Linux Distro Choice: How Close to the Edge Are You?

general
,
1

Hey guys!

Let’s talk about where you stand on the spectrum of stability and cutting-edge software on your Linux distro.

Many of us love the thrill of using the latest and greatest features, but we also know the pain of a system crash at the wrong moment. With distros like Debian offering stable, testing, and unstable branches, and others following similar models, how close do you prefer to be to the bleeding edge?

Personally, I’ve danced near the edge quite a bit more years ago. But I’ve been stung (just once in 10 years) by Arch Linux’s rolling release and faced hiccups with Debian unstable. My work machines have gradually shifted towards more stability, but also STILL notably close to the cutting-edge by way of Kali Linux.

Stripped of its penetration testing tools and without the infamous default root install, Kali is essentially Debian testing with an extra layer of oversight.

How about you? Do you prefer the stability of a well-tested release, or are you willing to risk the occasional bug for the latest features? Share your experiences and let’s see where everyone lands on this spectrum!

Related reading:

3 Likes
2

I am mainly using Fedora now with the Budgie desktop, and previously i have used Ubuntu with the KDE. I am now switching to the Fedora Workstation with Genome. My preferred choice is Ubuntu with KDE or Fedora with KDE or Budgie or Genome. Apart from these two, i haven’t used any other flavour of Linux and i dont think will look upon others.

1 Like
3

I use BunsenLabs Boron with openbox (no desktop) which runs Debian Bookworm 12. I love BL Boron, because it’s based on Crunchbang - everything opens with a key tap or mouse click. It’s not for everyone though, it takes some adjusting to get used to not having a desktop.

I also use WSL on Win 10 and use Debian there too - I like Debian’s stability and it has every package I could ever need.

1 Like
4

@gauravearn Sounds like you’ve found a good groove with Fedora and Ubuntu, especially with the flexibility to switch up your desktop environments! Fedora with GNOME is a solid choice, you’re definitely getting a taste of cutting-edge Linux!

If you’re ever in the mood to experiment, some independent distros out there, like Solus (also with Budgie) or even something more niche like Manjaro, offer unique spins on the Linux experience. But hey, it’s all about finding what feels right for you. Enjoy the setup with GNOME on Fedora!

5

@benslinux BunsenLabs with Openbox sounds like a minimalist dream! I used Crunchbang years ago (and also Archbang), there’s something satisfying about having such a streamlined, keyboard-friendly setup. In that sense, it’s similar to the minimalist i3wm which I use now.

6

@hydn thank you and i have been working with Linux since last more than 13-14 years. I found only these two operating system to be used widely. I used Fedora long ago and then used mainly Ubuntu but now started to use back Fedora. Both of these are cutting edge Linux distros. Yes, for sure, i will be trying out Manjaro also but it is arch Linux based.

I think the choice of the Linux system is just dependent on the user as you get familiar with the ones that you are using so you dont want to try others for the reason, that you get adapted and the second they all host the same features except for the change in the repository loading.

So this is the reason, i worked with only Ubuntu and Fedora and never tried anyone else. In my previous job in Europe(2017-2021), i used my personal MAC for all the computing and HPC. The University gave me a MAC but i never used that and this time, i used the computer gave by the University. Old one with Linux Mint installed, so removed and installed Ubuntu.

Now it all depends on the type of the computer i will get, then i will boast a Linux which i am familiar with so that i can put my attention to where it is needed and not just on the flavor of the Linux.

1 Like
7

On my personal laptop (which right now I also have to use for work) I use Ubuntu 24.10 as I haven’t really noticed a huge difference in system stability (in terms of crashes) between the the intermediate releases and the LTS ones. However, for a work PC, I would prefer to use Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, but this might turn out to be Windows :slight_smile:

I would love to use something like Debian stable, but for purposes of using some proprietary wares (such as MATLAB, but I fear also Nvidia GPUs in the near future), I think Ubuntu might be a bit better tailored towards those.

