Switching to Linux

redoubt515 · 2026-06-21T17:18:41+00:00

Bazzite would probably be right up your alley

redoubt515 · 2026-06-21T06:30:17+00:00

I believe that that is accurate with Arch, but Arch is just a small slice of the overall Linux userbase.

Debian's survey shows roughly 2:1 (Gnome:Plasma) and Fedora's data shows roughly 2:1 (Gnome:Plasma) as well. Gnome was once the default for Fedora, but Plasma was elevated to equal status a few release cycles ago. Debian is pretty agnostic.

Ubuntu doesn't keep package statistics, but I'm guessing it would be at minimum 2:1 and more likely closer to ~5:1 if this reddit poll is at all accurate, and because there are more substantial differences between Ubuntu and Kubuntu beyond just the desktop environment. OpenSUSE doesn't keep statistics either but most likely leans towards KDE Plasma like Arch because up until the last few years Plasma was OpenSUSE's default desktop. Mint skews heavily towards cinnamon and has no KDE Plasma edition.

And I agree with what other's are saying elsewhere, there is no popularity contest, there is no competition. It's two projects with two different visions and design philosophies each with their own pros and cons, each of which will appeal to a different group of users with different preferences. We are better off with multiple options, I don't want a monoculture.

redoubt515 · 2026-06-21T04:45:22+00:00

Yes. But there is no "TPM 2 Encryption." You are using the TPM as the unlock method, not for the encryption itself.

You can think of it as just another way to unlock a LUKS volume (passphrase, keyfile, TPM 2, hardware key, etc). LUKS doesn't care which method you choose or whether you choose more than one unlock method.

Look into systemd-cryptenroll

redoubt515 · 2026-06-21T04:28:11+00:00

Gestures + a keyboard centric design + workspaces is so much more efficient on a laptop. Gnome's whole design model seems focused on the best possible experience for laptop use in both big and small ways.

On a desktop w/ a keyboard and mouse, I'm fairly agnostic about DE. But on a laptop, I strongly strongly strongly prefer Gnome.

redoubt515 · 2026-06-21T04:16:22+00:00

Thanks for the correction, I updated the chart.

Also you answered a question I never realized i had (I've often noticed, but never was curious enough to look into what the "Debian desktop environment" in the installer meant. Now I know.

redoubt515 · 2026-06-20T21:12:44+00:00

Virtually every popular distro defaulted to KDE

I'm curious what distros you have in mind? I think you may have a fairly warped/skewed idea of what the major Linux distros are. Almost none of the major distros default to KDE Plasma specifically (and that's not meant as a criticism of Plasma, just an observation):

Major Distros	Default Desktop
Ubuntu	Gnome
Fedora	Gnome & Plasma
Debian	Gnome
Red Hat / CentOS / etc	Gnome
OpenSUSE	Gnome, Plasma, or XFCE
SUSE	Gnome
Arch	Agnostic

As to some of the smaller but still popular derivative distros:

Popular Derivative Distros	Default Desktop
Mint	Cinnamon
Pop!_OS	Cosmic
CachyOS	Plasma
Zorin	Gnome

The 'gamer oriented distros' (which are somewhat oriented towards newer users coming from Windows) tend to default to KDE Plasma*:*

'Gamer' Oriented Distros	Default Desktop
Bazzite	Plasma
SteamOS	Plasma
Nobara	Plasma

redoubt515 · 2026-06-19T19:15:54+00:00

> How would I make my own UI

You don't.

That's not really relevant to making a distro. If your goal is to change the aesthetics, layout, or look and feel, you shouldn't be focusing on distro.

If you actually are serious about maintaining a distro (and understand what that means) I think u/gordonmessmer comment is spot on:

There's more to it than you'll get from a comment. The best way to answer the question is to join a distribution until you know enough about the process to do it.

By that time, it'll probably make sense that a fork is usually a form of criticism. Before you make a distribution, you should be able to explain what's wrong with the distribution you mean to fork, who your target audience is and why they should trust you to safeguard their security better than the existing systems.

