bbsm3678What is your preferred daily driver distribution?
transistorI’m using debian.
Seconded
A MouseI live on the more unstable side, I like Debian Unstable/Sid. I also recommend Siduction as it’s based on Debian Unstable.
I’ve been actually trying Debian Testing for past few weeks.
mfnDebian not recommends testing for everyday using. You definetely have to look at the site. Afaik it is basically a bad version of unstable that gets slow updates and it is only for testing purposes.
danieltonYes, this is correct. The way Testing works, it is very possible (indeed, likely) that you could be stuck with a security vulnerability for weeks. You should use either stable or unstable.
Can unstable be used as a daily driver?
Yes, as long as you pay attention to what packages are being added and removed when you perform an update. Once in a great while, there have been instances of buggy packages mass-removing other packages due to a bug.
That said, Debian-based distros like Ubuntu usually base their stable releases on unstable. Unstable doesn’t refer to software stability. Rather, it refers to the idea that the system-level packages could change throughout the development cycle.
Security updates come to unstable through normal package updates, which testing doesn’t get until everything makes it through a probationary period with no “serious” bugs filed and no dependency issues. And if any package that the package needing the security patch depends on also has a serious bug filed, the process could take even longer.
Packages from debian unstable trickle down to testing in 8-10 days usually if all the other criteria are met. But I have also heard that important security updates go straight from unstable to stable and then come to testing at a later time. When is that later date I have no idea.
Krause [he/him]Fedora Workstation
Arch Linux
Reasons:
- Pacman
- the AUR
- community driven
- bleeding edge
- pragmatic stance regarding closed source software
- sane defaults
- minimalism, build your own with too much compiling
- the wiki
The wiki is what makes it really hard for me to move out. This masterpiece is where I learned 70% of what I know about linux systems 🤷
FQQDI used Feren OS for a long time, but now i prefer Cachy OS and Vanilla Arch on my laptop, both with KDE Plasma
Do you mean vanilla Arch or Vanilla ( with Arch )?
Just Arch linux as in I got it from the official Arch website
dark_stangPop_os for my laptop and desktop. I use these machines for dev and gaming work and want to spend as little time as possible doing maintenance. Debian for all servers and containers. Very stable, maintenance doesn’t take much effort.
If I was running a pure gaming system I’d probably go with Arch.
Justine SmithiesVoid Linux user here with Qtile - Wayland as my WM.
Nobara on my desktop, Pop_os! on my laptop.
As soon as the new COSMIC DE is ready I will switch to Pop on my PC as well.
Debian only household here …
Here’s an incomplete list of my daily drivers since…well, I’m old.
QNX Neutrino Mandrake 7.2 RedHat 7.1 Went back to Windoze for quite a while Gentoo Ubuntu (quite a leap there) OS X Linux Mint Debian LMDE KDE Neon macOS Fedora Asahi
I’m sure I’ve missed the odd one or two (and I regularly jumped back and forth with Debian/Ubuntu/Mint for years and years).
Love that list. I am also old. I used SLS, Slackware, and stuff with the .99.x release numbers I switched to Red Hat around 4.1 I think and went to Mandrake from there. And then…
You never used Arch? Not even for Asahi?
I built Arch (twice I think) but only ever in a VM to have a look around, never made it my daily driver. Used Manjaro for a couple of weeks, but I wouldn’t say it was a daily driver either.
PseudoSpock- Speak & Spell
- 150 things in 1 from Radio Shack
- Simon
- CP/M
- DOS 2.1 - 6.22 ?? (DoubleDOS)
- Dos + Desqview X (I spell that right?)
- Slackware (Linux 0.99pl13) (home)
- Windows 95 & Linux
- DEC OSF-1
- OS/2 Warp (work) / Slackware Linux (home)
- Windows 98, 98se & Mandrake Linux
- Domain Aegis (Apollo workstations) (w) & Mandrake and maybe Redhat Linux (h)
- HP-UX (w) & Mandrake Linux (h)
- SunOS & Solaris & HP-UX & Aegis & AIX & os/390 (zSeries) & IRIX (w) & Redhat or Mandrake Linux (w & h)
- PClinuxOS
- Gentoo
- Linux mint / Ubuntu
chi-chan~btwOS.
