I use xmonad/polybar/rofi/alacritty/fish with Home Manager and flakes. You could just use my whole config and have it up and running in a day, deleting lines and adding others. Fork it and modify it to meet your preferences (as I did when I forked this amazingly slick config). I even made a custom typeface to add my favorite crypto logos to my Polybar.
Also running NixOS on my laptop. It took longer to configure than most distros since I had to learn more, but now that I understand the ecosystem better I feel like I can tinker with it so much faster that I’d be able to otherwise.
Definitely a distro for more developer types who are fine figuring stuff out in their own, but if it works for you then it really works for you.
YESS!!! I just switched from vanillaOS to Nix and its been a learning curve but if you screw up you just go back a generation and rebuild. And I haven’t had any package manager BS like ubuntu.
Just like the holy grail, a stable and up-to-date distro doesn’t exist. Stability and recency of software typically constitute a tradeoff. Human software developers produce some number of bugs per line of code. Unless all changes made to a piece of software are bug fixes, new changes mean new bugs, almost invariably. Therefore the only way to stop the increase of bugs in a piece of software is to stop the changes to it or only do changes that address bugs. In the context of distros, a stable one is a distro where the number of bugs stays constant or decreases over time. This is how Debian, Ubuntu and every other distro that locks its software versions for a certain release work. After a release is out, only bug fix changes are permitted, with some special exceptions. The idea that there are multiple types of stability is a bit of a false narrative. Adding features, adds lines of code, which increases the number of defects. This is a fundamental fact of software engineering that’s actively managed during the development cycle of most software. A collection of software like a rolling Linux distro that receives a constant stream of new features may feel bug-free to specific users, however that is typically a coincidence. Just because those X number of people didn’t hit any significant defects during their usage, doesn’t mean that you won’t. This is true for every distro, however stable distros generally have an ever-decreasing number of bugs over their lifespan. In addition, bugs that are never fixed can be documented, workarounded and the workarounds will keep working for the lifespan of the release because there are no changes.
With all of that out of the way I hope it’s clearer why there’s a tradeoff between stability and recency of software in distros. There are various strategies to have a bit of both and they typically revolve around letting the bits you want be recent, while keeping everything else stable. These days the easiest and most foolproof way to get new software is via Flatpak or Snap.
You could of course abandon stability and go for recency via some rolling release distro and see if you step on any significant bugs. Maybe you won’t and you’ll be happy with that. Many people are.
As a personal and professional Linux user that lives with and maintains a significant number of machines, I typically go for a stable base like Debian or Ubuntu LTS and update only the software I need via Flatpak, Snap and Docker. I no longer use PPAs. This provides a great balance between stability and recency. But that’s just me.
@j4k3 These days I always recommend @tuxedocomputers for linux centric laptops. They have a wide and customizable range and are all built with fully linux compatible hardware. The service/support they provide is also top-notch.
No doubt. I looked into them, star labs, and system76, none of them offer a 12GB or larger option for the same $1500-$2500 price point found in other laptops. I really need a 16GBV-24GBV option. For the actual processor the only thing I do that is demanding is CAD which is single threaded. I don’t need a top model monster. I don’t even need a battery, low power, or some stupid high refresh rate screen. I need something like a HP Dev One in a basic 17.3" setup with a 24GB video card for less than $2500.
@j4k3 A heafty video card on a laptop is a really tall order. Hopefully they become a little easier to find soon, I would really like to be able to do more blender CAD on the road.
Usually linux-centric laptops cost more for inferior hardware. You’re usually better off just buying a Windows computer and installing Linux on it if you want the best performance for the price.
Mint is up to date but less buggy than Ubuntu, and it has served me well for years without problems. The UI is very conventional so I don’t spend time thinking about where stuff is. It supports multiple packaging systems now, so it’s easy to find and install software. You don’t have to go to anywhere as dodgy as the Arch User Repository to find what you need. I like Mint because it’s boring and it works and I can just get on with stuff.
