. I haven’t experienced this myself, but have heard it.
Edit: it’s probably best to avoid their “SlowRoll” distro for now. It’s rolling but with less frequent updates than Tumbleweed, which many may thinks is a sweet spot. However, it’s still in beta and I’ve heard of people having issues with it occasionally.
Slowroll was recommended previously.
Yes, I’ve seen it recommended in the past, but just wanted to mention the caveats. Might as well go for Tumbleweed, which appears to be their main distro. In fact, if I recall correctly they had announced a couple of years ago that they were going to sunset Leap but then walked that back when the community protested.
I recently went back to fedora workstation (gnome) after using Arch (Manjaro) with kde and hyprland for the last 3 years.
Got tired of things breaking with hyprland and Manjaro every other month. Had a few issues with AUR packages too (I know I’m supposed to carefully read release notes to figure out what breaks, but how many people actually do that?)
With fedora at least, I won’t have to worry about packages breaking and not working together. Gnome isn’t my favorite but I’m sticking to it for a while to give it a fair chance.
I’ve been enjoying LMDE. Mint without Ubuntu.
same here
Any notable differences between Ubuntu and Debian base for you?
The big one is no Snaps. You can get them, but I prefer flatpaks which I use on LMDE.
Guix
