• Digit@lemmy.wtfEnglish
        8·
        10 days ago

        There are a few gaps. Seems it’s not being as diligently updated as once was.

        There are even some old distros I failed to find on it.

        … Didn’t there used to be a text-searchable svg version of it?

        • tyler@programming.dev
          2·
          10 days ago

          Idk. I was making a joke though. A history of Linux chart is functionally useless for actually choosing a distro.

          • Digit@lemmy.wtfEnglish
            3·
            9 days ago

            A history of Linux chart is functionally useless for actually choosing a distro.

            I’ve used that many times to help me go distro surfing. Very handy for discovery.

            • tyler@programming.dev
              1·
              9 days ago

              For a new person it’s useless. For anyone distro surfing why wouldn’t you just use distro Watch?

              • Digit@lemmy.wtfEnglish
                1·
                9 days ago

                For a new person it’s useless. For anyone distro surfing why wouldn’t you just use distro Watch?

                I disagree. Not useless. Shows the lineage of distros. Facilitates broader awareness. Handy education. Very well accompanies the likes of distrowatch, at a long glance showing the forest past being lost in the trees and slowly trying to work it out. Expedites the new (or soon to be) user to better know their way around, and perhaps help them go towards whichever branch they prefer or away from any they garner a dislike for, saving time. See past the whataboutism false-dichotomy? Why not both?

                • tyler@programming.dev
                  1·
                  9 days ago

                  Huh? A new user is going to have trouble understanding the base difference between gnome and kde. Flooding them with information about the history of all these operating systems will do nothing except to scare them off even more.

      • tal@lemmy.todayEnglish
        1·
        10 days ago

        If you know how to edit a comma-separated-value text file and how to submit a PR on GitHub, you could make the image larger.

        • tyler@programming.dev
          1·
          10 days ago

          I just have to assume you’re a troll at this point. That graphic is not helpful at all to anyone except those that care about the history of Linux. For everyone else it’s useless. I was making a joke about how one of the distros I use isn’t on there. I don’t know the history of my distro and honestly do not care. Any noob also would not care.

  • Snapz@lemmy.world
    92·
    10 days ago

    OP is posting AI slop and plagiarizing other people’s work. Lead image seems a cyanide and happiness cartoon, but it’s a blatent ripoff, and they watermarked it with their own username to boot. And no communication out transparency around any of that as well

  • Jo Miran@lemmy.ml
    56·
    10 days ago

    There are four main flavors

    • Debian - For every day
    • Red Hat - For work
    • Arch - To tinker and learn
    • OpenSuSe - To German
      • Digit@lemmy.wtfEnglish
        2·
        10 days ago

        habe noch keine German influence gesehen

        haven’t seen any German influence yet.

        Got it.

      • Jo Miran@lemmy.ml
        29·
        10 days ago

        The popular Debian based distros are up to date. That said, core Debian stable is indeed boring, but sometimes boring and stable is what you need.

        • ZombieCyborgFromOuterSpace@piefed.caEnglish
          7·
          10 days ago

          I use Kubuntu LTS for that exact reason. Even though I am an experienced Linux user for over 20 years, I don’t have time to fuck around fixing my PC when something goes wrong. It’s stable and it works. And, yes I game on my PC and it’s doing just fine with my 3070 RTX NVidia card with the drivers provided by Ubuntu through their 3rd party driver system. No hassle, no crashing, just me using my computer doing the things I need to do.

        • parzival@lemmy.org
          4·
          10 days ago

          Its not even stable though😭 I spent 6 hours fixing my networking on my debian 13 stable server, after it randomly got 90 percent packet loss with no explanation

      • Baggie@lemmy.zip
        14·
        10 days ago

        Definitely a brick of an operating system, boring as hell, but reliable and has been that way since ancient times.

    • craftrabbit@lemmy.zip
      18·
      10 days ago

      Also the additional flavours of

      • Nix – whole OS determined by 1 file
      • Gentoo – Arch but it takes longer
      • Alpine – small and simple
      • Slackware? – for old people
      • Void?? – like Alpine but not small and simple
      • LFS??? – like Gentoo but takes longer
      • AOSP??? – not even really Linux anymore
      • ragas@lemmy.ml
        6·
        10 days ago

        Gentoo really has nothing to do with arch. Gentoo in my opinion is more like Debian with compiling and rolling release.

        And what about Fedora? Last I checked it was wildly popular.

        • craftrabbit@lemmy.zip
          7·
          10 days ago

          Gentoo is just frequently cited as the “next step up” from Arch and also funny.

