Linux

[Cyan]

They'd have to fork snapd and make their own snapstore.

Ignoring the snapd/store monopolization I do see some advantages to snaps. Their sandbox allows more flexibility for one (unprivileged namespaces as a permission).

Just wish they'd allow plain loopback instead of squashfs for snaps and give up the signing monopoly in snapd.

the many package managers is something I don't fancy about Linux. Sometimes it's snap, other times it's yay, and so on and so forth.

@Florin, btw I switched to regular Ubuntu as I commented. It was nice to press Ctrl + Alt + T to launch the terminal, and use all the familiar commands I knew from the past (sudo apt-get update & apt-get upgrade, etc etc etc).

The interface is also very familiar, and nice/intuitive to look at. There's no accounting for tastes, but I love it.

Pika OS version using Pineapple might be even better though. I really found it gorgeous. Maybe the only downside is that the Close button of the window sometimes overlapped a button there on some apps. Not very important but it happens at times.

Pika OS comes with some good programs for games pre-installed. Thanks to it, it was the first time I ever ran a game like Rocket League on Linux, using the Epic Store via Heroic Games Launcher -what a GREAT app-. Now I can play most of, if not all, the co-op games my 5 y.o. and 7 y.o. nephews play on Windows.

The only issue I had with Pika OS is that I enountered the infinite logging loop, which causes you to be presented with the log in menu of the OS and even if you type your password correctly, the OS while not rejecting you password, goes back to that same screen and now matter how many times you enter the password correctly, it'll never log you in.

When I installed it, it certainly caught my attention that during the installation they didn't ask me to create an user. They asked me that after the OS got installed and it was fully functional. But that approach might createsome kind of odd conflict between your user and who is considered the root user, admid user....

In the end I'm back into Ubuntu and very happy with that. The programs just run fine. Pika OS is Ubuntu based, which is great imho. I liked it more than other distributions because of that and the alternative UIs it offered, while being very Ubuntu oriented.

 

[Cyan]

familiarity aside, another thing I like from Ubuntu is that they aren't haters and aren't elitist regarding Microsoft stuff. They treat MS apps as any other application and they can be easily found. On other distributions, anything MS is really hidden and to add those apps you might need help or search on the internet.

 

[tuna]

familiarity aside, another thing I like from Ubuntu is that they aren't haters and aren't elitist regarding Microsoft stuff. They treat MS apps as any other application and they can be easily found. On other distributions, anything MS is really hidden and to add those apps you might need help or search on the internet.

I don't understand what you mean here. What is the problem of MS' software on other distros?

 

[Cyan]

I don't understand what you mean here. What is the problem of MS' software on other distros?

basically it's not featured anywhere. You can obtain it, but it's hidden. Ubuntu helped MS to get the Linux subsystem to work on Windows flawlessly, and they mention certain software from MS during the installation. Other distros try hard to hide anything MS related, making things like say downloading VS Code or whatever more obscure than it should be.

Some people might dislike Ubuntu because they prefer other kind of UI, something more akin to Cinnamon, KDE (you have Kubuntu for that) but I prefer Unbuntu's Gnome over Windows when it comes to the interface, and unlike other distributions they just feature the more popular software despite who is behind that software. Microsoft is part of the Linux Foundation and gave them quite a bit of money tbh.

 

[tuna]

basically it's not featured anywhere. You can obtain it, but it's hidden. Ubuntu helped MS to get the Linux subsystem to work on Windows flawlessly, and they mention certain software from MS during the installation. Other distros try hard to hide anything MS related, making things like say downloading VS Code or whatever more obscure than it should be.

So you have two points.

1: Canonical helped MS with WSL. I don't see how that has any effect on software running on Linux distros.
2: You make the claim that other distros hide MS software. Do you have any actual example of that?

 

[Cyan]

So you have two points.

1: Canonical helped MS with WSL. I don't see how that has any effect on software running on Linux distros.
2: You make the claim that other distros hide MS software. Do you have any actual example of that?

the first point means they don't mind collaborating with MS. When that happened part of the Linux community was calling them traitors.

Regarding the second point, and on that same mindset, some distributions don't show any MS software in their Apps application. They aren't featured anywhere. More concretely apps I use like Visual Studio Code and Edge browser.

Ubuntu works differently, both those apps are featured in their App Center software.

