Can anyone recommend a new distro?

[Xenon]

For years I have played with Linux and I really do like it. I have tried all the major distros, Arch, Ubuntu, Mint, Red Hat etc. 

I was wondering if anyone is using a new distro they really like. I know I can easily find lists of them, but I am looking for people that actually use them and their opinions. 

I have recently been using EuroLinux (not full time) and its ok.

[Nick H. Supervisor]

I think it depends on what you mean by a "new distro."

For example, I would recommend Kubuntu, but that's because it's Ubuntu using KDE. Since you have already tried Ubuntu, this might not be "new" enough for you?

If you decide to give it a go, I would not suggest using 24.04 just yet. I'm running into some issues with it at the moment.

[Mindovermaster Global Moderator]

Did you see the pinned distrobution thread?

But, what are you really looking for? I can rattle off 20 distros that I tried for over 3 months at a time.

It's totally up to you what to use. Anything we say can be a total difference to what you like.

 

Me, personally, am using Sparky. It's based on Debian's Testing Branch. I've always liked Debian rolled distrobutions.

IMO, KDE is about the best polished DE. The thing is, there are several DE's based off GNOME, as MATE, Cinnamon, Budgie, etc. But there's nothing based off KDE.

As Nick said above, don't use 24.04 yet, wait a few months until the bugs are fried out.

[Xenon]

On 08/06/2024 at 12:19, Nick H. said:

I think it depends on what you mean by a "new distro."

For example, I would recommend Kubuntu, but that's because it's Ubuntu using KDE. Since you have already tried Ubuntu, this might not be "new" enough for you?

If you decide to give it a go, I would not suggest using 24.04 just yet. I'm running into some issues with it at the moment.

Thanks. I guess what I mean is a new distro that has been created within the last year or two. New features and easy to use. I  am really meh about a distro that changed from gnome or kde unless there is something more. 

[Xenon]

On 08/06/2024 at 12:24, Mindovermaster said:

Did you see the pinned distrobution thread?

Actually no I didn't notice that. I will look there. 

 

[FateTrap]

PCLinuxOS, Calculate Linux, Void Linux (glibc), ALT Linux, Devuan (testing branch) and Alpine Linux

I consider the above Linux systems to be the most qualitative Linux systems for 2024.

FreeBSD and OpenBSD are also good and I usually prefer BSD over Linux on my own hardware.

[Mindovermaster Global Moderator]

On 17/06/2024 at 08:33, FateTrap said:

PCLinuxOS, Calculate Linux, Void Linux (glibc), ALT Linux, Devuan (testing branch) and Alpine Linux

I consider the above Linux systems to be the most qualitative Linux systems for 2024.

FreeBSD and OpenBSD are also good and I usually prefer BSD over Linux on my own hardware.

Being he is newer to Linux, I wouldn't recommend any of those. BSD is that big one I'd say no to. Each to their own, but starting out as a newb, that isn't the best to start with.

[Nick H. Supervisor]

On 17/06/2024 at 15:17, Mindovermaster said:

Being he is newer to Linux...

Just to note, he has said that he's been trying Linux for years. He also mentioned that he tried Arch, which isn't a newbie distribution. So he might like the challenge of BSD or the dreaded (from my understanding) Gentoo.

[Mindovermaster Global Moderator]

On 17/06/2024 at 14:16, Nick H. said:

Just to note, he has said that he's been trying Linux for years. He also mentioned that he tried Arch, which isn't a newbie distribution. So he might like the challenge of BSD or the dreaded (from my understanding) Gentoo.

IMO, Arch isn't that hard to use. I doubt he's a pro user if he wants to know what he can try next. As Arch is about the top of the top of distros.

But, in my experience, it's a bit of a dirt rut unless you are good at compiling stuff or using a server. He sounds more like a desktop guy.

But as I said above, he has to choose himself in the end.

[Nick H. Supervisor]

On 17/06/2024 at 20:34, Mindovermaster said:

IMO, Arch isn't that hard to use. I doubt he's a pro user if he wants to know what he can try next. As Arch is about the top of the top of distros.

I don't know. While I agree that it's top-tier, my understanding is that you need to know what you want from your distribution, and know what packages to look for, in order to install the necessary components.

But maybe I've got that completely wrong. Can't say that I've bothered to try it. As I mentioned in a previous thread, I need a distribution that I can get up and running in 5 minutes. I don't want to muck around picking a SDDM or the other stuff.

[Xenon]

On 17/06/2024 at 10:17, Mindovermaster said:

Being he is newer to Linux, I wouldn't recommend any of those. BSD is that big one I'd say no to. Each to their own, but starting out as a newb, that isn't the best to start with.

I am not really new to Linux. I have been trying it for years, just not sticking with it.

[WITHOUT-ME]

this

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Linux_distributions

 

[adrynalyne]

I tend to distro hop a bunch but always come back to Tumbleweed. 
 

https://get.opensuse.org/tumbleweed/

[Mindovermaster Global Moderator]

On 17/06/2024 at 19:13, WITHOUT-ME said:

this

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Linux_distributions

 

Actually, this is a more recent one:

[FateTrap]

On 17/06/2024 at 21:16, Nick H. said:

Just to note, he has said that he's been trying Linux for years. He also mentioned that he tried Arch, which isn't a newbie distribution. So he might like the challenge of BSD or the dreaded (from my understanding) Gentoo.

Calculate Linux is Gentoo under the hood but don't see it as similar in difficulty to Gentoo.

