I’ve been working and testing to switch my main PC (used for work like audio recording, music, and general multimedia) and have been playing with Ubuntu Studio on my laptop. Loving it so far but I keep seeing people talk about CachyOS, Bazzite, or the new Debian Trixie.
I’m having trouble finding what’s really different about all these distros aside from how they look or slight changes in how they do things (I know Ubuntu Studio has a low latency kernel which seems important for what I need to do). Is there a big difference? Like, if I go with Ubuntu Studio am I gonna end up wiping everything and installing CachyOS or Bazzite or something in a month because it’s better? Or are all these distros basically the same thing with a different look and feel and as long as I choose one that gets regular updates, it doesn’t matter fundamentally?
I’m trying to grasp the Linux concept but being a Windows user my whole life I’m struggling to ‘get it’. Instead of trying to understand in the contex of Windows or Mac, is a better comparison Apple/Android? Like iPhones would be similar to both Mac and Windows (you don’t get to choose much) and Android would be Linux (I know it’s built on it haha) and it’s really just a bunch of different options to do the same thing?
Ignore anyone claiming there is some massive performance difference between any distros. That’s some misinformed bullshit.
The main things you need to understand are the layers:
The Kernel layer will be largely transparent for you as a beginner. If you want bleeding edge stuff, install a “Rolling Release” distro that updates this layer much more frequently than “LTS (long term support)” releases will, as their function is to remain stable for longer periods of time.
Libraries will also be transparent to you as a new user, and even as experts, we rarely need to mess with this layer unless building something specific, which you will not need to worry about. Do not let the Chaff start talking some bullshit about how you to prefer this or that in distros blah blah …you’re a new user. Ignore that noise.
Package Manager: something to consider as you will be interacting with this. RPM, Apt/Deb and pacman are the big three, and all are very mature and stable. They all perform similar basic functions, just in different ways. You’ll have a preference in time, but any of them work well. It’s not a huge thing you need to worry about, but you’ll surely like one over another in time.
UserSpace: where all the fun stuff is. Stick with a distro that has a large community. The biggest choice in how you will interact with your machine as a desktop user is here in that you want to choose a Desktop Environment, or DE. Gnome and KDE are the big two in this arena, but there are many: Xfce, Cinnamon, Mate…etc. Id suggest starting with Gnome if you like a clean MacOS type interface, or KDE if you really like the more verbose sort of Windows experience. Both are fine choices, and you won’t have problems with either. Again, ignore everyone telling you one is better than the other…they are not. It’s a preference. Try them both, and go with one. You can easily swap later if you want, no big deal.
Lastly: don’t go off and use Bl00pyGameRzX or whatever random distro the loudest asshole in a thread is telling you to use. Again, you’re a new user, you need simple, stable, and a huge community to reference if you have issues.
I suggest Fedora for new users now after Ubuntu shat the bed and soiled their crown. After getting comfortable with things, maybe look into what the difference is between Fedora and Cachy, and if that’s of any use to you. If not, whatever, just keep using what you like. Distro hopping is for aimless people who don’t know what they’re looking for, or how to identify. Use what YOU like, and keep using it as long as you like it. Ignore the hype machine telling you otherwise. That’s the point.
Great comment. Makes me wish that Lemmy allowed comments to be pinned
One correction to this:
The Arch package manager is Pacman, not AUR. AUR is the Arch User Repository and is definitely not stable :)
Whoops, was in a flow. Good catch.
…kinda wanna try Bl00pyGameRzX now
You mean opaque.
And you will definitely find out about libraries if you attempt to install anything.
Some packages will install in your home directory, others, for no apparent reason will spread themselves around the system in the area only available in administration mode. Good luck finding where it all went. The only way I can find is to look at the path in Synaptic, most package managers won’t record it.
This…I don’t understand what this is.
No distro managed by a package manager would be dropping files all over the place as you’re suggesting, not would it require you to interact with or even know which libraries you have installed because it’s all automatically handled by said package manager.
If you’re installing out of band packages, you’re talking about a different thing, and that’s the package maintainer’s fault, not the distro and their maintainers.
General rule of thumb for new users.
Doesn’t like to tinker and non gamer. Fedora
Likes to thinker and non gamer endeavour
Doesn’t like to tinker and gamer bazzite
Likes to tinker and gamer cachy
Arch at this point is no more unstable or prone to breaking then mint or any other distro barring like Debian. Cachy and endeavour with kde6 basically have solved the arch isn’t for new users problem coming from Windows.
So really you just need to ask yourself. Do you want your defaults to include gaming utilities or do you want to have to install them yourself. If your going to game you can save yourself hours as a new user with bazzite or cachy since they come out of the box with a button for “I want to install all the gaming stuff” and your good to go.
If you don’t game and just do basic work then you can go with fedora which will provide a great curated experience that basically just leaves you with a standard and reliable work PC.
Or endeavour which will drop you off right at the point of everything works, is reliable and ready for you to start learning. Even if you choose to never fiddle with anything, you still end up with a system that supports the widest possible amount of hardware and has one of the best user manuals of any distro family.
Seriously for as much as people claim you need a big community for refence material. Between cachy and arches wiki, you have a better source of information than any other option. It’s absurd how useful it is.
Y’all really need to get off the Bazzite thing for new users.
Fedora for gaming is great and has zero issues.
Bazzite is no better than any other distro in this respect EXCEPT that it’s immutable, and going to be a NIGHTMARE for somebody not yet familiar with how things work in a Linux system. It’s edge cases upon edge cases, and the assumption by people pushing this idiocy is that they’ll never need to know how a normal functioning Linux system works if they like it, which is an ignorant supposition.
Stop pushing this narrative to new users, you’re just making it harder on them.
Ubuntu has always been that bad though. Always.
Not at all. It was fine for new users. It was the mostly popular distribution for years for a reason.
Because people recommended it.
There were better options. It crashed or broke all the time. Still does.
It would never be a recommendation for new users from me. I tried every version since 4, so I am not new to its shittyness.
Ran thousands of servers on it for years without a hiccup. No idea what you were doing wrong there, but that’s not my experience.
I suppose I should have clarified: Ubuntu desktop. I don’t really have a problem with Ubuntu server, although why bother when you can just use Debian. Did you choose it for the newer packages?
Ubuntu has specific toolchain stacks that make imaging and packaging easier when you’re running continuously deployed stacks that change frequently.