Regarding examples, 90%+ of the distributions I tried years ago and most of the distributions I tried as of late like Cachy OS, Manjaro, etc, don't feature any MS software in the categories of Development, and Internet. Those are always the first programs I download in a Linux distribution and in most of them I have to find a way via an Internet search.

 

[tuna]

Ubuntu works differently, both those apps are featured in their App Center software.

Regarding examples, 90%+ of the distributions I tried years ago and most of the distributions I tried as of late like Cachy OS, Manjaro, etc, don't feature any MS software in the categories of Development, and Internet. Those are always the first programs I download in a Linux distribution and in most of them I have to find a way via an Internet search.

VS Code is available on Flathub which is set up by default on something like Fedora. Otherwise it is super easy to set up for anything (even on Debian). But yes, most distros does not promote non-FOSS software which VSCode and other is.

 

[Cyan]

VS Code is available on Flathub which is set up by default on something like Fedora. Otherwise it is super easy to set up for anything (even on Debian). But yes, most distros does not promote non-FOSS software which VSCode and other is.

in that sense, Debian -which I installed recently, as a form of purest Linux, save for Slackware Linux- and Pop OS! -when I used it years ago- offers people the choice to connect to a Google, Microsoft account, etc, for email purposes and so on.

Debian, as a base, is one of the best Linux OSes. Linux Mint which puts the user first seems to be gearing towards it. I have Ubuntu (Kubuntu more concretely) on my desktop but I use Linux Mint on my desktop.

Download LMDE 6 - Linux Mint

Linux Mint is an elegant, easy to use, up to date and comfortable desktop operating system.

linuxmint.com

LMDE 6 'Faye'​

What is LMDE?​

LMDE is a Linux Mint project which stands for "Linux Mint Debian Edition".
Its goal is to ensure Linux Mint can continue to deliver the same user experience if Ubuntu was ever to disappear. It allows us to assess how much we depend on Ubuntu and how much work would be involved in such an event. LMDE is also one of our development targets, as such it guarantees the software we develop is compatible outside of Ubuntu.

 

[tuna]

in that sense, Debian -which I installed recently, as a form of purest Linux, save for Slackware Linux- and Pop OS! -when I used it years ago- offers people the choice to connect to a Google, Microsoft account, etc, for email purposes and so on.

Yes, is that not part of the "Gnome initial setup" phase?

 

[Cyan]

Yes, is that not part of the "Gnome initial setup" phase?

dunno what Gnome initial setup is, but in Debian 12 while they use Gnome the interface is totally different compared to Ubuntu. They don't use the vertical task bar place at the left and the main stuff is at the bottom which kinda disappears but when you hover over a square where the active window is, the whole taskbar appears. It's pretty cool. The bar at the top, especially the access to settings and so on, is almost the same, if not the same though.

However while being probably the most stable Linux distribution afaik, if not the most, super safe and secure where patches are really only published when they are super tested, requires quite a bit of tweaking to get it to work like a more "friendly" distribution.

 

[tuna]

Gnome initial setup is what standard Gnome presents to new users the first time they log in. There you can set things like language etc, but also the Gnome Online Accounts which can connect to a lot of services. You can try it out afterwards if you like as well.

 

[Cyan]

Lots of info about the different distributions and a ranking of the most used ones.

DistroWatch.com: Put the fun back into computing. Use Linux, BSD.

News and feature lists of Linux and BSD distributions.

distrowatch.com

To choose the best Linux distribution for your needs and preferences:

Distrochooser

The Distrochooser helps you to find the suitable Linux distribution based on your needs!

distrochooser.de

 

[Davros]

It recommended Knoppix for me
I use linux for running a few stubborn games that dont like the latest version of windows and troubleshooting problems with windows eg: when the microsoft store (aka gamepass) thinks it's perfectly acceptable to deny me access to parts of my own hard drive.

 

[Sega_Model_4]

basically it's not featured anywhere. You can obtain it, but it's hidden. Ubuntu helped MS to get the Linux subsystem to work on Windows flawlessly, and they mention certain software from MS during the installation. Other distros try hard to hide anything MS related, making things like say downloading VS Code or whatever more obscure than it should be.

Some people might dislike Ubuntu because they prefer other kind of UI, something more akin to Cinnamon, KDE (you have Kubuntu for that) but I prefer Unbuntu's Gnome over Windows when it comes to the interface, and unlike other distributions they just feature the more popular software despite who is behind that software. Microsoft is part of the Linux Foundation and gave them quite a bit of money tbh.