          And Fedora is bucketed into the Red Hat flavour.

      • 0x0@lemmy.zip
        5·
        10 days ago

        Gentoo – Arch but it takes longer

        Supports full binary versions since december 2023.

        Slackware? – for old people

        Aka people who know what they’re doing and what they want, noted.

          • _stranger_@lemmy.world
            1·
            9 days ago

            Adding a binary package host allows Portage to install cryptographically signed, compiled packages. In many cases, adding a binary package host will greatly decrease the mean time to package installation and adds much benefit when running Gentoo on older, slower, or low power systems.

        • Digit@lemmy.wtfEnglish
          1·
          10 days ago

          the most BSD Linux

          Try CRUX.

          (Or KISS/Carbs, Side, Parch, Aeryn, Shebang, … and there are other new ones I’ve forgot the name of, that have either BSD userland or BSD style ports packaging systems).

          I don’t know which is “the most BSD Linux”, but I suspect “BSD people” may not be the most familiar with the distroverse, having their own things to tend to.

          • tal@lemmy.todayEnglish
            2·
            10 days ago

            …having their own things to tend to.

            “NetBSD!” “No, OpenBSD!” “No, FreeBSD!”

  • supersquirrel@sopuli.xyz
    40·
    10 days ago

    Edit it is so perfectly fitting for the Linux community to respond with mostly criticisms and negations to these flowcharts I shared without a single negative commenter actually suggesting a different similar helpful resource for newbies to Linux who feel overwhelmed or adding something productive and helpful to the conversation.

    Do better y’all.

    You can’t condescend these resources and pretend with a handwave like there are better ones out there, you gotta prove it. If you are going to pick apart these charts then you gotta make a new chart or link me to a better one, I don’t care about your condescending minor criticisms of the specifics of the flowcharts, that is irrelevant input unless you are going to edit a flowchart and make a new one or add something else productive.

    I feel like I am inside a meme making fun of Linux users right now lol.

    https://piefed.blahaj.zone/post/347408

    https://lemmy.ca/post/53099450

      • sik0fewl@piefed.caEnglish
        1·
        10 days ago

        Been there, done that. Eventually got fed up with having to wait 30 minutes to several hours to install (build) something just to try it out, not like it and then delete it.

      • Digit@lemmy.wtfEnglish
        5·
        10 days ago

        gentoo for small computing power?? no offense, but that’s bonkers 😹

        Why?

        Surely if you’ve low computing power, you want to make the best of it… Gentoo can help with that.

        Tight compile flags, choosing USE flags carefully to be minimal and snug to meet needs, can make a very very lean efficient-running crisp-feeling system for when you’re using it.

        Or, if your concern is more about the package install time, just use the official binhost [the -g option on emerge commands is your friend], and minimise USE flag changes, and then it’s as fast as any other distro with precompiled binary packages.

        • 0x0@lemmy.zip
          1·
          10 days ago

          With the caveat that you’d better cross-compile for the target (low resources) environment unless you’re cold and it’s a long weekend.

    • ZoteTheMighty@lemmy.zip
      10·
      10 days ago

      Lots of pro-Ubuntu propaganda in those flow charts. At this point, Ubuntu of any flavor shouldn’t be recommended to anyone. There are always better alternatives.

      • felbane@lemmy.world
        2·
        10 days ago

        I was going to say something similar. Ubuntu as a server in 202x is… well it’s certainly a choice you could make…

    • mech@feddit.org
      6·
      10 days ago

      I judge distro chooser flowcharts by whether they correctly point me to Slackware. These both pass.

    • N.E.P.T.REnglish
      2·
      10 days ago

      Redox is UNIX-like, not a BSD flavor. The kernel, init, userland, etc. aren’t BSD related.

  • BlameTheAntifa@lemmy.world
    38·
    10 days ago

    There are many correct distro choices (except Ubuntu), but the only correct desktop environment is KDE Plasma.

    If Cosmic keeps evolving, it could win me over.

    • cRazi_man@europe.pub
      27·
      10 days ago

      People go about it backwards when recommending/choosing. Beginners should be encouraged pick the desktop environment first (my KDE preference excluded the universal recommendation of Mint). Then the next decision should be stability vs fast updates (potential instability); and then ease of finding support for the inevitable problems they run into (beginners might find it easiest to find support for Debian based distros). Then you’ll have a handful of options left and it really makes no difference which of those are picked.

      That being said, I had constant problems when I was starting and the distro with which I managed to get there best start was OpenSUSE Tumbleweed. Yet my most downvoted comment ever on Lemmy is suggesting Tumbleweed to beginners.

