Linux distro daily driver

What does everyone use as their daily driver?

I started out with sun o/s then solaris and HP back in the day for work and tried mandrake on my home pc but didn't care for it so I have been using Debian since.
I must be getting old and grumpier cause I am tired of out dated packages and having them renamed for no real good reason and then having their documentation being ridiculously wrong so I want to test drive a few others.
I have suse and fedora on vm's right now to try and am installing Arch as we speak.
Any others you all think I should give a go?

feas Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> What does everyone use as their daily driver?
>
> I started out with sun o/s then solaris and HP
> back in the day for work and tried mandrake on my
> home pc but didn't care for it so I have been
> using Debian since.
> I must be getting old and grumpier cause I am
> tired of out dated packages and having them
> renamed for no real good reason and then having
> their documentation being ridiculously wrong so I
> want to test drive a few others.
> I have suse and fedora on vm's right now to try
> and am installing Arch as we speak.
> Any others you all think I should give a go?

Linux Mint VM is my Linux daily driver beside OSX. I used Linux Mint for all my and relatives Chromebooks.

-bodhi
===========================
Forum Wiki
bodhi's corner (buy bodhi a beer)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/30/2016 01:06AM by bodhi.

I use Arch on all my computers but currently giving Debian a spin on a pogo.

If you don't like the Arch install process, there are installers out there. The Architect installer probably still works, and Antergos is basically an Arch clone with a GUI installer.

Arch has somewhat of a reputation of being bleeding edge and unstable. From my perspective, I've found that the unstable part is simply not true. It works great for me, and maintaining it will come second nature after some time getting used to it.

JeffS Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Arch has somewhat of a reputation of being
> bleeding edge and unstable.
>
I thought it was the Linux Slackware.

habibie Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I thought it was the
> Linux
> Slackware.

LOL I only got that to run in a VM, but it's good looking. Firefox's black-sheep alter-ego Iceweasel makes me laugh.

Mint excites me, the favorite being XFCE version, but the over-bloated KDE won't disappoint either if you've got lots of RAM. I've used Windows heavily since Windows95 and Mint KDE can navigate better than anything I've seen. I think that's the Dolphin whichamajiggy.

So I'm awaiting Mint 18.1 AKA Serena, due within a month and the development is well funded. And I'm eternally grateful to Bodhi and Gravelrash for introducing me to Debian and Arch. I really like Debian and feel it's the most powerful yet realistic, efficient.

I've got a stack of recent Linux CDs in front of me and tons of ISOs on my NAS with every Linux I could get my hands on. There are amazing releases, noteworthy being Puppy Linux, Damn Small Linux (for fun on a 300mHz 128RAM thin client), even TinyCore - if any of you get bored, it couldn't' be easier to load an ISO onto a USB stick and run Live or VM to get a taste. There's so much TLC in those releases and will give you new ideas how to achieve your dream OS :-)

* I don't know if any of you are around whatever my age is, but when I was in High School the game arcades were real popular. I wonder these days if that's what I'm trying to accomplish, is a room full of different OSs LOL

=========
-= Cloud 9 =-



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/30/2016 11:57AM by JoeyPogoPlugE02.

JoeyPogoPlugE02 Wrote:

> * I don't know if any of you are around whatever
> my age is, but when I was in High School the game
> arcades were real popular. I wonder these days if
> that's what I'm trying to accomplish, is a room
> full of different OSs LOL

Holy crap, arcades, you must be pretty old Joey! And if you're not telling your age then neither am I. lol

I do remember the video game arcades. We went there to find girls as much or more so than to actually play the games... and I was just out of high school then. All I'm gonna admit to is that I'm an "old guy", according to my 14yo daughter. lol

If I was gonna divulge my age though a "back then" example, my choice of subject would be the cheap "muscle cars" and drag racing we used to do. I'm still looking for an early, nice 67-69 Camaro for about 5 grand. Problem is that now they're priced at around 15 to 20 thousand for a decent project car... Woops, kinda faded away on the subject, steering back on track.

I think Linux Mint XFCE would be a great Debian based choice if you just want to use your OS and not have to mess with it too much. Try Manjaro Linux for an easier Arch based experience.

One can always put on some "big boy pants" and take on Arch, Debian unstable, Fedora, Slackware, or whatever looks good. You'll most likely end up using the "based on" distro within a year or two of trying a beginner friendly distro.

