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I use EndeavourOS and really enjoy it. It’s effectively Arch but without the fuss. You get a GUI with just a few steps to set it up and you’re good to go. I tend to upgrade once a week, while checking the forums to see nothing too bad broke. That’s basically the maintenance I have.
When I do a new install on a new device, I just clone a repo I keep with the most important config files. Then I copy them to where they belong. There’s really not much more to it.
Tbh you’re probably right if you want something straight forward just stay with Debian. If your feeling adventurous and don’t do any gaming try FreeBSD
The whole separation between APT and snap packages doesn't work well together and is really the big problem I have, as a lot of standard deb packages just refuse to install properly now.
since you are mention deb packages, I would consider these
My go to back in The Day was just Ubuntu because I was lazy.
So we have a bias towards Debian-based distros.
it’s not been playing nice with my Zen 4 desktop when it comes to ACPI power states (no sleep, doesn’t reliably turn the power off when i ask it to turn off, etc).
However, a newer kernel is definitely preferred.
is also something based on a normal distro that most people write guides for because I am a smoothbrain.
And finally, healthy access to documentation.
Based on the above, I would not pick:
Let's get to the actual recommendation, Linux Mint seems to be tailor-made for your use case:
I'm in a similar situation. I've used Kubuntu (Ubuntu + KDE) for more than a decade now, and it has mostly worked beautifully. Over the years, memorable problems were a few issues with GPU drivers, GRUB shenanigans and the occasional amateurish KDE UX fuckup. But in general I found the whole experience much better than what I saw on Windows during the time.
However, for a while now Ubuntu is breaking my #1 rule of software products: Do not annoy your users. Every update they are trying to push (and fix) their useless Snap architecture a bit more, and every updates makes things effectively worse. Examples: displaying annoying popups to tell you that Snap app x needs to be updated and that the app has to be closed for that, but not updating it when closing the app, trying to fix that in the latest version by auto installing the latest snap with a popup and progress bar when closing the app (making me wait to turn off my computer till it's finished - I just finished my work and want to go home please), numerous interoperability issues because snap apps run in some kind of sandbox and don't play nice with regular (Debian and Linux) mechanisms, and so on. It's an absolute shitshow, and I think they have now annoyed me, personally, long enough. I need to find something better.
Ah. I just needed that off my chest. Maybe I should give Mint a try
I'm a Kubuntu enjoyer, but I started with a minimal install. I think that is "de-snapified"?
Could be snapless in a minimal install, but if you need Firefox, Chromium, Thunderbird or a bunch of other useful stuff they all come as a snap package
I just checked. I don't have snap or residuals of it on my Kubuntu image from the initial minimal install. I remember putting on LibreWolf (Firefox flavor) via wget and sudo dpkg -i <librewolfInstallFile>.deb. Also, made install bash scripts for a couple useful other starting apps on my laptop. I haven't used a snap package once since my re-imaging of my SSD for 24.04 LTS, for what it's worth.
they also come as flatpak after you enable that repo
Zorin for sure. Set up like a couple months ago, fiddled with some settings since I'm new to Linux for a couple days and it's been smooth sailing ever since.
If you're used to Debian based distros, Linux Mint. I personally use OpenSuse if you want to check something different.
Any major distro should do it imo. Personally I run Fedora because I tried it out years ago and I'm past the distro hopping phase. It just works™ (most of the time, as every distro).
PopOS is getting traction, and I think it's deserved. I only use it on my gaming rig and never had major problems. Based on Ubuntu if I recall so the majority of Ubuntu tutos should be compatible.
I tried ZorinOS as well. It's paid (10 bucks per major version if I recall), but it's surprisingly stable and well fleshed out. It aims to mimic Windows or MacOS design out of the box, for people that migrate to Linux. They have a free lite version. Based on Ubuntu as well. The only reason it's not my main OS is because Fedora is already installed on my main rig and I'm lazy.
