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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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Best Distro for Laptops? (self.linux)

submitted 2 years ago by Jean_Lurk_Picard to c/[email protected]

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I want to know your opinions on the best distro that is convenient for laptops. Main reason is I want to really optimize hardware performance and more specifically battery life for my University classes. I also want to try a tiling manager as they seem perfect for laptops.

Things of note:

Convenience/Performance is key
My laptop is a Thinkpad E15 w/ 16 gb ram
On my home desktop I run Archlinux w/ Open box & no DE (I've been using Arch for years but haven't used another distro since Ubuntu in highschool)
I will likely dual boot with Windows 10 for Office
I want to run a tiling manager
I don't video game
I wont be using a mouse
I don't necessarily want to use Arch, want to try something new that I don't have to rely on AUR updates for certain software

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago (1 children)

In terms of optimization, Gentoo is the best you're gonna get, but the word "convenience" makes me hesitant to recommend it to you.

Arch is minimal, and has many resources/guides on battery optimization (Especially for ThinkPads), but if you'd like to learn something else, Void is the way to go.

If you're looking for a tiling WM, I can wholeheartedly recommend bspwm. Lots of control and customization, but pretty easy to configure when you understand it. Just know, it might be a hard change going from stacking to tiling.

[–] Jean_Lurk_Picard 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Hmm I'll check out the battery optimization guides. I understand Gentoo is probably the best for overall optimization but I'm not advanced enough to use it.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

If you can set up and maintain an Arch installation, you can probably figure out Gentoo. It wasn't too bad when I did it. It's just not very convenient. in order to properly optimize, you have to set your use flags for each package. Not only that, but packages are compiled from source, rather than installed as pre-compiled binaries. So basically, you have to configure each package and updates take much longer.