this post was submitted on 24 Oct 2023
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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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Yet another "recommend me a distro" post (lemmy.world)
submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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Hey ~~fellas~~ friends. Sorry to create yet another post on this topic (maybe we should have a sticky for this?).

About 2 weeks ago I decided it was time to move on from Windows and installed Manjaro. I would consider myself a newbie-intermediate level linux user.

Though I've used Windows most my life, we use Linux servers (no GUI) at work, managing them is part of job description. I also own a late 2011 Macbook Pro with vanilla Arch Linux. I barely ever use it but boy, Arch really brought it back to life!

I've been reasonably happy with Manjaro so far, feels easy and intuitive to use but the community has made me aware that Manjaro is maybe a questionable choice. Since I don´t plan on distro-hopping a lot I want to get it right sooner rather than later.

Here's what I'm looking for:

  • Rolling distribution, preferably. Though this machine is also used for work, our environment depends mostly on remote servers anyway. I'd rather have a distribution that provides the most recent packages for whatever I want
  • I don´t mind running a distribution that forces me learn new things or do things in a different way, I kinda embrace it. I just don´t enjoy complexity for complexity's sake.
  • KDE is my preferred Desktop Environment so far, though I guess that's not very relevant. I'd love to run Hyprland, but you know.. Nvidia :(
  • I play games on Steam but from my understanding this doesn´t matter either. Everything I tried worked great, I don´t think I want a ¨gaming focused" distro or anything like that
  • No Ubuntu, please.

My hardware, in case you feel is relevant!

OS: Manjaro Linux x86_64 
Kernel: 6.5.5-1-MANJARO 
Shell: bash 5.1.16 
Resolution: 2560x1440, 2560x1440 
WM: KWin 
Terminal: konsole 
Terminal Font: MesloLGS NF 10 
CPU: 12th Gen Intel i7-12700K (20) @ 4.900GHz 
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Lite Hash Rate 
Memory: 23313MiB / 64087MiB
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[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

There's nothing wrong with Manjaro. If you say that you're "reasonably happy with Manjaro so far, feels easy and intuitive" and you're not into distro-hopping then I see no reason for you to switch.

If you've already installed Arch on another machine you probably know these things already, but here's the basics for using an Arch-based distro (any Arch-based distro, this applies to all of them):

  • You gotta keep rolling. You don't have to upgrade every day, you don't have to upgrade every week, but once every few months you should. That's the whole point of a rolling distro, if you don't want rolling you can look into point-release distros.
  • It's best to use pacman -Syu on command line to do upgrades.
  • Don't install critical stuff from AUR. Don't install AUR graphical drivers, or AUR kernels, or replace system packages with AUR packages.
  • Don't install experimental kernels and especially don't uninstall all other kernels and only keep the experimental ones, that's just asking for trouble. Stick to stable/longterm kernels and always keep two versions around, just in case.

Specifically for Manjaro there's similar advice:

  • Stick to the stable releases, don't mess around with testing or unstable unless you really know what you're doing.
  • If you want to know what's coming in updates you can check out the announcements page. That's also where you can find tips for fixing various package upstream annoyances – in every release post, under "known fixes and workarounds" (which happen occasionally, it's the price you pay when using a rolling distro and staying on the bleeding edge).
[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

There's nothing wrong with Manjaro

That's not quite right.