Linux Users - What is your favorite distribution and why?

[Arjun]

Let's face it

Mac OS SUCKS
Windows 11 SUCKS

Privacy-centered users favor Linux. but all 3 OS platforms still have some vulnerabilities to an extent. but Linux is superior in every form and way with very little to no bloat

What Linux distro do you recommend?

 

[bp2008]

Linux is superior in every form and way

That is simply untrue.



Mac OS has the benefit of being exceptionally well paired to and optimized for the hardware it ships on.

Windows has the benefit of having drastically better support from most software vendors, compared to other desktop OS. Not to mention what must be trillions of years of cumulative user experience lending it inertia (that is kind of crazy to think about).

I like Mint Cinnamon Edition okay. But most distributions are basically interchangeable, especially if they are based on Debian which is often the case. But Linux desktops are still most appropriate for those who like to tinker under the hood. And if you're comfortable doing that, you can just as easily tinker under Windows's hood to remove a lot of its bloat and spyware.

 

[Arjun]

That is simply untrue.



Mac OS has the benefit of being exceptionally well paired to and optimized for the hardware it ships on.

Windows has the benefit of having drastically better support from most software vendors, compared to other desktop OS. Not to mention what must be trillions of years of cumulative user experience lending it inertia (that is kind of crazy to think about).

I like Mint Cinnamon Edition okay. But most distributions are basically interchangeable, especially if they are based on Debian which is often the case. But Linux desktops are still most appropriate for those who like to tinker under the hood. And if you're comfortable doing that, you can just as easily tinker under Windows's hood to remove a lot of its bloat and spyware.

I need an OS that I don’t have to think twice about using. Over the past years both Mac and Windows have mutated into lost identities

Even employees at Microsoft agree

 

[The Automation Guy]

I've never been able to use Linux long enough to break me away from Windows. I agree that Windows sucks, but it's what I know. The various Linux desktop GUIs that I tried always felt outdated (hello 1990's graphics) and incomplete (they still rely on CLI commands too much). I also tended to hated Libre Office (often installed by default in Linux), but have started using Only Office for Windows and like it a lot and it's available on Linux too. I've also become a lot more familiar with Linux CLI since I've redone my entire network setup - including using hypervisors (Proxmox) to host various OS and services that I previously ran on bare metal.

Honestly I should try it on my office computer. It's currently a Windows VM running in Proxmox, so it would be super easy for me to spin up and try a couple of Linux distributions to see if I like them any better now.

 

[bp2008]

You know it is funny. I'm a professional software developer who is pretty deeply entrenched in Microsoft technologies (.NET, SQL Server, Windows Server, etc) and it feels like they (Microsoft) has been going out of their way to make it easier for us to move our server stuff onto Linux and thereby reduce licensing fees (paid to Microsoft!). They even created a free cross-platform development environment (Visual Studio Code) with many of the same capabilities as their normal paid environment (Visual Studio).

Makes me wonder if Microsoft decided to strategically shift their focus away from Windows, or if they just hired too many Linux-loving Windows-haters into decision-making positions.

 

[VorlonFrog]

I personally prefer Debian Linux, because it's rock-solid reliable. Whether you setup a web server, or want a GUI desktop, it can do it. I'll admit, any complex networking jobs will typically require editing text files. If you want a more consumer-oriented GUI Linux, try Ubuntu. It's Debian with lots of window dressings. FWIW, I still use a Windows laptop.

 

[Arjun]

 

[Arjun]

 

[mat200]

You know it is funny. I'm a professional software developer who is pretty deeply entrenched in Microsoft technologies (.NET, SQL Server, Windows Server, etc) and it feels like they (Microsoft) has been going out of their way to make it easier for us to move our server stuff onto Linux and thereby reduce licensing fees (paid to Microsoft!). They even created a free cross-platform development environment (Visual Studio Code) with many of the same capabilities as their normal paid environment (Visual Studio).

Makes me wonder if Microsoft decided to strategically shift their focus away from Windows, or if they just hired too many Linux-loving Windows-haters into decision-making positions.

and power shell has really made Windows admin so much better .. I am actually very happy to see Microsoft do a great job on the developers and making MS more unix / linux friendly

I personally prefer Debian Linux, because it's rock-solid reliable. Whether you setup a web server, or want a GUI desktop, it can do it. I'll admit, any complex networking jobs will typically require editing text files. If you want a more consumer-oriented GUI Linux, try Ubuntu. It's Debian with lots of window dressings. FWIW, I still use a Windows laptop.

2nd on Ubuntu for many new folks ..


My older PCs which are running Windows 10 ( which I am happy with ) .. looks like soon I have to change them to Ubuntu or another Linux, sort of stinks because I actually like Windows 10 ( one of the better MS OSes )

Windows 11 has gotten to be a real pita .. how hard do they want to make it for me to make a local user account, fricken A, each time I get a major software patch it asks me again for a microsoft cloud account. NO I do not want that.

MAC OS .. there are aspects of it that I like, yet .. man what a pita the hardware now is. Wanted to change out the failed HDD on a mac-mini to an SSD .. and now no way to upgrade RAM. Really stinks.
Oh, and if you have an older system and the certs expired .. what a pita to update the software.

With the crazy prices now for RAM and GPUs, my guess is many people will attempt to keep older hardware running longer, .. too bad MS forcing folks away from older windows 10 PCs right now.

 

[tigerwillow1]

I've been using Mint Cinnamon for a few years on a couple of laptops and have no regrets. At the time I chose it, it was the most windows-like distribution, which may or may not be true any more. I can also boot win10 on the laptops and rarely do. A rule I have is to never boot win10 with the network connected because it always starts loading a bunch of junk I don't want. Linux being able to access the windows file system seamlessly is a huge feature. I run smartPSS Lite under linux/wine, as well as a number of other windows programs, but there's of course no assurance that one that's important to you will run. I've not tried BI itself, but the browser-based UI3 naturally works. Under the hood, I don't think macOS is much if any better than linux. Its command line interface is every bit as ugly, with MacOS being Apple's private version of unix. The big difference is that you don't have to use the macOS CLI (aka Terminal) nearly as often as with linux, possibly never for some users. If you're not a linux/unix nerd, many of the CLI operations are horribly cryptic with a big confrontation factor. Program installation on linux can be a huge pain in the butt, but it is trending better with more and more programs supplying installation utilities. What I've found with things that need to use the CLI, is that somebody has already figured it out and has posted the cryptic illogical commands that can be copied and pasted. The drawback becomes the amount of time it takes to find the solution, and in some cases the best of multiple solutions that have been posted.

 

[tigerwillow1]

how hard do they want to make it for me to make a local user account,

Somewhat off topic but related in the big picture. I received a gift of a bird feeder with a built in camera. To use the camera I have to load a chinese app on the cell phone, then create an account with a chinese company, and give them my wifi password for the camera to connect. No thanks!!!

The big picture is that it seems like the most important part of the Internet now is to track every detail of everybody's life, and get hold of all their information. Besides wanting to force you into an account, win11 wants you to put your data on their servers. They're wanting you to use apps running on their servers. They're moving more and more to the old mainframe timeshare model where all the user had was a dumb terminal, and all programs and data were on the mainframe.

 

[Underhill]

I like mint more than Ubuntu, the only reason my laptops are dual boot used to be because of the home theater side of my business; harmony remotes. Long since obsolete with modern hdmi cec. The only remaining reason is config tool and anydesk so I can call dahua and just have them remote in to fix or at least realize they have a problem that will hopefully much later be fixed with a firmware update. Because we are the unpaid beta testers now. In the old days tech companies had R and D departments