I need recommendations for a stable release distro for OBS Studio livestreaming and light video editing. This machine will be shared between several users who are techies, although not necessarily Linux (they’re coming from Windows). I don’t want to worry about things breaking because of an update, or to start a shoot only to find problems once we’re live.
Nvidia and nonfree codecs should be treated as first-class citizens. H.264 w/ AAC will be everywhere with this workflow.
Some thoughts:
Linux Mint Debian Edition: Currently my top choice. It just works?
Fedora Bazzite: My second choice, maybe with auto-update disabled. Seems a bit risky though in the case of security updates to packages.
OpenSUSE: I run Slowroll on my laptop and work desktop, however recent package management errors relating to codecs and the packman repo have spooked me away.
Debian: Release cadance seems too slow for my preference.
NixOS or Fedora.
stable release
NixOS
Yeah, nah. Let them have Debian/LMDE, or (Atomic) Fedora, instead.
And that setting up, and updating it, takes much technical knowledge, a lot of time, and the packages and their updates come from whoever on the internet much like the AUR.
For stability, I would not recommend NixOS, at all.
I like Debian. To save you the misery, though, you should probably just use the OBS Flatpak with it. I used to be a “native” pedant, but these days, I at minimum consider Flatpak a VERY necessary evil, if an evil at all.
Flatpak solves some of these. It would allow newer software on Debian. They’re packaged with codecs, so you don’t need to bother with Packman on Tumbleweed.
I use Debian for anything that matters. The release cadence means that stuff just works and keeps working. You cannot beat the documentation and I’ve been using it for 25 years.
I’m not touching anything Redhat / Fedora with a barge pole.
Not sure what the attraction to Mint is.
Never used OpenSUSE.
Since you’re a Linux old-timer, what’s your beef with Fedora, if you don’t mind sharing?
That’s a big question, but I don’t trust Red Hat after the stunts they’ve pulled over the years. Here’s a taste.
Ah, I see. It doesn’t particularly bother me, but I can appreciate why it might bother somebody else with different values.
Thanks!
I can vouch for Linux Mint / LMDE; their pre-installed software and defaults seem very sensible and I need far less set-up, fixing and fiddling (esp. with NVidea hardware; the open-source driver refused to make anything run on GPU with my Asus ROG Strix GTX 970) then on bare-bones Debian or Ubuntu LTS.
All four mentioned here have very stable and safe release schedules.
Bazzite’s defaults help a lot with gaming (and that stupid NVidea driver) and the initial welcome-screen helps you install the Steam, Lutris, OBS, etc. you want and leave out anything you don’t. It’s actually helpful, really!
I do want to add Bazzite’s team seems to have only one person who can sign releases, and they did misplace a key at least once leading to nobody receiving updates until they replaced the key in their installation.
Their team management does not seem the best; assuming this was a one-off thing Bazzite can still be a great, stable choice.
I do want to add Bazzite’s team seems to have only one person who can sign releases, and they did misplace a key at least once leading to nobody receiving updates until they replaced the key in their installation.
Not to be “that guy,” but I would like some sources on this. As far as I understand it, the signing happens automatically in GitHub via the private keys during the automated build process.
Additionally, they didn’t misplace a key; they didn’t yet have a process in place for pushing a new key to end-users (they had/have a plan to rotate their signing keys from time to time). Details about what happened can be found here. In my year of using Bazzite, I haven’t seen this issue reoccur, so I am writing under the assumption that they’ve indeed fixed the internal process that caused the problem.