1 Like
9

I think these are just personal choices and depending upon the need you use them. Whether you use Ubuntu or Fedora or any other, you use it for sometime and then you change. However, that doesnt affect either Ubuntu or Fedora. I am shifting to Fedora genome from Budgie so Fedora will not stop selling Budgie version. It is all about what you need and which version suits your current needs.

1 Like
10

Yes that’s the beauty of Linux. When you use Windows or Mac you basically just use what they put out and that’s it.

But with Linux my preferences have evolved soo much over the years.

I use to prefer KDE over Gnome, then Gnome over KDE, then window managers over desktop environments.

As for favorite distro history: (Distros used longer than six months) I believe it was Debian then Linux Mint because it just seems so noob friendly. Then I jump into Arch which massively helped me to have a much deeper understanding of Linux, Ubuntu 6.06+, (k)Ubuntu 14/16, Mint 5/6, Crunchbang, Kali, Debian 5/6, Debian 8/9, Debian SID, Fedora 27+, Manjaro + i3, Ubuntu 20.04 LTS w/ Pop Shell i3-like tiling. Currently, I’m using Kali-i3 on both desktop and laptop. The maintainer of Kali I3 is an great guy who’s dedicated to the project long term.

1 Like
11

That’s very true and I changed from Budgie to Fedora Genome today as i am tired of Budgie and want a fresh install and a clean fresh install this morning while reading the last part of the RUST. These are only work related and this is not something that is your favourite. Tomorrow, I get a Mac and then I will start using the same again and will use that with Linux also. Some people are so constrained on this thinking that correlate the environment or anything and i just shut that people out in the first shot as that is something you should never listen. I prefer to use Gnome, and KDE or Budgie with either Ubuntu or Fedora. I dont want to try any other version of Linux as i am using this for work and this is not something that is affine to me, means it is non-living :smile so use, get tired, format, install a new flavour.

I do this on the day i have more time in the evening today like today.

1 Like
12

As I said in a previous post I like more stability then cutting edges distro, such as Arch Linux.
For my experience on Linux distros I tried:

  • Arch Linux is fun because using of aur and it’s fancy repository, but it’s too bleeding edge system in my opinion no suitable for everyday working sessions.
  • Fedora branch is pretty updated and for what I saw more stable then Arch, but I don’t like the rpm packages and in general I don’t like too much using Red Hat
  • Vanilla Debian is the grandaddy, the father that grans the maximum stability, suitable for production machines or servers. I love using it in my workflow, I love Debian philosophy and the APT packet manager, but it’s not the best choice for daily computer usage cause it’s packages that are very old. BTW this is the this distribution I choose for my critical work virtual machine.
  • Debian sid / Debian testing would be a great compromise between stability and system updates. I was in this distribution for a long time, but sometimes I encountred some broken packages while updating the system.
  • Ubuntu is one of the best daily home usage Linux distro, but the fact is Canonical is gathering your data with telemetry. Someone said Ubuntu is the devil for this
  • Linux Mint is one of the best home distribution, I was also trying to stay with this distribution for a while, but some videogames won’t run (still need to understand why)
  • POP!_OS is also one of the best distribution, but still in 22.04 LTS release, who knows when they will release their Cosmic desktop and release 24.04 LTS. I was trying using POP!_OS as well but I find it too old distribution, also as I already said in a previous post I don’t like POP!_OS boot loader. I prefer a distro with native grub. Altough POP_OS is using it’s weird packages as system utility, for example for server audio. For me is a big no.
  • Kali Linux I don’t know very well this distribution, I know it’s for network experts with alot of useful network tools, but I don’t know with packages if it’s updated the same as Debian Vanilla or Debian sid/testing, but for my workflow Kali is un-necessary. Let’s say I’m not too much into Kali.
  • Linux Lite is the choice I did for my workflow, as I already said, because it’s stable, from my point of view one of the most well done balance between system updates and system stability. It’s default shipped with XFCE, quite outdated Kernel version, but I tried to run some games and everything goes very well. Better then what happens in Linux Mint, for what I tested.

