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

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

#211

Post by jcoffland »

icebraining wrote: post #197
spangry wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yup. I switched from Ubuntu to Arch after I realised I was trying to make Ubuntu work like a rolling release distro. This lead to frequent breakage. Arch definitely has a learning curve, but it also helps you realise that some things really are as simple as they appear (if that makes sense). That said, if you're like me and prone to fits of 'mad science', you will find yourself breaking your OS from time to time. But…

The nice thing about Debian is that they have all your cases covered. Long-term release for my server (Stable), rolling release for my laptop (Unstable). And the latter serves as a learning stage for the former, especially during transition times (e.g. introduction of systemd).

You forgot the porridge that is just right, "testing".

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

#212

Post by mwambua »

jcoffland wrote: post #209
mwambua wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fedora has really cleaned up the release upgrade process over the last couple versions. Transitioning from Fedora 24 to 25 was surprisingly painless!

The fact that you are celebrating one recent successful upgrade is telling.

I used Ubuntu prior to Fedora and I never experienced a single clean upgrade. I can't speak for recent versions of Ubuntu though.

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

#213

Post by beambot »

jcoffland wrote: post #179

Debian and I'm surprised more people aren't saying so. Ubuntu or Mint, which are built on Debian do not add much value these days, IMO and Ubuntu's 6 month release cycle is intolerable. If you get behind with upgrades you are screwed. Even after all these years it's hard to beat apt-get. I think a lot of people dismiss Debian as unmodern or some how less than the distros built on it but that's hardly the case. Debian…

> If you get behind with upgrades you are screwed.

Why? You shouldn't rely on system files for development... you probably want a proper dev environment that can later be replicated into production or staging (eg. containerization, VMs, virtualenv, etc). Just stick with Ubuntu LTS releases, and enjoy the consistent updates (eg. security) and the massive support benefits (eg. forums) associated with running one of the most popular distros.

Personally, I love the consistent Ubuntu updates. Granted... I always switch to xfce for the desktop environment.

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

#214

Post by beambot »

jcoffland wrote: post #179

Debian and I'm surprised more people aren't saying so. Ubuntu or Mint, which are built on Debian do not add much value these days, IMO and Ubuntu's 6 month release cycle is intolerable. If you get behind with upgrades you are screwed. Even after all these years it's hard to beat apt-get. I think a lot of people dismiss Debian as unmodern or some how less than the distros built on it but that's hardly the case. Debian…

> If you get behind with upgrades you are screwed.

Why? You shouldn't rely on system files for development... you probably want a proper dev environment that can later be replicated into production or staging (eg. containerization, VMs, virtualenv, etc.)

Personally, I love the consistent Ubuntu updates. Granted... I always switch to xfce for the desktop environment.

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

#215

Post by rantanplan »

brightball wrote: post #66
rantanplan wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd also like to suggest the Fedora route. I've tried most(and then some) popular distros and the last 6 years I've settle on it.

What are your thoughts on Korora? It looks like Mint for Fedora.

Since I use KDE as my desktop, I don't think it would do me any good. In general I've found that Fedora's spins(https://spins.fedoraproject.org/) are actually pretty good. So I am not exactly sure how someone would benefit from moving into a considerably more obscure distro.

It may be excellent as a distro, I really don't know. I am just thinking out loud here.

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

#216

Post by crdoconnor »

BugsJustFindMe wrote: post #201
crdoconnor wrote: post #71

I tried several and these were my experiences: * Ubuntu. Works fine (I used kubuntu and xubuntu). * Mint. Tried it and it seemed to work okay until I upgraded it one day and ran into issues that I think were related to the system having an identity crisis over who it really was (ubuntu or mint?). * Fedora: had a few more driver issues than ubuntu but still worked okay for the most part. * Debian: pain to set up and a…

> Debian: pain to set up and a lot of issues - there wasn't a bootable ISO I could find that would let me boot into a USB and test run the latest version with all of the (nonfree) drivers I needed. Does this help? https://fiendish.github.io/The-Debian-Gotham-Needs/

Definitely, thanks. I will try that next time I'm distro-shopping.

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

#217

Post by tomku »

RossBencina wrote: post #29

I see a lot of folks here recommending Arch. I got the impression that it might not be as stable or secure as say, Debian or Ubuntu. But I've found it hard to find reliable up-to-date info on this -- so I'm not sure whether it's just FUD. Can anyone comment on the current situation? Can you set Arch to automatically update with security patches only? Or is it an "updates include patches plus new bugs too" type situat…

Rolling release distros are based on the assumption that it's more important to get bug fixes out fast than wait to see if a new version introduces new bugs. As long as you update your Arch install as frequently as possible AND iron out any small problems that occur (like config file changes) right away, it's actually pretty secure and stable. You'll get new bugs but they'll usually get fixed before they can do much more than cause a minor inconvenience.

If you fall off the update treadmill, you start running into problems, and they tend to be weird problems that are hard to reproduce because so few people are running the exact combination of package versions that you are. Usually a full update fixes things, but the longer you've missed updates for, the more likely something will get FUBAR during the update process.

Maybe a simpler way to look at it is that rolling release distros trade slow-moving versions with low quality variance for rapid updates with high variance. Any given snapshot of Arch package versions is going to have problems, but you also don't sit on that particular combination of package versions for long. As a user you just have to decide whether that tradeoff is worth it.

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

#218

Post by tscs37 »

tajen wrote: post #153
tscs37 wrote: post #114

I personally use ArchLinux on my development laptop. Three major reasons: A) AUR B) custom installs are default C) rolling release + up-to-date Of course, Arch is not that easy to setup compared to other distros (Antergos might help), you're gonna have to manage the system yourself to some extent. If you don't like ArchLinux you could go for Fedora, NixOS or Ubuntu variants.

Would you explicitly put KDE last, or did you just forget it? As a Mac user and former Ubuntu, I wonder whether KDE is losing the race.

I haven't used KDE a lot, tho with the newer release I'm definitely willing to try.

Personally, I think KDE has a bit less good integration, KIO and the such don't work as well as GVFS. (GVFS uses FUSE while KIO (IIRC) is sockets or something)

Gnome 3, for the most part, works like an oiled machine.

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

#219

Post by autoreleasepool »

gjkood wrote: post #186

Would you be open to trying non-Linux distros such as BSD distros? There are various flavors of BSD that have the toolsets to do what you requested. Not very sure of laptop battery management though. FreeBSD (Very stable) OpenBSD (Stability + Security focused) PCBSD (Linux like ease of setup for Desktop environments) They all have access to large/comprehensive application/system/development software.

I can confirm FeeeBSD is very stable on my 2008 UniBody MacBook. Even Suspend/Resume works

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

#220

Post by hackuser »

cozzyd wrote: post #204

I recommend Fedora, it has more up-to-date stuff and very developer friendly. I'm probably biased though because the high-energy-physics stuff I develop for usually runs on EL-variants, so Fedora is naturally a good platform for it. I've always had more trouble compiling random things on debian-based stuff though (probably has something to do with default linker flags and poorly-written packages). RH has a big virtua…

If the user just wants to get work done and doesn't care if they have the latest thing, why not CentOS?
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