What Linux Operating Systems do you like?

FatRakoon

FatRakoon

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For me, every time I get used to something,it changes.

I loved KDE and then I moved to gnome because KDE seemed to be a bit poor.
Gnome changed and this unity crud made me go to Mate and now I am preferring Cinnamon, although I do like a theme or two in Mate that I cannot quite get Cinnamon to look like.
My favourite Distro was Mandrake then SuSE, then Kubuntu and Sabayon and now Mint.
Seems to me that Cinnamon Mint has been my chosen coupling for a short while now.
 

Cromulent

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FatRakoon said:
For me, every time I get used to something,it changes.

I loved KDE and then I moved to gnome because KDE seemed to be a bit poor.
Gnome changed and this unity crud made me go to Mate and now I am preferring Cinnamon, although I do like a theme or two in Mate that I cannot quite get Cinnamon to look like.
My favourite Distro was Mandrake then SuSE, then Kubuntu and Sabayon and now Mint.
Seems to me that Cinnamon Mint has been my chosen coupling for a short while now.
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I like SUSE as well. Tumbleweed is by far the best rolling release distro I've used (and I've used a fair few).
 

Scott C

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Throrik said:
I wish this was more prevalent in the Linux community. I've been doing this for a while now, they're mostly all the same anyway. The only thing I do differently now is use BTRFS and take snapshots when I'm going to do something silly.
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That's why I find I always end up back at Ubuntu (though I do have a soft spot for Fedora); for myself and the applications that I want to use I've had by far the least trouble with it and though I'm sure to be called a heathen by many I don't even mind Snaps
 

alexakasloth

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Usually bog standard Ubuntu does it for me, reliable and nice to use.
I've dug out an old Chromebook (C720) and trying Lubuntu on it, to use with a CNC router.

[edit] Seems to be a better alternative to GBRL called LinuxCNC so will have a look into that.
 
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Timber

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So I think I'm starting to become bit of a Linux user.

I have been using Linux servers for years (always Ubuntu server although my current Beelink N5105 has been RMA'ed). But various phases of playing with Ubuntu, Mint and Manjaro as a desktop has always been limited for various reasons. However I purchased a Lenovo Duet 3i 18-months ago which shipped with Windows 10 S and struggled with it (and an upgrade to 11). However Fedora runs like a champ with various bits becoming supported over time; such as auto-rotate, the bluetooth keyboard working etc. In addition I've recently bought another miniPC; a Minisforum UM480 XT with a view towards using it daily to support the Windows 11 desktop PC I have. I've tried a few distros but settled on Arch for this new PC.

Thoughts on the four distros I've recently used:
  • Fedora - been rock solid (mostly) over the last 18-months on the Lenovo. Upgraded perfectly from 36 to 39 over that time. Only issues have been an absolute refusal to auto-mount to my Ubuntu Server and the odd Bluetooth spat where it suddenly decides not to connect to something. I generally love this distro but aware the corporation backing it are hated by some. Not a great installer. Dnf syntax is easy to pickup. Works with secure boot.
  • Arch - my current choice on the Minisforum. Love the 'compactness' of it. Used archinstall which again is awesome for its simplicity. Not sure how stable or durable it will be. Love the fact it's community-driven. Running as Gnome DE with very little customisation; just Vitals Gnome Extension. Took a while to understand the AUR and Pacman where the syntax isn't as intuitive. My only real complaint is my attempts for Grub to remember the last choice isn't currently happening and not sure why.
  • Endeavour OS - Thinking about moving my lenovo to Arch so wanted to try this (in a VM). Did not like. Feels bloated even if you deselect some of the pre-configured software (2.6GB ISO). The Calamares installer is great and I liked that you could select different Desktop Environments.
  • Debian - Never tried pure Debian, only Ubuntu & Mint. So finally put that to bed. Feels odd using last year's Gnome environment. Some big v44/45 changes missing. Seems rammed with silly games; solitaire, connect 4, minesweeper etc. Unfortunately being a VM I couldn't really test stability but I know that's its strength. Again feels bloated although I get why. Apt makes logical sense.
In terms of the DEs I prefer Gnome although I like the customisation and increased options KDE has. KDE definitely had more bugs for me, i.e. folders changing colour on rollover and other oddities.

So planning to stay with Arch on the Minisforum and will look at potentially installing that on the Lenovo too. Today I even learnt you can use lspci to check your PCI-e Gen type! Unfortunately with Roblox, Microsoft, OneDrive use on the main desktop PC I have to keep using Windows for now. Although to be fair there are some things it does better, but in the future I wouldn't mind being able to drop Windows.
 
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Buffalo2102

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Debian - Did you use the netinst iso for installation? It installs a fully functional desktop without a lot of the bloat. Any bloat that does remain is a part of the DE, not the OS. Apt is great for adding/removing anything you like or don't.
 

