Yeah, I’m just another one of those who has recently switched to Linux. And, as many, what I did was to go for a distro catered for beginners. I chose Ubuntu at first because I had briefly used it like eleven years ago at high school as part of computer class, and actually liked it back then, and, all in all, I do like Ubuntu’s current GNOME adaption.
However, I decided after a few days to move on to a community-based distro as it aligns more with my way of thinking (as well as for a couple of issues which were Ubuntu/GNOME related), and the obvious choice, having tried Ubuntu, was Mint. And I do like Mint, even more than Ubuntu; I especially like Mint’s adaption of the Xfce DE and I would definitely use it if I had a low-powered computer.
What didn’t quite convince me, though, was the limited DE selection available. While learning about all the Linux stuff I came to know about desktops, and I felt like, if I wanted to ever use a different one, yes, it could be installed the hard way, but I would rather have a distro that can be installed with my desired desktop by default, and the one that got my attention was KDE.
And that’s how I’ve ended up on Debian. Yeah, not your usual recommendation for beginners but… I don’t see anything bad about it? Like, yeah, I have Nvidia, but I honestly wouldn’t mind going through the hassle of installing the GPU’s driver through the terminal (and I haven’t even bothered yet cause I don’t really game much anymore). But, apart from that, I’m delighted with what I see. I could’ve gone with Fedora, which was my next choice, but I actually like Debian’s slow update cycle, as I don’t want to be bothered often with setting up my system again. I want something as close as “set it and forget it” as possible. Plus, it is also the one I have felt the most at ease with thanks to KDE indeed.
So that’s my story! It’s been an intense few days of learning, installing, deleting, and reinstalling OSes on my system, but I now feel at ease and will be installing my favourite programmes or searching alternatives for the ones I used on Windows.
Thank you for reading and have a nice evening!
While learning about all the Linux stuff I came to know about desktops, and I felt like, if I wanted to ever use a different one, yes, it could be installed the hard way, but I would rather have a distro that can be installed with my desired desktop by default, and the one that got my attention was KDE.
‘sudo apt install kde-full’ is “the hard way”?
hey, when you’re used to GUIs, the install finishes and you’re staring at a command line with no idea how to get started with the desktop, yeah it’s “the hard way”.
It’s not hard, but you have to know WTF is going on. It surprised me when I got sent to the command line after reboot, I lucked out because I changed DE while I was distro hopping so knew how to install from apt.
Compared to checks notes reinstalling an entirely different distro???
Jesus the cli phobia here is ridiculous.
It’s a peaceful life.
But Debian… Really? A man of your talents?
I mean that is great but its far easier to add kde through the software center than add nvidia through command line.
I actually like Debian’s slow update cycle, as I don’t want to be bothered often with setting up my system again.
I’ve been there too!
Updating to a new version is such a chore: you have to follow the news, then wonder how long to wait before updating, then you have to set aside at least a few hours for the actual update (well, for fixing what may go wrong - not that stuff actually goes wrong, but you still set aside some time just in case).
The solution to this is in the exact opposite direction you’d imagine.
For a few years (since last time I got a new PC), I’ve been running a rolling distro (tumbleweed *) and… it’s been great: no big updates, just incremental ones.
If anything breaks (and it never happened to me: there has been times where errors prevented the system to update, but never has it broken on me), you just boot the snapshot before the last update and try again in a few hours/days.
I want something as close as “set it and forget it” as possible.
That’s nixos :) It takes a long time to “set” (and you never really finish doing it) but you can switch to a new PC at any time and have your exact system on it (bar what the few things you have to change to account for the different hardware, of course).
* I hear that with arch&co you actually have to follow the release notes as sometimes there are manual tasks to do - it’s not so in tumbleweed (at least, as much as i know and as far as me experience goes) - IDK about other rolling distros (or debian testing/sid)
A while ago I tried out cachyos since it was the big new thing. I can’t remember what the update was, but I recall Pac-Man threw up a warning to say “Manual intervention required etc etc etc” rather than updating.
I might be remembering it wrong.
One of my favorite things about linux is the freedom to choose. There is not a perfect one size fits all starterpack. Everyone has different needs and expectations which is why the starter distro questions have so many different answers. Those answers aren’t wrong as they meet the needs from the presenters point of view.
Debain is a great choice. Nothing wrong with debain. I use it for my media server.
Welcome to your linux journey.
Only downside ive seen with Debian is slower rollouts and some packages missing in their repos. Its because they prioritize stability.
If Debian fits your use case theres no reason not to stay. I ditched Debian after I accidentally created my frankendebian monster which i was way too unknowledgable to save back then.
And hey, welcome to Linux!
Slow package updates are a worthy complaint but largely solved with the advent of fancy package managers like flatpak, appimage, and nix.
Linux in general is the wise choice, no matter the distribution.
Debian is fantastic; I use it on every server I can.
If your server doesn’t rely on docker I would give FreeBSD a try. I’ve been using Debian for 20 years and moved to FreeBSD a few years ago. Now I can never go back. Not that I don’t like Debian anymore but FreeBSD is a true server system. Simple, fast and stable. And with their jails implementation (something like docker but less obscure) you can easily isolate your services from the rest of the system.
I appreciate the heads up; BSD is on the menu.
Ever since IBM / Red Hat ruined CentOS, I’ve been using Debian when I need Linux. Welcome in from the cold. We have hot coco and blankets.
Debian is a solid choice. It’s been my daily driver for years. It just works!
Nothing wrong with Debian.
Solid choice 👍
I’m a veteran and I prefer Debian-based distros because I don’t want have to constantly tinker with something that I need to simply work.
, but I actually like Debian’s slow update cycle,
That’s one of debian’s strengths and an often overlooked feature that I believe many people would love as well. I even had a professor migrating from windows to debian simply because he’s, in his words: “tired of things changing all the time without my permission. I want a system that stays the same for as long as possible and barely changes”. Debian was like a natural choice for him. I thought he would be asking me for help in the transition, but he said he’s “ok and learning by searching on the internet”, and that he’s “investing some time on earning it, because the guarantee of minimal changes makes the it an investment, instead of a waste of time”.
I also find value in this.
Lately I get a lot of flack for running Debian with xfce but it looks and acts the same every time.
I’ve been through my various stages of customizing and living on the bleeding edge. But now that i have my wish and I work in linux daily, I just want the os to stay out of the way.
Wait until you try NixOS
Recently took the leap to try it out and it’s surprisingly nice. Especially thanks to the automatic rollbacks, in case something breaks. Only took me a few years of getting nagged and learning about it, and multiple attempts at reading through the documentation.
But for a beginner? No way. NixOS has a serious documentation issue. Also the community structure is a big plus in Debian.