On second thought forget that advise. If you're coming from Windows, do yourself a favour and start with a beginner friendly distro like I did. The learning curve and differences can be daunting. Enjoy the transition into Linux rather than fight it, then decide to return to Windows.


EDIT: @ feas,

After rereading your OP, I'd think you may like Arch or Debian unstable, or possibly even Debian testing. I've not tried Debian in years and there's much more qualified people around here to explain the differences.

I'd encourage you to also try some different DE's. I personally like XFCE as it's more of a clean un-fancy but somewhat plain, get er done, (think XP) desktop environment. The ones that look awesome with fancy graphics and unconventional workflow paradigms like Gnome 3, Unity, etc, are not for me, but they definitely have their fan base as well.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/30/2016 03:30PM by JeffS.

So fedora and suse quickly went to the way side. Seemed to be really sluggish compared to all of the other distros I have running in a vm.

Mint didn't stand a chance since it's ubuntu and the whole unity thing and nixing gnome (yes I like gnome).

Right now arch seems to be doing well. The package system seems screwy but a few aliases fixed that.

I used arch-anywhere after my first straight arch install failed but after thought it may have been having a hard time dealing with the encrypted volume. Arch-anywhere did the same thing when I installed it the first time with volume encryption but works well without it. Will have to dig deeper into the issue since I prefer the encryption.

I was impressed with the arch-anywhere installation, it prompted for adding some packages like which desktop environment to use and wifi tools and a good selection of basic goodies to get you started.
I think all the other distros should take notice and provide a basic system and ask what you want after that so as to not bloat the installation and having to mess with removing what you don't want.

Lets see how it goes compiling a new kernel and getting all the needed tools installed and give it some time.

Quote

"I really like Debian and feel it's the most powerful yet realistic, efficient."

I really like debian too and why I have been with it so long. It is well suited for typical word processing and web browsing but the development stuff I have been trying to play with it just has outdated programs and I have to install newer versions that won't be in the repositories to be updated and if there is a security flaw, I have to remember what is and isn't going to be taken care of with upgrade. I will keep it on the plug since it won't be doing any higher level stuff.

Quote

"* I don't know if any of you are around whatever my age is, but when I was in High School the game arcades were real popular. I wonder these days if that's what I'm trying to accomplish, is a room full of different OSs LOL"

Don't forget saving and re-sharing all those bbs's games and programs. I still miss that and have looked into setting up one even now.

> I think Linux Mint XFCE would be a great Debian
> based choice if you just want to use your OS and
> not have to mess with it too much.

Exactly. The most stable distro: Debian. The best UI: Mint. Thus, Mint is the most friendly and least troublesome Linux distro to install on your relatives and friends laptop. Someone has asked before why I don't use my own Debian build on laptop, the answer is I use whatever is the best. And I'd rather spend my time hacking embedded Linux than spending my time tuning my laptop so I can fix my relatives and friends laptop:)

-bodhi
===========================
Forum Wiki
bodhi's corner (buy bodhi a beer)

And there's Debian-based Mint too, called LMDE. Not bad me thinks. Also I forgot one of my favorite (by a long shot) Debian releases, this is a remix called AV Linux. It's pre-configured with the best Audio and Video legally possible, and I'm blown away what you can do useful on this. For a home machine or relatives, this and Mint XFCE (I make Mint look like Win7 [well, better] with licorice-black toolbars).

Only one thing that irks me... and maybe I can ask: forced to login every time, isn't there a .conf file or something in Debian you can enter your login and it's auto?

=========
-= Cloud 9 =-

Like bodhi I have a Linux Mint VM on MacOS as my primary system (a 27" IMac with 3.4 GB i7 processor and 32GB RAM). All my other systems are running either Debian (sometimes Armbian) or OpenWrt, although I've started to migrate some of the OpenWrt systems to LEDE. I also have an Ubuntu VM because that is what works best with the Armbian build system.

Ray

Joey,

> Only one thing that irks me... and maybe I can
> ask: forced to login every time, isn't there a
> .conf file or something in Debian you can
> enter your login and it's auto?

Not sure what you meant? do you need a password-less standard user? that can be created by the user who has admin privilege.

