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.
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Endeavouros would be recommended if you like arch , if you want an rolling relase you could try Opensuse Tumbleweed, or fairly updated but stable then Fedora.
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Ubuntu is a good starter distro. It is up to date and has the most documentation/examples on the web. It is the most likely to “just work”. Install it and test it out.
100% Ubuntu. They have great hardware support and spend a lot of time making sure the user’s experience is smooth. The snap package thing is annoying but can be worked around.
Fedora has a KDE spin and gets some updates faster than even Arch (e.g. new Gnome releases) while also being considered stable. Heck even the the Asahi Linux project switched from Arch to Fedora as a base recently.
If you really need something from the AUR you can just use distrobox to generate an arch container and install the AUR package in there. You can then export it from distrobox to your application list with a single comment so that the fact that it’s running inside distrobox becomes completely transparent.
That way you have a stable but up-to-date base while also still having access to AUR.
That being said, in my 7 years on Linux I never needed something that was only accessible in AUR but maybe that’s just me ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I’d also opt for Fedora if your device can handle it. Using Ubuntu is a bit of a headache with snaps and also Fedoras packages are newer. Fedora also has a stricter SELinux policy than Ubuntus Apparmor afaik.
If you’re really brave you might want to check the package versions of immutable distros like Guix, Nix and Fedora Silverblue. They might lower your headaches in regards to maintenance thanks to eg better rollback.
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.
I’m going to recommend Fedora Workstation. The Gnome desktop is fantastic on a laptop with a touchpad, Fedora is very up to date without being unstable, and between Flatpak, the Fedora repos, and Copr, you’re probably going to find everything you need.
I see a lot of good recommendations already, and want to add one more suggestion to try: Siduction.
I’m not sure how exactly its repos match up against the software you want more recent releases for but IMO it’s worth checking in a live boot environment or VM.
Fedora, you can add distrobox for containerised AUR
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.
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.
That’s because it’s an LTS. There may be a way to backport the latest kernel and drivers but I’m not sure.
I suppose if the games always require the very latest drivers then it’s problem but you’d expect them to run on older drivers also.
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.
Yes its Debian 12. I maybe didn’t fully understand how debian works.
Ubuntu LTS GNOME. Just avoid listening to experienced zealots as a newcomer. You want a ton of newbie friendly help, and avoiding the “Linux community” as much as possible is a great way to learn Linux, because it has a lot of Arch/Fedora stans who will piss you off.
This guide should help you a lot.
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.
A newbie needs all the stability and Windows-tier accessible community support. Ubuntu LTS means you install the distro for 5 years and forget most of the worries other than 5 anti cheat games that do not work. Companies, developers and script kiddies on GitHub always prioritise Ubuntu/Debian over anything else.
Ubuntu LTS is a polished version of Debian Unstable, whigh means you get the LTS support with the freshest repository packages you can get. Debian Stable is the one with delayed, ultra stable packages. I use Debian Stable. Used Ubuntu LTS for 6 years until June.
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.
