Favorite Linux desktop distribution

How many of you use Linux as upposed to Windows? I don't mean a distro for learning linux, this is more targeted to the people already comfortable with it. I'm not talking about servers or at work, I mean do you use linux on your PC? I recently moved away from Windows on my PC and I haven't stopped at a particular distro so I'm exploring my options. I really like Mint and this may be my final choice but I was wondering what others think and why.

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redz

I have a PC that I use for running Backtrack. That's the only non-server Distro I've touched in the last 10-12 years. I like it because it has a nice stock background.

EDIT: I actually like it because it allows me to show the minimal cost and effort involved in a lot of (simple) exploits, making potential threats "real" to them. I don't use it for much beyond the extremely simple.

2nd EDIT: I do like the stock background. That was not a joke.

networker050184

I use Mint mostly. On Ubuntu 13 right now. The only computer that I have that runs Windows now is my work laptop for exchange etc. Everything personal is on Linux.

TechGuy215

At home, running CENTOS and UBUNTU. Only Windows machine I use is at work.

Chivalry1

As for Linux desktops I utilize OPENSUSE. Driver support is awesome, never any problems with various usb devices.

The Technomancer

Mint, or Fedora w/ Cinnamon.

Qord

Another vote for mint!!

wes allen

Was running mint for a while, but it wouldn't pick up my 2nd monitor - probably more a function on my crappy amd integrated video card then mint. Just install Ubuntu 13 and it seems pretty good. Tried using centOS, but it didn't pick up the wireless card, and doesn't have as much built in, end user stuff pre packaged. We are currently a MS free house - MacOS and Linux, but stuck with windows at work.

prdemon

Loving Fedora with "Mate" right now. I also use Linux-Lite and openSUSE

coffeeluvr

Mint and Centos

lamha88

I have mint on my laptop, and most of the computers in the Computer Science building at my uni run either Mint or Ubuntu. Mint is pretty user friendly and picks up drivers without an issue. The main problem I have is getting switchable graphics to work on my lenovo Y460.

Master Of Puppets

Nice to see such a positive view of Mint. Arch seems interesting so I may try it too later.

Hongli69

Mint and Centos

MentholMoose

I've used Gentoo on my primary PC for 9 years. I had previously been using Slackware and was frustrated with the functionality of the package manager and the limited selection of software in the official and even 3rd-party repositories. Gentoo was a huge improvement in these two areas, plus I like using a rolling release model for a PC. I really hate having to do big version upgrades all the time to stay current with the software on my PC. A rolling release lets you perform routine, small- to mid-size updates to stay current.

The trade-off of rolling release is supposedly stability, but I've had very few problems with Gentoo, much fewer than you'd expect by the amount of complaining you read on blogs and forums. Most problems are limited to a dependency error when trying to update, and most of the time the solution is to wait a few days, emerge --sync and try again. Occasionally I'll have to do a minor workaround for those errors, such as removing and reinstalling a package, and very rarely will I need to check the Gentoo forums to solve it. My current Gentoo install is over two years old and with Ubuntu or Fedora that would have meant about four major upgrades to stay current.

The other thing I like about Gentoo is the amount of choice they give you. Most "defaults" come in the form of recommendations, and you can usually choose another option very easily. Maybe this only serves to confuse some people, but I like having the ability to easily change things that are big, like a window manager, or small, like a DHCP client or cron daemon, with a command or two using officially maintained packages in official repositories.

If I was going to switch distributions today I would consider Arch. It has a rolling release model, and I assume by now most popular distributions have a huge selection of software in the official repositories. Besides Arch I would consider Fedora. I like Fedora and use it sometimes on non-primary PCs such as a work laptop or desktop. The upgrade process has been improved over the years so the lack of a rolling release might not be a deal killer anymore.

tier~

I run Arch on my laptop and Windows on the desktop (keeps the girlfriend happy). Arch is nice, lets you build up from a minimal core so you know exactly what's going into your system. As can be expected with rolling releases, you will get the occasional buggy update but if you keep tabs on the Arch home page and the forums you can usually avoid any major headaches. Only issue I've had recently is being stuck on an old kernel (3.9.9-1) due to some video driver issues in 3.10+ but that's just the nature of the beast sometimes. I definitely recommend any one give Arch a try if they're already semi-competent in linux.

demonfurbie

im a mint guy on my laptops as well

i do use kali on them as needed (keep a small usb with it installed), i have also used slackware in the past but i like apt-get too much

gc8dc95

I have three screens on my computer and typically use a mixture in vms, not for just tinkering, but as an OS. usually have win 8 , centos 6.4,and mint. I like variety and utilizing different approaches.

Bryzey

I switched over from Windows to Linux Mint roughly 9 months ago and think it is great. Works out of the box, looks good and is nice and snappy. Apart from that I like Fedora XFCE on the RPM side of the coin.

I would love to try and Arch or Gentoo just because I hear so much about them but I need to wait for Linux to become more stable on my new hardware(2013 MBP).

UnixGuy

Ubuntu 12.04 at work, Ubuntu 12.10 at home. What is Windows?

petedude

I've been using Chakra Linux on aging HP laptop at home for about six months now. KDE based, boots fast, runs quick and runs Wine well. It's had some odd glitches with package management, though. . . making me think about going back to Ubuntu at the next LTS release.

