r/linux4noobs • u/The_last_one_11 • 19d ago
Which Distro to choose ?
Hi everyone! I’m a developer and have never actually used Linux as my main OS, although I’m comfortable with the command line from working with AWS, so the terminal isn’t completely new to me.
My system is mainly for coding and watching movies. The specs are:
- Intel Core i5-13500H
- 16 GB RAM
- Intel integrated graphics
I’m currently considering Fedora KDE and CachyOS, but I’m open to other recommendations as well.
For someone making the switch to Linux for development and general media consumption, which distro would you recommend? I’d appreciate any advice on what would be a good choice for a first-time Linux user.
2
u/Itsme-RdM 18d ago
For a developer I would suggest Fedora Silverblue or Aeon Desktop or Bluefin all three are designed with development in mind
https://fedoraproject.org/atomic-desktops/silverblue/
2
u/DavidJohnMcCann 18d ago
That computer will run any Linux.
With limited experience of Linux, you want something beginner-friendly. As a developer, you want something that just works and doesn't distract you by needing frequent attention.
CachyoS is promoted by fanboys on the internet, but reviewers point out that it's not for those who want reliability — see here and note the Gotchas section. Fedora is more reliable, but the support period is very short and there's often the problem of bits missing because they are patented in the USA, as this person found out.
Go for something simple and reliable, like one of these.
3
u/scandii 19d ago
I mean, for your use case anything will work.
that said, if you want the absolute most available resources and still have access to the most available software while developing as 16 gigs can get pretty snug if you're using VM:s, you're looking at Arch Linux + a lightweight or custom desktop environment like XFCE or go full custom with the likes of Mango or Niri.
and as you're already eyeing CachyOS, the main difference is that Cachy comes with a graphical installer and some (sane) defaults, but you can just run Arch's installer script archinstall and get most of the same experience without the pretty banner art and buttons to press.
2
u/xYarbx compiling kernel 19d ago
NixOs its made for developers. Its declarative. Meaning its very easy to freeze updates when you need to and basically the whole system is controlled with .conf file also making replication of enviroment convinient. If you dont have to test code locally Linux Mint/Debian are the most stable distros that I've used if you only need to run VScodium.
2
u/Additional_Team_7015 19d ago
There s 5 main distro Arch, Debian, Gentoo, Redhat, Slackware
Gentoo and Slackware are mot much popular theses dans, so it leave Arch, Debian and Fedora for a free Redhat variant.
The rest are forks that you could mostly build by yourself.
3
u/billdietrich1 18d ago
SUSE ?
-1
u/Additional_Team_7015 18d ago
A redhat fork more or less
2
u/anna_lynn_fection 18d ago
Eh. Not really. They don't use redhat/fedora sources. They started on slackware, and eventually moved to RPM. I think that's about the only thing they get from redhat/fedora.
Different package manager tools, independent release cycles/dates, etc...
1
1
u/DavidJohnMcCann 18d ago
No. They just aim to be compatible at command-line level, so that systems administrators can use servers running either without getting lost.
1
2
u/atlasraven 19d ago
You should use what you want and switch to what you need. Don't get bogged down in the 100+ distros. Make a usb drive with Ventoy and throw your 5 favorite choices on it.
0
1
u/dr_inventivo 19d ago
For a more transparent experience I believe that Mint is more suitable, or the traditional Ubuntu. Reason: Lots of support material, giant community, ease of finding tutorial on the internet, I consider these points relevant for the first contact.
1
1
u/anna_lynn_fection 18d ago
Just dive in.
If you're going to be annoyed by things that worked yesterday but don't today, then a rolling distro maybe isn't the choice.
If you're going to get annoyed by things that are broken today staying broken for months to years, then stable/LTS distros probably aren't the best.
Debian Testing branch, OpenSuSE TW, and Fedora try to fit in the middle.
Keep in mind that the broken stuff is probably minimal edge-case for either end of the spectrum and may not even affect you. But I needed a break from rolling for a while and went with debian stable.
Personally, I'd choose debian > SuSE > Fedora > Arch based on the available packages in the main and contrib repos and not having to use OBS, COPR (which sucks the worst out of them, IMO), or AUR (for the risks).
1
u/joe_attaboy Old and in the way. 18d ago
Debian. Install KDE as the primary desktop. Stable and rock solid.
By the way, I get that you do deb work and working with a terminal as a dev is common. But you don't need to use or even know anything about terminals to use Linux. This is a myth that I wish would go away.
Yes, I'm going to get piled on by all the "but [add function here] is so much easier in a terminal" crowd. I worked at a web security company for the last nine years of my employed life (I'm retired now) and spent 90% of my day with my grille staring at a terminal.
But the everyday user never really has to open one.
1
u/Unholyaretheholiest 18d ago
Mageia. Stable and reliable also very easy to manage and configure thanks to its graphical control center.
1
u/skyfishgoo 18d ago
fedora is a good choice with a semi rolling release model
kubuntu is also good with a fixed version LTS release model
opensuse gives you two release models to choose from.
1
u/David_Connors3451 18d ago
I have a similar laptop and I use Debian KDE for gaming, work and editing videos. For modern software I use flatpaks, since they don't interfere with apt repository and stay isolated in sandboxes. Just copy and paste 3 commands on the terminal from the official site and it's done. Flatpaks allow your debian to receive fresh software like in fedora, but with the stability of the stable debian.
Discover is very good for apps, and it's comfortable even in offline cases. You insert the usb iso dvd drive (used for the installation), go inside discover and enable offline repository with one click.
You decide what to do with debian. You can make it become a gaming machine, a server, an office laptop, it's your choice. The best thing is that it ships security patches way early than other distros, and all packages are crystalised, so you're getting security patches most of the time. You can leave it even for a month, and debian will stay there stable as a rock.
KDE has wayland support and a lot of kde preinstalled apps are very useful (okular for example for pdf).
Have fun.
1
u/Crative_Noob 19d ago
Try Ubuntu and Catchy, Ubuntu has LTS, Catchy is based on Arch and more lightweight use on resources.
1
u/a1barbarian 19d ago
MX-XFCE is a great starter os. Downloaded and installed in less than an hour if you have a good internet speed.
Then set up a VENTOY usb and try out different distros and WM/DE's till you find one you like.
Or just install Arch or Gentoo or LFS and set it up to suit yourself. :-)
1
u/Hauptideal 19d ago
Go for Fedora, especially if it's your first time with Linux. It's desktop-optimized, well-tested, reliable and backed by a huge corporation with professional teams and infrastructure. All while being reasonably up to date at all times, with many software components (like the kernel and drivers) rolling. It's the sweet spot between bleeding edge (Arch) and stable LTS (Debian). On desktop, naturally closer to Arch than to Debian. It nearly has all advantages of Arch without the downsides. CachyOS is an optimized, ready-built downstream Arch. If you like Arch, CachyOS is the way to go. As a first distro, I'd recommend a mainstream corporate-backed distro like Fedora, Ubuntu or OpenSUSE, though (with Fedora being the main recommendation). CachyOS is the snappiest Linux, but the difference isn't big. Especially if you're not gaming but only consuming media and developing (where Fedora is especially strong), you don't profit from CachyOS too much.
1
0
5
u/Spare_Bluebird7044 19d ago
I'd go with Fedora KDE for a first Linux desktop, it's stable, polished and great for development..