      • melfie@lemy.lol
        2·
        10 days ago

        I think starting with the DE is solid advice. I remember using Ubuntu with Unity many, many moons ago and being put off by the DE, which ultimately delayed my move to desktop Linux. Then I tried Kubuntu and was like, ah, I didn’t know it could be this good. Finally, I tried Mint with Cinnamon and was hooked.

    • luciferofastora@feddit.org
      9·
      10 days ago

      KDE is good for a first go at Linux. I started with SUSE, ages ago, which was nice enough.

      But by now, I’m just more of a gnome fan. I don’t know how that will change if I dig deeper into window management logic, but right now, it just works for me.

  • squaresinger@lemmy.world
    35·
    10 days ago

    Choice is good when you can make an informed choice. Choice is bad if you are forced to make a decisions where you have no idea of the consequences.

  • rarsamx@lemmy.ca
    35·
    10 days ago

    Worst when the newcomers chose Arch because they’ve heard is very configurable.

    Then complain that Linux is hard.

    • Mr.Chewy@lemmy.world
      7·
      10 days ago

      I kinda have the reverse problem.

      I started with arch and when I was making a beginner friendly linux laptop for my parents, I chose Mint and later switched to Zorin, and wanted to make everything as windows like as possible.

      My problem that I felt like wrestling and constantly having to look what is in my system etc etc. Felt really frustrating and like I knew way less than I thought.

      So IMO, distro hoppers are way more knowledgeable than many Arch users, merely from knowing how to wrestle with the system, where in contrast, all I do is install what I want and when I want to do something, I already know exactly and precisely what to look into.

    • zewm@lemmy.world
      22·
      10 days ago

      Nah. I’m a gamer and need something with more up to date packages. I can’t rely on Debian / Ubuntu base.

      Fedora and Arch base are my go to.

      • A_Chilean_Cyborg@feddit.clEnglish
        14·
        10 days ago

        I’m a gamer too and i’m not sure what is about that, everything seems fine on the 6.12 kernel LMDE is on.

        • tal@lemmy.todayEnglish
          6·
          10 days ago

          The present-day Linux kernel tree (not the Debian guys) actually has a target to build a Debian kernel package (make bindeb-pkg) straight out of git if you want, so you can pretty readily get a packaged kernel out of the Linux kernel git repo, as long as you can come up with a viable build config for it (probably starting from a recent Debian kernel’s config). I have run off Debian-packaged kernels built that way before, if you want to play on the really bleeding edge.

        • highball@lemmy.worldEnglish
          4·
          10 days ago

          Yep, been gaming on Ubuntu for decades. Zero issue. Occasionally have to do a thing, but it’s Linux, so you know; everything is always do able.

        • zewm@lemmy.world
          1·
          10 days ago

          Debian and Ubuntu get packages and kernels upwards of 6 months late. If you run newer hardware, you need the most up to date drivers/kernel. Fedora and Arch just offer more bleeding/cutting edge releases.

          • Digit@lemmy.wtfEnglish
            1·
            10 days ago

            Sid, or even experimental staging can solve that.

            Ceres, if on Devuan instead of Debian.

            Thus more newness available in Debianland too.

        • zewm@lemmy.world
          3·
          10 days ago

          I used Bazzite for a bit and I like the direction of the project. I’m still not happy with where Flatpak is and so I switched to CachyOS for now.

      • IronBird@lemmy.world
        7·
        10 days ago

        cant use gnome after realizing all the terrible usability choices/lack of customizability options is deliberate, people really will powertrip/gatekeep the weirdest shit

        • texture@lemmy.world
          2·
          10 days ago

          yeah i dont hate gnome users or even if i have to use gnome, but i do hate the conceptual approach to functionality they take, as you mention.

        • ZombieCyborgFromOuterSpace@piefed.caEnglish
          2·
          10 days ago

          I think Zorin OS did a really good job at customizing Gnome to make it the way it should have been. As for limiting customizeability, I don’t think that’s necessarily bad. Sometimes I get overwhelmed by KDE’s customization options. Vanilla Gnome has too little. Zorin’s desktop is just right.

          But that’s my opinion.

        • N.E.P.T.REnglish
          14·
          10 days ago

          Why is it better? KDE has more features and first-class Wayland support. If I wanted an X11 DE, I would choose XFCE because of its general clean code and performance.

          • A_Chilean_Cyborg@feddit.clEnglish
            7·
            10 days ago

            it comes to personal preference i guess, but i find KDE clunky at times and not that ergonomic, even when you customize it a bit, like adding centre spaces to put things in the panels.

