What distro(s) do you use?

owatnext@lemmy.world to Linux@lemmy.ml – 46 points –

What Linux distribution or distributions do you personally use?

I myself am a daily Void user. I used to use Devuan, but wanted to try rolling release and ended up loving Void!

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Arch Linux. Always very up-to-date and the AUR is huge. No dealing with PPAs or snaps or flatpaks or appimages. Just paru -S any-software-ever-made. Also very streamlined (systemd for everything lol) and well documented. I tried NixOS for a bit but it was very inconvenient in comparison and I felt like it was impossible to tinker with or understand if you weren't good at Haskell. Terrible documentation.

For servers it's definitely Debian + docker.

I tried NixOS for a bit but it was very inconvenient in comparison and I felt like it was impossible to tinker with or understand if you weren’t good at Haskell.

You don't need any haskell knowledge to configure a NixOS system. It's mostly just researching the right options and setting the desired values. Pretty simple. For more advanced stuff like custom modules, functional programming experience helps a lot but that's not necessary for installing packages and enabling services.

Documentation isn't great but what it does have going for it is that it's right in the place where you configure it: In the NixOS options. Wanna configure systemd-boot? Just search for it: https://search.nixos.org/options?channel=23.05&size=50&sort=relevance&type=packages&query=systemd-boot
It's self-documenting.

Debian. Several reasons:

  • It's trustworthy.
  • It's not going anywhere. Debian existed when I was a kid and it'll probably still exist when I draw my last breath.
  • I know how to use it, since, once again, I've been using it since I was a kid.
  • It has all the desktop environments.
  • It fully supports systemd. I do not miss the unreliability, slowness, and complexity of what came before that. (Normally I wouldn't mention this, but your former distro of choice exists solely for the purpose of not having systemd, so it's relevant this time.)

The thought that Debian will continue into the future feels comforting. How cool it would be if in 5000AD kids on Mars or Europa are running Debian 100?

I use Debian with a patched version of motif window manager. The 90s never ended:

I was a distro hopper once, then I saw the light of NixOS...

Tell me about it...

The only reason I might, in the distant future, ever consider changing again is this project, which hopefully would be something between NixOS and Qubes. But that is far in the future and not even that certain.

Garuuuuuda. Love it. Been running it for the past few years. The devs come off as assholes, but they're actually just German;)

NixOS everywhere (except for one server which I have yet to migrate from Rocky to NixOS)

Arch, Debian, NixOS, Fedora Silverblue, Raspbian, GrapheneOS[Android]

Fedora on the desktop. I got my start on Red Hat Linux so I've stuck with it since.

For servers I use Debian. Lightweight, widely used, and gets the job done.

Been switching between Arch and Linux Mint for a while now. I run Arch and EndeavourOS on my laptops (Arch on my daily 2-in-1, Endeavour on my TV laptop) but I can't decide which is better for VR on my main rig... probably because VR on Linux is kinda in a pathetic state anyway lol. Next week I'm getting a second GPU for simple display-out so I can use my 6800XT to run VR in a Windows VM, probably on Arch

Edit: landed on EndeavourOS, basically just Arch with a GUI installer, DE by default, and some other tweaks. It's what I kept turning Arch into pretty much lol

Does SteamOS count? My steam deck is my current “Linux” machine.

Yes! My coworker does this and I think it's pretty cool.

Debian, for ultimate stability, Fedora for every day, and Arch for my project box.

NixOS. Declarative config with opt-in state is awesome.

Same here. It's made my life a whole lot easier since on previous distros, I had to depend on documenting manual hacks I had done.

Fellow NixOS traveller. I used Nix for work and never saw the appeal of a whole OA built around it but when I saw a tutorial with the declarative config I was instantly sold.

NixOS. Declarative reproducible immutable systems are the future.

I use opensuse with kde and I love it. Have been using it for 2 years now.