As suggested, Debian is still its old self, and it's a good thing. The stability thing although means that you won't get the latest bells and whistles. On the other end of the spectrum there's Arch but it's far less "set and forget" than the other distros. At least it's longer to set, harder to forget. I would rather go with Manjaro, with which I had a really good experience years ago, never any major struggle. But It still needs a bit of minimal maintaining.
Years ago, when Ubuntu started their Unity and Amazon partnering bullshit, I switched to Linux Mint. I don't know how it is today, but at the time it was the go-to replacement for Ubuntu: all the advantages without any of the inconvenient.
Honestly, just pick one of the major ones, try it in a live environment to be sure the defaults suit you, and you should be good to go for years.
There was another post on here about Manjaro taking about going opt out on some things that to me is a deal breaker. EndeavorOS has been mentioned a decent amount for a more user friendly Arch based distro. I can't personally speak about it, but just a little extra but for others going through here.
The Manjaro maintainers are a bunch of clowns. Constantly letting TLS certificates expire, enabling an indev, broken driver on Macs without asking the asahi devs why it was disabled in the first place... literally clowns
Eh, didn't know that. I can't remember any drama when I was a user, but maybe I just wasn't following the news and didn't fall into any of the userbase that suffered from a mishap. But good to know.
Manjaro might have been my first step into Linux last year, but it was brief and I switched to Arch. It was brief enough that I didn't remember if that's what it was. Glad I made the switch, but a non GUI installation is not for most people.
Edit: Nvm, I used Garuda. I was reminded in another comment. A good stepping stone to experience Arch and KDE.
Or Garuda. Sure, the theme it applies to KDE by default is pretty garish but nothing keeps you from just going to System Settings and seeing a different theme. Other than that it's basically just Arch with a bunch of stuff preinstalled and some convenience scripts.
Yes. I did use Harris for a little bit before switch to Arch. It was a good easy for me to test before jumping all in.
I was worried about that with Arch, and yes the setup takes longer, but other than that for me it's just been "run 'pacman -Syu' every few weeks" and otherwise forget, been running like that for a few years. So I'd still say it's set and forget tbh, just that the set part is a bit more work.
I’ve had Fedora on several computers, and everything worked for quite a while while. Eventually though, things just began to break randomly - probably a sign of me not doing much maintenance.
The most common issue was Gnome Software center failing to update anything. I just ignored that app, and continued to upgrade through the CLI for a while. Eventually, I just got tired of that, and installed Debian on my HTPC.
Now I can finally treat that computer the way I want. Just install, watch videos, update when needed, and ignore the rest. I have another computer for satisfying my tinkering desires, so this one is just for the videos and very light browsing, but not much else. Therefore, Debian is the perfect distro for this kind of use.
I have had lots of issues with the Software Center in the past as well. I just blamed it on Gnome and used the CLI anyway, as I'm more comfortable seeing what exactly happens in case it goes wrong. But it seems it has been fixed now because it's been month (maybe even a year or two, I couldn't say) that I've not had to complain.
(But yeah, to each their own, in the end it's not really important)
Linux Mint and PopOS are usually listed as friendly distros and are derivatives of Ubuntu without Ubuntu controversies like Snap. Mint even has an alternative direct Debian base skipping some Ubuntu packages, so might be ironically closer to old Ubuntu in that flavor.
If you're open to going non-debian, Manjaro is often sold as the more user friendly Arch. (Edit - a recent Manjaro controversy has people recommending EndeavorOS instead for an Arch wrapper. I've not tried that one myself).
Debian or Arch aren't bad to use directly either and are far more newbie friendly than they were a decade ago even if not as out of the box opinionated as their derivatives.
I would say OpenSUSE Leap. I tried many distros on my sister's PC (Mint, PopOS, Manjaro) and all of them got borked at one point by normal updates. The last one I installed was Leap and she still uses it without any problems.