Void Linux. A great compromise between being up to date and being stable AF. They’re not bleeding edge, but cutting edge, most definitely. For example, they only recently transfered to kernel 6.3, while Arch had it months ago… with instability issues I might add. Void maintainers would rather let these wrinckles get ironed out than implement the latest and greatest.
It is a rolling release distro, so nothing new there. Packages get regular updates, same as any other rolling release distro, except for the kernel packages which are carefully examined before being submitted in the repo. The number of precompiled packages is not huge, but the src templates are (you just have to compile them from source with xbps-src, which is a piece of cake when you already have the template file).
The good thing is that all package templates get checked for buildability (test) on GH. If the template passes all tests, it makes it in the repo, if not, it doesn’t, simple as that.
If you think you would be comfortable with Arch, you’d be comfortable with Void as well 😉.
Besides those builders that run the checks made by the developers of the apps (is simple running a make check or whatever the build system the package uses, void Linux does have some problems mostly because of the small team.
One of the biggest one is basically being stuck in 1.X series of musl forever until someone steps up and creates a solution that doesn’t require to rebuild all packages because of an ABI breaking change in armv6l systems at 2.X musl series .
I’ve used Manjaro for a while and my system broke twice in that time just by updating my system (And with “broke” I mean it didn’t boot anymore). Then I switched to EndeavourOS and I haven’t had that issue once. Been using that for over 2 years now.
29 years here, get my first computer in 2011 after using it sometimes in my sister’s house. Never used ctrl+backspace in my life and did not know it existed. Edit maybe you can try something like that? addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/…/shortkeys/
Jesus bellydancing Christ people, read beyond the title of the post for once. This is good.
This will enable results that aren’t biased by the few users who find the option to opt-in (when it’s not presented front and center) or actively answer to surveys.
They are taking as much care as possible with their words to make it clear that THEY DO NOT WANT TO TRACK YOU OR ABUSE YOUR DATA, it’s just what’s necessary for studies to better understand the users’ needs.
You will have the chance to disable it front and center during the setup process;
No data will be sent before an active confirmation from the user during the setup process;
You will be able to fetch the data at any point to check what’s being collected
They are reaching out to the community for guidance on what type of data we find acceptable or not
You can have an active participation on the building of this tool
And specially this, for the OH GOD, ITS THE END OF THE LINOX DESKTOP among you:
IT’S A PROPOSAL, IT’S NOT BEING ACTIVELY DEVELOPED YET!
Not only there’s no reason to overreact, this could be the start of something beautiful for the Linux desktop, where the users not only actively participate but actively control their data
Right? People are reading this as BIG CORPO DOES BAD DECISION and ignore the fact that they can (and should) go to the forum to actively discuss the proposal with the people proposing it.
dude, i could not have been more simplistic with the title, and added both the threads for the post. yes, people are gonna get mad, that’s what a general thread on the internet is. if you want actual dev discussions, go to the linked threads. if i tried to be more like, “guys don’t harass the devs, they’re definitely not in the wrong here”, you know what that would’ve led to, and i just tried to avoid that. there are plenty of projects that don’t need or use telemetry for development, including linux (i think, i’m pretty sure). it’s great that they’re being honest and open about it, but this coming just after red hat issue is what prompted me to start these threads. so yeah, sorry if this is frustrating for you, but this thread is not a ragebait, and i apologize if this does seem like one…
i thought the whole idea was to be the only one who is using your computer. it doesnt matter if they are taking data that cant be used to identify you personally, the road to hell is made with good intentions. and also, i agree that by using telemetry, great insights can help the devs develop a better Linux desktop, but linux is more about the freedom to be let alone if you want to be left alone.
easy for who? why not use it in the sense of ‘easily turned on.’ and then make it as easy as possible for people to turn it on because it is in the devs and sponsors’ best interest, but making an easy-to-turn-off telemetry is a conflict of interest for them.
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