[Linux Tutorials] Choosing a desktop linux distribution

[faddat]

Face it, we're talking about your "main OS". Everyone knows dual-booting sucks anyway.

Therefore

This article is, by necessity, deathly serious.

The Contenders

• Ubuntu - Debian's more enterprise-friendly and rapid-deploy centered younger sibling.
• Arch - A fully rolling linux distribution replete with peril.
• Debian - The prototypical linux distribution.

The unfairly shunned:

• Fedora (I don't know a fedora from a funny hat, so I've not bothered to attempt to divine its secrets here.)

The Strong points:

Each of these distros has its own strong and weak points, here are each platform's strong points:

Ubuntu

• Slick Installer and quick setup of an attractive (depending on your tastes, that is...) desktop environment
• Openstack Support & Landscape deployment system
• LXC support alongside docker support
• Ubuntu for phones exists, supposedly

Arch

• Package updates are immediate
• docker, lxc both work, though because Archians do not trust user namespaces, that doesn't work fully by default
• Fully rolling distro means that packages are continually updated
• Requirement that everything be started manually results in a very precisely set up distribution environment
• AUR

Debian

• Largest distro
• High package availability
• One of the oldest distros
• provides a desktop in several window systems

The weak points

Ubuntu

• Do you wanna try our special canonical sauce? It's delicious!
• Everything canonical

Arch

• Software availablity is limited
• The Arch way seems to prohibit many sensible steps that could improve both Arch's packaging and the linux packaging situation in general.

Debian

• Oh, you want support, eh? E-mail [email protected] ; a mailing list for those living in dungeons of C
• Lengthy waits between releases

Comments

[hunterisgreat]

GENTOO... GENTOO LINUX WTH?!?

[doesntmatter]

SuSe FTW!!!
or if you have to opensuse !!!

[hunterisgreat]

Gentoo Linux

Strong Points:

Supports.... anything.
Superior package management
Security.
Full and unadulterated absolute power
Master Gentoo and you've mastered Linux.

Cons

Compile time.
Not for dummies

[naquoya]

I'm new to Linux but have been looking into it of late. Was looking at Ubuntu, based on my own "limited" research, but would love to read about what you have to say about the different Linux's.

[runthis]

lol @debian weakness section

[herzmeister]

Arch User here. What's wrong with the packaging system! It's the best! Pacman ftw! It's intuitive (pacman -S for just sync instead of a sudo apt-get [install|update|whatever] makes so much sense if you think about it)! It's lightweight! And stable! Because pacman has no dependencies it cannot break packages it depends on which happened to many times to me on *buntu (requiring complete system reinstall).

Granted, I'm currently looking into Nix and NixOs, which is the next generation of packaging and how it should look nowadays.

[faddat]

Pacman is better than the others for sure. It's just not yet where it should be (something like nix).

But furthermore there is a lot of software packaged as .deb binaries that cannot be used with arch.

[rampant]

Buy a mac.
I'm testing the new windows 10 ubuntu subsystem. We'll see how that goes.

[faddat]

I tried this once.

I missed having the same interfaces on my local as I did remote. This is the problem with the OSx everywhere concept: OSx isn't everywhere it is a luxury computer company, not the global standard for anything.