I can’t tell you if it’s *your* cup of coffee. You should decide it by yourself.
- Pacman(!)
- Minimalistic approach
- ArchWiki
- AUR
- Rolling-release model
- Bleeding-edge softwares
- Community that would call me out if I didn’t read the wiki (yes, IMO it’s a positive)
Every time I try something different I always come back to arch + swaywm
𞋴𝛂𝛋𝛆The biggest selling point for Fedora IMO is the way it handles UEFI and Secure Boot. I haven’t found anything compatible. Securing the proprietary garbage running on your main board is critical regardless of your OS.
Can you elaborate or point me to some resources? I’d like to hear more about this because I’ve wondered for a while what to do about Secure Boot on my machine.
…defense.gov/…/CTR-UEFI-Secure-Boot-Customization…
wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/…/Configuring_Secure_Boot
I would ramble on for far too long if I let myself. The Fedora system that runs before Linux is called Anaconda (no relation to python container manager by the same name). The two packages that make Secure Boot easy for most users are called the shim and lockdown. This involves a cryptographic key from the distro packager that they have submitted to a Microsoft program implemented for them to sign what is called a 3rd party key. This 3rd party key is shimmed under the Microsoft key during the UEFI boot phase. Then it kicks off lockdown, and this is what starts the Linux kernel. Lockdown is what prevents the Linux kernel from running unsigned kernel modules. This is why Nvidia has been such a problem for so long. The binary blob kernel drivers are unsigned. If you follow current Fedora documentation for Nvidia drivers, it uses a package that automatically builds the entire Nvidia kernel module from source every time the kernel is updated.
If you are in a real bind with UEFI, the Gentoo link has info about how to boot into UEFI directly using KeyTool.
The entire secure boot system is a criminal attempt at theft of ownership and maintaining monopolistic exploitation with proprietary firmware. Real security would be forcing this code to be completely open source so the community can check, verify, and maintain it. This is why there is no support for secure boot directly in Linux. There is no fully open source firmware alternative for any modern hardware from an OEM. Libreboot is the closest option and this only supports hardware that is from the Core Duo era, so over a decade old. Even most of the stuff from System76 is not fully open source as far as the bootloader firmware.
trclstDebian support it too. The kernel is secure boot ready and it’s very easy to sign nvidia kernel module with the default shipped key via mok.
Mint. It just works.
pgetsosI have been running OpenSUSE Leap on my home server for 3 years, and I moved from Fedora after many years to OpenSUSE Tumbleweed on both my work and home (gaming) PC. I am super happy!
Mint, because it works with a minimum of effort.
OpenSUSE Tumbleweed, because it’s more up to date than Mint, it’s a rolling distro, it works, and in the rare event of a problem it’s easy to roll back to a snapshot.
derrgPop!_OS. Sensible defaults and it’s based off of Ubuntu, which is the distro I’m most familiar with.
Amy :3Fedora Workstation. It’s fast and stable.
Everything I use is available either as a Flatpak or a RPM.
Ubuntu. It Debian without the driver issues.
EndeavourOS with KDE
Same systems as vanilla arch for packaging such as pacman and AUR
Archwiki instruction work without modification
Great forum community without the incessant RTFM
MyNameIsRichardI recommend openSUSE Tumbleweed without hesitation.
This is the best answer. It’s the most comparable to Fedora with it’s semi-rolling releases.
If you are a KDE user or are interested in it, I’ve been running KDE Neon for a few months and don’t plan on changing any time soon. Stable release, Ubuntu LTS based without the forced snaps (though snaps are in the repos if you want them), comes with the standard Ubuntu LTS repos and flatpak installed out of the box, with the one difference there being that it will update to the latest stable version of KDE software as it’s released. Basically a de-snapped Kubuntu LTS with all the latest KDE stuff. Works great for me.