Timber

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Buffalo2102 said:
Debian - Did you use the netinst iso for installation? It installs a fully functional desktop without a lot of the bloat. Any bloat that does remain is a part of the DE, not the OS. Apt is great for adding/removing anything you like or don't.
Click to expand...

Yep, aware you can remove packages after install. I always tend to remove Libre Office for example as I'm never going to use it. But even so in comparison to Fedora Workstation there were lots more programs installed by default. I always grabbed the standard download that's on the respective distros website, apart from Arch where I went to the mirrors page. I used the Debian netinst iso, about 800 and something MB.

Every one of these was Gnome, apart from Arch where I've now tried the Gnome (running atm) and KDE DEs and on Gnome there's not what I would call 'bloat' just some standard Gnome Apps. So with Endeavour & Debian it's not the DE installing extras; it's the distro. i.e. Debian installing connect 4 or that worms game. And Endeavour installing stuff like wget etc. One thing I am surprised with is that distros don't use folders more by default to groups programs beyond the Utils folder, i.e. Libre Apps together, or all games in one folders. I don't know if that's a limitation with Gnome though.

Tbf with my comments on 'bloat', to keep things in perspective nothing is bloat compared to what Windows installs. It's just Fedora (and obviously Arch) are what I'd call lean in comparison to the other two. And I do like that.

One thing I will do though, is when my replacement Beelink comes back from RMA, is I will go with Debian server rather than Ubuntu. I was tempted to try Rocky OS but I think Debian makes sense.
 

Buffalo2102

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I haven't used gnome for years so can't really comment further on that.

I use Proxmox for my server (based on Debian) and Debian for all my VMs. I also have Endeavour (KDE) on a desktop PC and really like that. I don't remember a lot of bloat but then I installed it some time ago and I quite enjoy the process of setting it all up how I want it. Much better than Windows in any case, as you say.
 

Timber

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Buffalo2102 said:
I haven't used gnome for years so can't really comment further on that.

I use Proxmox for my server (based on Debian) and Debian for all my VMs. I also have Endeavour (KDE) on a desktop PC and really like that. I don't remember a lot of bloat but then I installed it some time ago and I quite enjoy the process of setting it all up how I want it. Much better than Windows in any case, as you say.
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I think testing Debian in a VM as a desktop as I did, you miss out seeing its strength of being so stable when used in anger. I am more familiar with Debian so sticking with that for my server rebuild makes sense. Again I really like the fact its community driven.

Even though KDE is more feature rich there is something more succinct about Gnome for me. I really like the philosophy behind Gnome Apps. And as someone generally running a mostly vanilla OS Gnome is so much prettier to my eyes. And their workspaces implementation is the best of any OS I've tried. I actually use them for a change which speaks to how simple and well integrated into Gnome they are. My gut feeling is Gnome and KDE are ahead of the pack but tbf that might be incorrect. I know Cinnamon in Mint is very refined.
 

Scott C

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Timber said:
Even though KDE is more feature rich there is something more succinct about Gnome for me. I really like the philosophy behind Gnome Apps. And as someone generally running a mostly vanilla OS Gnome is so much prettier to my eyes. And their workspaces implementation is the best of any OS I've tried. I actually use them for a change which speaks to how simple and well integrated into Gnome they are. My gut feeling is Gnome and KDE are ahead of the pack but tbf that might be incorrect. I know Cinnamon in Mint is very refined.
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I'd also agree with that based on my experience. The Gnome team have a clear philosophy which has resulted in specific design choices and because of that there's a certain coherence around their apps...though I can understand why that would turn some people off of it
 

Timber

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Scott C said:
I'd also agree with that based on my experience. The Gnome team have a clear philosophy which has resulted in specific design choices and because of that there's a certain coherence around their apps...though I can understand why that would turn some people off of it
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Yea, I get it's not for everyone and Gnome can be frustrating in some of its limitations. That said until trying Fedora 36 I'd only used KDE, Unity (Ubuntu), Cinnamon or Xfce so its been interesting finding out I like Gnome as much as I do. It certainly is the most stable of the DEs I've run. And it's been quite a pleasant experience seeing several Linux Desktop distros in a good state. There is no doubt I'd be happy with Debian, Fedora or Arch on a daily basis (and probably some of the spins like Mint, Manjaro, Endeavour, Arco etc.).

Knowing my luck I've probably cursed it now and next time I'll update Arch the computer will crash...:cry:
 
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Timber

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I forgot to add to my comment I did try Ubuntu on the Lenovo Duet first and it was fine. Indeed like Fedora I liked the default Gnome DE.

That said I was put off my Snaps and how slow some apps were on initial (and sometimes subsequent startups). It doesn't help this PC is a Celeron n4020 +4GB RAM. Conceptually too I'm not 100% onboard with snaps. So that plus wanting to experience DNF pushed me to try Fedora at the time (and now Arch). Ubuntu is the distro I have the most experience with (particularly when it was using Unity as the default DE) although I don't think I want to go back to it, for now.
 
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