this post was submitted on 21 Mar 2024
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Linux

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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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[–] alexdeathway 126 points 7 months ago (6 children)
[–] [email protected] 19 points 7 months ago

Seconded. I've been using it for years because it just works, but if I want to try to ~~break shit~~ do things myself I can.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 7 months ago

Thirded. It just works. Even deployed to elderly relatives with wifi printers with no issues.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 7 months ago

More specifically, Linux Mint Debian Edition. Canonical has been very weird, I would get the debian based branch

https://www.linuxmint.com/download_lmde.php

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[–] [email protected] 69 points 7 months ago

Pop_OS or Linux Mint. Both just work. The Atomic idea is nice, but still too soon for complete beginners or the lazy (not a pejorative).

[–] [email protected] 65 points 7 months ago (10 children)
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[–] [email protected] 25 points 7 months ago (17 children)

If you need secure boot on current (like intel gen 10+), Fedora Workstation. If you don't need secure boot, Linux Mint.

Fedora has the easiest way to make secure boot just work, it will even dual boot fine on the same disk although you should still backup the m$ partition if you actually need it. Fedora can do secure boot even with Nvidia.

Ubuntu can do some of the secure boot stuff like Fedora does, and there is the advantage of the stable kernel if you have Nvidia.

Note that "stable" as a label has nothing to do with its intuitive meaning like alpha/beta/testing/crashing etc. It is a term for servers and people that want to run very specific setups that will not require human intervention on embedded devices and servers. If you want to game or use the latest sw "stable" might be a pain. However, if what you are running is not kept up to date with the latest packages and libraries, a stable release may be the only way to run your stuff.

Overall these are the biggest factors on current hardware; secure boot yes/no, and up-to-date software needs yes/no.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 7 months ago

Linux Mint works fine with secure boot

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[–] Matty_r 20 points 7 months ago (4 children)

My vote is Linux Mint. I had installed it on a family members laptop and have been going strong for years without fault.

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[–] [email protected] 19 points 7 months ago (3 children)

Linux Mint. It's THE best distro hands down. Those who know, know.

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[–] [email protected] 17 points 7 months ago (5 children)
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[–] [email protected] 16 points 7 months ago (2 children)
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[–] [email protected] 16 points 7 months ago

Everytime I want a distro that just works I just roll with Linux Mint.

Being one of the most popular distro if something goes wrong is really easy to find how to fix it .

[–] [email protected] 15 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

I think your best bet for this is one of the spinoffs of enterprise Linux: fedora or openSUSE. both are very solid ootb, and have starting configurations that are generally good.

The microos or silverblue variants respectively are really promising as well, but still have some caveats.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 7 months ago (5 children)

Fedora is not an enterprise Linux spinoff, it is an upstream to an enterprise Linux distribution. Neither of those support proprietary video codecs and other potentially patent encumbered pieces out of the box, with some work for proprietary drivers too.

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 7 months ago

Mint, it's not the shiniest toy but it really does just work

[–] [email protected] 13 points 7 months ago

For me it is Fedora

[–] [email protected] 13 points 7 months ago (5 children)

If you have Nvidia, pop os has all that built in. My go-to is usually popos, or mint

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

Fedora atomic GNOME or KDE.

You don't mess with the system at all. If you look for something specific, you may find something here https://universal-blue.org/images/ .

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 7 months ago (2 children)
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[–] [email protected] 10 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Do live images not exist anymore? Pick a distro, burn an iso to a USB drive and boot it. See if you like it.

You're just going to get a bunch of personal preferences with such an open ended question.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 7 months ago (2 children)

And for 100% of distros someone will come and say: "except for this where you gotta do this and that but then it works fine".

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (2 children)

I use fedora for the nice OOTB experience, but if there's issues with parts of the hardware - I try Ubuntu. And if it works, I just install it.

Life's too short to deal with hardware blobs.

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 7 months ago

It depends of your definition of "hassle".

I have 2 screens, I like to have the same panel on each screen, so when I use one in fullscreen, I can use the other one. So far, the only Desktop Environment that can give me that without too much difficulties, is KDE (even if I had to do it manually).

If you have the same use, maybe Kubuntu is a great choice. Tuxedo OS would be the same as Kubuntu, but you don't have to change the priority of the package manager, because the snaps are already disabled. ( they got another load of malicious softwares in the snapstore recently, and some snap might not be as good as .deb or flatpak).

If not, Linux Mint is an out of the box distribution. If your hardware is the most recent one, they have a "edge iso".

[–] [email protected] 9 points 7 months ago (2 children)

What are you trying to build? A work laptop that you're going to take on trips, a gaming computer, a server? Something else?

For you, what is too much hassle? Are you a new Linux user or an experienced user with no spare time? What are you accustomed to doing when you install an operating system and what do you expect to be preinstalled?

What is your favorite colour?

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 7 months ago (2 children)
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[–] [email protected] 9 points 7 months ago

Pop os or Mint

[–] [email protected] 9 points 7 months ago (3 children)
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[–] [email protected] 8 points 7 months ago

Linux Mint definitely

[–] [email protected] 8 points 7 months ago (1 children)
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[–] [email protected] 7 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (5 children)

openSUSE Tumbleweed is pretty comfy. Btrfs snapshots enabled by default so it's really hard to break it. I've been using it for about 8 months now and haven't had any big issues.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 7 months ago

I tested out Ubuntu, Fedora, and Mint before landing on openSUSE. It by far has been the most stable. Especially when dealing with my Nvidia GPU and getting CUDA working.

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 7 months ago

If you want an elaborated answer you will have to share the hardware you want to install it on.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 7 months ago

I've put kubuntu on a couple of machines now and I'm pretty happy with it.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 7 months ago
[–] [email protected] 5 points 7 months ago (1 children)
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[–] [email protected] 5 points 7 months ago

Ubuntu if you're used to Mac, Zorin (based on Ubuntu) or Mint if you're more used to Windows.

Never used Pop OS but I hear that's another that works well out of the box.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 7 months ago

It's Linux Mint Cinnamon. Unless you are trying to run your OS in a potato, then it's Linux Mint MATE.

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