For server use at home I use Ubuntu Server and Alma Linux (mostly)

At work it is all RedHat.

Linux Mint with Mate DE.

Been using NixOS for a couple months. It’s gotten easier to configure and change because of it, and new computers are super easy to setup because I can just change/apply the config and system wide changes will apply with one command!

OpenSUSE, Tumbleweed on workstations (KDE) and Leap on my server.

I used to use Void as my main distro, but then the developer drama made me shy away from it (keep in mind, this was like forever ago and I haven’t looked at Void at all since). After that I floated around trying everything, from Gentoo to the BSDs (I know, not Linux). Nowadays I use OpenSUSE Tumbleweed. I got tired of doing everything manually and OpenSUSE just makes everything so much easier to use, IMO.

I got tired of doing everything manually

Perhaps check out NixOS

Debian on my gaming desktop and Ubuntu on the family laptop.

Xubuntu for over ten years now. It was the first thing I landed on when in a panic that my store-bought, WinXP -preinstalled PC was failing and I couldn't afford to be without it nor replace it. Even after being so grateful for it rescuing me, it's also taught me, and worked flawlessly for all I need from my computers since.

I distro hop a lot. After using Majaro (gnome) for a long time I switched to Pop_OS for a long time. I switched back to Manjaro (Gnome) again, but after a week of use I've just downloaded Ubuntu.

I'm getting basic display issues that I've never got in another distro (including tails!) and it's generally annoying me. I'd rather use a distro that doesn't require troubleshooting on Day 1

I use primarily Fedora for desktop/dual boot and minimal Rocky for server. I mess with Arch and Manjaro when I'm feeling adventurous.

Fedora, for the “It Just Works”™ experience of an enterprise-supported distro.

I use Debian for my docker servers. I try to use it on the desktop. Was using pop-os, games kept crashing, replace with arch? Archinstall wouldn’t work. Back to windows I guess. Maybe I should try Debian on the desktop since it’s the only one I ever get working properly.

Arch on my workstation, Ubuntu on my servers.

Fedora, I'm not a tech person by Linux user standards and I just need an OS that works

Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, FreeBSD, Arch. :) I need to learn NixOs or something that is immutable / reproducible at some point.

xubuntu. when this install gets too messy i'm probably going to try the minimal edition and install my old openbox or awesome wm configs.

I used to use Arch but recently switched to Fedora. I need stability now.

Right now i am using OpenSUSE Tumbleweed. But i am experimenting with NixOS as well. Bdw first comment on lemmy!

I fall firmly in the Ubuntu/derivative camp for the most part. My laptop is on Pop, some of my virtual servers are on Ubuntu. Only exception is UnRAID, which is technically Slackware.

I've felt in love woth Debian the moment I used it for the first time

openSUSE Tumbleweed, it just works for me.

Using Garuda (basically just Arch with some bloat) because I'm 1) too lazy to install Arch myself and 2) on an Nvidia card and Wayland WMs still seem buggy for me. Once (if ever) Wayland is stable on Nvidia I'll probably look for an alternative

For my main desktop and laptop I use Void Linux, for my servers I use Debian.

I also have a few other desktops that run NixOS and Arch.

Archlinux on all desktops and laptops, Debian on all raspis, FreeBSD on the firewall (pfsense).

Desktop: Ubuntu, mainly because that's what we support at work

Servers: Debian/Proxmox

Nixos since 3-4 years. Arch Linux before that.

What advantages have Nixos over.. lets say arch or debian stable ?

Ubuntu server for my servers, Arch w/ i3 on my browsing/daily use box, and several laptops that rotate between whatever I get the itch to install on any given day.

I've been a daily fedora user for the half year. Initially I started off with ElementaryOS but it was so filled with bugs, and glitches, so it didnt last for more than a couple of months. While the fedora experience is way more streamlined.

I had the same experience with ElementaryOS. I really wanted to like it but it just wasn’t a good experience at the time.

