Hey fellas friends. Sorry to create yet another post on this topic (maybe we should have a sticky for this?).

About 2 weeks ago I decided it was time to move on from Windows and installed Manjaro. I would consider myself a newbie-intermediate level linux user.

Though I’ve used Windows most my life, we use Linux servers (no GUI) at work, managing them is part of job description. I also own a late 2011 Macbook Pro with vanilla Arch Linux. I barely ever use it but boy, Arch really brought it back to life!

I’ve been reasonably happy with Manjaro so far, feels easy and intuitive to use but the community has made me aware that Manjaro is maybe a questionable choice. Since I don´t plan on distro-hopping a lot I want to get it right sooner rather than later.

Here’s what I’m looking for:

  • Rolling distribution, preferably. Though this machine is also used for work, our environment depends mostly on remote servers anyway. I’d rather have a distribution that provides the most recent packages for whatever I want
  • I don´t mind running a distribution that forces me learn new things or do things in a different way, I kinda embrace it. I just don´t enjoy complexity for complexity’s sake.
  • KDE is my preferred Desktop Environment so far, though I guess that’s not very relevant. I’d love to run Hyprland, but you know… Nvidia :(
  • I play games on Steam but from my understanding this doesn´t matter either. Everything I tried worked great, I don´t think I want a ¨gaming focused" distro or anything like that
  • No Ubuntu, please.

My hardware, in case you feel is relevant!

OS: Manjaro Linux x86_64 
Kernel: 6.5.5-1-MANJARO 
Shell: bash 5.1.16 
Resolution: 2560x1440, 2560x1440 
WM: KWin 
Terminal: konsole 
Terminal Font: MesloLGS NF 10 
CPU: 12th Gen Intel i7-12700K (20) @ 4.900GHz 
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Lite Hash Rate 
Memory: 23313MiB / 64087MiB
  • MrBubbles96@lemmy.mlEnglish
    4·
    2 years ago

    Yet another “Time to reccomend EndeavourOS” reply.

    Seriously tho, EndeavourOS is a pretty solid distro, and not that different from what you’re currently rocking (Manjaro is based on Arch) except well…it actually works as an Arch based distro should, unlike Manjaro. EndeavourOS’s a bit on the light side tho, and it comes with no GUI Add/Remove Software outta the box, but if you don’t like using the Konsole for that, nothing a “yay pamac-all” (or “yay pamac-all-no-snap”) and a bit of installing the packages you want/need can’t fix.

      • MrBubbles96@lemmy.mlEnglish
        1·
        2 years ago

        I also do this, partly outta habit and partly to hear the sounds my mechanical keyboard makes when typing lol

        Anyways, I’d say you’re golden if you wanna give Endeavour a shot then

        • pathief@lemmy.worldOP
          1·
          2 years ago

          I too have been in the Mechanical Keyboard rabbit hole. I ended up with the Happy Hacking Keyboard 2. Such a joy to type! :D

  • GustavoM@lemmy.worldEnglish
    4·
    2 years ago

    Just “man up” and do a minimal install of (any distro you want), and (manually) install the things you want via the package manager.

    …no really. All it takes is two commands (one to search for the package you want, and the another one to install it).

    “b-buh its my first ti–”

    DO IT

  • GamesRevolution@programming.dev
    3·
    2 years ago

    If you want to be a little adventurous, just install vanilla arch and it will be great, but if you want a little bit of a easier install with all the same benefits, use endeavor os.

    If you want something not arch based the only thing I can recommend is OpenSUSE Tumbleweed, I’ve heard great things about it.

    Also about Hyprland and Nvidia, I’ve been using Hyprland for some months now with Nvidia and it’s been working great. I do have a significantly older card then you, but it could be worth a try to see if it works. You just have to follow the Hyprland wiki very carefully and you should be fine.

  • danielfgom@lemmy.worldEnglish
    3·
    2 years ago

    In short: Manjaro sucks. No one should ever use it.

    For rolling distro you should look at:

    1. Opensuse Tumbleweed: latest packages, well tested, bullet proof reliability and built in system rollback. RPM based.

    2. Garuda Linux: full flavoured ARCH. Very fast, has all the latest packages. Reliable. Built in rollback. Cool theming.

    • Aties@lemmy.world
      1·
      2 years ago

      In short: Manjaro sucks. No one should ever use it.

