Opinions on Linux Distros i've tested.

[mr_raider]

There was a 'safer' alternative for the packages I wanted, a custom repository (herecura) containing pre-compiled packages maintained by a major Arch contributor, Ike Devolder. That too carried no guarantee of working with anything other than native Arch but it was fine.

Sounds suspiciously like a PPA.

[antikythera]

yeah I suppose it does sound like a PPA but since the guy compiles the majority of core Arch packages it is at least relatively trustworthy. I'd use that over AUR any day.

[carum carvi]

I was interested in buying the Pinephone and when I read Manjaro was used for the Pinephone, I thought of having a look at Manjaro first. I had my trepidations about Manjaro, because it was based on Arch, so I expected the worst kind of difficulties navigating this Manjaro OS. However I was shocked, in the most pleasant way, that it was the most user friendly Linux OS I have ever experienced. It honestly does beat LinuxMint in user friendliness.

I have only experienced 5 Linux distributions, in order from least liked to the best:

[*]Ubuntu (boring and annoying)
[*]Ubuntu Studio (THE Linux OS for music and video creators, great fun to use, but unfortunately with some of Ubuntu's flaws incorporated)
[*]PepperMint (quick and fun to use, missing versatility)
[*]MX Linux (great OS, really love it, no other Linux OS has made running Linux from a usb stick so easy and practical, but it can suddenly become unstable at times)
[*]Kde Manjaro (beautiful, incredibly user friendly, incredibly versatile) I am still waiting to find anything bad about it, but I have been warned that it can suddenly crash...although it feels incredibly stable. Not a single glitch (yet ).
[*]LinuxMint (very stable, minimalistic looks but still pretty enough, very versatile) LinuxMint simply works and is so reliable. I always come back to LinuxMint, it is simply the best Linux OS I can always rely on. I recommend it to all my friends and family.

[DoodMann]

I was interested in buying the Pinephone and when I read Manjaro was used for the Pinephone, I thought of having a look at Manjaro first. I had my trepidations about Manjaro, because it was based on Arch, so I expected the worst kind of difficulties navigating this Manjaro OS. However I was shocked, in the most pleasant way, that it was the most user friendly Linux OS I have ever experienced. It honestly does beat LinuxMint in user friendliness.

I have only experienced 5 Linux distributions, in order from least liked to the best:

[*]Ubuntu (boring and annoying)
[*]Ubuntu Studio (THE Linux OS for music and video creators, great fun to use, but unfortunately with some of Ubuntu's flaws incorporated)
[*]PepperMint (quick and fun to use, missing versatility)
[*]MX Linux (great OS, really love it, no other Linux OS has made running Linux from a usb stick so easy and practical, but it can suddenly become unstable at times)
[*]Kde Manjaro (beautiful, incredibly user friendly, incredibly versatile) I am still waiting to find anything bad about it, but I have been warned that it can suddenly crash...although it feels incredibly stable. Not a single glitch (yet ).
[*]LinuxMint (very stable, minimalistic looks but still pretty enough, very versatile) LinuxMint simply works and is so reliable. I always come back to LinuxMint, it is simply the best Linux OS I can always rely on. I recommend it to all my friends and family.

Mint is true good. Honestly, I always keep it when I try running distros on my main driver, and it should be good at my old pc which should work.

[151tom]

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[Portreve]

I honestly don't know what other distro I'd use in lieu of Linux Mint.

I can't abide Canonical's business policies (especially where China is concerned) and their community sucks. From what I've seen, they are so far up Canonical's butt hole and I have a hard enough time dealing with a working environment where you have to be goody-two-shoes; I'll not willingly out to with that in my own time.

Debian is really a bit too "manual transmission" for me where a desktop OS is concerned. CentOS? Dunno: I've thus far been unable to install it. Fedora is far too flaky, and I just don't care for their package management system. KDE Neon? I've played with it before, and I'm sure it's a preeminent KDE experience, but I really just can't stand KDE. openSuSE? Am I honestly that desperate that I'll use Gnome 3.x? I don't think so. And same thing with Fedora.

I'm kind of past the point of tinkering on my own hardware. I just want s*** to work, and to work correctly and seamlessly, not play around with crap.

[blackcarajillo]

I tried almost all of the major distros and all have their pros and cons but underneath it is just Linux with another set of packages or a different package manager.

[mr_raider]

I tried almost all of the major distros and all have their pros and cons but underneath it is just Linux with another set of packages or a different package manager.

This guy finally got it.

