Not sure what others are doing to use Ubuntu (23.04) without snaps, but this is what I am doing:
- for Firefox I found a guide here
- for chromium I am actually using the Linux Mint packages (which work absolutely fine), and I have just set up a small repository I can add to apt:
deb [arch=amd64 allow-insecure=yes] http://snapless.cmeerw.net victoria upstream
- this just syncs from Linux Mint and only republishes chromium in the Packages file (with downloads redirected to a Linux Mint mirror). BTW, I am not signing these…
What are others doing?
Running Debian. Snapless and Ubuntuless Ubuntu
- LeFantome ( @LeFantome@programming.dev ) 4•2 years ago
Now that Debian is will to ship “non-free” drivers and firmware, I think it has become far more viable.
Snapless Ubuntu is called Linux Mint, no guide needed.
but it’s limited to Ubuntu LTS versions
that’s not necessarily a downside.
How is only having an LTS version vs. having a choice between using an LTS version or a non-LTS version not a downside?
True but it depends on your usecase- of you need all the fancy new stuff and want to move on quickly you should go another route instead of fucking around with forced software you do not want. Maybe Debian testing or Fedora? If you do not care about the newest stuff I guess Mint is a perfect fit.
My solution is using a distro that doesn’t try to force snaps on me.
If you want the ubuntu base, why not use mint?
Mint would be based on Ubuntu 22.04, but I’d like to have something more up-to-date. I believe all other .deb based distros have the same issue that they are not as up-to-date as Ubuntu 23.04?
None of them are like arch where you can read news about an update and find that you just have it installed already.
Given you’re on ubuntu and therefore not at the bleeding edge anyways, it won’t be a big difference. My personal choice for stuff that just needs to work is debian. I carry debian LTS with the full KDE pack on my ventoy and it’s been great. I also heard very good things about testing and Sid, but I haven’t tried them myself.
So you’re using Mint with extra steps.
I am using a single package from Mint, the rest is Ubuntu 23.04. Mint would otherwise be based on Ubuntu 22.04?
Yes, Mint 21.x is based on Jammy.
Unless you get LMDE which goes back even more to be based on Debian directly.
I just use Linux Mint :)
Moving to a different distro :) Experimenting with nixos right now, already got native Firefox working :)
NixOS is amazing. I use it as a daily currently, but I haven’t yet unlocked the full power of Nix.
My solution is to use MX, based on Debian. All packages came as .deb so a simple sudo apt install firefox is working.
If I were going to do snapless Ubuntu, I’d probably just install Mint. It seems a lot easier.
Of course, since I use Fedora I don’t have to worry about any of that nonsense. I gave up on Ubuntu years ago.
