What's wrong with other Linux distributions?

[unregistered-user2]

Hi Everyone,
So I want to start with a little background. I have been using Linux for ages, I mean some of you used it probably way longer than me,
but I started playing with Suse Linux and Slackware about 1998, been using Suse Linux until probably 2008, I mean Suse Linux before OpenSuse became the thing and SLES.
Over the years, had a romance with Mandrake, Corel Linux, Turbo Linux, Redhat, Fedora etc.

But now I don't know if it's only me, but I can't get rid of bloody Ubuntu, I hate the name, can't stand the color scheme, GNOME is totally useless,
yet still it's always my distro of choice for last 8 years. When Centos went, I was zero bothered.

I even teached my kids how to use it, so they are not CLIphobic.

Is it just Linux overload, all of those fancy distros are just not as interesting as they used to be, I do not even tried Lubuntu and other ...buntus as the support is not that long.
Do you guys find as well that distro hoping is not as enjoyable as it used to be, with all those VMs you can try 20 distros in a day...BORING!

Or I just got so old and grumpy?

[oldfred]

I always upgrade with new LTS version, so the 3 yr life on Kubuntu is fine for me.

I started with Ubuntu, did not like Unity as I had old 3:4 monitor not newer wide screen and needed space on side.
Converted to using the fallback gui. But then tried Kubuntu.
Also found Kubuntu, while not lightweight, works on older system, particularly if on external SSD. Could not install Ubuntu on that system and Kubuntu installed, but old slow HDD was not as good as external SSD.

[VMC]

I can't stop using Ubuntu. Been using it from its humble beginnings. No Snap, no Flatpak. Simply Gnome. Have it down to 4.8 GB installed. 818 MB memory used.
Replaced Libreoffice with Gnumeric. As simple as I can get it.

[guiverc]

I started using GNU/Linux probably in '98, and it was Debian GNU/Linux as for some time I only used distributions that included GNU in the name.

I eventually got over my 'must have GNU in name' system when my brother gave me a nokia server that had a version of SuSE on it; and in exploring how it was setup I decided I was as happy there as I was in my prior Debian...

To me the distribution doesn't matter much... I'm using my Ubuntu noble install currently, but I was using a different box earlier that runs Debian trixie (testing), and if I ignore the screen setup (this box has 5 displays, the other only has 2) I really don't notice any difference. I have setup the machines so they're I can use both interchangeably, and even have a Fedora (and until it broke, OpenSuSE tumbleweed) system for comparison that I can likewise use instead.

Given we know how to setup a system exactly how we want to use it, I think any 'magic' in a new distribution is somewhat gone, as other than a new wallpaper, and maybe setup idea we may 'copy' into our own setup, they can all be made to work pretty much identically (only age of software stack varies, but given I'm on a development and not stable release mine are somewhat close anyway)

As for Lubuntu... My system I consider a Ubuntu system (Ubuntu noble), though the session I'm logged in with is a "Lubuntu" session (ie. LXQt)... Its the desktop I'm most at home with, as I tend to use it the most.. though before today I'd not used it in ~six days as I logged in the last three days in with a Ubuntu session (ie. GNOME), the three days before that using Xubuntu session (ie. Xfce). regardless I consider them all Ubuntu, just different desktop/GUI; that on this box I've setup to operate/look pretty the same anyway... the key difference I notice is the use of my media keys alters (I've chosen to keep that default for each).

FYI: I'm not talking about multiple-installs; my system is a multi-desktop install which includes `ubuntu-desktop` `lubuntu-desktop`, `xubuntu-desktop` & more.. This system only has 8-9 session choices at login, where the one thing I do like about my Debian GNU/Linux (trixie) setup is it has 26 session choices, though selecting which to use can be a time-waster.

[unregistered-user2]

FYI: I'm not talking about multiple-installs; my system is a multi-desktop install which includes `ubuntu-desktop` `lubuntu-desktop`, `xubuntu-desktop` & more.. This system only has 8-9 session choices at login, where the one thing I do like about my Debian GNU/Linux (trixie) setup is it has 26 session choices, though selecting which to use can be a time-waster.

Ha ha, That's what I love about Linux, some users will stick with their favourite setup and will remove snap to keep it lean and others can go for it and have it ALL.

I personally think that, that's exactly how it should be, everyone loves their setup for what it is.

I even tried to do what Curious Marc did on his Youtube channel, installing MS-DOS, Windows 98, Windows NT and Linux on one machine.
Unfortunately I have ended up with a separate machine for MS-DOS, Windows 98, Windows XP, Windows 7, Windows 10, Ubuntu and Raspberry Pi OS.
I know, Windows, yes, but to be honest I always used Windows at work and for work, like most of us.
I have Terabytes of software which I bought over the years, and I can still use it all.
Even somwhere in the attic I have Suse Linux 8.1 Professional, which I think I paid £49.

Old good times,

[gezzer2]

i have been using Ubuntu since 2004 it was the first Linux distro that connected online and worked.
ive tried others but always seem to come back to Ubuntu now using 22.04.4 LTS with Ubuntu Pro enabled.

but .. i have started replacing the snaps that dont work properly with .debs so i run a mixture of snaps and .debs.
it may not be the best idea but it works for me ..

ps. just spent 2 hours getting my wife's Win 11 computer working (again) after another load of updates.

[Tadaen_Sylvermane]

I flip flop between Ubuntu and a pure Debian base quite often, I can't explain why.

