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The Best Linux Distros of 2016

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Re: The Best Linux Distros of 2016

#31

Post by iammyIP »

ake1 wrote: post #17

i wish there was a distro that worked well with my hardware out of the box, preferably without any applications that i do not explicitly choose to install. i have no interest in setting up pulseaudio/alsa or having to set nomodeset in my grub config for the 20th time.

what distros have you tried? last 2 years have gotten rid of most of the pulseaudio/alsa annoyances, i didnt have to do any configuration on multiple machines (xubuntu 14.04, manjaro). i have one machine with an amd e-2000 that requires the nomodeset, which was annoying to fix, but that's also a pretty niche system. Overall my impression is that most hardware works out of the box pretty nice.

Re: The Best Linux Distros of 2016

#32

Post by some-guy »

I have finally found my sweet-spot between being a total neckbeard (Arch) and following trends (Ubuntu) by simply starting with a minimal Ubuntu/Fedora/Debian installer and then installing whatever desktop environment I choose (I like MATE because it's non-intrusive and fast enough for me). I usually use less than ~10% of the software that comes pre-loaded with most distros.

Re: The Best Linux Distros of 2016

#33

Post by ptrincr »

d_theorist wrote: post #23
hugh4life wrote: post #19

Ubuntu Mate is my favorite distro... but I run the i3 tiling window manager over it. I don't know if I'd use it or not, but I'd like to see an attempt to make an ubuntu or debian based distro centered around a tiling window manager(preferably i3). From my experience, i3 provides to the desktop what tabbing provides to browsers. One thing I like about tiling WM is that there is not "native" GUI so there can't be any s…

I would love to see this as well.

So I've just come across i3wm after reading both your comments, it looks great! :-)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wx0eNaGzAZU

Re: The Best Linux Distros of 2016

#34

Post by TimPrice »

_lbaq wrote: post #5

Surprised not to see Fedora at the top of the list. Fedora 23 is remarkably stable, great UI, easy to maintain, and can be upgraded in-place to the next version using the new upgrade tool, no more reinstalls.

Agree, specially if you add some Cinnamon.

(sorry :>) I didn't use Linux for any desktop/laptop for years until it got easily bundled last summer with Fedora. Thanks to Mint for that, though.

Re: The Best Linux Distros of 2016

#35

Post by cowardlydragon »

More of the same, but the structural glaring desktop failures continue.

The opportunity window to eat Windows 8's market share is gone with Win 10. And I see no voice recognition on any distro.

Honestly, Android on the desktop is the future of desktop Linux.

There will never be a year of the Linux Desktop based on any of the Gnome / KDE / whatever window managers.

Re: The Best Linux Distros of 2016

#36

Post by dllthomas »

some-guy wrote: post #32

I have finally found my sweet-spot between being a total neckbeard (Arch) and following trends (Ubuntu) by simply starting with a minimal Ubuntu/Fedora/Debian installer and then installing whatever desktop environment I choose (I like MATE because it's non-intrusive and fast enough for me). I usually use less than ~10% of the software that comes pre-loaded with most distros.

This is where I have found myself as well.

Re: The Best Linux Distros of 2016

#37

Post by vox_mollis »

cowardlydragon wrote: post #35

More of the same, but the structural glaring desktop failures continue. The opportunity window to eat Windows 8's market share is gone with Win 10. And I see no voice recognition on any distro. Honestly, Android on the desktop is the future of desktop Linux. There will never be a year of the Linux Desktop based on any of the Gnome / KDE / whatever window managers.

Do you have substantive examples of killer desktop features that are missing in modern distros?

Re: The Best Linux Distros of 2016

#38

Post by chao- »

I'm a little picky in my desktop distro, and the two metics I judge by are these:

1. How quickly after a fresh install I can get the desktop into a state where I like it. This is mostly just adding things that aren't included, removing things that are, tweaking keyboard shortcuts, etc.

2. How many of what I'll call "mundane IT issues" I bump into in the course of daily, non-developer use.

Note that #1 is based almost entirely on a personal preference and #2 is based on what I happen to need to do on any random day of the week. I don't expect it to carry over perfectly to anyone else's experience.

I will say, however, that I am more impressed with Linux Mint 17.3 (Cinnamon) than with any desktop Linux since middle years of Crunchbang, when it had hit its stride. If Mint 18 is just as solid, Mint might become the desktop distro I've spent the longest single stretch of time with. It would need 2 more years to hit that mark, but because they are basing each version on the 2-year Ubuntu LTS cycle, it seems possible.

Re: The Best Linux Distros of 2016

#39

Post by ZenoArrow »

hugh4life wrote: post #19

Ubuntu Mate is my favorite distro... but I run the i3 tiling window manager over it. I don't know if I'd use it or not, but I'd like to see an attempt to make an ubuntu or debian based distro centered around a tiling window manager(preferably i3). From my experience, i3 provides to the desktop what tabbing provides to browsers. One thing I like about tiling WM is that there is not "native" GUI so there can't be any s…

> "I don't know if I'd use it or not, but I'd like to see an attempt to make an ubuntu or debian based distro centered around a tiling window manager(preferably i3)."

There are tools available that make it easier to create a custom Linux distro, including ones that allow you to customise Debian and Ubuntu, so it might not be that hard to do what you're suggesting:

https://www.linuxvoice.com/build-your-own-linux-distro/

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