            Cinnamon feels polished and relatively simple while still being highly customizable.

            • ZombieCyborgFromOuterSpace@piefed.caEnglish
              6·
              10 days ago

              You’re not wrong. I think there’s definitely room for some improvements.

              And sometimes too many customizations can become confusing. I tend to keep everything vanilla to avoid things breaking, except for a few things. I installed a Win 10 theme and even a Win 10 style Tile start menu because I love the concept so much.

              I know it’s controversial in a Linux community, but I absolutely LOVED the Windows 10 ergonomics. Square, flat, predictable, and your eyes can quickly pick up the necessary information and you can navigate faster with a mouse. Plus with the Powertoys that added the fancy zones feature, that was perfect. I get all of this in KDE.

              • A_Chilean_Cyborg@feddit.clEnglish
                2·
                10 days ago

                is reasonable to say, that W10, specially years ago, was one of the good windows, specially with a debloater.

                there were a lot of shit in the middle but yeah, Cinnamon feels like “what if the windows desktop was made with love and passion”.

              • A_Chilean_Cyborg@feddit.clEnglish
                5·
                10 days ago

                you get to develop muscle memory faster, configurations are easier to find, and things start simple and become complex when you need them to get complex instead of always be kinda complex.

                Also, I hate dolphin, it is quite bad, you can’t open files with sudo directly, you have to navigate trough various menus to find the button for that, is also harder to read IMO.

                i think i explained it poorly, but i mean you get the hang of things faster, and usually stuff is where is more convenient for for them to be.

                I don’t hate KDE, if Cinnamon wasn’t a thing, i would go for it, but as things stands now, I prefer cinnamon.

                • texture@lemmy.world
                  5·
                  10 days ago

                  hey right on, appreciate the thoughtful reply. i cant say i share the same experience, but now i understand where youre coming from.

                  side note, im new(ish) to lemmy and im really appreciating the quality of the takes im seeing on here. refreshing feeling, so cheers to adding to that.

      • Diplomjodler@lemmy.world
        5·
        10 days ago

        If you know what KDE is you can make an informed choice. Mint is the recommendation for people who just want something easy to get started with.

        • texture@lemmy.world
          10·
          10 days ago

          this touches on my point exactly. i find that due to the “over recommendation” of mint/cinnamon, that many new people will inevitably “waste time” with cinnamon. this is a feeling i have that frustrates me, is all. KDE is exactly as easy to get started with as is cinnamon.

          anyway cheers :)

            • BlameTheAntifa@lemmy.world
              5·
              10 days ago

              If Mint would just treat KDE as first class like it used to, I would be inclined to recommend it more often. Not as often as Fedora KDE — which has always seemed to have the best hardware support of all major distros — but at least I wouldn’t feel the need to fight people for recommending Mint to new users. Blindly recommending something as clunky and outdated as Mint and Cinnamon to new Windows expats is a great way to earn Linux a bad reputation just as things are looking up.

      • explodicle@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        4·
        10 days ago

        They can try Kubuntu (or whatever) live whenever they’re ready. Beginners just need something that works with minimal configuration.

        • texture@lemmy.world
          4·
          10 days ago

          kubuntu is trash. you have to wait forever for kde updates and not everyone wants to use ubuntu / derivatives. it just seems like everyone is so stubborn and just says mint. tons of distros “just work” out of the box with minimal configuration, even some based on arch.

          really i only have one opinion here that im strong on, and its that i feel cinnamon is a waste of time for many (new people).

      • Digit@lemmy.wtfEnglish
        2·
        10 days ago

        KDE’s still available in mint. They don’t strip it out of the repos. Just one install command away … sudo apt install kde-full right? (or clicky clicky through the gui package manager).

        • tourist@lemmy.world
          2·
          10 days ago

          You can absolutely do that.

          But do be careful with kde-full if you’re running very old hardware. I’m talking about <4gb DDR3, CPUs from Obama’s first term etc.

          I’m not saying KDE’s “bloated”; I am still in absolute shock at how light it is compared to Windows.

          But if you are dealing with hardware that needs a daily lethal dose of donepezil, opt for kde-standard

          (Difficult lesson I learned)

          • Digit@lemmy.wtfEnglish
            1·
            10 days ago

            still in absolute shock at how light it is compared to Windows

            KDE’s still the bloatiest we have though.

            Would be nice if Trinity (KDE3) were still ubiquitously available across all distros’ repos.

