Ask HN: What Linux distribution for desktop are you using? On servers I use Debian but I have not used Linux on desktop for over 10 years. Now that my upgrade path to Windows 11 looks undesirable I am looking for alternatives. Linux is actually looking great now as gaming seems to be a solved problem. What do you guys use? |
I surprised myself recently by realising that I've been using LinuxMint for about 10-12 years.
I would probably prefer to use Debian Testing, but the Debian politics means that I have to use MariaDB instead of MySQL. That's the sort of thing that means I would have to jump through extra hoops when writing software that accesses the databases to get past those little inconsistencies.
Small servers, old x86 & RPi use Alpine no X11.
Hardware that uses a new chip, such as some wifi devices released in the last couple of years, may require using a kernel from backports or waiting a couple of years for a new major version.
Laptops:
Manjaro Minimal
MX-linux
gaming rig:
Full Manjaro
SFF pc home server:
Arcolinux
Recently installed Batocera on an old laptop and turned it into a retro gaming rig.
I'll answer from the perspective of someone who has a fairly custom and lightweight environment based on suckless tools like dwm and st. Despite the lack of complexity, I still run Steam and all the other software I need just fine.
My personal synopsis of the possibilities:
* Ubuntu is easy to install, and as I said above, whenever anyone is going to support a Linux distribution, they'll prioritize Ubuntu. However, I found Ubuntu hard to customize, and I don't like reinstalling every two years. Summary: Good for newbies and people who don't want to think about their Linux; people with a hacker spirit will want to move on after a while.
* Debian is actually okay on the desktop. I used it for a while. It's very similar to Ubuntu. Note that I can't vouch for gaming on debian, I used it in the days before Steam became very widespread. Maybe it will be fine, although maybe less easy than Ubuntu.
* I quite liked Arch Linux 12 years ago, but their developer culture changed in around 2013 or 2014 and I haven't enjoyed the trajectory of the distro since then. It no longer feels minimal and user-centric; I recently tried it again on a new desktop and found it hard to tolerate how opinionated it has become. I'll probably install Ubuntu on that box so I will have an environment more similar to our servers at $DAYJOB.
* Void Linux is a perfectly fine distribution. It reminds me of a cross between debian and how Arch Linux used to be in the old days. It was my daily driver for remote work during the peak of the covid years and I rarely had any problems. It runs Steam fine. I sometimes became frustrated with delayed releases of new package versions, and also needing to install development header packages when trying to compile software. One of the things I liked about Arch Linux was that it didn't make this separation, so it was very developer friendly.
* Gentoo is my current preferred distro. It can take a long time to learn how to get the most out of it (in fact, I still feel like there are things I should learn more about), but it's really very mature and customizable. I've been using it as my main driver for remote work for a couple of years and everything I need runs fine, including Steam.
Things to think about when weighing your options:
* Are you okay with systemd or do you need something else?
* Do you want to rebuild every now and then when a new version of the distro comes out, or do you want rolling release?
* Do you plan to compile a lot of stuff from source? If so, you may want a distro that doesn't separate out the development headers, and makes it easy to script custom packages for the package managers.
* Are you happy with a large generic desktop environment, or do you like to heavily customize your experience?
I wouldn't worry too much about whether a distro supports gaming, the important thing is that the distro has a philosophy and direction that you can get behind. Once you load Steam up, gentoo and ubuntu look identical; the decision between one and the other more comes down to preferred types of configuration and package management.
I come from Windows10 so, no real demands or philosophical needs about the OS other than that it would be nice to avoid ads in the OS as much as possible.
I'm inclined to agree with another poster that maybe you should check out Debian. I only have the caveat that, in my past experience (maybe it's different 10-15 years later) the distro annoyed me sometimes with the rigor of its anti-proprietary stance. Software which I expected to be available in the package manager turned out to be unavailable because the license wasn't up to debian standards. I like the gentoo approach that, although only Free Software is available by default, you can still add overrides for specific packages.
I guess if debian doesn't work out, you can always try Ubuntu, Arch Linux, or Void. Distro-hopping exists as a trope for a reason :)