The thing about Claculate Linux is that you can install it in 5 minutes and it has a GUI tool for update so this is usually just clicking the update button when you get an automatic popup.

BSD also does not necessarily have to be a challenge. GhostBSD is very user-friendly and even old people can learn to use GhostBSD in a few days.

The only disadvantages of GhostBSD compared to vanilla FreeBSD are that you have fewer update mirrors (depending on your location, slower download of updates) and that Wine, for example, sometimes works better on the real FreeBSD because GhostBSD sometimes lags in software versions.

But the overall picture is that GhostBSD is easier to use than many Linux systems.

I would also classify ALT KWorkstation 10 as easy to use similar to Mint and Ubuntu, with the advantage of having fewer bugs than Ubuntu.

Another advantage of ALT KWorkstation 10 is that it has good compatibility. You have many native RPM packages (via standard repo) that you can install via apt-get, then you have external RPM packages, then you have snap packages and also Flatpak packages. All four are easy-to-use package formats, so you can run a huge amount of software on ALT KWorkstation 10.

[FateTrap]

I also recommended PCLinuxOS, but that too is fairly user-friendly, and according to professional reviewers, better than many popular Linux desktop systems:

 

In my own tests, I've found that PCLinuxOS + XFS file system achieves very good app/game startup times (better than 90% of Linux systems).

[goretsky Supervisor]

Hello,

Are you looking for a Linux distro suitable for RTOS or embedded applications?  If so MontaVista Linux might be worth a look.

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky
 

[Xenon]

On 19/06/2024 at 02:26, goretsky said:

Hello,

Are you looking for a Linux distro suitable for RTOS or embedded applications?  If so MontaVista Linux might be worth a look.

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky
 

I am looking for one to throw on a old notebook and play with to see how it is. Nothing serious 😀.  Right now I have Manjaro on it. Manjaro Linux is my current favorite. 

[satukoro]

In Feb 2023 I went to Debian and used that for most of the year until I switched to ElementaryOS 7 (version 8 is currently nearly finished) and have found that ElementaryOS is pretty polished as far as linux goes. I still had to do a few things I normally do to debian/ubuntu based distros like disable ipv6 and such to fix very delayed name resolution but other than that all the computers in my house run it now and I'm very happy with the experience.

[forster]

I tend to use Debian based distros, or Arch based. I like Manjaro, PopOS, recently I used Nobara as my main distro on my main gaming machine and it was working great. However, I was getting issues with samba and trying to connect to my network shares so tried to switch up to EndeavourOS, but this didnt even get to desktop as there was some kind of boot issue with the graphics driver.

I recommend following Distrowatch, I am sure everyone knows what that is by now, and seeing what is being updated. I have never used Linux Mint, but I'm using it instead of Nobara and Ive no complaints at all. Installed Gnome which I prefer over KDE, Steam works, samba works fine, USBs and creating bootable USBs works fine (another problem I randomly have with distros) I have probably tried every distro over the past 20 years, including the dreaded Gentoo, I used to buy CD packs of OpenSUSE etc from eBay 20 years ago and I can still remember the design of the Red Hat CDs, SUSE CDs, they were great!

I get the itch of wanting to try something 'new', but tbh, if what you are using works, then that's the most important thing. Just keep going and try not to worry about the FOMO.

[Xenon]

On 19/06/2024 at 12:11, satukoro said:

In Feb 2023 I went to Debian and used that for most of the year until I switched to ElementaryOS 7 (version 8 is currently nearly finished) and have found that ElementaryOS is pretty polished as far as linux goes. I still had to do a few things I normally do to debian/ubuntu based distros like disable ipv6 and such to fix very delayed name resolution but other than that all the computers in my house run it now and I'm very happy with the experience.

Two or three years ago I tried ElementaryOS and really liked it except I could not get the wifi to work on the notebook I put it on. Might check it out again. 

[pearlharbor49]

An old(er) notebook would work out of the box with Linux Mint, Linux Mint Debian Edition, and MX. Lightest load on an older CPU/GPU would be Xfce version.

If you have disk space, you might try multiple distros. I have three on a 256GB ASUS Zenbook along with Windows 11. They include Lubuntu (so so IMHO), LMDE, MX.

[Mindovermaster Global Moderator]

On 20/06/2024 at 06:48, pearlharbor49 said:

An old(er) notebook would work out of the box with Linux Mint, Linux Mint Debian Edition, and MX. Lightest load on an older CPU/GPU would be Xfce version.

If you have disk space, you might try multiple distros. I have three on a 256GB ASUS Zenbook along with Windows 11. They include Lubuntu (so so IMHO), LMDE, MX.

DSL

Could always try Crunchbang. The original is dead, but they did bring it back with Crunchbang Plus Plus. https://www.crunchbangplusplus.org/

[ABurro]

I put Zorin OS Pro. (yes, I supported the developer with a payment) on a Macbook Air from 2013 and it just flies wherever I want to go.  It's not my daily driver, but it is the one I pick up when I just want to goof off and have some fun.  I've tried other distros but this is the one only one that I liked enough to support.  Hey, the people that do this as a labor of love deserve to be supported when they produce work that is commercial worthy and as a person who has to deal with multiple operating systems, I feel happy to find something that works well.  There are many in the Linux community doing excellent work, far beyond what you would expect, and I, as an end user who also works in tech, support and applaud their efforts.

[i_was_here]

I am surprised no has mention NixOS yet.