I think I’ve already posted to this thread, but to summarize my experience for the past 2 years. I bought an Asus Zenbook ( 2-core i5 with 8GB of RAM and a 256 SSD ) after researching that it was a good candidate for Linux. I wanted to migrate from a MacBook Pro to Linux. This was my first step at retiring the MBP.
I bought the Zenbook and started distro hopping to see what was out there and I what I liked. I knew that I wanted a light-weight DE so I focused on Xfce. I had previous experience with some distro’s, but that info was a bit dated. I had run Mint in the past and wanted to try something different. I tried Elementary. It looked nice, but was too much like what I was coming from, OSX. Also, it seems to be focused on a different kind of Linux user than me. I eventually narrowed the distro’s down to Antergos and MX. These were the two that I ran the longest. In the end, MX won and Antergos is no more.
I ran MX for over a year and then distro hopped to Manjaro, when I heard that KDE was now as light on resources as Xfce. I was skeptical and decided to give it a test. On the Zenbook and with the applications that I run, KDE is NOT as light as Xfce. However, it was close enough that I’ve been running Manjaro now for several months.
My computers are running openSUSE Tumbleweed. I enjoy and trust it so much I recently migrated my wifes laptop from Windows 10 to openSUSE Tumbleweed. After a few weeks she said: We should have done this a long time ago.
For the sake of completeness: containers at home are running at openSUSE MicroOS. My vps’s are running Ubuntu and Debian. And the kids computers are running at Xubuntu, Solus and Peppermint OS.
Desktop = a few months after release
Laptop (Pop-OS) = around 1 year
Laptop (Manjaro) = 6 months
Desktop = Maybe not. I’ve been running into weird issues with GNOME. Also, Lightworks is now unusable on the desktop.
Laptop 1 = If I feel like it. Might give Manjario KDE a go.
Laptop 2 = Not changing any time soon. It’s been stable like a rock.
Canonical feels a bit too proprietary for me these days, I want to go lighter and more minimal, something more consistent with the UNIX philosophy, that means no systemd. I feel like Void and i3 might be my next stop. Or if I’m feeling mental, roll my own with automation.
It’s good aint it? Sid would be a step too far, but Bullseye has been great so far, and the install was much easier than I tried installing Debian a couple of years back. Buster was pertty good too (and MX-19 is based on Buster and my chosen distro of choice) but I enjoy trying that what step ahead to see what’s coming.
TerryL, yea I do really like it.
I am a bit of a distro hopper, I normal change very 2 weeks or so but I am stuck on bullseye now for about 5 weeks.
I think I might just stay here.
Not a bad choice. I “distro hop” a bit different, I have several different distros installed on my laptops, MX-19 is generally the default in the grub menu, but I can select to use a different distro “this time” if I feel like it.
I have several laptops (refurbished Thinkpads) that I’ve upgraded to SSDs. Scattered about on these are
MX-19
Debian Bullseye
Sparky 6 (based on Debian Bullseye)
ArcoLinux
EndeavourOS
Manjaro
SolydXK (the X for Xfce option)
I have added Fedora 31 and LinuxLite 4.8 that I’m playing with - I haven’t made up how long term they’ll be around, and I still have 2 empty partitions available should interesting candidates come to my attention.
With the variety of option I can avoid getting bored using the same one all the time without the need to “nuke and pave” my machines all the time. It works for me anyway.
1 - Elementary O.S 5.1 - Modified with elementary’s daily ppa
2 - Been using since December 2019
3 - Yes I plan to stick with it. As I have learned how to tweak and get all programs to follow my installed theme. Even if I have to reinstall, all my commands for setup are now saved, as well as my custom sudo commands.
I just made the move to Linux full time as a test. I am running Linux Mint and have been for a few months. Any suggestions for Software I should get/use as a newish Linux user?
I like mpv movie player, but it’s very specific.
It practically has no UI and demands manual configuration. It’s biggest strength is customibility especially when you learn how to write scripts for it.
Synaptic Package Manager is an invaluable tool for all Linux users. I can’t remember if it comes installed on Mint by default or not. Do a search on this forum. There is a thread for must have software on new installations that’s pretty helpful.
I think you are almost set on Mint. Except you have special needs, then just ask here for the application for that task.
To some of the other points mentioned by community members. Mpv is already there as Celluloid. It makes it visually a little bit more pleasing but under the hood it is using mpv.
And yes, Synaptic comes preinstalled on Mint. But for new users I would first stick with the regular software center as Synaptic could be intimidating at first. Though it is fully capable and one of the best and simplest GUI’s to manage software but it shows all packages. New users are certainly searching more for regular programs than its dependencies and packages. Synaptic is great for the latter.
This week I’m testing the KDE Plasma 5.18 Beta version on Kubuntu 19.10. I’ve found and reported a few bugs so far (as you might expect with a beta) but overall it is a very nice release. In case you are interested in testing, I made a video covering how to install it and report bugs if anyone has time to test.
Wow, just saw this…now I know what the little numbers mean sorry for the late response. It feels very simple, easy to get at the things I want. I put it on my kids’ laptops and they didn’t miss a beat, jumped right in.
Now, after a few more months with it, I realize how much I detest menu’s, that are layered and deep. Gnome feels much more like a mobile OS to me, and on Pop I think System 76 nailed the UI, UX, whichever it is. I did very little tweaking to get it to my liking. I’ve used Gnome on other Distros and it just doesn’t feel the same. It also could just be in my head
sorry for the late response. It feels very simple, easy to get at the things I want. I put it on my kids’ laptops and they didn’t miss a beat, jumped right in.