Linux distro recomendations

If you want things to just work out of the box then you should avoid Fedora. I'm using it right now. It's not bad however it comes really bare-bones. Even the most basic functions like playing youtube vidoes in HD or having minimise and maximise buttons are missing. You will spend lot of time downloading and configuring stuff.

Korora should have the basic features pre-installed and ready to use.

From what i read, Arch is really not recommended for novice users.

Yeah, I found Fedora a little frustrating to set up, and Korora is really just a tweaked Fedora. It uses Fedora's repositories, RPM fusion, their own repository which basically just includes non-free codecs/flash, and the numix theming.

I really like dnf. I find it handles dependencies better than apt IMHO.

So here are a few of my favorites:
Korora (Fedora Based)- https://kororaproject.org/ - Current favorite
Elementary OS (Ubuntu Based) - https://elementary.io/
Ubuntu (Ehhh it does have the most support though) - http://www.ubuntu.com/
Antergos (Arch based) - https://antergos.com/
BBQLinux (Arch based) - http://bbqlinux.org/

If you want to look at all of the options you can use http://distrowatch.com/

BBQLinux comes ready to Build Android Apps etc.
Korora Comes with a few dev tools and was fairly easy to setup.
Antergos uses Arch so you get AUR which makes installing anything you want way easier.
Ubuntu has the most support on forms.
Elementary OS looks the cleanest but has very little documentation on forms on how to setup dev environments.

Cheers.

Holy shit! I didn't know that. So if I have Fedora 22 installed full of software and games I will have to delete everything after 9 months to stay updated?

Fedora is definitely one to go for. If you dont immediately need non-free programs, go right for F23, if you do (mpv, vlc, ffmpeg, etc) go for F22 as the rpmfusion repo is not quite ready for F23.

Im not sure what you think is hard to set up with Debian, its super easy to install. Fedora has a nicer installer mind you, but both are about the same setup wise (this coming from someone whos used both)

No you wont, its easy to upgrade, you dont need a fresh install, and with F23 onwards will be easier as upgrading will be built into DNF.

Fedora doesnt include non-free programs so things like mpv, vlc, ffmpeg arent installed. But there easily available through rpmfusion with about 3 clicks.

The minimise and maximise is a gnome feature, nothing to do with Fedora, its in all gnome desktops.

So when i upgrade to F23 to stay supported will it break my software config?

It shouldn't break anything. It will update to the latest software and with Fedora that usually is close to upstream. but its not going to wipe your configs, distribution upgrades dont usually do that.

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Linux Mint all the way. Ubuntu based and minamalist. Just the way I like it.

Has anyone here got Antergos to install? I have been trying for over a year, have tried Gnome, XFCE, and Mate, and Cnchi just crashes at various points during the install.

I have been thinking of giving Debian a shot.

Its pretty solid. I run Debian sid atm, and even though its going through a gcc change its stable. Ive noticed one package it lags behind on (and isnt in sid right now) and thats krita, but it keeps up to date well on testing/sid, and stable is pretty rock solid if your not needing updated opengl drivers or similar.

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Thanks for the info.

Salix (a Slackware-based distro).

I wouldn't push Arch/Gentoo/Slax on a novice user.

I've been using Mint for years and like it a lot. XUbuntu is another non-gnome easy to use distro. And Fedora (with some non-gnome DE) might be up your alley if you don't like XFCE or Cinnamon and are ok on an RPM distro.

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I recently tried Fedora. It's amazing as a workstation distro, cutting edge and stable. Everything works out of the box on my Thinkpad T440s: dock, video drivers (well it does not have a discrete GPU, only the Intel integrated one), audio, fingerprint reader even. Since my pc also has an SSD, everything is super fast and responsive. The major motivation why I tried Fedora is that it is CentOS compatible, as I work with CentOS servers often so it is a major plus. I can make rpm's on Fedora and instantly use them on CentOS.

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If you are Islamist you can use Linux muslim edition.
http://www.sabily.org/website/

Just about everyone that I know that's into web and app development says that if you're gonna go with Linux then go with Ubuntu because it's the easiest to set up and has the most support.

That doesn't mean that other distros can't do the same job, it's just that Ubuntu is the easiest to use, so there are less distractions from your work.

Whenever I'm not using GNOME I'm using XFCE, so I'd recommend Xubuntu. I tend to switch off between the two. I like GNOME because of the workspace management, but it feels kinda closed in, so sometimes I'll use XFCE instead. XFCE is lighter so it should use less resrouces, theoretically resulting in better battery life.

One thing that will help immensely also is turning down your screen brightness.

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I would highly recommend Xubuntu as well. I've been running Ubuntu with XFCE on my cheapo asus laptop from 4 years ago and I am happy to report that it's easy on system resources and battery life. The interface is really great for programming, as when configured with the greybird minimal window manager theme things are very minimal and you can maximize what screen real estate you have. It's probably not as light as something like Arch, but it performs well, looks good, and stays out of your way.

I agree that Arch has the most comprehensive and well written documentation I've ever seen. However, a Linux beginner will need to read pages upon pages of it to be able to do anything at all. Also, if your particular case is not documented then you are in deep waters my friend.