What Linux distro do you use and why?

submitted by burnt_match from self.Linux

Or *BSD. Just curious about Linux distro preferences. OpenBSD and Slackware64 current user.

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[–]Tums_is_Smut_bkwrds 4 insightful - 3 fun4 insightful - 2 fun5 insightful - 3 fun -  (3 children)

My current goto desktop distro is Manjaro. Ubuntu LTS for servers.

A couple years ago I wanted to give gaming on Linux a try and of the distros I tried I had the most success with Manjaro. But I also quickly realized that Manjaro was smoother and worked better generally, at least on my hardware. A couple years is a long time and I should probably try out other distros again to see where they're at, but so far I haven't had any reason to switch. Though I felt that way about Mint, until I tried Manjaro.

After struggling unsuccessfully to get any distro to run well on the Atom based laptop that I take on the road I got a Pinebook Pro and it too is running Manjaro. It's a bit heavy though so I recently got a PineTab even though it's still in early access. The OS it ships with -- Ubuntu -- is barely functional so I put something called Mobian -- a mobile version of Debian -- on it and so far I'm pretty pleased. A few things are not fully supported yet but it's working well enough to travel with.

[–]burnt_match[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

Did you try mGAMe(manjaro gaming spin). It's made for gaming with emulators, wine, installed out of the box.

[–]Tums_is_Smut_bkwrds 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Never heard of it, good to know. Really I was mostly curious to see how well gaming on Linux worked and though I was pleased with the results mostly I still kept a Win7 box for playing games. And then when we got a VR rig there was no choice but to upgrade to Win10, as loath as I was to.

But like many of us I've got nothing but time on my hands right now so maybe I'll give mGAMe a look. A couple years ago running current AAA titles was still a challenge -- older games generally ran great, better even than under Windows in some cases -- but if that's changed then that would be good to know. Anyhow, cheers!

[–]burnt_match[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

According to the sourceforge project page mGAMe was last updated in 2019.

[–]quadcricket 4 insightful - 2 fun4 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

Devuan since it is more like old Debian than Debian is. I also have Artix on my gaming machine since it is Systemd free and rolling release for better graphics support.

[–][deleted] 3 insightful - 3 fun3 insightful - 2 fun4 insightful - 3 fun -  (2 children)

I used to have Ubuntu on my laptop just because it was popular, but I changed to Linux Mint to help it run better. My laptop's keyboard broke, though, so I ain't able to use it no more. It's older than I am anyways.

My mom was going to throw out her old all-in-one, because it was running super slow, so I decided to at least try to fix it. I eventually decided that installing Linux Lite would be the best solution, and my mom liked the idea, so I did it. It runs perfect now! My mom was pretty happy about. I also installed Brave Browser, and it's certainly done its part.

[–]fediverseshill 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Newer windows are a sham, they use more resources so that old ladies feel like their older pc's need to be thrown out - when they are perfectly fine. Its almost like someone with a car and the lightbulbs were burnt.

[–][deleted] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Yeah, and they're full of bloatware.

[–]Ludditebardd 2 insightful - 2 fun2 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

Linux Mint, since 2011. Always had it work for me, I haven't tried a different distro in many years.

[–]enefi 2 insightful - 2 fun2 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

I am currently using Manjaro on a desktop for over a year and I was/am pleasantly surprised - I expected it to break more often while in reality it breaks less than Ubuntu did. I used Ubuntu on a desktop for I think 4 years, but old versions of software, GPU drivers and tangled web of dozens of PPAs pushed me to try Manjaro on a new pc. I have to say, it's pretty good for dev (mostly web) and gaming. AUR is great, like 98% of all software I wanted to install is either in Manjaro repos or AUR.

I am running CentOS on a home server, for I think 5 years and I was satisfied with it (previously ran Debian for over 10 years, but for me its releases weren't supported for long enough time). Since CentOS got killed, I'll have to migrate to something else - I'll probably wait how Rocky turns out.

[–]quantum-step 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Mint on my desktop, Ubuntu for my laptop, and Arch for my collection of raspberry pi's.

[–]adultmanhwa 1 insightful - 2 fun1 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

MX and Artix, for no reasons (obviously 😜)

[–]GooglyEyes 1 insightful - 2 fun1 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

Ubuntu because I'm a brainlet

[–]Airbus320 1 insightful - 2 fun1 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

Manjaro gnome for simplicity

[–]McShoggoth 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Debian on my laptop. Ubuntu on my server for now. Mobian on my pinephone. Rasbian on my Pis

[–]forgottenpasswordguy 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

I might switch my laptop over to lubuntu. It doesn't have the most amazing specs or battery life so I might as well use something efficient. Using mint right now, it's nice too and reasonably light.

[–]burnt_match[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

How long have you been using linux?

[–]forgottenpasswordguy 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Sorry for the late reply, but like a year. But not much experience though, my desktop/daily driver is windows 7, I'll be switching it to linux mint when I have to eventually. I'm not a fan of what windows has become beyond 7.

[–]Drewski 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

Debian on most of my machines, Mint for family members.

[–]burnt_match[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Have any of you tried FreeBSD?

[–]McShoggoth 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Briefly. So briefly that i barely remember it. I think i had slackware on my machine for a longer period of time than BSD.

[–]fediverseshill 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Windows 10, current product.

[–]rik_1088 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Started with Ubuntu, then Slackware, now Arch. It works fine so I just decided to stick with it. Plus the AUR is really good.

[–][deleted] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

After test-driving over twenty distros in LiveCD mode the past couple years, I found very few to be suitable for a Windows user. Most don't even auto-connect to the internet, and required fooling with some network wizard crapola. I did find two distros worthwhile...MX Linux and Linux Mint. After switching back and forth between the two over the last eleven months, I choose MX Linux as the winner for install on my secondary hard drive (actually an SSD). It was slightly more intuitive in layout than Linux Mint, and will be used to teach myself Linux. I will also continue using Kodachi Linux in LiveCD mode to explore the Darknet...my new hobby.