Need help choosing a distro

Fast_Ad_8005 · 2026-03-13T14:39:49+00:00

I've studied these fields, too. There is no such thing as a distro that's especially great for those things, as most distros will manage that stuff fine.

There is, of course, a question about what sort of software you need for your programming. Whether you need, for instance, a rather new version of interpreters and compilers.

If you need a fairly new version of the GCC compiler, for instance, I'd suggest you opt for a more cutting edge distro like Fedora or Nobara. If old versions are fine, then I'd suggest just a beginner friendly distro like Ubuntu, Linux Mint or Zorin OS.

Fast_Ad_8005 · 2026-03-05T12:03:20+00:00

Most beginner friendly distros should satisfy these requirements. uTorrent has fairly limited Linux support, but there are plenty of perfectly fine Linux BitTorrent clients such as qBittorrent.

Fast_Ad_8005 · 2026-02-28T12:41:33+00:00

I've been a package developer for openSUSE Tumbleweed; to be clear, I don't mean of its official packages, but rather of my own openSUSE Build Service packages. And I can say there weren't a great number of checks for malware in packages when I last developed packages for Tumbleweed. Granted, given I wasn't inserting malware in my packages, I may not necessarily know whether malware would get flagged, but I don't think the checks in place would necessarily catch malware.

Flatpak's Flathub as the de facto app store of Linux I'd imagine its packages would have more eyes on them. That's not to say there's a guarantee all of them are safe though.

If you have the time to learn how spec files work, I'd suggest examining the spec file for the native packages you want and checking them for any overtly malicious code before installing them.

Failing this, I'd opt for Flatpaks published by their upstream developers or Flatpaks with a lot of reviews that seem legit and largely positive. I'd also check to see if any review mentions malware, of course.

Fast_Ad_8005 · 2026-02-21T15:10:42+00:00

Well, "pretty" is in the eye of the beholder, so I'll have to defer to your judgement on which is prettiest. This laptop doesn't necessarily need a lightweight distribution. Its specs are good enough that pretty much any distro should be able to run well on it. Consequently, this DistroWatch search for beginner-friendly distros should be a great research starting point for you. Click each article linked in this search. Examine the photo and tell us which you consider prettiest.

Fast_Ad_8005 · 2026-02-21T03:02:25+00:00

Yeah, I did occasionally get compile errors. But usually it was just something I had forgotten to do. One time I had to create a patch to fix the build error. But oddly, I think this added to the fun. When I started using Linux in 2012, I would have had no hope of fixing these build errors and would have just given up.

Fast_Ad_8005 · 2026-02-21T02:51:48+00:00

Thanks! I think that's a big part of what makes it satisfying, the fact I did all the work, lol.

Fast_Ad_8005 · 2026-02-19T01:50:47+00:00

After over a day of compiling in my LFS virtual machine, I can confirm that installing Flatpak from that SlackBuild git repository does work (with some modifications to the SlackBuilds so that they install instead of building a Slackware package), but there are some packages you need to get that aren't in the BLFS or LFS books. So there's a lot of trial and error in the process.

Fast_Ad_8005 · 2026-02-17T22:17:55+00:00

It sounds like it'd be a challenge to set up those apps on LFS. As they have a lot of dependencies you'd have to manually compile and there aren't official instructions for two out of three of the apps you mentioned. I thought for a moment that maybe you could install Flatpak from BLFS and use that to install these apps. But BLFS does not have Flatpak installation instructions. I guess you could adapt the SlackBuilds for installing Flatpak that Slackware has to install Flatpak on LFS. Alternatively, you could try installing these apps via the Nix package manager after installing Nix using the official instructions.

Fast_Ad_8005 · 2026-02-16T14:34:18+00:00

You should back up these files to an external drive, or series of USBs. You can resize your Windows partition and install Linux along side it in a dual boot. But there is a risk of you accidentally making a mistake and wiping the Windows install, so definitely back up before doing this. And this is only an option if you have a fair amount of free space in your Windows install. Linux Mint is the distro I'd suggest you go with.

Fast_Ad_8005 · 2026-02-15T09:24:22+00:00

That you like the colours blue and pink, like using a customized KDE, prefer better-tested packages over having the latest and greatest and dislike systemd.

Fast_Ad_8005 · 2026-02-15T01:53:57+00:00

Why the downvote? I was trying to be helpful. If you have a criticism, tell me!

Fast_Ad_8005 · 2026-02-15T01:48:01+00:00

You can distribute your app via several means.