FubarberryEndeavourOS is good, I was frequently using arch wiki on other distros so it’s handy to have it actually apply accurately to my distro. AUR is super handy as well.
I could use regular Arch, but I appreciate the simplified installation.
Also easy to install with auto btrfs snapshots so that updates can never really break anything.
I use btrfs actually as well, but mainly just for compression/deduplication. I’ve been meaning to get snapshots set up but haven’t gotten around to it yet.
You really should. It can save your butt, and it’s only a few shell commands.
I’m old too :-/
CP/M DOS Windows3, 95, 98 BeOS some Debian and Mandrake Windows XP Ubuntu (a long time) Mint/Cinnamon (I hated it, it was quick, maybe a year) MX/Xfce (since ~2016)
I may try Arch on a old laptop just to play with it.
I hated it, it was quick, maybe a year.
I think we have a very different definition of quick, my friend. I’ve been on Linux for about a year and a half, most of which on Arch and recently on NixOS.
CP/M. Ya got me there. I guess I can say EOS though ( Coleco ADAM ) and Tandy DOS 2.1.
If you don’t want to jump straight into Arch, give EndeavourOS a go. It is only 20 packages on top of the 90,000 you get in Arch ( so, it is Arch ) but it is a breeze to install and is sensibly configured out of the box. Once installed, it is Arch ( don’t let the elitists tell you it isn’t ). It uses the real Arch repos and runs the real Arch kernels. Of course, if you have the time, vanilla Arch may be even more fun.
harl3k1nblendOS because it gives you access to all the good stuff, including the AUR and even Android apps.
I have been meaning to give a BlendOS a try. VanillaOS as well ( though I kind of want to wait until they rebase on Debian ).
Oooh, neat! I hadn’t heard of that. Thank you so much for sharing this! I look forward to trying it out. Exciting!!
I’m the wrong one to ask because every time I try something else, I end up returning to Fedora.
But what you switch to depends on why you want to switch:
- Want to learn more about how Linux works? Install Arch the Arch Way, or try out Void.
- Want a different DE? Well, you’ve got Fedora Spins if that’s your main goal, but KDE Neon lets you try out the latest stable KDE stuff, which is fun!
- Looking for a rolling distro but don’t want the extra complexity of Arch’s minimalist philosophy? OpenSuse Tumbleweed is fantastic.
- Do you really want to dig deep and have total control of your system? Look into Gentoo or Linux From Scratch.
I’ve done most of these and more, and I’m happy to recommend something more specific, but I can’t without knowing what you’re looking for.
If you don’t know what you’re looking for, and just want to do something different, then do what I do when the distrohopping bug strikes: check out several distros’ websites, pick a couple that appeal to you, then research those a little deeper, maybe rum them on a virtual machine for a bit. If you find one you like, back up your critical data and go for it!
DarkUFOI’m the same, tried lots of distros but always end up back with Fedora. Running it now on my 3 desktops and 2 Laptops.
I’m currently trying out Garuda on my gaming Desktop, and a already kind of want to ho back to my safe space after two weeks. Don’t get me wrong, I totally see why folks like it, but it’s not for me.
What’s void?
PoP_OS
MX Linux
LMDE
Zorin OS. No muss, no fuss. I’ve been wanting to hop to Endeavor or Pop! just to do something different.
I mainly play games and watch movies.
Arch.
People think it’s really challenging and brittle, but everything seems to always work no matter how often I update (or don’t) and the wiki is top notch.
I actually chose arch initially because when you go to forums to troubleshoot problems there is always an ubuntu answer and an arch answer, and the arch answer is almost always shorter.
Bang on
Unpopular choice here but Ubuntu LTS with ubuntu-debullshit (vanilla gnome, replace snap with flatpak).
My main factors:
- stability of the LTS
- drivers and HW support
- tons of resources online
- already use Ubuntu for servers and Raspian on my Pi
I’ve had my fun distro hopping in the past but I just want a low maintenance system nowadays.