Starting to review Linux distributions

[Cromulent]

I'm looking at reviewing a whole range of Linux distributions on my blog. Initially, it'll just be text with screenshots, but in the future, I'd like to incorporate video into the mix as well.

The question is what sort of information do you look for before picking a Linux distribution to use? I'm a programmer so much of my reviews will be focused in that direction however I would still like to cater to the more casual user. I expect gaming will be something on a lot of peoples minds.

 

[opethdisciple]

This is good news. I will be subscribing.

You can split it in to sections.

Professional/Work station

HomeUser/GamingUser

Then sub genres off those. Arch based, Debian based, RHEL based.

Over Xmas I tried switching from Windows 10 to a Linux distro. I tried Ubuntu 18.10 and Fedora 30. But neither kinda felt right as a Windows replacement so I am still looking for a replacement there hence the interest.

As for my workstation I have settled on Fedora.

---

The biggest reason why I went back to windows is on this Intel/Nvidia PC what ever I install Ubuntu or Fedora Firefox was not as smooth as in Windows. I also had to change the mouse scrolling as it wasn't scrolling properly.

My workstation on the other hand which is an AMD 8320 and a AMD 6450 has no issues with Fedora out the box.

 

[InfiniteNoise]

Information I look for when picking a distro - ease of installation (doesn't really matter for me but for a lot of people, it helps a lot), hardware support (old and new, how well it plays with AMD or Nvidia GPUs, etc), base distro it uses if it's based on something (like how Ubuntu is based on Debian, etc), package manager it uses, range of available software.

I was running Xubuntu for a while, switched to Ubuntu Budgie recently when I got my 4K monitor because GNOME/Budgie desktop has much better HiDPI support. With things like Lutris, WINE and Steam's Proton, gaming needs are covered quite well, I run WoW, Hearthstone and games like Crysis quite well on my rig. I haven't touched Windows in over 5 years and I don't miss it one bit.

 

[Cromulent]

Thank you for the replies. I'm quite looking forward to doing this. I found a list of all of the Linux distributions in existence and this could certainly give me an overwhelming amount of content to write. I just need to wait until next week before I get underway.

 

[alexakasloth]

I would be interested in seeing this. I usually look for ease of installation, resource usage and as mentioned its base distro.

 

[AHarvey]

how noob friendly they are would be an ideal area to cover as well.

 

[Cromulent]

Edit: I've removed the link to my blog as I have decided to do all of my blogging on Medium instead so I'll need to move all of my old content over to it first.

 

[Ice Tea]

https://distrowatch.com/

 

[opethdisciple]

I'm gonna take Netrunner Linux for a spin.

 

[opethdisciple]

Pop OS seems quite nice.

I also want to try Budgie Linux.

I am still looking for something good enough to replace windows 10 with.

This is for a multimedia PC. Fedora's UI is too bare and simplistic and Ubuntu I HATE the bar along the left hand side.

Also performance on my Nvidia based PC was a bit crap.

 

[Ice Tea]

Ubuntu I HATE the bar along the left hand side. Also performance on my Nvidia based PC was a bit crap.

1) Ubuntu 18.10
1a) Go to software settings and Enable the Nvidia Driver

2) Official Gnome Firefox shell addon for easy one click install.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-GB/firefox/addon/gnome-shell-integration/

3) Dash to Panel to give you a classic bottom taskbar.

https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/1160/dash-to-panel/

Then in dash-to-panel options enable desktop button , then enable ungroup applications (and then in the ungroup applications options cog) enable use the favourite applications icons as launchers to give you the classic microsoft windows launch icons on the left of the taskbar.

4) I'm happy with the above but if you wanted it to look even more like Cinnamon you can add the Arc Menu.

https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/1228/arc-menu/

I've pretty much found everything else to be a pointless waste of time as either you waste your life fighting with an Arch update when it's destroys everything and all the other Debian distros like Mint/PepperMint are just a pointless bastardization of the above Debian/Ubuntu.

The only other 2 disto's i might have a play with in the future is Void Linux and Intel's Clear Linux as they are currently getting great reviews but if like me you have Family members sharing the PC then Ubuntu will stay as it's all easy point and click for them.

 

[opethdisciple]

There seems to be an issue with Ubuntu 18.10 (and derivates) on my all AMD pc. I am taking Pop OS for a spin right now but the UI seems to be glitchy. I tried to open up Libre Office and it froze the UI and then refreshed the desktop without opening the program.

I experienced similar issues with Ubuntu 18.10 also.

 

[ddoubleep]

Give Manjaro and MX Linux a spin. Found them good alternatives to Windows for a few old machines.

 

[opethdisciple]

Well this is interesting just randomly watching this review on Pop OS and the author experiences the same issue I had where opening Libre Office crashes Gnome.

17:22 min

 

[Bluecube]

Pop OS seems quite nice.

I also want to try Budgie Linux.

I am still looking for something good enough to replace windows 10 with.

This is for a multimedia PC. Fedora's UI is too bare and simplistic and Ubuntu I HATE the bar along the left hand side.

Also performance on my Nvidia based PC was a bit crap.

Mint with Cinnamon desktop. Very Windows like (minus the crapness IMHO), one click codec install at the setup phase and it’s very, very fast on my i5 with 3Gb 1060. Quite an eye opener for me just how good it is.

 

[nrh1703]

The community support and documentation are a key part of any comparison for me. Back in the day when Gentoo was considered difficult (maybe it still is) and I was a relative newbie I found their documentation and forums of a high enough quality that I was at home with the OS quite quickly. Same with Arch now (albeit an easier distro to get started with).

 

[alexakasloth]

Pop OS seems quite nice.

I also want to try Budgie Linux.

I am still looking for something good enough to replace windows 10 with.

This is for a multimedia PC. Fedora's UI is too bare and simplistic and Ubuntu I HATE the bar along the left hand side.

Also performance on my Nvidia based PC was a bit crap.

I agree that it is not the most aesthetic position along the left, i've used the numix flat theme and gnome tweak tools to reposition the dock and change the icons:

 

[Hades]

Pop OS seems quite nice.

I also want to try Budgie Linux.

I am still looking for something good enough to replace windows 10 with.

This is for a multimedia PC. Fedora's UI is too bare and simplistic and Ubuntu I HATE the bar along the left hand side.

Also performance on my Nvidia based PC was a bit crap.

My vote goes to either Mint with Cinnamon or a KDE Plasma desktop such as Kubuntu. Bith are far more Windows-like.

 

[opethdisciple]

Test drive 200+ distributions without needing to download and install.

 

[Narj]

I tried PopOS on a live drive on my laptop and it really didn't like it at all. Had some very odd issues - although I'm only using an integrated GPU. That might have accounted for some of it. Weird as Ubuntu runs pretty flawlessly.

I'm really tempted to try out Budgie, it looks snappy and seems to remove a lot of bloat. I'm a bit confused about their resource usage on idle screenshot though... https://ubuntubudgie.org/portfolio/screenshots

This is for a multimedia PC. Fedora's UI is too bare and simplistic and Ubuntu I HATE the bar along the left hand side.

Also performance on my Nvidia based PC was a bit crap.

I use Arc Dark theme and my toolbar is along the bottom. Just a minor tweak. You don't have to have the bar on the left.