Until now I’ve had fedora, opensuse and arch. I don’t really like arch nowadays, so I was thinking more of a fedora cinnamon or LXQT. Opensuse is okay I guess. Any suggestions?

  • Eugenia ( eugenia@lemmy.ml ) English
    29·
    8 months ago

    Linux Mint is not a “rando ubuntu fork”. It’s the most reliable OS for me, along Debian-Stable. It has prefs for almost everything, sane defaults, and a clear release and support schedule. And it uses Cinnamon. I’ve tried everything under the sun, I always come back to Mint. It works.

  • stressballs ( stressballs@lemmy.zip ) 
    11·
    8 months ago

    Any Arch/Debian. If you’re picking Distros based on which UI they package, you’re doing your self dirty by ignoring options that might be more what you want. You can always swap out the UI. It’s not a core part of most distros.

  • AnarchoEngineer ( AnarchoEngineer@lemmy.dbzer0.com ) 
    5·
    8 months ago

    Reliable OS: Debian is the standard, or try Fedora if you want to get the latest software features

    Alternate DE’s: xubuntu is a classic and it’s fast. LXQT is also lightweight but not as modern feeling imo. Debian install disks should let you choose either of those DEs (or some others) when installing

      • StrawberryPigtails ( StrawberryPigtails@lemmy.sdf.org ) English
        2·
        8 months ago

        I’m sure there are flakes that can do that, but I just use the config file, adding things as I find I need them. Flakes weren’t really all that well documented when I first installed it so I never messed around with them. Out of box though, it was fairly decent for relatively simple needs. If I remember correctly, the graphical install could set you up with any of a half dozen different DEs out of the box.

        One heads up. While NixOS is a Linux distribution, it is radically different design philosophy from every other Linux distribution I’ve ever used. In some ways better and far easier to setup and maintain, and sometimes, as headache inducing as Gentoo or Arch. Once you have it setup to your liking, though, it has proven incredibly solid and hard to break.

        Here’s a redacted copy of my configuration.nix file. I really need to clean it up, reorganize, and remove things I’m not using anymore, but it’s what I’m running on my desktop. Basically hasn’t changed since KDE6 came out something like a year ago. I think the last change I made after that was when I finally added flatpak support.

        https://pastebin.com/8G7Hv4y2

      • OhVenus_Baby ( OhVenus_Baby@lemmy.ml ) 
        1·
        8 months ago

        I’ve used nix for roughly a year. Flakes is the way to go. It’s the most simple cut and dry shit works distro aside from Linux mint but the caveat is you have to essentially learn how the nix config file works. You can install your configuration file on any machine, anytime, anywhere and it’ll boot as your exact carbon copy. Its a great distro you can trust to maintain with two files entirely. Cake to remember and backup.

        Downsides are keeping config file backed up often. And knowing that anything you want done has to go into config document. I can answer any questions. I’m busy so I can’t type more.

      • OhVenus_Baby ( OhVenus_Baby@lemmy.ml ) 
        1·
        8 months ago

        There are thousands of packages. Download off the internet and boot it. Just like a normal distro mostly. Nix is the single largest package manager even far surpassing arch and others. If they could refine the process it could be the end all be all right new to Debian and mint.

  • GaumBeist ( GaumBeist@lemmy.ml ) 
    5·
    8 months ago

    Reliable, clear release/support schedule: Debian Stable

    Unlike Fedora Spins, most upstream distros don’t come with a DE pre-packaged, you choose it during the install process (or install a custom one from other sources post-install).

    DEs currently offered by the Debian Installer include: Xfce, LXDE, LXQt, MATE, Lomiri, and of course Plasma and GNOME.

    Not in the installer, but in the repository: Cinnamon, Budgie, Enlightenment, FVWM-Crystal, GNUstep/Window Maker, Sugar, “and possibly others” (according to the wiki).

    You can also do what I do on my less-powerful laptops and just install a window-manager and associated utilities—just make sure to uncheck all DE options during install (you will be forced to use the console until you have a display server and window manager, tho). Right now I’m rocking i3 on my laptops; I would use Sway, but for some reason it’s more resource intensive.

    Other offerings in the repository include: Openbox, Fluxbox, Compiz, Awesome, dwm, Notion, and Wmii

    My personal recs are i3 (and recommended packages), Xfce, or MATE. I’ve used and liked all 3. I still use GNOME for my desktop, but those 3 are what I go with otherwise.

  • procapra ( procapra@lemmy.ml ) 
    3·
    8 months ago

    You said no ubuntu so here’s some debian distros ;) MX linux, Sparkylinux, LMDE, Q4OS

    No seriously though, all of those have their fans and in my opinion deserve a look. MX linux has one of the better xfce setups out of the box imo, sparky has lots of cool DE packages, LMDE is mint but better-nt, and Q4OS is one of the few distros that includes an out of the box trinity setup.

  • buliarous ( buliarous@piefed.social ) English
    2·
    8 months ago

    I’m honestly about to give popOS a try next. NixOS is great for a niche declarative use case, Debian and Ubuntu are cool. But the opinionated approach of POPos as well as default Nvidia and amd GPU support make it an attractive option to try.

  • AceFuzzLord ( AceFuzzLord@lemmy.zip ) 
    2·
    8 months ago

    As much as I dislike the lack of OOTB customization with cinnamon, I have not had any problems with Linux Mint. It is Ubuntu based but it’s one of those distros that slowly adopts new things ( Wayland still experimental ) to ensure they can make it functional, but things eventually flow to it.

    I was gonna say something about MX, but I realized I only have experience with the version with Plasma. I’m sure the other editions are good too, but don’t take my word on it.