            Or I suppose we could just strip alllll the bloat, and use something like IceWM for a classic “Windows” feel. (Or LXDE. XFCE (bit bloatier), or any of a dozen(+) other DE/WM following that model (panel & startmenu)).

              • Digit@lemmy.wtfEnglish
                1·
                9 days ago

                Heh, I was just suggesting IceWM (again) or JWM to someone on another thread, and then this^ is the very next thing I see.

                I still have a soft-spot for Trinity(KDE3) though. It being where I started my GNU+Linux adventure. Completely confirmed my decision to leave Windows in 2003.

        • texture@lemmy.world
          1·
          10 days ago

          right, but im talking about new people unknowingly wasting time on it. new people dont know to just sudo apt install kde-full, and they may waste months on cinnamon.

    • Archer@lemmy.world
      5·
      10 days ago

      Bazzite is good now and you don’t have to spend hours trying to install Nvidia drivers

      • A_Chilean_Cyborg@feddit.clEnglish
        4·
        10 days ago

        in linux mint there is a buton, that says “driver installer” you press on it, select what version (choose the recommended one) then press install.

        • Archer@lemmy.world
          2·
          10 days ago

          I did not know that! I was thinking about my issues on Debian and assumed Mint had a similar process

          • A_Chilean_Cyborg@feddit.clEnglish
            3·
            10 days ago

            if you use LMDE is still a bit easier because the sources are already added, “sudo apt install nvidia-driver” and then use the envy control program to configure it properly.

    • tyler@programming.dev
      4·
      10 days ago

      lol no. Completely failed to run 90% of my games and had audio popping no matter what I did with pulsewire or whatever. If a noob encounters that they’re never using Linux again.

        • tyler@programming.dev
          1·
          10 days ago

          It was 6 months ago when I finally switched to Linux. I tested several distros. Zorin and Mint both had numerous, numerous problems.

          Nvidia 3080. No clue what kernel version, just installed the default from the website (full install, not a live image).

          • A_Chilean_Cyborg@feddit.clEnglish
            1·
            10 days ago

            hmmmm, back then mint did have quite an old kernel, but you could update it to a newer version trough the update manager, but now is not a problem beacuse in the new releases of LM 22 and LMDE 7, they ship with a fresh kernel.

            • tyler@programming.dev
              1·
              9 days ago

              Six months ago??? People were saying to use mint back then too, like every thread. I understand it’s completely based on your hardware but you can understand how it’s hard to trust anyone saying mint right? On the other hand CachyOS and Garuda both work really hard to make sure every hardware config works properly.

  • Nalivai@lemmy.world
    33·
    9 days ago

    Just ask your favourite slop generator to shit a suggestion for you, it already replaced your ability to draw stick figures, something every person knows hownto do by the age of 7.
    Or better yet, google a list of active distros and throw a fucking dice. Same amount of precision and intelligence, less wasted electricity and water.

  • Renat@szmer.info
    29·
    10 days ago

    I use Linux Mint. It’s very good for beginners. I don’t recommend Ubuntu.

      • SpikesOtherDog@ani.socialEnglish
        5·
        10 days ago

        I used Ubuntu for a while until about 7-10 years ago when they started bogging down the interface. I moved to Mint because it was easy to not have to learn new stuff. Here is a list of some of the grievances:

        Advertiements for Canonical in the OS.

        The telemetry is consentual and optional, but it still gives Linux users a weird itch.

        Snaps are the default packages, which is not completely FOSS. I use Fedora now, and flatpack is a similar tool, but it is less bloated, FOSS, decentralized, sandboxed by default, and asks you too update packages instead of automatically doing so. Snaps seem to be easier for maintainers and supposedly has better security. https://itsfoss.com/flatpak-vs-snap/

        People were irritated with the Unity interface when it came out.

        Also, it’s corporate and that bugs people.

        Debian is upstream of Ubuntu and a bit more simple. Mint is downstream and includes many of the QOL fixes in Ubuntu without the above grievances.

    • melfie@lemy.lol
      5·
      10 days ago

      After years of distro hopping, I always come back to Mint. It’s just a nice balance of everything, though I do tweak it with a bit of a custom setup using btrfs with LUKS and grub-btrfs so I can boot from automated Timeshift snapshots if I accidentally jack something up.

  • Tenderizer@aussie.zoneEnglish
    28·
    9 days ago

    You think choosing your Linux distro is bad, imagine having to choose your electricity, water, internet, phone, banking, and insurance provider as well as your local councillor, workplace, school, career, entertainment, childcare, car, house, food, etc.

    This “love choice, hate choosing” is a really valuable thing to understand.