I don’t mind. I have two machines that run Linux and one that runs windows. Main desktop I built last month runs endeavourOS. A 13" laptop that runs Ubuntu. A 15" laptop that runs windows. I like arch because it is always on the latest software. Some people like to be on the cutting edge and others don’t. I’m the former. But I didn’t want to run vanilla arch because I’m too lazy for maintenance and building my distro from ground up. EndeavourOS is arch with an installer and extra repos. It gives you a solid distro out of the box that you don’t need to do much work on after it’s installed. It just works. Never had an issue. I just update twice or once a week and I’m good to go. I have it set up with btrfs and snapshots in case it does break.
Ubuntu on the laptop because I like Ubuntu on little machines. Every single thing works out of the box. Ubuntu is very neat. A lot of people hate on it and on snaps, but I honestly don’t care. I use what works for me. Anything Linux is good to me and they vary in how good they are. Also, Ubuntu is kind of nostalgic to me. It was the first thing I knew about Linux back in 2013.
But here is the thing, I told you what I use, but it may not work for you. That’s why I love Linux. There is a distro for everyone. You can try what I use and see if you like them, if not keep distro hopping until you settle on something you love like I did. I personally wouldn’t listen to any suggestions on here, Reddit or anywhere on what distro to use (that’s just me btw). I distro hopped for almost two years until I settled on what I have now. Hope this helps.
raptir@lemdro.id 1 year ago
If you’re new, Ubuntu (or one of its variants, like Xubuntu or Kubuntu) or Linux Mint are great “safe” options. The only thing to consider with Mint is that there is only an LTS release so you will end up with older versions of some programs. I’ve been using Linux as my primary OS for 17 years but I will still throw Xubuntu on a laptop if I just want to get something up and running quickly - other than having some extra packages installed out of the box there’s nothing “wrong” with it.
That said I use openSUSE Tumbleweed as my daily driver. I like the rolling release and cutting edge packages, plus I like that YaST allows me to install the system exactly the way I want - picking and choosing individual packages.
ChunkMcHorkle@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Thank you so much for your response. I have tried Mint; it ran perfectly out of the box with zero issues on a 13 year old laptop; I just didn’t care for the Cinnamon DE so I have it on my list to try again with a different DE. Snaps aren’t too much of an issue because it supports other repositories.
I’ve also tried OpenSUSE Leap but not Tumbleweed; I think I had to do the full install (no LiveUSB) but as an OS it was great. I ran it for a week but had some video issues with it, weird horizontal lines that go across the screen for a few seconds at boot, shut down, and login. Not a deal killer but I’ve set it aside for right now while I try other distros. (One thing I love so far about the Arch distros is that the online knowledge base is truly easy for someone with basic tech knowledge but no Linux knowledge to find what they need.) Really appreciate you taking the time to respond, thank you!