      I’ve seen their certificates fail to renew multiple times. I feel like I don’t know anything, but I could at least certbot.

      • danielfgom@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        2 years ago

        They are notorious for breaking your system because they mix old packages with new which causes dependency issues and driver issues.

        If you’re using a rolling distro both the system packages and library’s, as well as the apps packages must both be up to date.

        Manjaro doesn’t follow this

  • CocoLopez@lemmy.world
    2·
    2 years ago

    I’ve already mentioned this a couple of time this week, so I hope no one get bothered. But I can’t recommend Xerolinux enough (page). I think it’s what you may like. Rolling release, gorgeous KDE, a ready to use as is system. I’ve been distro hopping for a while but this made me settled.

    • pathief@lemmy.worldOP
      1·
      2 years ago

      Do they use Arch official repositories or is it like manjaro where they have their own repo?

      • Skerse@lemmy.world
        1·
        2 years ago

        It uses the Arch official repositories so it’s as rolling as pure Arch, i used it before it’s great. It uses KDE Plasma and has different theming options to pick from that all look really nice.

        You can always try it in a live environment before installing it to see if you like it.

  • KISSmyOS@lemmy.world
    1·
    2 years ago

    OpenSUSE Tumbleweed gets recommended here a lot. Just be aware: It’s an expert distro masquerading as beginner-friendly.
    Out of the box, it won’t recognize printers and scanners. Setting them up is a hassle without cups-airprint and sane-airscan which aren’t preinstalled, and the latter is only available through a user’s repo.

    Printer setup will also fail unless you add an exception to the built-in firewall. Nothing in the GUI tells you about this.

    It also won’t play web videos before you install the codecs. These are available in the packman repo, which will require learning the concept of repo priorities and “vendor-change”, what it does and when to use it. (It can break your system)

    The package manager is very sophisticated and complex, but some of its features shouldn’t be used in Tumbleweed. Updating Tumbleweed like you would the normal fixed release system is possible (in fact, if you use the GUI, it’s the default) but it will break your system.

    And the system administration tool YAST offers a lot of functionality that is already present in the KDE options. What the differences are? Who knows.

  • samsy@feddit.de
    21·
    2 years ago

    This rolling release thing was just a terrible time in my Linux life. It’s like you are scared of the “you have to start from the ground, erase everything, thing if you want to install win7 or winXP” but the price for a rolling release is a hell of updates every day.

    I am done with this annoying updates. Debian has both world’s, the stable side just updates if your security is at risk and the unstable branch is near the same like a rolling release and what Debian calls “unstable” is more stable than any arch-based distro. Btw a change between stable and unstable can be done at every time after install.

    I personally prefer fedora because its as stable as Debian but has mostly actual packages like rolling releases. And would be my advice for op. BTW. Try out kinoite. Undestroyable Linux is the hot shit actually.

    https://fedoraproject.org/kinoite/

    And don’t be scared about not rolling release, a version change is just a big update. Nothing got destroyed like in the good old windows time.

    • pathief@lemmy.worldOP
      2·
      2 years ago

      Immutable distributions and/or NixOS is definitely something I have considered. Mostly as a learning experience, maybe NixOS is something that could be really useful for work. As an everyday desktop experience, I’m not sure it’s the right fit… Maybe I’ll replace the Arch Linux on my Macbook Pro. I barely use it anyway, something not rolling definitely makes a lot more sense.

  • Holzkohlen@feddit.de
    1·
    2 years ago

    Yet another one of my Garuda Linux shill posts. IMHO thr best arch based distro. As easy to setup as Manjaro. Check out their KDE light version if you don’t like their theme, which is what I use. I think their edgy theme is THE WORST. The distro itself is great tho. Been running it for a few months without distro hopping, this is huge for me.

  • Pantherina@feddit.de
    1·
    2 years ago

    You want to game on your work machine?? Okay.

    So KDE, and gaming, and rolling, and stable kinda.

    • Opensuse Kalpa: Tumbleweed based immutable, not sure about codecs
    • Fedora Kinoite-nvidia from ublue
    • pathief@lemmy.worldOP
      1·
      2 years ago

      You want to game on your work machine?? Okay.

      It’s more like the other way around, I happen to work on my gaming machine :P Cheers!