I was a huge distro hopper until I started using immutable distros. One thing no one tells beginners is that you do have to maintain your system more on Linux than other OSs because Linux gives you the rope to hang yourself with. I would always bloat my OS and things would get unruly, everything would slow down or become unstable and I would lose track of how I had everything set up. Immutability make things so much cleaner.
Searched, not googled. Google is bad, M’kay?
Reference
Drugs are bad, M’kay? Don’t do drugs.
me and the boys out here still asking Jeeves
Fellow old fart detected.
Fellow old fart detected.
Just ddg-it
Just duck it.
Hannah Montana Linux is the best distro! It leaves out all those newfangled things like Wayland, GNOME 3, SysVInit and gives you Hannah Montana.
I’m personally a huge fan of Red Star OS.
It’s the best Linux distro and only the best OS is enough for our glorious leader Kim Jong-Un! I heard he has the nuclear launch button integrated right into GNOME 2.
newfangled… SysVInit
You mean systemd? Cause SysVInit was created in 1991 based on Unix System V from 1983. Which means it’s literally older than Miley Cyrus.
Frankly i don’t know much about Linux. I was looking for some boot programs and i thought SysVInit was one of the newer ones after systemd. My gf uses Void Linux and it has some boot program that is supposedly less bloated than systemd.
As a former void user, it’s runit, void is a cool distro, i just switched because my ssd died, had to get a new one and i tried something new
Void uses runit. Small, simple and ~20yrs old.
You missed the step where you tell everyone what distro you use, and that its the best.
I use Mint, btw
I use SteamOS btw
(Which is arch based meaning… I use arch btw lol)
Otherwise Debian stable is my go-to set it and forget it server OS
Five minutes after you installed it and haven’t tried anything else.
Install Gentoo
the ultimate beginner’s distro, it’s a great start before moving on to something complicated like mint
Oddly, Gentoo was where I started out when I got serious about using Linux. That was when I was in my 20’s and I wanted to get every last bit of performance out of my computer. Also, breaking stuff was fun and gave me a chance to figure new stuff out.
Now I just want stuff to work and be relatively up to date. So I use Debian testing.
I’d rather someone’s first choice about Linux was which DE to use. This plays a way bigger part in first impressions.
The obvious choice is KDE, ofcThat’s a strange way to spell Xfce.
Maybe you misheard LXQT?
I totally agree, that’s a way more important factor when you’re starting out with Linux.
Gotta be Gnome thoughI used to be a huge Plasma evangelist. At first I hated it, the old versions I mean. You just moved the mouse pointer the wrong way and your whole DE was fucked. Too many options and settings. But KDE 5 changed my world. Stable and lighter than Gnome, but still fully configurable. Last night I switched to Debian 12, Gnome. Maybe I’m getting old, but I’m loving it. I don’t tinker with my DEs that much anymore. Just a couple Gnome extensions and I was good to go.
KDE is lighter than GNOME? In my experience GNOME uses slightly less resources.
DEs are clearly bloat, so the best DE is no DE.
Definitely not just because I prefer i3Maté is awesome
DE? WM!
ctwm rocking along nicely since last centuryWhatever, I always say, use what you want when you want to dive into things. When you don’t want to dive into things, use either IOS when you can afford it or Windows. (As long as they don’t expect help with the last 2 ;) )
Okay, but when most people are looking for advice on which distro to use it’s because they don’t know what they want.
Yeah, this meme is mostly to poke fun at the people who genuinely think that Linux Mint is only for beginners or you have to switch to Arch or whatever else, that kind of crowd.
I’m a little bit tempted to try and make an actual flowchart with distro recommendations since I’ve used and like most of the major ones at this point, but there are better resources out there than what I could contribute.
Linux mint is the sort of distro newbies start with and long time linux users retire to after theyve explored the distro multiverse.
If beginner, use PopOS.
If Linux nerd, use Arch.
That’s my guide. I don’t like any other distros. :)
I started with Ubuntu and then migrated to Arch. I learned a ton about Linux and how tune everything for optimal performance!
…And then I went back to Ubuntu because I just want to work with my computer, not on it.
Yeah many people say that but Ubuntu is not very good in my opinion. Outdated packages, snaps, commercials in the installer and so on. I would pick PopOS any day over that myself. But it’s because I’m really sensitive to those things.
Yeah, I honestly agree that Ubuntu is getting worse. For better or worse though, it’s a base that I’m familiar with. I end up customizing and tweaking it, but I’ve automated enough of that to where I can just run a few scripts on a fresh install and be back up and running.
Basically, I built myself a shittier, highly specific version of Nix in self-defence. 😁
I started with Pop_OS then switched toto manjaro and now again switched to Pop
It really is the best system for new people using Linux. Everything is so smooth and nice. Looking forward to the new cosmos desktop that is coming. :)
The two things that matter when choosing a distro - package managers and desktop environment/window manager. And even then, universal package managers like Flatpak, Snap and AppImage can provide a substitute for the package managers.
I’ve used 10 distros since 2008, all of as main system. I agree with you, but I think everyone should try a few distros until they find the right one for them.
You missed a third option;
“Just dive in you nerd.”
(Web developer) I distro-hopped for years, after discovering Ubuntu 8.10 (OpenSUSE, Fedora, Linux Mint, Ubuntu Mate,Manjaro, Ubuntu Budgie, etc). Then left Linux altogether for some time. 4 years ago returned to Kubuntu, using only LTS. My best Linux experience ever. Until yesterday, when I installed Debian 12. Hated Gnome before (I don’t remember why), but not anymore, the stability is astounding.
What if I don’t want to use whatever I want? What if I want my distro forced upon me?
I’ve decided that you have to use Slackware
Thank you sir. May I have another?
Yes, you have to use Softlanding Linux System. You can’t go back to Slackware
Thank you sir. May I have another?
You must use all these systems as VMs under Proxmox
Lmao of all possible choices you went with that xD based
It’s been a long time since I’ve played around with Slackware, wonder how it’s doing lately. Might need to find an extra machine to throw it on.
Wow, 1.3 was fun, as was RedHat 4.2 (guessing,. version on infomagix nov '95 CD set, can’t find it now). Most fun though was kicking them off and dumping Debian on there early '96. (yeah,
fan boylazy admin that doesn’t want re-installs for major upgrades)
Which distro should you pick? -> openSUSE tumbleweed
The distro itself is pretty good, but the repos are missing many packages, and it can get pretty frustrating.
You can use opi to install packages from packman repo and open build service. It has pretty much everything.
Honestly from experience I’ve learnt that the yes answer also usually applies to the no answer because it’s important to everyone. Advanced users tend to hit advanced issues and surprise, surprise, then community size matters all the same!
So since Linux is highly customizable and the choice of e.g. desktop environment matters little (just install whatever you want on any distro, including DE), community size is the most hard-earned property and thus usually trumps all.
So I personally try to keep closest to upstream regardless experienced or less experienced users => Debian if you adore those DEB packages and management, Fedora if you love those RPM packages and management, indie ones for indie packages e.g. Alpine, Arch… If you still run into issues it’s usually you, not the distro because it’s already battle hardened. :) But no worries, then you’ll find a lot of help and the problem has usually already even been discussed and is googleable! It’s 2023, none of the huge distros are plain shit and annoying, that’s been ironed out like a decade ago. So just go with a (big) flow somewhere.
