"Must Try" distros and DEs?

Hey folks! I’m getting a fresh laptop for the first time in about a decade (Framework 16) in a couple of months and am looking forward to doing some low-level tinkering both on the OS and hardware. I’m planning to convert into a “cyberdeck” with quick-release hinges for the screen since I usually use an HMD, built-in breadboard, and other hardware hacking fun.

On the OS, I’m planning to try NixOS as a baremetal hypervisor (KVM/QEMU) and run my “primary” OSes in VMs with hardware passthrough. If perf is horrible, I’ll probably switch back to baremetal after a bit. But, I’m not likely going to be gaming on it so, I’m not likely to have much issue.

Once the hypervisor is working in a manner that I like, I should have an easy time backing up, rolling back, swapping out my “desktop” OS. I’ve been using Linux as my pretty much my only OS for over a decade (I use MacOS as a glorified SSH client for work). Most of my time has been on distros in the Debian or RHEL families (*buntu, Linux Mint, Crunchbang, CentOS, etc) and I pretty much live in the terminal these days.

With all of this said, I am coming to you folks for help. I would like you folks to share distros, desktop environments, window managers that you think I should give a try, or would like to inflict on me and what makes them noteworthy.

I can’t guarantee that I’ll get through suggestions, as my ADHD has been playing up lately, but I’ll give it an attempt. Seriously. If you want me to try Hannah Montana Linux, I’ll do it and report back on the experience.

EDIT: Thank you all for your fantastic suggestions. I’m going to start compiling them into a list this weekend.

Pacmanlives,

Not quite your setup but I run Debian stable KDE with KVM.

I am also using distrobox to run applications in containers. It’s nice having arch/ubuntu/fedora/gentoo software running in a container and the application gets exposed to you stable environment. Another option is Bedrock Linux to look at

nickwitha_k,

That’s absolutely my thought. Having a rock solid system close to the metal that doesn’t really get touched is something that I’ve become used to from work. It gives a lot more insurance against having to do as many re-installs and maximizes compatibility.

wolfie,

Some great newer tech distros would be Fedora Silverblue, or if you like Debian, there is VanillaOS. They are immutable distros, and they introduce a new way of using Linux. I like to pair it with distrobox, which lets you use regular Linux applications in a container.

Divine_Confetti,
@Divine_Confetti@sh.itjust.works avatar

One neat little distro is bedrock linux. Its pretty sweet being able to grab packages from the aur on something like Debian.

moreeni,

We just had a post about Distrobox earlier today. It gives you the same funstionality on any distro.

sighofannoyance, (edited )
@sighofannoyance@lemmy.world avatar

|Original | free version to try|

|Debian|PureOS|

|Ubuntu|Trisquel|

| | Guix |

callyral, (edited )
@callyral@pawb.social avatar

i don’t think lemmy markdown supports tables, though it should

edit: lemmy uses commonmark which doesn’t appear to support tables

moreeni,

It doesn’t but it is not the proper syntax in the parent comment.

bulwark,

While I don’t have much experience using nixos as a hypervisor I do have a few years experience using Proxmox on top of Debian. Managing multiple VMs and backups are very straightforward with Proxmox. As for your daily driver VM, the skies the limit, well mostly your HDD space is the limit. I’ve realized that after trying a ton of different distros the only real difference is the package manager and the preinstalled software.

nickwitha_k,

I love Proxmox, especially with CEPH as backing storage for VMs. I’ve never thought about it as a local hypervisor. Might be worth a try, if I don’t like NixOS.

TCB13,
@TCB13@lemmy.world avatar

Proxmox is questionable nowadays, you should try LXD/Incus instead. Read more here: lemmy.world/comment/6507871

nickwitha_k,

I have meant to try out LXD for a while but it has dropped of my interest due to Canonical’s shenanigans. Incus being a community fork gives me more comfort in trying it. I wasn’t aware of Proxmox using hackery to make use of an ancient kernel, as seems the claim in that thread. If this is the case, I will indeed be migrating away.

TCB13,
@TCB13@lemmy.world avatar

Yeah I get your thing with LXD and Canonical. I’ve been moving a ton of clusters to Incus because of the obvious reasons and I’m happy with it, obviously the fact that the original people who made LXD on Canonical are now working on Incus is a big plus.

Regarding the Proxmox kernel you can read this: pve.proxmox.com/wiki/Proxmox_VE_Kernel but frankly if you search the web for “proxmox kernel bug” what you’ll find are tons of different issues on almost every version. Another thing that I really hate about Proxmox is the startup, the amount of daemons and scripts they run to make the thing work.

HumanPerson,

Opensuse tumbleweed, kde

Presi300,
@Presi300@lemmy.world avatar

I’d say try anything (except debian) with hyprland, it’s the dream of anyone who wants to customize their desktop experience.

As for non-standard distros, try Alpine, Void or if you have a lot of time, Gentoo.

As for distros I’d actually recommend, try fedora or any of it’s spins

nickwitha_k,

What’s your favorite distro for running Hyprland?

k4j8,

I run Hyprland on Arch. It seems most of the people who run window managers instead of full fledged desktop environments prefer the minimalism of Arch.

Presi300,
@Presi300@lemmy.world avatar

Probably arch or arco, but I think credits has a hyprland spin now

EponymousBosh,
@EponymousBosh@beehaw.org avatar

Garuda might be worth a try. I used it for a couple months and really enjoyed it, I only stopped because Nvidia drivers kept breaking.

nickwitha_k,

I’m going to be on an AMD CPU and didn’t opt for the discrete GPU at this time, nor will I be purchasing an Nvidia device until they start being consistently FOSS-friendly.

EponymousBosh,
@EponymousBosh@beehaw.org avatar

Yeah, I unfortunately didn’t know about the “Nvidia hates Linux” thing when I bought this laptop. I guess I know better for next time.

nickwitha_k,

Oof. Yeah. Years ago, it was the other way around.

kwedd,

gobolinux.org

Dehydrated,

I recommend you try Gentoo and DWM. You don’t have to use this setup forever, but at least try setting it up. Installing Gentoo, patching DWM and st, etc. is fun and it’s an interesting experience. If you want to use Wayland, check out dwl and the foot terminal emulator. Perhaps you’re actually gonna like Gentoo and stick with it, I think it’s a great distro. They also provide binaries for larger programs, so you don’t have to compile stuff like Firefox. But definitely try out custom kernels.

atomkarinca,

if you’re looking for an original distro, you should try void. it’s super lightweight. i used to keep away from gentoo because it was a source only distro, i would otherwise go fulltime on it, but now that it also has binary compatibility you should check that out, too.

as for wm, i love wayfire as a floating wm, and sway as a tiling wm.

QaspR,

LeftWM. I’ve been using it for about a year now and I have no complaints vIt doesn’t hold your hand as much as other WMs, but it is extremely powerful if you’re willing to do some manual setup.

BurntKrispe,

Fedora rawhide’s an interesting bleeding edge experience. I’d recommend installing fedora minimal and setting up your system from there. The rpm system’s rather robust when it comes to installing the correct dependencies when done correctly so I personally haven’t had any issues with version conflicts.

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