Ubuntu has too many problems for me to want to run it. However, it has occurred to me that there aren’t a lot of distros that are like the Ubuntu LTS.

Basic requirements for a LTS:

  • at least 2 years of support
  • semi recent versions of applications like Chrome and Firefox (might consider flatpak)
  • a stable experience that isn’t buggy
  • fast security updates

Distros considered:

  • Debian (stable)
  • Rocky Linux
  • openSUSE
  • Cent OS stream
  • Fedora

As far as I can tell none of the options listed are quite suitable. They are either to unstable or way to out of date. I like Rocky Linux but it doesn’t seem to be desktop focused as far as I can tell. I would use Debian but Debian doesn’t have the greatest security defaults. (No selinux profiles out of the box)

  • Possibly linuxOPEnglish
    30·
    6 months ago6 months ago

    Yeah I do not want Arch or recent packages. I want something I can set and forget.

    Right now Pop OS and Linux mint seem like the best options even though they both lack the support of a larger company.

    • LeFantome
      70·
      6 months ago

      Both Pop and Mint offload much of the heavy lifting to Ubuntu. They are not rolling everything from scratch.

        • LeFantome
          20·
          6 months ago

          I was responding to “they both lack the support of a larger company”.

    • elucubra
      21·
      6 months ago6 months ago

      I run Mint Cinnamon. It’s been Rock solid for me. You can modify, add, remove whatever you want. With Flatpacks you are mostly up to date. If you want to install a newer kernel you can, and if you have Timeshift running and something breaks, you just roll back.

      I see Mint as an Un-enshittified Ubuntu.

      I find cinnamon very frienly and comfortable, which I need in a daily driver. To play I have things like NixOS. I could Arch, but I’m not vegan. :)

      That said, I’m giving Fedora Kinoite (Atomic) a try in a VM

    • Raccoonn
      21·
      6 months ago

      Arch can definitely be a “set & forget” type of distro. Just install it, use it correctly, and that’s really it. No need to upgrade to new releases; just keep the system up to date…

      • sparrEnglish
        21·
        6 months ago

        just keep the system up to date…

        The idea that downloading gigabytes of packages every week is a normal and required aspect of using a computer is part of why I left Windows…

        • Raccoonn
          10·
          6 months ago

          Doesn’t have to be every week. Could be every other week or at least once a month. I haven’t used Windows since 2002, but personally, I update once a week, and it never takes all that long, maybe 2-3 minutes tops. But I understand that it’s not for everyone…

          • sparrEnglish
            10·
            6 months ago

            2-3 minutes on what kind of internet connection? How long at 10Mbps?

            • Raccoonn
              10·
              6 months ago

              Computer is connected to the router via ethernet. The connection to the router is I believe fiber optics…