After years of stability using Linux I've run into many problems lately. Wifi crashes after suspend, LVM fails at boot, printer drivers failing, PulseAudio crashing... and this is on several different distros. Which distro has proven the most stable for you?
Ask HN: Most stable Linux distro for desktop use
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Re: Ask HN: Most stable Linux distro for desktop use
#2Ubuntu works pretty well. Debian is solid too. Buying a computer that is meant and certified for Linux use is probably a wise investment.
Re: Ask HN: Most stable Linux distro for desktop use
#3Canonical puts a lot of time and effort into making Ubuntu "just work" for most non-corner cases. That's the one I recommend to people as a "baby's first linux" even though I personally run Debian.
Debian Stable is of course rock-solid but it's also often sporting fairly old versions of software (firefox, etc) which can be offputting to the novice. Sid is my daily driver but I'm comfortable with things not working for short periods of time.
Re: Ask HN: Most stable Linux distro for desktop use
#4Canonical puts a lot of time and effort into making Ubuntu "just work" for most non-corner cases. That's the one I recommend to people as a "baby's first linux" even though I personally run Debian. Debian Stable is of course rock-solid but it's also often sporting fairly old versions of software (firefox, etc) which can be offputting to the novice. Sid is my daily driver but I'm comfortable with things not working fo…
Unfortunately Canonical has stopped putting that time and effort into the desktop OS and is instead concentrating on mobile/tablet "convergence".
Re: Ask HN: Most stable Linux distro for desktop use
#5Canonical puts a lot of time and effort into making Ubuntu "just work" for most non-corner cases. That's the one I recommend to people as a "baby's first linux" even though I personally run Debian. Debian Stable is of course rock-solid but it's also often sporting fairly old versions of software (firefox, etc) which can be offputting to the novice. Sid is my daily driver but I'm comfortable with things not working fo…
Unfortunately Canonical has stopped putting that time and effort into the desktop OS and is instead concentrating on mobile/tablet "convergence".
Fortunately it's still a very stable desktop environment.
Source: It's my everyday OS.
Re: Ask HN: Most stable Linux distro for desktop use
#6Fedora 21 through 23 has worked well so far. All of my peripherals work well on my ThinkPad X1 Carbon (3rd gen). The community is quite easy to join if you need to submit bugs or ask for help.
I've had zero PulseAudio issues even with creating multiple monitoring devices, a USB DAC and a USB webcam with audio support.
Which wifi cards are you using? Broadcom can be a bit of a pain, but the Intel chips are fairly easy to get working.
Re: Ask HN: Most stable Linux distro for desktop use
#7Earlier quoted context omitted.
Unfortunately Canonical has stopped putting that time and effort into the desktop OS and is instead concentrating on mobile/tablet "convergence".
Fortunately it's still a very stable desktop environment. Source: It's my everyday OS.
Just wait until 16 is released and they switch over the desktop repos to their in house package system for phones: Snappy.
That said, existing Ubuntu releases that still use Debian style packages are what I'd recommend (and what I use) too.
Re: Ask HN: Most stable Linux distro for desktop use
#8I run Ubuntu on my 'not doing much other than youtube and paying my bills' computer. (I also choose to reinstall the whole OS every major release (+ 1 month for those 'day 0' issues to be fixed)).
I have debian on my NAS and 'stable' backup box. I keep this thing rock solid.
If I actually want to do anything crazy, I'll either whip up a VM or I have a clunker of a laptop I keep around for experimenting and other things (along with other single board computers).
My two cents in keeping something stable is don't do anything to it. Keep it as vanilla as possible unless you are 100% sure what you are doing.
Re: Ask HN: Most stable Linux distro for desktop use
#9I need a very light OS to run my CAE program and Lubuntu is the best.
Re: Ask HN: Most stable Linux distro for desktop use
#10OpenBSD