Ask HN: What is the best Linux distro for a development laptop?

#1

Post by selmat » Sat, Jan 07, 2017, 8:41 AM UTC

Recently I upgraded my 2yr old laptop (now it has 16GB RAM, 275GB SSD, baklit keyboard) and now consider which linux distro use as main OS.

What are your experience with various linux distros as main OS? Which one is the best? How looks like your dev environment?

For me are important these points :

- Ability to run virtualized systems (Windows, other linux distros)

- Good battery management

All necessary dev tasks and experiments will be performed in virtualized systems.

Thanks

Re: Ask HN: What is the best Linux distro for a development laptop?

#2

Post by BuuQu9hu » Sat, Jan 07, 2017, 9:04 AM UTC

Most of them will be identical for your requirements, continue using what you're using already, you can copy over the whole system with dd.

Re: Ask HN: What is the best Linux distro for a development laptop?

#3

Post by kimburgess » Sat, Jan 07, 2017, 9:14 AM UTC

I've recently made the switch across to Arch. If you need to spin up something quickly, it's not going to be for you. But, if you have a little time and want to build it into something that is exactly what you want and need, it's perfect.

Re: Ask HN: What is the best Linux distro for a development laptop?

#4

Post by Bokagha » Sat, Jan 07, 2017, 9:28 AM UTC

Ubuntu would be the safe bet. Just pick a distro that appeals to you, since you will be the one working in the environment. Also any modern distro should have built in KVM support to run your virtual systems or you can always go the VMware Workstation route.

Re: Ask HN: What is the best Linux distro for a development laptop?

#5

Post by herbst » Sat, Jan 07, 2017, 9:30 AM UTC

I prefer Arch or derivates on Laptops because of the better default battery management. I easily get 2-3 hours more on a default Arch installation vs. Ubuntu.

Arch however can be a pain if something does not work, if you want it easy just use a Ubuntu derivat (or Ubuntu if you like that fugly Desktop)

Re: Ask HN: What is the best Linux distro for a development laptop?

#6

Post by herbst » Sat, Jan 07, 2017, 9:31 AM UTC

kimburgess wrote: post #3

I've recently made the switch across to Arch. If you need to spin up something quickly, it's not going to be for you. But, if you have a little time and want to build it into something that is exactly what you want and need, it's perfect.

Well there is AntergOS and Manjara, but it takes a bit of the fun and brings some new unique bugs.

Re: Ask HN: What is the best Linux distro for a development laptop?

#7

Post by Philipp__ » Sat, Jan 07, 2017, 9:33 AM UTC

Arch, NixOS, Void, Debian. Try and see yourself.

Re: Ask HN: What is the best Linux distro for a development laptop?

#8

Post by probinso » Sat, Jan 07, 2017, 9:35 AM UTC

I'm going on 9 successful years of fedora. I spent 4 years switching distributions ever couple months until then. I think its probably different for everyone.

Re: Ask HN: What is the best Linux distro for a development laptop?

#9

Post by amandavinci » Sat, Jan 07, 2017, 9:40 AM UTC

I'm a CS student and I had this exact question a year earlier. I tried ubuntu as everyone suggests for a begginer, then switched to deepin and then over to elementaryOS. Sure I'm never going back to windows but ubuntu never seems to work out of the box.

The next station in this Linux journey is to dual boot Mint and Arch. Mint for when I wanna get things done and Arch for learning and customising linux.

Re: Ask HN: What is the best Linux distro for a development laptop?

#10

Post by lbruder » Sat, Jan 07, 2017, 9:42 AM UTC

I'd go for Mint. The only system that never disappointed me and always just worked. Second place would go to Debian "stable", old (== problems with Wifi) but rock solid.