Been using PopOS for my living room AMD GPU pc, and it’s been the most seamless steam machine experience I’ve had so far. Tried multiple distros on my Nvidia one, and I just had no luck, I’ll move my Nvidia pc into Linux soon for another attempt.

Mostly NixOS unstable. I have one machine still on Arch, but i plan to switch that to NixOS too.

NixOS on everything but my Steam Deck which is running SteamOS.

Thoughts on NixOS? I have heard a lot of positive buzz, but I don't think I understand it fully. (I'm primarily debian, ubuntu, fedora, arch user, and I've admin'd a FreeBSD server too).

For me, NixOS is like someone took the archwiki and made a distro with it. I can just do

services.lemmy = {
  enable = true;
  settings = {
    hostname = "lemmy.union.rocks";
    database.createLocally = true;
  };
  caddy.enable = true;
}

in my system config (example from Nix manual). It will install lemmy, install caddy, start lemmy backend on port 8536, frontend on 1234, expose it with a caddy reverse proxy to that hostname, and initialize a postgres database. This is also reproducible across systems, so it's pretty much guaranteed to work the same on one PC and on another.

This is very useful, because some programs require some more configuration, and this can remove the need to know where to put their config files, their package names, systemd service names from your head. It's all in there.

Also, when I fuck something up... when changing the config, it makes a new boot entry with it, so when booting I can just press arrow down when booting to select an older, working config. Magic.

Packages are also nicely separated from each other. I don't have to install stuff globally, when I need a program one time I can just do nix shell nixpkgs#audacity and have an ephemeral shell with the package installed.

There are (optiona) binary caches, so you practically don't have to compile anything from source when updating your system.

I have all my configuration on GitHub, like a lot of people, which makes it easy to share information.

A con is that when a program hasn't been packaged for NixOS (whether it's in nixpkgs or has a flake.nix in the repo), it's not that easy to use it, so learning to write derivations (packages) for NixOS is pretty much a must have.

Also another must have is being in some community that uses NixOS, because it is really hard to learn without someone to help and guide you IMO.

Worth it though

Ooooh. That sounds amazing. I will have to try it out. Does it play nice in v box or VMware?

Should work fine. I really recommend installing the nix package manager on your current distro to play with the language and how it works, I did it on arch to get familiar and it has been really helpful.

I really enjoy using NixOS as it is good at what it does, declarative system configuration, but it does have issues that can prevent people from using it. It's great if you want to put the configuration for all your computers in one git repo but that configuration is in the Nix language so you will eventually need to become familiar with the Nix language. The main issues are that the documentation needs work and understanding the difference between the Nix operating system, the Nix language, and the Nix package collection as the more you use NixOS the more familiar you will need to be with each.

That said, I find it worth learning and recommend some of the following resources for NixOS.

MyNixOS for graphical configuration management. See my configs there.

NixOS Wiki for the best collection of NixOS documentation. I've found this collection of people's configurations to be very useful for inspiration.

The manual pages for the Nix language, Nix packages, and NixOS.

Thank you for your helpful replies! I will put it in my "someday" inbox when I feel the need to shave some yaks or when debina/ubuntu/fedora piss me off about something. :)

I wish Arch could be installed everywhere. My Desktop PC, Laptop and Raspberry PI 4 use Arch Linux while my Server used to run Rocky Linux but is abandoned and my Chromebook Duet 3 uses Debian 12 with KDE. I think I could easily install Arch on it after having my Kernel compiled and working with debian.

The Star64 still needs development to be used.

Arch with Cinnamon DE and I use flatpak and not the AUR.

Currently ZorinOS on my Main Machine and Arch on my Notebook, but when i have my new AMD GPU i will use Fedora.

Debain - cuz my production VMs need to run all day, every day.

I use EndeavourOS with Hyprland on my laptop but I am considering trying VanillaOS (once they move to Debian base). On desktop I have Ubuntu 20.04 and EndeavourOS (both on Gnome)

Have been using Fedora for a year now. Had used Pop OS for about 6months before that.