-bodhi
===========================
Forum Wiki
bodhi's corner (buy bodhi a beer)

bodhi Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> do you need a
> password-less standard user? that can be created
> by the user who has admin privilege.

Yeah that'll do, next time I get into AV Linux thanks a lot. I'll be doing video editing and general horsing around.

=========
-= Cloud 9 =-

Quote
JeffS
-------------------------------------------------------
> After rereading your OP, I'd think you may like
> Arch or Debian unstable, or possibly even Debian
> testing. I've not tried Debian in years and
> there's much more qualified people around here to
> explain the differences.
>

I thought about debian unstable and testing but heard they really are bad and I would spend all my time trying to get things to work. Perhaps I should give it a go in a vm like the others since I have been with debian for so long.

Quote
JeffS
> I'd encourage you to also try some different DE's.
> I personally like XFCE as it's more of a clean
> un-fancy but somewhat plain, get er done, (think
> XP) desktop environment. The ones that look
> awesome with fancy graphics and unconventional
> workflow paradigms like Gnome 3, Unity, etc, are
> not for me, but they definitely have their fan
> base as well.

The main reason I use gnome is is the DE is so unlike microsoft.
The whole click here then there move to the right now down, woops to far, have to start over drives me insane.
I like the click here and here is everything just scroll up or down.

Quote
Rayknight
Like bodhi I have a Linux Mint VM on MacOS as my primary system (a 27" IMac with 3.4 GB i7 processor and 32GB RAM). All my other systems are running either Debian (sometimes Armbian) or OpenWrt, although I've started to migrate some of the OpenWrt systems to LEDE. I also have an Ubuntu VM because that is what works best with the Armbian build system.

See that surprises me. I think gnome looks close to MacOS and people on macs would prefer that. Makes me laugh when I see gnome having a higher ranking for DE's but nobody owns up to it.
Kinda the reason I am looking to leave debian is cause I was trying to compile u-boot and was getting the run around for packages. Even the debian documentation saying a certain package was deprecated and changed to "whatever" is wrong.
I can only take so much beating of my head against a wall.

Quote
bodhi
Exactly. The most stable distro: Debian. The best UI: Mint. Thus, Mint is the most friendly and least troublesome Linux distro to install on your relatives and friends laptop.

I don't blame you there. But I can't believe you don't have the same problems with programs on debian I am having. Maybe you don't mind replacing them with current source like I do. Linux kernel compiling was fine but u-boot stopped me dead in the water. debian had a replacement that didn't work for me and they referred to another program that didn't exist with their own links. It's maddening.

feas Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>

Quote
JeffS
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > After rereading your OP, I'd think you may like
> > Arch or Debian unstable, or possibly even
> Debian
> > testing. I've not tried Debian in years and
> > there's much more qualified people around here
> to
> > explain the differences.
> >
>

>
> I thought about debian unstable and testing but
> heard they really are bad and I would spend all my
> time trying to get things to work. Perhaps I
> should give it a go in a vm like the others since
> I have been with debian for so long.
>
>

Quote
JeffS
> > I'd encourage you to also try some different
> DE's.
> > I personally like XFCE as it's more of a clean
> > un-fancy but somewhat plain, get er done,
> (think
> > XP) desktop environment. The ones that look
> > awesome with fancy graphics and unconventional
> > workflow paradigms like Gnome 3, Unity, etc,
> are
> > not for me, but they definitely have their fan
> > base as well.
>

>
> The main reason I use gnome is is the DE is so
> unlike microsoft.
> The whole click here then there move to the right
> now down, woops to far, have to start over drives
> me insane.
> I like the click here and here is everything just
> scroll up or down.
>
>

Quote
Rayknight
> Like bodhi I have a Linux Mint VM on MacOS as my
> primary system (a 27" IMac with 3.4 GB i7
> processor and 32GB RAM). All my other systems are
> running either Debian (sometimes Armbian) or
> OpenWrt, although I've started to migrate some of
> the OpenWrt systems to LEDE. I also have an Ubuntu
> VM because that is what works best with the
> Armbian build system.
>

>
> See that surprises me. I think gnome looks close
> to MacOS and people on macs would prefer that.
> Makes me laugh when I see gnome having a higher
> ranking for DE's but nobody owns up to it.
> Kinda the reason I am looking to leave debian is
> cause I was trying to compile u-boot and was
> getting the run around for packages. Even the
> debian documentation saying a certain package was
> deprecated and changed to "whatever" is wrong.
> I can only take so much beating of my head against
> a wall.
>
>