The thing that keeps me coming back to Ubuntu specifically is I like having a corporate structure behind it. I know that is kind of anathema to the majority of open source folks but it just reassures me for some reason. When I first started with open source I was totally gung ho about the open free away from centralized control stuff. Now... I just don't care. Bigger problems in the world. I'm trying to simplify my life as much as possible and computer software isn't a life changing experience that is worth worrying to much about for me personally. There are only two reasons I haven't gone back to Windows. My machine simply is incapable of Windows 11. And while I don't use the terminal nearly as often these days just knowing I have it available makes it more tolerable. I'm attached to it, even though I don't use it nearly as much as I used to.

In my recent switch back I did everything from the perspective of a new non technical user as possible. I've used the command line for 4 or 5 packages tops. I'm using snaps when they are the default option. Flatpak for 3 things. In the last year or two I've lost a ton of drive to constantly screw around and tweak stuff. Done nearly everything through the gui thus far. No real complaints. I've been spending more time using my computer / than fixing or messing with stuff. Been enjoying a few games I used to play. Still waste entirely to much time on World of Warcraft. And working on learning C and C++ slowly. When I get distracted with messing around with the system is time I'm not making progress on that front.

[TheFu]

Hi Everyone,
So I want to start with a little background. I have been using Linux for ages, I mean some of you used it probably way longer than me,
but I started playing with Suse Linux and Slackware about 1998, been using Suse Linux until probably 2008, I mean Suse Linux before OpenSuse became the thing and SLES.

I started with SLS, then moved to the easy release of Slackware. Stayed on Slack until 1998-ish, then tried RH, Mandrake, and ended on SuSE. SuSE was good, but not exciting. RH left me in "RPM hell" - probably my own failure. So many things that were desktop related didn't work, so we would try different distros to get the things we needed to work. For servers, most of the common things like Samba and Apache and BIND and NIS all "just worked" like they did on our UNIX systems at work. The main limitation I had at work with Linux was the total lack of commercial products that we used on our UNIX system for nearly everything we sold to customers. Sigh.

But now I don't know if it's only me, but I can't get rid of bloody Ubuntu, I hate the name, can't stand the color scheme, GNOME is totally useless,
yet still it's always my distro of choice for last 8 years. When Centos went, I was zero bothered.

I tried Ubuntu around 2005 because it had so much excitement around it. The other popular distros were old, known, like releasing the same car every year with a new paint job and calling it "new" when nothing else changed. Yawn. Since around 2006, Ubuntu was my main desktop and server. In 2008, I stopped using UNIX and setup small businesses on Ubuntu Server with virtual machines. That continues today, though the forced use of snap packages on servers really bothers me. My 100% standard, non-customized, servers for email gateways and VPNs run Debian to avoid Snaps.

I even teached my kids how to use it, so they are not CLIphobic.

You did them a great service. They will get frustrated on commercial OSes with the lack of customization and the "TM" terms used to mean standard things like CIFS or ssh.

Is it just Linux overload, all of those fancy distros are just not as interesting as they used to be, I do not even tried Lubuntu and other ...buntus as the support is not that long.

You've matured to know that "new" isn't better than "stable". Happens to everyone. I used to get a new vehicle every 3 yrs or so. "New" was important to me. Then something clicked and I've been driving the same vehicle over 20 yrs now. Trusted is more important than "new" to me at this point.

Do you guys find as well that distro hoping is not as enjoyable as it used to be, with all those VMs you can try 20 distros in a day...BORING!

Or I just got so old and grumpy?

We are all getting older and grumpier. Human nature, I suppose. We don't remember the things that didn't work so well in 2008 anymore. Certainly there were a few things. I think the Ubuntu 10.04 release was the single best release of any Linux made, ever. I've blocked out the issues, no doubt. Every distro after that had a few problems that were self-inflicted by Canonical. But for those few problems, they get 50,000 other things right, which is why we still use Ubuntu for some things.

To me, snap packages are a solution to fix a problem I never had. Netplan is too. Same for systemd, pulseaudio, Wayland. I stopped using any DE after 18.04 due to bloat. From 18.04 to 20.04, the required RAM and disk storage for a desktop doubled. If I wan an OS RAM, CPU, and storage requirements to double every release, I'd run MS-Windows.

Last year, I needed a new desktop and didn't install Ubuntu-anything. I needed to avoid the snap thing with multiple web browsers. Linux Mint was my solution. I removed the DE and installed fvwm2 for the Window Manager, which I've been using since the mid-1990s on Unix/Linux systems. I'd forgotten how nice it was to customize while keeping the bloat down. More and more, I purge Gnome stuff too. So much bloat and they don't follow existing GUI standards - like ignoring the Window Manager. That really irks me when a program doesn't honor WM decorations and borders. Gnome-Disks is an example. Purged.

For me, it isn't about finding a DE that I like anymore. It is more about avoiding things I don't like.

- Old and Grumpy

[1fallen]

For me, it isn't about finding a DE that I like anymore. It is more about avoiding things I don't like.

- Old and Grumpy

+1 LOL especially the Old & Grumpy part.
And just like the rest I've done my fair share of hoping around, but ended up with current system. (Nameless)

[kinderfeld]

https://scontent.fdvo2-2.fna.fbcdn.n...NA&oe=66389B3D

Hi Everyone,
So I want to start with a little background. I have been using Linux for ages,...........

Or I just got so old and grumpy?

Its not you at all. Started out with a CD of Slack 7. I really feel the best era for Linux as a whole was around 2006-2010 or abouts. Right before GNOME 3 was released. Its been down hill since then. They constantly remove features from the DE left and right. Its feels like all the good coders left and the ones trying to take over development can not actually code or figure out bugs. So they just remove things and say they will no longer support that "feature". Silly things like, gnome-terminal no longer having transparency support, wallpaper/background manager no longer has options for scaling, theme manager removed and forced to use dark grey or bright white. This is just crazy. I can go on and on. I really makes me sad.

The above image is what my gnome desktop on Ubuntu used to look like..