My laptop is my oldest install, running Ubunutu. Started out on 14.04 and I've been updating ever since. My desktop runs Arch, although it used to be Antergos. I kinda convinced it to be Arch after Antergos died so I kept getting updates. Finally I'm currently trying Fedora on my secondary PC filled with old hardware from previous builds.

Honestly, out of these I personally like Fedora most currently. It seems to have up-to-date enough packages and seems quite stable. The AUR on Arch is a powerful thing, but it can also be quite hit or miss. While Ubuntu was fine as a first distro, I don't really like how outdated all the packages are. I've had quite a few cases where packages where more than a year out of date.

Antergos <3 I still use it on my main desktop.

Did you test or know some good gui arch installers? (As I was thinking of reinstalling my laptop running some random dystros to also use Arch, so I'm looking around for alternative arch installers with good setup that would still be in the end just nicely setup pure arch for longevity)

How is your experience as a long time Arch user on switching to Fedora, pros and cons?

I heard some stuff about Arch actually coming with an installer itself nowadays, but I haven't tried it yet. Fedora has been nice though. It felt very polished and I haven't had any big issues yet. Packages seem quite up-to-date. But of course it's not on my main PC, so I'm not using it as often as Arch.

Fedora. Used to use Arch but it broke and I moved to Fedora, it's a way more polished experience. I like how Fedora is stable but not "stale" like Debian. Want to try Fedora Silverblue as well.

I highly recommend silverblue! The only thing that can be frustrating is Steam and other game related things, particularly with wireless controllers it seems. But overall it makes it very hassle free imo.

I use Linux Mint XFCE on my laptop and desktop. And the standard Steam OS on my Steam Deck.

Linux Mint for desktops/laptops (Cinnamon if the hardware can handle it, MATE if it's a bit long in the tooth), and Debian for servers.

I've used several distros (yes, even Arch btw) through the years but I just keep finding myself coming back to the Debian-based ones. I guess I just feel most at-home with the way it has things set up, or something.

I'm currently running Mint on my Computer and Ubuntu on servers.

Mint with Cinnamon is my daily driver on my desktop and laptop for almost 3 years now. I ran a company for a while using Linux and managed to find everything I needed for software to run administration. It was great. I still have a windows tablet for troubleshooting and equipment specific requests, but I always feel weird logging into it.

I've used Mint since I started using Linux, and never had any major issues. I've therefore just stuck with it. I don't always have the time to tinker with my machine if something should break, and Mint usually just works when I need it, while still providing flexibility when I want it (and Timeshift to fix it when I break stuff)

OpenSUSE Tumbleweed on my laptop, Debian on my server and SteamOS on the Steam Deck.

I use gentoo everywhere, from my nas to my webserver and my pc and laptop.

With binhost and distcc it’s really not bad and the customizability is just unmatched.

Arch on everything, including servers. It's just so easy to install everything via the AUR & configure everything easily. Plus the wiki is amazing. Although it is a pain to setup sometimes

Debian 12 for now is a great investment for the next 5 years, tho.

I use Arch Linux with KDE Plasma myself

Manjaro for the best 🥰

Manjaro + SteamOS. Wanted to refresh myself on gaming with Linux/Proton prior to the Deck launch and Manjaro seemed the most similar. Helped that my Win11 install decided to crash explorer.exe every 5 seconds around the same time.

Manjaro. I am a guy of habits, so I never really distro-hopped, I once tried to install Arch and failed to configure everything so I tried endeavour and failed too (which would mean I am not a tech guy either ;). Ultimately, I'd say that the distribution does not matters much once you are used to it, you can always get what you want from any of them. The only thing I really like in comparison with others is pacman :)

I use Manjaro, but I run it like vanilla Arch (for example pacman/yay and not pamac). I find this to be a sweet spot for me - rolling releases are so incredibly nice, and Manjaro being slightly slower than Arch is good from a stability standpoint in my experience.