So yes that’s my experience, the evaluation and the choice I did in my 5-6 years Linux experience.

Ricky

1 Like
13

Thats very good knowledge, i havent dig that much into the operating system flavours as i like to be stable with the one or two maximum operating system. I only switch between flavours such as Ubuntu or Fedora and sometimes, Gnome, or KDE or Budgie. I dont think i will ever give a try to these many operating system and on the other side, i focus more on the other parts such as system programming, code development and others which to me feel like investing my time in that instead of trying out different flavours.

I respect your view and the mentioned above is my view, each have their own taste of what they are upto and what they like.

1 Like
14

I have been using Linux for about 20 years, but more recently it has become my daily driver for the last 3 years at home, and the last year on my work laptop.

At work for our servers we use Debian and Ubuntu, as the stability is rock solid.

At home, when I restarted using Linux 3 years ago, I started with Ubuntu based distributions. I wasn’t pleased by the outdated software, or the need to add a repository to get the latest. So I started looking at distros like Manjaro, Fedora and OpenSuse. I even ventured into Vanilla Arch using KDE. It wasn’t bad but then I got bit a couple times by an update to KDE on Arch.

I figured, that the unstability of Arch finally caught up with me. However when I tried that version of KDE on OpenSuse I got the same bug. This helped me to better understand the different components of the Linux OS and the difference between the distro and the desktop environment.

So I jumped back into Arch and began to try out simpler DEs. I first went to QTile and then eventually landed on i3. My Arch system was stable for months. However I was missing some features of a regular desktop and began distro hopping once again. I looked at Fedora, OpenSuse and again came back to Arch.

When I decided to use Linux on my work laptop, it had to be an Arch Distro as using a tiling window manager was a must for me. I would admit that it crashed on me a few times, but with the Arch Wiki I was back up and running in an hour.

All this to say that even though I am on the edge, I have yet to be bitten so hard that I felt the need to retreat. And although it’s probably not true, I feel that using Windows these days is probably closer to the edge than most people think. If it’s not a virus cleaning you up, it’s the dreaded BSOD.

So in summary, on my home desktop I am now using vanilla Arch with Cosmic DE Alpha for a little over two months now. That’s living on the edge for me. I have ran updates a few times and so far so good. I will see how long this lasts. On my work computer I will soon change to vanilla Arch with i3. I don’t know if I am quite ready for a Wayland DE on my work laptop. So for me, it’s all Arch baby.

:grin:

3 Likes
15

@shybry747
How do you feel using Cosmic on Arch? is it stable enough? Or did you encontred some bugs? I asked Chat GPT if I can go Arch with Cosmic and it say me better no because it’s almost unstable. What do you think? Currently I have installed Budgie on my vanilla Arch machine.

ricky

1 Like
16

@ricky89
It’s stable enough for me.

Currently it only has availability for 2 VPN servers. I worked around that by using network-manager-applet. I was surprised that the status bar picked it up quite nicely.

Also because it’s Wayland, some software is glitchy. LibreOffice works so so. The last thing I saw was the menu showing up twice. I also use Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome and Visual Studio Code. All of these required tweaks so that I can use them.

Cosmic Settings crashes sometimes when it is used. Basically you would open it and find nothing is displaying. In that case I just use killall and restart it and it works.

The Display settings were very jumpy. But of course once I set up my displays the way I wanted them, I haven’t used it again.

The app library seems to be pretty stable. The launcher sometimes misses a few apps. I currently have about 10 to 15 browsers open. Some personal and some for work. When the launcher is used all I am seeing is browser windows so switching to a specific window if it’s minimized can be difficult. But I realized if I type in the specifics of that window I can get it to come up.

That’s all I can think about for now, but like I said I have been using it for over two months now and I am functional.

And just to emphasize, I did try HyprLand. That DE has bling, but after every update it something broke. So that only lasted a few weeks. I have done two updates with Cosmic DE so far, and things only became more stable. That can change in the future of course, but I will just wait and see. I think another update is due out soon. They have promised monthly updates until all the features are enabled.

2 Likes