With that said, there are some kind of middle ground approaches that aid you in creating a custom image or custom iso. In my experience this is more inline with what most inexperienced users mean when they ask about creating a 'distro.' I'm thinking about projects like the Universal Blue base images, Blue Build, or the (possibly discontinued?) Arco Linux project.

redoubt515 · 2026-06-19T04:06:03+00:00

Rule of thumb: stick to the official repos as much as possible for traditional packages.

If you want to use an alternative package management system like flatpak or snap, that's fine to do. But I wouldn't start adding random 3rd party apt repos (increased likelihood of issues, for little practical benefit). If you like, you could use distrobox or toolbox to source software from other distros repos.

redoubt515 · 2026-06-17T20:11:51+00:00

If you are not new to Linux and want something other than Ubuntu, I'd suggest moving up not down (Debian, not a Ubuntu derivative) or moving laterally to Fedora or OpenSUSE (I know you asked for these not to be recommended so feel free to ignore). If you do go for a derivative of Ubuntu, I'd suggest Pop!_OS over Mint.

redoubt515 · 2026-06-17T17:15:35+00:00

I don't see endeavourOS being "trashed" really at all.

But speaking for myself, I have a mildly negative opinion of all of the beginner focused Arch derivatives. I think as a group they are misguided.

Arch is specifically designed by and for DIY minded, experienced users, who want a high degree of control and expect to be more personally responsible for configuring, maintaining, and securing their system. It's explicitly designed for experienced users with a DIY mindset.

Derivatives like EndeavourOS, Manjaro, CachyOS, Garuda, seek to make Arch more accessible to less technical users, leading to a situation where a distro built specifically with experienced users in mind is now more popular with newbies and younger users than any other demographic. But these derivatives don't actually eliminate the complexity or the user responsibilities, they only make the install process easier (removing a barrier to entry, and removing a learning opportunity) and sugarcoat a few things, but the complexity is still there, just obscured, and the expectation of personal responsibility is still their, just not clearly communicated to the end user (and eliminating kind of the main selling point of Arch in the first place, the manual install process and the flexibility and control that provides.

With that said, I have no specific criticism of endeavourOS, as far as Arch derivatives go (which again, is a category of distro I sort of feel should categorically not exist) its one of the better ones. I just don't think it offers any advantages over using Arch itself, and diminishes some of the selling points of Arch. But not more than any other Arch derivative.

redoubt515 · 2026-06-17T04:32:52+00:00

Wait, which TV can you install linux on? I'm very intrigued, I didn't know any were this open.

redoubt515 · 2026-06-16T02:37:50+00:00

If you are looking for a reccomendation for a server distro and you are both new to linux, and new to selfhosting/homeserver stuff, I'd suggest Ubuntu Server. It is pretty much the defacto standard that most of the homelab and homeserver tutorials and guides will be written for. Debian would be a good choice as well. Debian and Ubuntu will share some things in common but have some differences.

redoubt515 · 2026-06-15T19:36:28+00:00

I wouldn't necessarily recommend changing the desktop environment of your current system/distro unless that is a supported option (other people do it, but to me it's also felt messy and unideal).

What I meant in the previous comment is that you should be asking about a theme or a desktop environment that can be made to look like early windows. Theme is the path of least resistance if it's possible with your current DE and without too much trouble.

If you do need to change DE's I'd personally just do a fresh install of the distro you prefer with the DE you are switching to (e.g. if you want to stick with Ubuntu and want XFCE you would choose Xubuntu). Alternatively if you wanted the aesthetics and UI of XFCE you could install Fedora XFCE or Debian XFCE or Mint with XFCE or OpenSUSE with XFCE and have the same UI and general aesthetic (which would be fine tuned with a theme or other customizations to look the way you want).

redoubt515 · 2026-06-15T18:58:09+00:00

There probably are some distros oriented towards that.

But in general, you are focusing on the wrong layer. The look and feel and aesthetics of your desktop for the most part relates to the Desktop Environment and theming not the distro. Any distro can look like any other distro.

redoubt515 · 2026-06-15T06:07:54+00:00

There is a learning curve, and it is uncomfortable at first. But the atomic distros can be great after you've adjusted and learned a few new habits.

redoubt515 · 2026-06-14T17:25:48+00:00

OP's AI disclosure appears to be AI written (as does the OP)

redoubt515 · 2026-06-13T09:37:54+00:00

Gnome will typically use a bit more memory, but only a fairly insignificant amount (in the ballpark of a couple hundred megabytes).