Running Ubuntu 13.10 in VMs lately. . . I like what I'm seeing. The desktop is partly back, the distro seems to run smooth even if it's not super-blazingly fast and it has everything I've needed so far in packages. Actually seems like it would make an ideal development environment.

CentOS. . . didn't like that they left so much out of their repos. For a basic desktop, though, it might be adequate. I think CentOS's real niche is in the server space.

Mint. . . I used to love Mint and donated to them once, but it seems like every release is getting more and more bloated. I stopped using it a couple revs back when it seemed like every update would kill the desktop somehow.

OpenSUSE. . . one rev good, next rev bad. Updates kill working stuff.

stryder144

I dual boot between Windows 8.1 and Oracle Linux. I like Oracle because I can play with the various RHCSA/RHCE labs in the Michael Jang books. I have used Redhat, Suse, Debian (even wrote a work around to get Microsoft wireless keyboard and mouse running way back in 2003), Ubuntu, Slackware, Mandrake, Mandriva, Mint, Lindows, and several others. Having typed them all out, I sure feel like a Linux whore.

What really got me going with Linux was a magazine called Maximum Linux. They included one or two distro discs per issue. I wish I hadn't thrown them all out. I miss ML magazine. Prior to that, a buddy and I tried to get my creaky old Pentium 75 loaded with RH. No GUI...no bueno. Had to wait until I got a computer from Walmart that had Lindows pre-installed. I switched distros like most sane adults change underwear. Now, it's VMs, it is too tiring to constantly reformat/reinstall/reconfigure.

Anyway, for now, I am on Oracle.

UnixGuy

stryder144 wrote: »

. I like Oracle because I can play with the various RHCSA/RHCE labs in the Michael Jang books.....

Why not CentOS ?

paul78

I've been using Linux as my primary desktop for some time. I don't actually use a distro. Back when I started, there were not really many so I've just lugged around my own over time. It's pretty light-weight - very similar in concept to tomsrtbt - tomsrtbt home page. Probably the only big change was that I upgraded from twm to fluxbox last year. These days what I usually do is to run VMs on my desktop so I don't have to build packages.

elderkai

I use Arch on some machines and Debian on others.

Magmadragoon

Using Kali Linux on my laptop

jdancer

Using Arch here as a NFS, CIFS, NTP, rsync server. 100% command line. No GUI here. Hardware is a HP Proliant Microserver.

stryder144

UnixGuy wrote: »

Why not CentOS ?

Three reasons, honestly. One, it is re-badged Red Hat Enterprise Linux, that piqued my interest. Two, the unbreakable angle. It is pretty sweet, in my opinion. Not often you can update the kernel and not have to reboot. Three, it is commercially supported but free for those of us who can't afford an enterprise edition.

Don't get me wrong, I've installed CentOS and Fedora. I just found the Oracle version to be more interesting.

The Technomancer

stryder144 wrote: »

Three reasons, honestly. One, it is re-badged Red Hat Enterprise Linux, that piqued my interest.

CentOS is as well.

Two, the unbreakable angle. It is pretty sweet, in my opinion. Not often you can update the kernel and not have to reboot.

This can be accomplished with tools like ksplice. I did enjoy playing with Oracle's kernel, but the only time I've used OEL in a professional setting, we used a vanilla kernel that Oracle supported to ensure maximum software compatibility and to ensure they we could get security patches in ASAP without waiting for Oracle to roll a new build.

Three, it is commercially supported but free for those of us who can't afford an enterprise edition.

In Oracle's favor, we ran into a major issue regarding LACP bonding/MSI-X and the kernel we were using, which was fixed in a later kernel/version of the OS. Oracle's support team had their kernel engineers backport the fix to the kernel we were using so that we could stay online until we'd finished putting the newer kernel through testing, and got it done over a weekend. OEL support is really damn expensive, but at least in that case, we definitely got value out of it.

Don't get me wrong, I've installed CentOS and Fedora. I just found the Oracle version to be more interesting.

If you find it more interesting, that's reason enough to use it, since you're going to learn more using a system you enjoy playing with, and please don't take my debate points as trying to discourage you from rolling with whatever distro you find more pleasing.

Professionally, CentOS is going to be more representative of an environment you'll see professionally, since it's pretty much rebranded Red Hat Enterprise Linux. However, this your desktop, so use whatever the hell pleases you and interests you!

coty24

Micro$oft on laptop 1, Elementary OS(debian repos and polish similar to OSX) on netbook (2 gigs ram), Lion on the 2006 imac I picked up for 45 bucks on Craigslist.

Try Elementary OS, I love it!

Home | elementary OS

W Stewart

I use Arch as my main os on my laptop. I'm a fan of the rolling release model as well. I've been planning on putting gentoo on my home desktop but my wife doesn't like it when I spend all of my free time installing linux.

Side note.
I've heard some pretty bad things about lawsuits between redhat and oracle. It seems like the company I work for thinks it would be a bad idea to be associated professionally with oracle linux.

stryder144

I appreciate the well thought out responses here. Very good stuff!