I am looking to set up a computer for someone switching from win10 that wants to remain dual boot for a couple niche apps.
I want to set them up on something that is debian based, and likely semi-annual release schedule so it’s frequent updates but not rolling release bleeding edge. My initial thought was kubuntu. I can disable snap or educate them about package management, so the snap ecosystem controversy isn’t too concerning to me.
They will be using this system for “normal” computer stuff… libre office, web browsing, instant messengers, and some gaming (mostly Steam). Currently using an nvidia RTX 2060… but this could change in the future. They’ve tried live usb of several WM’s and want to try KDE (plus they have a steam deck and want to learn how the desktop mode functions better).
My questions are these:
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Are there other distros to consider that would fit the description that might be better than *buntu these days that meet the above requirements?
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The plan was to have two separate SSD with their own EFI on each and using the uefi interface to be the boot loader. I have heard that some debian based systems, particularly *buntu, have a bad habit of trying to grab whatever it thinks is the primary EFI and write to that regardless of what you tell it to do during install or on updates. Definitely want to avoid that because rebuilding GRUB or fixing boot issues is just barely in my wheelhouse and definitely outside their wheelhouse. Is this still an issue? Are there fixes to prevent this? Looking at other distros was partly because of this but I don’t know how pervasive a problem it is.
Thanks in advance. :)
Is there any reason to not use KDE Debian if you’re going to disable Snaps? I would recommend LMDE if you didn’t say KDE. And I can’t think of any Debian-based beginner-friendly distro.
The faster release cycle was something I wanted to keep without committing to rolling release. Debian does what… 2 years per release? I considered Mint but they are more focused on “stable” and I’m hoping for a fresher system (also moving to wayland is definitely a friction point for mint dev).
I considered Mint but they are more focused on “stable”
Just a side-note remark, if I may: depending their specific needs, a new user may not wish to get too frequent updates either. Also, Mint kinda follows Ubuntu’s release cycle, so I would say it’s as up to date as Ubuntu, and it very regularly receives security updates. They just don’t change radically the version of their apps unless there is a very good reason (but one can do it if they fancy doing so, I did it for LibreOffice).
As a simple user myself (I’m really not a geek even though I decided to learn Linux by using Arch, then I switched to Debian, then I tried Ubuntu, then Mint and I almost immediately knew it was the one for me… I have been using it for the last 5+ years and I’ve yet to meet any issue not running the latest version of my apps.
The two reasons I prefer Mint over native *buntu is because of Cinnamon, which I really quickly learned to appreciate a lot, and because there is no Snaps by default. I suppose it could easily be added to Mint but since it already offers flatpacks out of the box (I use a single one of such app, and I’d rather not if I had a choice (just because I think it wastes way too much disk space just to run one app), it’s for my password manager)
Also, Mint kinda follows Ubuntu’s release cycle, so I would say it’s as up to date as Ubuntu
They follow Ubuntu LTS… so the core is a every four version which is 2 years between core updates.
Part of the thoughts on kubuntu was that it will be far more up to date with the KDE versions.
The two reasons I prefer Mint over native *buntu is because of Cinnamon
Absolutely. Cinnamon is great. That was the other WM that they liked but eventually decided that they wanted to use KDE.
They may well decide they want to distro hop or settle into a more stable system that doesn’t change much in the future, but the semi-annual model of changing to the latest UI/UX while still having a longer testing phase ended up being the most appealing option.
Absolutely. Cinnamon is great. That was the other WM that they liked but eventually decided that they wanted to use KDE.
I can easily understand that: I hesitated a lot with KDE too (it’s really good) and I’m looking forward to see what they will offer us with their upcoming own distribution KDE Linux, who knows maybe it will convince me to switch ;)
I had forgotten that KDE was doing another core showcase distro.
KDE Linux is an “immutable base OS” Linux distro created using Arch Linux packages, but it should not be considered an “Arch-based distro”; Arch is simply a means to an end, and KDE Linux doesn’t even ship with the pacman package manager.
KDE Linux leans on Systemd for a great deal of functionality. Updates are atomic and image-based, with the last 5 OS images cached on disk. Only the Wayland session is supported. Apps primarily come from Flatpak and Snap.
What? This just sounds like a linux fever dream lol. Definitely interested to see what they do though.
The *buntu LTS cycles are every two years, following along with Debian releases. The faster release cycles such as 24.10 and 25.04 lose support after 9 months, so they are short lived distros.
I personally don’t like the *buntu bloat and would just stick with KDE Debian, unless there is something specific in those you need.
The software you stated that the user will be running runs fine on Debian.
Debian gets frequent updates, it’s just that they don’t change behavior, they just fix bugs and security vulnerabilities. Stable is good for someone who doesn’t want to mess with their system to fix breaking changes. You’re not the one who will be using it.
If at all possible, use separate SSDs/HDDs for Linux and Windows.
That helps against bootloader overwriting during updates.
Yeah, that was the point I was making in part 2 of the OP… I’ve just heard that some debian distros (mostly heard about ubuntu) will still just do whatever it feels like. Having trouble finding concrete info if that’s still an issue though :/
