Note: I don’t know if I’m posting this in the right community, I joined Lemmy recently.
I use KDE Neon on my desktop, and I recently decided to install Linux on my laptop. I don’t want to install KDE Neon onto my laptop though, because it only has fairly up to date software through Flatpak (at least for me).
Is there a good distro with very up to date software that doesn’t require me to check on it often, and that I can probably make it work within 15 days? (I have the list of apps I need.) I prefer an Arch-based distro that lets me remove a lot of distro specific customization. However, if there is some other distro “base” that has software up to date like Arch and the AUR, please also let me know.
(I tried Arch already, but it seems to be too hard for me to configure, and it has multiple weird issues for me, so I don’t really want to use it.)
Edit 1: (Late edit because lemmy.world was down for the day) I am going to try out Fedora KDE, Endeavour KDE, and Manjaro KDE out. Might also check out Kinoite. Will update after I have tested each.
ease of use and up to date software
I prefer an Arch-based distro
How about Manjaro then? Looks like the perfect match for you.
I used Manjaro for several years but it requires so much manual intervention on updates that don’t work. Just straight arch or endeavor would be easier in the long run imo. I use tumbleweed on my current main computer though.
Other people have already said this in other comments on other posts, but in short Manjaro breaks easier than Arch because it ships stable older packages, but combines it with unstable new packages. The AUR can easily break on Manjaro, and ironically the same is true in reverse. Manjaro has broken the AUR before and they’ve let the SSL certificates expire, multiple times. The devs even suggested users to change their system clock back as a temporary fix. You’d probably be better off learning Arch itself or use Endeavor OS, although I personally haven’t tried it.
For those about to read this you should not use alcohol “anything above 70 percent” on monitors.
Edit:
TLDR: OP’s guide said to use alcohol, I disagreed. Comments felt harsh and condescending to me. I replied just as harsh and it became a breif circle jerk of arguing about alcohol or water. In the end I realize that I am semi wrong and op in the comments were right is write but their guide was wrong and doesn’t list any of the addition information he put in the comments below.
How to clean screens:
Ben Q Monitors Guide
Zd Net’s guide on cleaning monitors
Be careful when you don’t fact check what you are spewing out.
Any type of alcohol on any type of LCD or modern panel screen can cause the screen to discolor or damage the screen. Any amount of alcohol hasn’t been recommended since the late 2000s. Even manufactures DO NOT recommend any type of alcohol or rubbing alcohol.
Using alcohol, rubbing alcohol, or bleach can leave permanent scars on your screen and or ruin your monitors screen coating.
Edit: alcohol is alcohol, don’t use it ever on a modern display.
KDE Neon uses Ubuntu LTS as it’s base, so if the former’s packages aren’t up-to-date enough the latter won’t either.
For more recent packages I’d recommend Arch, Fedora and OpenSuse.
Edit:
Doesn’t require me to check on it often doesn’t sound like Arch to me, at least if big changes are made to the system.
I don’t mean to argue, but is any LTS a good recommendation for someone looking for more up to date software than Neon?
Don’t get me wrong - it’s stable and all that, I guess (although I haven’t been a fan of Ubuntu over Debian in a long time), and it’s definitely noon friendly. I’m just saying when one of their specific requests is “up to date” an LTS might not be the best choice.
I don’t disagree with any of that. I’m not saying it’s a bad recommendation overall. LTS releases are good for people that don’t want to get their hands dirty and just want something that works.
But OP was specifically looking for something more up to date than KDE Neon… which is based on LTS. So while all your reasoning is valid as to why OP should use it, it’s not what they’re looking for. In fact, it’s exactly what they’re trying to move away from.
Plus, they’re looking to expand their horizons. It’s hard to do that by playing it safe.
Yes, Linux Mint. Very stable, low resources, great UI, rock solid. Best overall distro out there.
I actually used Mint as my first distro, however the software it has is way too out of date for me (for example, Wine was many months out of date for me), so I can’t use it.
Unforlunetly LM isnt great with up to date software and OP wants a distro with up yo date stuff.
Its Ubuntu, and I for some reason got newer packages on Debian than Ubuntu. Not sure how fast Forks are like Linux mint.
Is that Debian 12? It has the latest stuff at the moment, because it’s just come out, but it will start like that for several years.
Unless you switch to the Unstable repo, but then you might get system issues.
Personally I’ve had good experiences with Garuda lite (despite the terrible looking website). Btrfs + snapper built in with GRUB integration, vanilla KDE by default, plus a few GUI utilities for basic functions. Nothing you can’t do yourself but it’s quick and easy to set up and has some some nice bits and bobs.
openSUSE Tumbleweed. It’s not Arch based, but easy to install and configure, KDE Plasma is nice and the rolling release has you always up to date. Snapshots make it safe.
