Hello community!
I come to you for advice. Using an m1 macbook air since 2020, I installed popos on my old 2013 macbook pro and I was quite happy with it but… I bought a steamdeck two weeks ago and exploring its desktop mode made me reconsider some choices. Using distros based on different systems, with different commands, desktop environment, etc. gets a little confusing for someone like me, who doesn’t use linux as my main machine. Do you have any advice for me? From what I understand, steamos is debian-based while popos is ubuntu-based: is that the biggest part of how a distribution works, ie commands, etc.? Good ui/ux is important for me so i should maybe use nitrux or deepin, that are debian-based, or is it a bad idea to choose a less common distro for a amateur like me?
Thanks in advance, I’m a bit lost.
Debian, Arch, and Gentoo are like DIY projects. Debian is often used to get Linux ported to new hardware and for servers because of “stable.” This term “stable” has to do with freezing software so that custom scripts and software can run for a long time with minimal intervention. It has nothing to do with reliability for desktop type users. Arch is for people like CS majors or those that know every detail of how a Unix like system works and all the different layers. Arch provides everything needed in binary packages, but the distro is managed in an odd way. If you do not understand how all the software works together in detail, Arch will break constantly. Gentoo is like arch but everything is compiled from source and anything can be modified. Gentoo is more guided and won’t break your OS like arch will, but you will do a lot of guided reading if you lack a deep understanding.
RedHat is the main paid distro used in enterprise. It’s Beta public version is Fedora. Fedora sorts out a lot of stuff for you, it might work here, but it is best used when Fedora is your main system.
There are systems like Pop, and Mint that are built on Ubuntu, but Ubuntu is built on Debian. You’ll often hear these called Debian derivatives. They are just the DIY of Debian presorted for you with different things added and removed.
It used to be a situation where everyone recommended Ubuntu to start out. If you need some odd software that is not FOSS, there is a good chance it had step by step documentation for Ubuntu. I think this is less important now, but I am quite displaced from the proprietary software experience at this point. Almost everything you do in a proprietary OS has an alternative way to do it in FOSS, it is just a matter of learning. The main challenge is figuring out how to navigate and use an OS that is not holding your hand the whole time trying to make you dependant on their workflow. You need to develop a baseline understanding of how a Unix like system works. For this you can pick almost anything. Linux Mint is generally a good starting point now. Every distro has a reason it exists and things they do better or worse. It isn’t branding or frivolous teams.
Great post - I agree, Linux Mint or Ubuntu sound appropriate for OP. Solid systems with a lot of support.