I use ZFS all over the place, including the root storage pool on my home server, which has overall been a great experience with systemd-boot.

I'm a opensuse tumbleweed user on my desktop and laptop. I also have an ubuntu home server.

I really like tumbleweed, but I have been thinking of switching to an immutable distro like guix or nix. I've tried guix several times and found it pretty good, but never stick with it due to its lack of KDE plasma support. Maybe I should give nix a try.

Fedora, because it just works and it ships recent software versions.

I also like Fedora Silverblue, and projects like ublue are very interesting in my opinion.

Could you explain what you find interesting about Silverblue ?

Updates can't really break anything, and if something would go wrong, I can simply boot on the previous image, which will still be there. They can also happen in the background, such that I don't even know it's updating. It just happens and never bothers me.

What's even more interesting is that you can rebase on another base image without having to worry. If I don't like it, I can just go back to the previous image. With ublue, you can even customize your own OS image.

I believe modern Android uses a similar concept. They use two partitions, and install an update to the other image while your phone is running normally. Then all you need to do is reboot, and you'll be on the new boot image.

Ubuntu or Kubuntu. Long are gone the days where I used to tinker with different Linux flavors.

Fortunately, I can afford powerful enough systems so I do not have to be worried about optimizing every single aspect of the OS.

I want things just to work out of the box. I am aware that this applies to more distros than Ubuntu, but I just do not have the time and energy anymore.

Just Ubuntu. I have tried plenty of others but Ubuntu just seems to tick most boxes for me.

EDIT: I am looking forward to the new Pop! when it comes out, I will surely give it a try, No idea if I will switch then though.

Currently... Slackware on main laptop. Slint (Slackware-based) on mini-pc. MX Linux (fvwm respin), Void, and OpenBSD on old laptop. NsCDE is desktop on all except MX.

I love to see Slackware representation in these threads, easily my favorite distribution of all time.

My laptop is on Manjaro and has been running flawlessly for years ...such a great experience with gnome 40+

My desktop is also on Manjaro, and things could not be more different. No Wayland, no animations in the gnome desktop, visual glitches since the last update ...guess it doesn't play well with Nvidia drivers. Anyone managing something decent with gnome+Nvidia?

Arch.

I've done a reasonable amount of distrohopping, but I always come crawling back because I've never found anything that can compete with the AUR.

Haha yes, I have to stay out of arguments involving Snap vs Flatpak for this reason. I ended up leaving Mint through issues with my HTPC install - with Plex, the 'Home Theater' app died it's death, and options were tough to install - so I went for Arch, failed to get that working well, then tested KDE with Manjaro - bingo!

Until a couple of months ago, I was installing PlexHTPC via AUR which unpacked the snap and installed it - that's so awesome... though now it's dead so I had to jump onto the newly opened Flatpak option (AUR stuck at 1.30.1-1 whilst Flathub is up to 1.39.2).

After the PPA nightmares I had with 'buntu, and later with Mint (PPA's made for 'buntu often don't work) it's like a dream.

I haven't experienced an issue adding PPA's in about four years. The package manager simply does what it's meant to do and things just work.

I used cinnamon/debian for a long time on my desktop and gnome/ubuntu on my laptop. in the last couple years i switched to KDE plasma/manjaro on desktop and gnome/manjaro on laptop

its nice, for the most part and gives me access to the aur

I have a general use server running ubuntu server atm, i'm considering completely redoing that and havent decided on the distro i will use yet. I want to use kubernetes to sandbox its various uses apart and in a redeployable way so whatever works for that

Arch

I find that bugs in linux programs (and they will happen regardless of distro) are more easily tweaked in systems that do minimal modifications to upstream programs and keep them updated regularly with what the developers release

Also AUR makes it easy to install pretty much anything without having to add ppas, new repo links, etc