Many of the packages for Ubuntu are published by Microsoft itself. In the case of other distros, they cannot redistribute the vscode binaries, so usually in the repositories, you will find vscode compiled from source.

If you don't find software that exists for Linux in a distro's repositories, it's because there is some restriction in the redistribution license.

 

[Cyan]

Many of the packages for Ubuntu are published by Microsoft itself. In the case of other distros, they cannot redistribute the vscode binaries, so usually in the repositories, you will find vscode compiled from source.

If you don't find software that exists for Linux in a distro's repositories, it's because there is some restriction in the redistribution license.

that might explain it. OpenSUSE is also one of those distros where Microsoft software is also featured and you could choose to use OpenSUSE on WSL.

Something I've seen is that some distributions don't like nVidia at all.

On a different note, Deepin 25 is looking really good, like any professional presentation from a huge company like Apple or Microsoft. It's like an advanced form of Windows 11 and it has AI integration from the get go.

deepin - deepin Linux Operating System

Provide a safe, reliable, beautiful and easy-to-use operating system to meet the different usage scenarios of global users and provide a better choose.

www.deepin.org

 

[tuna]

Many of the packages for Ubuntu are published by Microsoft itself. In the case of other distros, they cannot redistribute the vscode binaries, so usually in the repositories, you will find vscode compiled from source.

If you don't find software that exists for Linux in a distro's repositories, it's because there is some restriction in the redistribution license.

So Ubuntu redistributes the .deb packages built by MS*? BTW, it is not possible to build VS Code yourself, the closest you get is VS Codium: https://vscodium.com/

*https://code.visualstudio.com/download

 

[Sega_Model_4]

So Ubuntu redistributes the .deb packages built by MS*? BTW, it is not possible to build VS Code yourself, the closest you get is VS Codium: https://vscodium.com/

*https://code.visualstudio.com/download

No, Ubuntu does not have the deb in the repository, you need to download it from Microsoft's website. What Canonical has is the Snap package, but that is also made by Microsoft.
It is possible to compile VS Code, that's what Arch Linux does. If you read the Code PKGBUILD, you'll see that it clones the official VS Code repository and compiles it.

PKGBUILD · main · Arch Linux / Packaging / Packages / code · GitLab

The Open Source build of Visual Studio Code (vscode) editor packages: code

gitlab.archlinux.org

Even in the VS Code repository, there are instructions on how to create a build.

How to Contribute

Visual Studio Code. Contribute to microsoft/vscode development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

VSCodium is a package built to remove Microsoft telemetry, something you can do as well, but Codium does it for you.

 

[Cyan]

so I've tried Deepin 25 Alpha. It looks gorgeous tbh and I liked the interface very much. Also the fact that it's compatible with almost ALL the Linux repositories out there, which is incredible, it makes installing apps very easy and transparent for the user.

Still, there are things to improve:

- the way they handle the control panel options is very similar to Windows 11, and I don't find that super intuitive. It's not bad but not great either.
- every app you install creates a desktop launch icon, and you end up quickly filling your desktop with LOTS of icons, not good imho.
- the apps aren't divided into categories like in other distributions, but a looooong list of apps.
- if you use the dark UI, some of the tones they use make some text very difficult to read, the dark blue and the dark background of a window makes the text almost unreadable.

Other than that, a very good looking distribution.

 

[Cyan]

ArcoLinux will be no more. His author feels like he's getting old for him to maintain it.

ArcoLinux Project Winds Down

ArcoLinux announces its closure, transitioning users to Arch + Chaotic-AUR while keeping tools, code, and tutorials online for the future.

linuxiac.com

This decision wasn’t made lightly. But as I approach 60, I’ve found myself with less energy, less focus, and making small mistakes that remind me I’m no longer at my peak. I want to leave ArcoLinux while it’s still strong, and while I can look back with pride at everything we’ve accomplished together.

 

[Cyan]

after all my experiences with different distributions, the most stable and easier to use are: Ubuntu, Linux Mint, Manjaro, and Zorin OS, imho, in no particular order. I love OpenSUSE but it's for more advanced users.

Also once you tried a few you understand why Linux isn't for everyone. For my needs it's more than enough, and for most people it works just fine, except if you need certain software and need to use the terminal.

I am done with distro hoping, which I do just to learn and experiment a bit, and now I just installed the most recent version of the Linux kernel, and I'm going to use Linux for years to come, and that's it.