[khaki45]

I'm kind of past the point of tinkering on my own hardware. I just want s*** to work, and to work correctly and seamlessly, not play around with crap.

I came to this realization a week or two ago after struggling with Arch Linux/lightdm crashing issues. And some look down upon distros that "just work" I on the other hand greatly appreciate them.

[paranightpara8]

I now am for Debian based systems and mostly for these 4:
1. Linux Mint.
2. Ubuntu.
3. Debian.
4. Zorin.
I am a Debian user after a long relationships with Gentoo... Yes, i did that: installed pure Gentoo from a minimal console cd, but one day i realised, that i do too much to achieve the same results - reading news, listening to music and similar... - while i would do less for the same results, while using Debian, so, i switched to Debian world.

[ajgreeny]

I've never managed to get my head around any gnome3 distros so Ubuntu is a non-starter for me but Xubuntu has been my choice now for about 9 years. Xfce4 is just brilliant in my opinion as it is incredibly configurable but still relatively lightweight.

I have also just installed Arcolinux in dual boot with my main Xubuntu OS, also using Xfce4 and have been pleasantly surprised how good that is; it's faster than Xubuntu, possibly as it is not yet running minidlna server or Emby-server which I do use on Xubuntu. Arcolinux is another Arch derivative like Manjaro, so I had many reservations about it but using pamac package manager makes it as simple as the apt debian package system so that fear was unfounded.

Xfce4, as you can see, is definitely my DE of choice; it simply works best for my way of working and on top of solid distros like Xubuntu or Arcolinux it can't be beaten! Give arcolinux a try if you've done so and you may be surprised as I was.

[151tom]

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[mr_raider]

Pop OS and elementary not getting any love?

[DoodMann]

elementary is good, looks much like macOS. My problem is due to it's lightweightness, it's missing important stuff, atleast for me. For example, GDebi is not in the repo's. I'd need to manually add it. But it's good.

Pop OS - I kinda hated it as it can't detect my other os out of the box. I needed to install os-prober for it to saw my OSes.

[Portreve]

Well, once again, that goes back to my earlier comment on having a distro with legs to it. One could have the world's most awesome and perfect distro, but if its repos are crap, then what's the point? I don't want to work in my machine, I want to do work on my machine.

[Barbados99]

Anyone had experience with EndeavorOS? I am tempted to try it this week. It's supposed to be another Arch based distro, but easier to work with than Arch.

[DoodMann]

I actually tried Arch on a VM. It was faster than I've expected.

[ajgreeny]

I actually tried Arch on a VM. It was faster than I've expected.

Was that the "real" Arch or one of its derivative distros such as I mention above, Arcolinux?

I have not had the nerve to try Arch itself simply because I suspect, perhaps wrongly, that it will just take too long to install and configure as I want it; Arcolinux installs in a manner much like any of the Mint/Ubuntu family, ie, from a live USB or DVD and even allows you during the installation to choose what applications you want (or not).

I have also been somewhat surprised at the speed of Arcolinux and could be tempted away from the Ubuntu family if they move too far in the snap direction which I have avoided and dislike. I suspect many users feel the same, and there are several packages that were originally available as snaps only that are now becoming available as .deb archives from PPA repos, so perhaps the snap tide is beginning to turn even if not directly from Ubuntu/Canonical themselves.

[DoodMann]

Was that the "real" Arch or one of its derivative distros such as I mention above, Arcolinux?

The clean, fast, and bare cli Arch. Yes, the real one.

I have not had the nerve to try Arch itself simply because I suspect, perhaps wrongly, that it will just take too long to install and configure as I want it

I suggest you try it, having 500 KBPS for internet, it was faster than as I've expected! Took around 15-20 mins. to install completely. I used ItsFoss manual for it to install. And Cinnamon for Desktop Environment.

How does Arcolinux work? Like Manjaro? Which has a GUI Installer? I think Arch is getting my love, it was fast for a virtual memory of 1GB. Just small issues, but fixed it. Plan is to install it to my WD Elements usb drive via the VM, so that I don't need internet for it to work. Good luck on Arch!

[ajgreeny]

Yes, Arcolinux uses calamares installer, much like ubiquity in Ubuntu, and now what Lubuntu 20.04 uses.
It is fast and simple to install though I have no problems using the command line so maybe I will have a try at Arch itself in VBox, as you did. I always try everything that way before a real hard-metal install to see what I think of the system, whether a completely new distro or just a new version of my tried and trusted Xubuntu.