Hey guys, I've been dual-booting Ubuntu for a while and decided I want to make my laptop my Linux machine and leave my desktop for gaming.
So I'm taking this chance to "upgrade" from Ubuntu to another distro: while I enjoyed it, I gotta say I dont really like the UI, a bit too "bubbly/cartoony", I really like dark and monothone, 2D, orthogonal lines, that kinda stuff you know.
Also now I'd like to REALLY get into Linux so I wouldn't mind a distro that is even considered "difficult": I will be using it to program and do other cs stuff, so no problem there.
After a bit of researching I saw that Debian is a pretty widely accepted distro, but I saw that it looks a lot like Ubuntu (I think Ub is based on it right?).
I heard that Arch and Gentoo (memes aside) are REALLY customizable, could they be a good choice for my minimalistic and programming needs? peace
I just installed Manjaro and it is great.
I was on Arch for a couple months and fucked my install up after I updated.
So if your happy with the performance of Ubuntu you can change the appearance from Unity to another DE like Gnome or KDE, of course there are other stand alone distros like Mint or Ubuntu Gnome that will offer the same support/performance as Ubuntu but with a different UI or DE (desktop environment) as it's called, this would keep on the Aptitude system so what you have learned CL-wise would carry over, but really any Debian based distro is going to do that for you.
You should check out distro watch and take a look at other distros that might be of your liking.
As for what you see ... thats not strictly the distibution. You see the desktop enviroment... ubuntu in its original flavour comes with unity (the bubbly thingy) but ubunto also can come with Gnome (debian standard), KDE, xfce and many other.
Yes Ubuntu is based on debian. It uses the same base and packetmanagement but ubuntu is highly customized from canonical in may ways.
Desktop environments I remember right now:
https://www.gnome.org/
https://www.kde.org/
http://www.xfce.org/
http://openbox.org/wiki/Main_Page (window manager)
Cinnamon (Mint - the DE is forked from gnome)
Welcome to the distrohoppers dilemma, I want this, not this, but also these 3 things, but they're in those distros. You will have this with every OS you use XD
Arch is awesome if you want to learn from a separate point of view, gentoo takes too long in my opinion and I am in no way going to read 800 lines of stuff just to update, Opensuse is really cool and is basically the visual version of the customization from arch, majaro is also arch based (opensuse isn't just for note), sabayon teaches you how to build everything and anything, the list goes on.
By best recommendation is to go to distrowatch.com and hit the random button. See what looks good, throw it in and install it, and find your interests. I used to do this and now I am happy with an arch/mate/ubuntu workflow. Just how I work. I wish you luck.
EDIT: If you liked how ubuntu worked then look at ubuntu Mate. You'll fall in love with it I am positive.
Opensuse for sure.
Arch is cool but the novelty wares off really quickly.
I'd have to agree if you want a Windows-like environment that is easy to configure and navigate along with the power of YaST for removing CL configurations and allowing you to do them in the GUI openSuse is a great distro.
I tried gnome, it didnt change enough
I know, but I'd like something more Linux-core. I dont know how to explain, but Ubuntu looks like a distro that would be used by someone that wants linux, but like windows. I want to embrace the penguin in all itself
As I told some other guys above, I dont actually mind NOT having a Windows-like environment, that can be a limit sometimes, I just want a minimalistic os that is all about linux
What about OpenBSD?
I've just heard about it, havent done much research
Well I use Fedora which uses a Gnome DE, it a nice, powerful, modern distro that is very different from Windows and different from Debian based distros, but I'm getting the feeling that your looking for something more bleeding edge like Arch.
I've ran PC BSD and it was nice and stable environment but like everything BSD is lacks software, but does incorporate nice touches like jails, but still it's not to me a productive environment.
OpenBSD is not linux, its BSD.
You have thousands of design ans setting to tweak... you can manipulate each desktop environment to your liking. I guess no out of the box project will be 100% what you like.
For the deep down linux experience I would suggest you press CTRL+ALT+F3 thats Linux as real as it can get =)
In reagrds to Arch and Gentoo, there are two points to keep in mind (for for each) though both are rolling release and rack upstream closely, and both are good distros, arch is built with a specific user in mind, the devs of arch, and its made to suit what they like. That lines up with a lot of people but its something to keep in mind, it doesnt have a lot of disto tools. Gentoo though compiles everything is very user centric, the developers deliberately try to give as much choice to the users as they can, it has a lot of helpful distro specific tools and theres a lot of room to make a system very specific to your needs.
There good distros if you want to experiment as well and build up what you want. It sounds like you might like to try out something completely different in which case i recomend you try out Linux using a tiling window manader like i3, xmonad, etc. there a good way of working and you can tailor them to what you want really well, but theres a bit of a learning curve.
Debian is a good distro to use becuase its well supported, you can run testing which is reasonably up to date, and run whatever DE or WM you like on it. Fedora is also a good one to try, its more bleeding edge but is well supported and trys out new technologies as they come out.
+1 for Opensuse easy to Use, lots of tools and has both a rolling and stable release.
I run it on 6 machines and love it. (Both ARM and x86)
"I know, but I'd like something more Linux-core"
No. This is the wrong mind set to have and you are just going to cause yourself a lot of frustration.
Trust me. I know lol.
At the end of the day every single linux distro has a linux core. There is no distro that is more or less of a linux experience.
Pick a distro that has everything you want. Run it. And if you want to learn linux, then open up a virtual machine and build linux from scratch.
Maybe I'll go with Arch or Opensuse, (or openbsd or debian). maybe all of them!
I was just saying that because I'd like not to be Windows-dependent: I really dislike the direction Microsoft is going to with Win10 and dont want to support it, Win7 will probably be my last Windows. On the other hand, I want to support Linux because I think it's the future, or at least where we are moving to
Dont even bother with open BSD.
I tried it out and after 2 hours I switched to something else. BSD is still way behind. I feel like it will catch up eventually considering how the way the kernel is maintained is a much more open and free flowing community than the oligarchy that is linux, but they are a good number of years behind.
Opensuse and Debian is what you want for the moment. The distro that I really want to see be ironed out is antegros.
There are still a few issues they need to smooth out before I recommend them to anyone.....but it should not be long before they sort things out.
I may go with Debian and slap gnome on it, maybe it's better to spend a bit more time with linux as my only driver (on the laptop)