I've been using Fedora Core since 2004 and it seems like it's mostly worry free for me, but then again I remember the olden days when I needed to spend significantly more time on getting stuff to work. I think it helps to use mainstream hardware as well. I've been running thinkpads for years now and I think that probably helps with compatibility. I also tend to run refurbished older hardware because it's cheaper and I don't need bleeding edge performance.
Should I just head to using basic plain jane Debian or something?
Every time I try a new distro I end up back on Debian. It just works.
Same. I can barely even tell what "good" Ubuntu brings to the table other than the task bar icons, which I just add in with am extension.
Set and forget: Arch Linux. There might be much setting involved, but you can forget later.
Don't even set and you can forget: Linux Mint.
I think OP wants something that also minimizes the "set“ part. Arch is for enthusiasts who like to put a lot of effort into creating their own perfect Linux system. I've tried it once and to be perfectly honest I don‘t want to fiddle around with basic settings if there is no need to. I'm pretty busy with other things in my life and want stuff to work out of the box with sane defaults if possible. It's essential that stuff can easily be customized afterwards though.
Arch is very good for people who want to invest time into learning what goes on under the hood. Perfectly valid use case, but probably not for OP.
For this purpose Mint is great. Comes pretty much preset to use and requires almost no maintenance for normal use. It's like Windows used to be in the past.
Fedora, Mint, or Pop. Hell, give BSD a try!
Considering your previous experience with Ubuntu, I would recommend Debian. Just make sure to get the right ISO for what you want.
Since you're complaining about Ubuntu not working with ACPI power states, my next recommendation would be Endeavour to be more up to date and get fixes and stuff sooner. It's pre-configured Arch.
I recommend Arch and KDE. The community to docs are really good. It's a rolling release distro, so always up to date.
I hate being the, "I use Arch" guy, but it's really been a great experience for me with KDE. Minimal issues after a complicated first time setup, but it's absolutely been worth it. For anyone that's pretty decent with computers already, and can understand the documentation, I would recommend trying it out. I just converted a laptop the other day to Arch and used archinstall for the first time. It did pretty well other than a couple of small tweaks that most users would never know about in fstab relating to SSDs and LUKS encryption.
There's a steep learning curve, but it's made me learn a lot about the Linux operating system and a lot about computers in general.
Should I just head to using basic plain jane Debian or something?
👌
All the good stuff from Ubuntu has mostly been upstreamed into Debian. And Debian's rekease cycle is much faster these days than it was back then. So, just run Debian.
I've never really used Linux as a daily driver. Back in the same Ubuntu period as you, intrialled it but got sick of software compatibility problems. So much is cloud web based these days, that it's less of an issue.
What surprised me as a distro hopped looking for my home laptop flavourz was how different it was to install different software, such as docker. Some distros it was a hassle to run well. Some it needed workarounds, whichh surprised me.
So, I'd look at what you plan to run, then decide between opensuse, pop, mint or fedora and how easy they support what you want to do. I dipped back into Ubuntu but they have started to make some m$ style choices where you have to take back control as they try to make your PC act like they want not how you want.
All can be made to support whatever you want but not all do our of the box.
At this point, I am an LMDE shill because it works so well for my non-tech wife. She has only had to use the terminal 3 times since I installed it for her in the summer and most of what she needs for day-to-day desktop computing came pre-installed.
It "just works," even for multi-monitor setups, which I thought it would have trouble with.
I run PopOS on two notebooks (thinkpad, MacBook air) for about a year now and so far everything worked. Printer needed some fiddeling
Pop OS is a good choice
I may sound like an asshole, but before Linux Mint, I would seriously think to go with Debian with KDE. I don't see any downsides, and there are many upsides.
downside that made me move from debian:
dist upgrades broke all the time, because I had software installed from PPAs.
Use Flatpak instead of PPAs if you can. That way they won't cause problems.
There were no flatpaks a decade ago.
That's on you 😅
I've been using ParrotOS as a daily driver and it's been good to me. I don't need much though. Based on privacy and security and for that field of work. They have a pen test version and a home DD version.
pop os or fedora
Which distros aren't set and forget?
I use Arch btw