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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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How to have a boring and low-maintenance system? (lemm.ee)

submitted 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Those who don't have the time or appetite to tweak/modify/troubleshoot their computers: What is your setup for a reliable and low-maintenance system?

Context:

I switched to Linux a couple of years ago (Debian 11/12). It took me a little while to learn new software and get things set up how I wanted, which I did and was fine.

I've had to replace my laptop though and install a distro (Fedora 41) with a newer kernel to make it work but even so, have had to fix a number of issues. This has also coincided with me having a lot less free time and being less interested in crafting my system and more interested in using it efficiently for tasks and creativity. I believe Debian 13 will have a new enough kernel to support my hardware out of the box and although it will still be a hassle for me to reinstall my OS again, I like the idea of getting it over with, starting again with something thoroughly tested and then not having to really touch anything for a couple of years. I don't need the latest software at all times.

I know there are others here who have similar priorities, whether due to time constraints, age etc.

Do you have any other recommendations?

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 6 days ago (2 children)

Debian stable + XFCE for me. Missing newer packages though. I'm interested in what problems you had with Fedora

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 days ago (3 children)

I had problems with waking from sleep/hibernate, audio issues (total dropouts as well as distortion in screen-recording apps), choppy video playback and refusal to enter fullscreen, wonky cursor scaling, apps not working as expected or not running at all. I've managed to fix most of these or find temporary workarounds (grateful for flatpaks for once!) or alternative applications. But the experience was not fun, particularly as there was only a 2 week return window for the laptop and I needed to be sure the problems weren't hardware design/choice related. And I'm finding it 50/50 whether an app actually works when I install it from the repo. There's a lot less documentation for manually installing things as well and DNF is slow compared to apt...

I don't want to say for certain that Fedora as a distro is to blame but I suspect that it is. I miss my Debian days.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 days ago

Let's hope Debian fits you. I had to change to an Intel WiFi card but everything else worked OOTB for me on my laptop

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (1 children)

I had problems with waking from sleep/hibernate

what graphics do you have? Don't expect that to go away with nvidia. no such issues on AMD though, intel should be fine though

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 days ago

Intel Arc integrated graphics.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 days ago

(grateful for flatpaks for once!)

That's how I run my system right now. Fedora KDE + pretty much everything as Flatpak.

Gives me a recent enough kernel and KDE version so I don't have to worry when I get new hardware or new features drop but also restricts major updates to new Fedora versions so I can hold those back for a few weeks.

I made a similar switch as you but from Ubuntu to Fedora because of outdated firmware and kernel.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

This! Debian with Gnome or others is the answer. Take an afternoon to make it yours, then forget it. You can use backported kernels on Debian, to support newer hardware. Try this or upgrade to Debian 13 right now by changing the sourcefile to trixie instead of bookworm. Note : if you use Gnome, let gnome-software handle the updates for you (there's an equivalent for kde). If you use others, configure unattented-upgrades for automatic updates.