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[–] 90 points 1 year ago (18 children)

Think of your workstation running Ubuntu Studio as new shoes that need running in.

I've been using Debian Linux as my primary desktop for over 25 years. The amount of downtime I experience is negligible. When I look at the sheer volume of MacOS updates requiring a reboot, or the absurd number of "fixes" pushed by Microsoft, I'm very content.

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  • [–] 38 points 1 year ago (9 children)

    ^ This, Debian just works and gets out of your way. But no one seems to recommend it.

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  • [–] 6 points 1 year ago

    I usually start a desktop on Mint since it's got at least some new drivers and a few more tools with Cinnamon desktop.

    If the hardware is finicky or there's odd devices a distro doesn't handle, I often just try a different distro instead of driver hacking. It's a very big hammer, but I'd rather have things work with the distro configs instead of maintaining it myself.

    Servers? Debian.

    Desktops? Mint (prettier Debian out of the box)

    Otherwise? Use what works with the least effort.

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  • [–] 15 points 1 year ago (5 children)

    Yeah because if you have new hardware you're shit out of luck

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    Misinformation. Debian 13 is brand new. Backports supports new hardware as needed.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago* (2 children)

    You're trying to tell us Debian will always have the latest kernel and packages needed to support new hardware, and there's no disadvantage in this domain by using Debian? (Sid aside)

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  • [–] 0 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    Yeah, kernel gets patches even on stable Debian, plus at most it will be a year or so old

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (1 child)

    Not really a friendly distro for non tech-savy people, so it's complicated to recommend it online to strangers.

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  • [–] 5 points 1 year ago

    I get it that's the impression and maybe i have used it for so long so i might have a blind spot but what makes it complicated? Its got a gui installer, a live cd. Other than the not having cutting edge software what makes it complicated?

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  • [–] 13 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    This.

    In my experience, once you have the potential hardware compatibility issue fixed, it’s smooth sailing and simply a matter of getting used to the different tools on Linux!

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  • [+] [S] 9 points 1 year ago (5 children)
  • [–] 9 points 1 year ago (4 children)

    I hear your frustration and understand what you're concerned about.

    Ask yourself this.

    Is the thing that I've discovered is broken today something that I've fixed before?

    If you use the package manager that comes with your distribution and don't install random software from the Internet, and don't follow unverified procedures written by anyone with a keyboard, then the answer is almost certainly "no".

    I say this with the benefit of knowing what's good practice and what isn't. I can tell you that if you come at this with a "Microsoft Windows" approach, you're likely to spend weeks, if not months in purgatory. It's no different from migrating between MacOS and Windows, or vice-versa. You need to remember that just because Linux looks similar, it's a different beast and is so by design.

    I'd strongly recommend that you start using the machine with ONLY the packages available through the Ubuntu package manager. If you run into strife, you can ask for support. If you go outside that and you break something, you get to keep both parts -- and truth be told -- that's true with any other operating system, just that the lines are not as blurred.

    In Linux world many of the distributions can cross pollenate applications and solutions, but that requires experience that new users don't (yet) have.

    One way to deal with the "jump" is to keep your "old" Windows (or MacOS) machine around while you get comfortable with the lay of the land.

    The thing that most people switching to Linux have forgotten is that this requires experience. You cannot expect to just jump into a new Operating System and take all your old habits with you. Think for example about the differences between iOS and Android, a world of difference.

    So, keep at it. This frustration will pass.

    Make sure you backup your /home directory regularly. That way if you ever blow something up and are left on your own, you can blow away the drive and start again, restore from your /home backup.

    Meanwhile, keep asking questions.

    Good luck.

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  • [+] [S] 3 points 1 year ago (3 children)
  • [–] 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

    Pretty much the same.

    Word of warning. Your /home directory contains your documents, but it also contains configuration files. If the packages you're installing have different versions, you might discover that the config file for a different version doesn't work on the version that's installed. This isn't universally the case, some applications are smart about this, others less so. You can find many of them as "hidden" "dot" files.

    You can find all of them like this: find /home -type f -name '.*'

    Explanation:

    • find - the find command
    • /home - the place to start looking
    • -type f - find files only
    • -name '.*' - find things only starting with a '.'
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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago

    What I do most of the time is have the /home directory on a different partition. If you really do need to reinstall, it is just a matter of selecting the existing home partition when reinstalling it (do not forget to uncheck the "format partition" checkbox 😅).

    Reinstalls or running other distro's is a piece of cake this way.

    My experience with amd / radeon has not been that great over the years. The open source amdgpu driver is basic at best. If you have a modern intel gfx chipset that is way easier...

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