Quote
bodhi
> Exactly. The most stable distro: Debian. The best
> UI: Mint. Thus, Mint is the most friendly and
> least troublesome Linux distro to install on your
> relatives and friends laptop.
>

> I don't blame you there. But I can't believe you
> don't have the same problems with programs on
> debian I am having. Maybe you don't mind replacing
> them with current source like I do. Linux kernel
> compiling was fine but u-boot stopped me dead in
> the water. debian had a replacement that didn't
> work for me and they referred to another program
> that didn't exist with their own links. It's
> maddening.

I personally stay away from gnome :) and I dislike Unity.

Advice: Dont try to cross compile u-boot. Do it natively on the box for that uboot. It is small so does not take too long.

-bodhi
===========================
Forum Wiki
bodhi's corner (buy bodhi a beer)

JeffS Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> If I was gonna divulge my age though a "back then"
> example, my choice of subject would be the cheap
> "muscle cars" and drag racing we used to do. I'm
> still looking for an early, nice 67-69 Camaro for
> about 5 grand. Problem is that now they're priced
> at around 15 to 20 thousand for a decent project
> car... Woops, kinda faded away on the subject,
> steering back on track.
>
Then, you must like the Street Outlaw.

Quote
bodhi
Advice: Dont try to cross compile u-boot. Do it natively on the box for that uboot. It is small so does not take too long.

LOL, thats what set me on this :0

feas Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>

Quote
bodhi
> Advice: Dont try to cross compile u-boot. Do it
> natively on the box for that uboot. It is small so
> does not take too long.
>

>
> LOL, thats what set me on this :0

Not sure I understood what set you on what :) did you have trouble setting up the tool chain on Debian? or did you have trouble setting up the cross compile toochain on Ubuntu/Mint/Debian...?

-bodhi
===========================
Forum Wiki
bodhi's corner (buy bodhi a beer)

setting up on gnome debian.

habibie Wrote:

> Then, you must like the
> Street Outlaw.

Yea I really like watching the show. We used to race on a local drag strip though, so I have mixed feelings about the supposed "street racing" aspect. Although anyone who watches the show should realize, they're obviously either leasing a street to block off and race on, or some variation that involves lots of money being exchanged for getting a pass on the legal aspects, having safety support ready, in some cases with fire and ambulance vehicles, keeping traffic off the strip, being allowed to create a pit area, etc.

I could go on about the costs involved in campaigning a Pro Mod drag race car with support crew, and why that would make one as likely to show up for a "real street race" as an NHRA pro stocker, top fuel funny car, or dragster. lol



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 12/01/2016 12:08PM by JeffS.

JeffS Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I could go on about the costs involved in
> campaigning a Pro Mod drag race car with support
> crew...

Probably why you take to Arch is that you're used to having 5,000 dependencies every time you need to do something LOL

=========
-= Cloud 9 =-

I use Mint Cinnamon / Mate as my only choice for desktops any other none free OS's are run in a VM.

on the servers i run differing flavours of debian (bodhi's and armbian)

and if you think Joey is old....... im not far behind, i remember going in the arcades to play pacman..

Gravelrash Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> and if you think Joey is old....... im not far
> behind, i remember going in the arcades to play
> pacman..

You're always old if you live for the past and always young if you live for the future. I had this Aha! moment years ago after a great pizza dinner and a night of heavy drinking.

But since that realization was in the past, that makes me old LOL I wonder what tomorrow will bring? Ahh, young again :-)

=========
-= Cloud 9 =-

You guys made me feel old with all the pacman talks :))

-bodhi
===========================
Forum Wiki
bodhi's corner (buy bodhi a beer)

bodhi Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> You guys made me feel old with all the pacman
> talks :))

What about when pong and no I don't mean beer pong!

feas Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> What about when pong and no I don't mean beer
> pong!

Guilty :-)

=========
-= Cloud 9 =-



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/03/2016 12:33AM by JoeyPogoPlugE02.

JoeyPogoPlugE02 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> feas Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
>
> > What about when pong and no I don't mean beer
> > pong!
>
> Guilty :-)

Guilty too if it counts as playing it on an atari "back in the day"

Now i don't write anything. But thinking about writing.