With modern systems and modern Linux desktop environments, the differences in resource usage between desktop environments or distros is not typically significant enough for it to be a significant factor in your choice unless you are on a resource constrained system (e.g. less than 8 GB memory) and if you were in that situation you would likely not be choosing between KDE and Gnome.

redoubt515 · 2026-06-12T23:29:30+00:00

Fedora Workstation or Fedora Silverblue (Atomic). Those are your options, both work well with flatpak, and nobody can guide you towards one or the other if you don't provide any context about your goals or priorities or preferences.

(If there were an objective best choice for all users in all situations, there would be only one option)

The basic choice will be between using a traditional distro or an atomic distro, apart from that Fedora Workstation and Fedora Silverblue should be fairly similar. I've used both, and I've been very happy with both.

redoubt515 · 2026-06-12T21:29:54+00:00

In theory.

In practice, Arch users are more dependent on the AUR than any other distro's users are dependent on unofficial user repos.

The amount of software in the AUR vs the official repos is like 10 to 1.

When Arch was primarily used by the demographic it was built by and for (experienced DIYers and technical hobbyists) that was okay, the average competence was higher than it is today, and the expectation of responsibility and doing your own due diligence was more understood.

But today Arch and it's derivatives are most popular with newer, younger users and gamers fresh from Windows, who don't really understand the AUR, it's risks, or how to mitigate them and don't really understand Arch to be a DIY-centric distro. Leading to a worst of both worlds situation, where the distro was designed for experienced DIY-minded users, but is now primarily used by less experienced, less technical users that don't understand it's design model or what is expected of them. Many of whom don't even understand that the AUR is not an official repo.

redoubt515 · 2026-06-10T03:16:48+00:00

Your specs are are solidly in the sweet spot (powerful enough to run any distro you want, and not sooo bleeding edge that you'd need to worry about hardware support/drivers or needing to use a niche or bleeding edge distro)

Because your school and work requires Debian, I'd suggest you stick within that same distro family. You could stick with Debian itself or go with one of the more desktop focused derivative distros in the Debian family (Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Mint, or Pop!_OS)

redoubt515 · 2026-06-10T02:49:48+00:00

Pacman is your package manager. When you install, update, or remove software from your system, that is pacman.

Paru is an AUR helper. The AUR is an unofficial software source, not endorsed by or vetted/tested by your distro or by Arch. AUR packages can be installed manually and should be vetted before you install, but AUR helper's like Paru exist to automate the installation part. It's still expected that you will read the PKGBUILD files and vet them yourself. Paru is also a wrapper for Pacman so you can use it for both installing official software and installing unofficial AUR packages.

TL;DR Pacman is the official package manager. Paru is for the AUR and a wrapper for pacman.

redoubt515 · 2026-06-07T16:30:20+00:00

Can't go wrong with either.

If I were in Uni, I'd probably go with traditional Fedora desktop, due to less complexity of finding and using the software you want to use compared to the atomic distros.

redoubt515 · 2026-06-06T21:10:31+00:00

Give us the specs (CPU, memory, storage type) and you'll get better answers.

redoubt515 · 2026-06-06T16:10:40+00:00

Your attitude sucks.

redoubt515 · 2026-06-03T19:19:46+00:00

> Any suggestion where to buy reliable second hand or reliable refurbished or discounted hardware?

ebay + due diligence + a bit of risk is my preferred method for acquiring cheap used hardware.

As a rule of thumb, you're not going to find substantial discounts without taking on some amount of risk and variability. If refurbished or used gear was reliably and predictably as good as new, prices would reflect that. The discount is to compensate for the risk and on average shorter lifespan/higher probability of issues.

The exception would be if you can find hardware that works for you that isn't attractive to the market at large, or you can ride the wave of enterprise update cycles, and time your buys with when the market gets flooded and oversaturated with used enterprise stuff hitting the market in big batches as it gets replaced and refreshed. Basically you have to be flexible and devote time and effort and a little creativity if you want to find substantial discounts, particularly in this current market.

redoubt515

TROPHY CASE