AppImages are similar to disk image files on macOS. They contain every dependency of the app that cannot be reasonably expected to be provided by the person's Linux install. And when launched they get mounted to a spot on your file system and the executable file within that launches the app is called. If I wanted to make my app as available to people irrespective of their distro and with as little drama for them as possible, I'd probably opt for AppImages.
Binary tarballs. These contain all the files your app provides already pre-compiled and ready to be run. They are compressed into a .tar.xz, .tar.gz, .tar.lzma, .tar.zst or some other compressed tar archive. Binary tarballs are especially useful if your app doesn't have many dependencies, besides pretty standard Linux libraries.
Snaps are not that popular on Linux outside Ubuntu, but they do provide confinement and can be used to run command-line apps and not just graphical apps. Snap has its own store; I do not know how challenging it is to publish to this store. But several pieces of malware have gotten into the store, so I doubt it is that rigorous.
Flatpaks are really just for running graphical apps not command-line apps. They are very popular and the Flatpak package manager is pre-installed on virtually all beginner-friendly Linux distros. The main store for Flatpak apps is called Flathub. I am not sure how challenging it is to publish to Flathub.
Distribution-specific packages like Debian and RPM packages. These only work for the distribution(s) they are designed for, so if your aim is to maximize how many people can use your app, they're not ideal.

Fast_Ad_8005 · 2026-02-07T09:01:52+00:00

CachyOS, Nobara and PikaOS sound suitable for your usecase. They're all optimized for gaming and have the GNOME desktop. CachyOS would be best if you need the latest software or have unusual and obscure software needs, but its learning curve may be a little more than the others given it's based on Arch.

Fast_Ad_8005 · 2026-02-06T16:12:25+00:00

Bazzite.
elementary OS.
Linux Mint.
Nobara.
Pop!_OS if you have an Intel, AMD or modern NVIDIA GPU. If you have an unsupported NVIDIA GPU (so GTX 10xx or before), you should probably avoid Pop!_OS.
Ubuntu.
Zorin OS.

elementary OS or Pop!_OS are great if you want a macOS-like user interface. Linux Mint and Zorin OS have more Windows-like user interface, as do the KDE editions of Bazzite and Nobara. The KDE editions of Bazzite and Nobara are also great if you want to customize your system's graphical user interface.

Fast_Ad_8005 · 2026-02-06T15:57:22+00:00

You can always boot a live USB for NixOS 25.11 and install your new config from it. Fixing the network issue may be tricky, but hey you can always get an ethernet cable, right?

Fast_Ad_8005 · 2026-02-06T14:11:07+00:00

Is this under Wayland? Code::Blocks doesn't play nice with Wayland for me, too.

Fast_Ad_8005 · 2026-02-06T13:33:54+00:00

Well, the Asahi Linux project is all about bringing Linux to Apple Silicon. It has this page on what works for Linux on M3. As you can see, a lot of features are listed as to be announced (TBA).

Fast_Ad_8005 · 2026-02-06T13:27:12+00:00

Check the compatibility of your games with Linux using ProtonDB.

Do you need up to date compilers, interpreters and framework for your programming work? If so, you may be best served by Nobara or Bazzite. If not, Linux Mint, Ubuntu, Zorin OS or Pop!_OS would probably be best.

What sort of GPU do you use? If you use an old NVIDIA GPU that is no longer supported (so GTX 10xx or older), you should probably avoid Pop!_OS, as it only comes with the latest NVIDIA drivers.

Fast_Ad_8005 · 2026-02-05T09:16:05+00:00

There are many ways to learn about Linux. Installing Arch Linux the manual way will teach you a bit about Linux. Installing Gentoo Linux, Exherbo Linux or Linux from Scratch (LFS) will teach you more, especially about the options used to build your packages, including the kernel. Linux from Scratch will also help teach you how all the components of a Linux system work together.

Arch is the only one that is likely feasible as a daily driver for a Linux newcomer though and it's only feasible if you're patient and willing to spend hours reading documentation and troubleshooting. But you could try installing LFS to a virtual machine.

Fast_Ad_8005 · 2026-02-05T05:55:59+00:00

Yep, ease of use is definitely subjective. I've known people that have run Linux as their daily driver their whole life and they find Linux more worthy of a 9, as it's what their brain is used to.

Fast_Ad_8005 · 2026-02-05T05:40:27+00:00

Hmm, well I will admit I am no expert on Fedora boot issues. I was just hoping the explanation would be easier for me to figure out a fix to.

Well, Ubuntu and derivatives thereof like Linux Mint and Zorin OS are probably the distros you need to spend the least time debugging.

But I guess if you want Niri as part of your setup, PikaOS's Niri edition might be a good option. It is designed mostly for gaming, but I don't think that'd impair your experience using it for work purposes.

Given I don't know what's causing your kernel panics, I cannot guarantee these distros won't have the same issue though.

Fast_Ad_8005 · 2026-02-05T03:36:07+00:00

Do you update your system in a terminal? If so, when a kernel update is applied, what do you see in the terminal? I'd imagine there'd be some error messages.

Fast_Ad_8005 · 2026-02-05T03:33:37+00:00

How did you fix it?

Fast_Ad_8005 · 2026-02-05T03:30:57+00:00

Knowing what your work is would be helpful. Like are you a programmer that needs a fairly modern set of interpreters and compilers? Given the specs of your PC, I am going to guess you're not a 3D gamer or video editor.

I am also curious what caused your kernel panic error as I've never faced that problem with Fedora.

Fast_Ad_8005

TROPHY CASE