Strongly thinking about fully switching to Linux. I love simplicity but also want to use a good looking environment - Any recommendations? (Distro-wise and DesktopEnv-wise)

My current favorite distros (without trying tho) are Manjaro, PopOS, maybe Arch? (not sure how complicated it is, really.)

Coming from Windows, i'd probably use a VM for Photoshop and Lutris for gaming. Anything else will be lovely native :D

Would be nice to hear about your experiences and recommendations! ^^

As you like simplicity you should take a look at i3wm with i3-gaps. With the right configuration it can look truly amazing.

Nothing stops you from trying Arch, but I'd recommend doing it in a VM first. It's not for everyone.

@deadlyRants That one's a hell of a thing. Thanks for advice!

Don't go for arch unless you want to spend 2/3 of your time figuring out how to fix your broken system and bashing your head against a wall. Which will be especially frustrating if you have no idea how linux works internally.

Arch is great for the enthusiasts who know how stuff works internally and know exactly what they want and how they want it.
For anyone else, I'd suggest the simpler stuff, like PopOS, Deepin, or even the classic Ubuntu/Debian. Especially if you just need something that works reliably (at least most of the time) so you can get your job done.

Inb4 "muh bleeding edge": stop being an edgy shitlord, no regular user needs bleeding edge stuff for common workloads.
And if they really do, they can *always* install stuff from source and compile it themselves. That's the whole point of linux.

@endor You're absolutely right about that "bleeding edge" and probably about Arch too. It'd be interesting to hear though, what do you think about Manjaro?

@DeWil manjaro is generally despised among enthusiasts because the packages are quite old and that can cause some problems.

Kde neon is pretty cool though

@fuck2code That's literally the first time I hear about that, I guess I've talked to not so many enthusiasts :D And PopOS is better in that regard?

@fuck2code are they "old" by Arch standards, or are they *actually* old (as in: lagging multiple versions/months behind)?

@DeWil only tried it once and didn't bother keeping it, so idk.

Also, after reading again my message, I hope it's clear that I wasn't referring to you when I said "edgy shitlord", but rather to those who suggest Arch because they think waiting a couple of weeks for a stable release is "unacceptable" 😅

@DeWil pretty sure popos is based on ubuntu lts and they do a pretty good job at keeping all packages working together

@endor they are old enough to cause issues if you want to get a newer package from the aur.

@endor Yeah I know what you meant ^^ No worries!

I'm quite curious right now where this discussion is going

Which one do you prefer:
a) driving a car
b) getting elbows deep into engine oil fixing stuff on your own and making your own customizations
d) owning a bare simple 1986 lada that you can always fix with a duct tape, a thread, some coins and a toothpick. You can drive it, it's reliable enough. But it's neither comfy, nor flashy, nor can you buy mods for it

?

a -- debian family: ubuntu, mint, etc.
b -- arch, gentoo, other always broken and headaching families

d -- fedora [redhat/centos] family, but you'll most likely struggle

@netikras Probably a mix between a and b - A functional, simplistic but customized system - But you can customize Ubuntu a fair amount as well, which seems perfect cause I don't like the UI (and some other things) of Ubuntu at all, which could be easily switched. But I still feel like there are distros giving a better starting point than that, I still love the analogy though!

@DeWil As for DEs -- it's a matter of taste. I personaly *LOVE* LinuxMint w/ Cinnamon. As for lo-end devices -- LMint w/ xfce.

I can't stand anything unreliable. It frustrates me and gets in a way. LMint just works -- I can drive it for days, months, years (if not that damn power outage...) w/o any downtime, any glitches.

As for UI - I like it flashy, tasteful and productive. I find Cinnamon be exactly that. There's plenty I can customize and it makes me as performant as I could possibly be.

Some people prefer a more simplistic design - they go with Mate DE.
Others like to stay away from a mouse and pick i3wm or smth of sorts.

But I like flashy and snappy, and I feel like some mouseclicks in some situations get me there way quicker than keyboard rape using i3 :)

But that's just my opinion.

@netikras A fair bit of your preferences matches mine perfectly! Although I've tried Mint with Cinnamon already, the DE might be my go-to in the future. I'll try KDE next, but Cinnamon is great. Thanks for your input!

@DeWil i'm using antergos with KDE neon right now, and it's pretty dope

Bleeding edge package versions equals instability. There is a robust testing component in the Linux development community, and it shakes all these issues out. It's exceptionally valuable, and using a distro with bleeding edge packages ignores that value. Using the absolute latest version of a package prior to its time in the crucible of testing invites unanticipated compatibility issues and a generally unstable system.

In my opinion, the only people for whom such a distro is intended are distro testers whose job is to document and file bugs.

Take a step back and use a stable distro, and if you absolutely must use some newer-than-new package, then silo it off from the rest of the system.

@bahua Thank you very much!

@jespersh I do think, that Linux covers me. Only thing I'll have to use a VM for is Photoshop, because Wine-support has bugs for that and Gimp is a piece of software I'll never want to use again :D

Also I'll probably can't play Scrap Mechanic because it's Windows-only and not available on Lutris / Proton (Also not working when forced) - Maybe that changes in the future though.

Anything else I do, which is basically coding and online-stuff is great on Linux - so I feel like the distro-choice is 90% preference and not so much software-availability. Apart from that, it's great to hear what kind of experience you guys (and girls) have made with different distros.

I'll probably try PopOS first :D

@bahua I disagree about the instability. I've used two different bleeding-edge distros for quite some time without a single issue, and I simply lack the patience to look for newer versions of some library that even Google has barely heard of and apparently has a different name on every other distro.

I mean sure, when I run my PC without reboot for 2 weeks while running daily updates then Firefox will sometimes act a bit strange, but I'll gladly take that over some of the stuff I've faced with certain "stable" distros.

But yeah, if you don't need current versions of anything fewer updates will on average be on the safer side.

I've been on Mint, Ubuntu, Debian, Manjaro and Arch and I must say that my best "it just works"-experience came with Manjaro. Although I would definitely recommend dual boot for Windows applications or if you have the money I'd point out that macOS is UNIX based and might just work for your "Linux-needs".

@frickerg Apple is way too expensive and I strongly dislike some of their philophies. However, thanks for your comment!

@DeWil I get that and I completely agree on disliking their philosophy. I got my mac from my workplace and I enjoy it a lot... Would probably not buy one as long as they make their devices non-upgradable though.

@DeWil oh and I've forgotten to mention the Budgie WM, closest thing to Windows from what I've seen

I use Manjaro with i3. I do spend a lot of time configuring it to make it better everytime though.

If you spend a lot of time in front of your pc, dislike the mouse and like being productive I'd recommend my setup. No problems whatsoever but it may var with your workflow.

I LOVE being able version dotfiles and just download them when needed. Makes it very simple to use and install on any machine if your'e into that.

I'm sure you can configure distros with normal window managers but that seems more of an hassle to me