Choosing a Linux Distribution, Part II

In my previous article, I gave a list of criteria that can be used to help choose a Linux distribution. In this post, I will go through these point-by-point, summarize how different distributions pass or fail these tests, and reveal my present-day choice.

Some distributions that have been on my radar within the last few years include, in alphabetical order:

• Alpine
• Arch
• Debian
• elementary OS
• Fedora
• Gentoo
• Linux Lite
• Linux Mint
• MX Linux
• openSUSE
• Peppermint
• Puppy Linux
• Raspberry Pi Desktop (not to be confused with Raspberry Pi OS)
• Slackware
• Ubuntu
• Zorin

I. Is there a distribution recommended for use, or bundled, with the hardware?
For some reason, most of the computers I get tend to be special hardware, which typically makes selecting an operating system simple. My present computer, however, is an HP ProDesk 400 G4 SFF, a typical desktop PC. It has no internal wifi and requires special drivers for the external adapter, but this is a problem common to most Linux distributions.

II. Is the distribution is likely to endure?
The majority of the distributions on my list above have been around for a while, but some are less stable or mainstream than others. elementary OS is rumored to be in trouble, as its leads had a dramatic falling out. Linux Lite, Peppermint OS, and Raspberry Pi Desktop are relatively obscure and don’t seem to offer significant enough advantages over their upstream sources to justify widespread use. Zorin is popular and has some unique features, but is primarily developed by the eponymous Zorin brothers, and is at risk should anything significant change in their lives.

III. What is software support like?
Most of the distributions above are decent enough in this area. In general, Debian and its derivatives have the broadest support and are the easiest to find packages for, but the others also have generally good support. The main loser here is Alpine, which uses musl instead of glibc (thus making it incompatible with binaries for most other Linux distributions).

IV. How easy is it to set up, use, and/or maintain it?
Arch, Slackware, and Gentoo all have reputations for being difficult. I have set up Arch before, and the new archinstall tool seems to dramatically expedite the process, but it is known that Arch updates may occasionally break things, and the expectation whenever that happens is that it is the user’s problem. Alpine is ‘some assembly required’, but it isn’t inordinately difficult and I have set it up several times. Debian is a bit easier than Alpine. The rest are typically similar to or slightly easier than Debian.

V. What type of applications do you expect the distro to come with after a fresh install?
As I mentioned in my previous article, I typically prefer minimal installs, and it happens that the harder distributions tend to cater to that preference. Debian and Arch both hit the spot in this respect. Raspberry Pi Desktop is also remarkably light. Ubuntu MATE and Fedora’s MATE spin, on the other hand, come with a lot of customizations and preinstalled software that I am not crazy about. MX Linux is relatively lightweight, but it does technically add to Debian, and I’m not sure whether the additions are all necessary.

VI. Do you like it (whether the product, or the brand, or the people who put it out) more?
This is the real ‘decision point’. It just so happens that the majority of the software I use has been picked by virtue of everything else being disqualified, and in the cases where it hasn’t, the other technical points have generally made it clear.

• elementary OS has release names that are named after mythological gods. To be fair, our days of the week, months and planets have the same problem, but it has always felt a bit off to me in elementary OS's case. I disagree with other choices of its current owner and lead developer. Besides all that, it is centered around a GNOME-like desktop environment, and I don't like GNOME.
• I used to endorse Linux Mint, but later discovered that the founder and lead developer of the project, at one point in time, made public statements that were vehemently opposed to the Israeli government. The project may be bigger than one man, and he did apologize for using the distribution as a platform for his political views, but even so, I feel this is sufficient cause to look elsewhere.
• MX Linux is partly derived from the antiX community, which is associated with radical political positions.
• openSUSE has a lizard logo in its favor, but it also has the ‘wicked’ network manager. Such names are often enough to throw me off of software (for example, I have avoided KDE on account of its ‘powerdevil’ and ‘bluedevil’).
• Puppy has a mixed record. I like the branding generally, but there are specific Puppies that have issues similar to other options here (also, since Puppies are based on other distros, they may inherit the problems that their parent has).
• Slackware is associated with the mock religion of the ‘Church of the SubGenius’.

On the flip side, distributions I like include Alpine, Debian, Gentoo, and “Raspi” Desktop. Gentoo has a cow, and Alpine and “Raspi” feel lighter and perhaps friendlier than many other options.

You might have guessed my overall choice after reading these points and noticing what was (or in some cases, wasn’t) mentioned. I feel that Debian fits the bill. Running through the questions again:

I. Is there a distribution recommended for use, or bundled, with the hardware?
Although my machine doesn’t have many special requirements, Debian has good support for almost every type of hardware out there.

II. Is the distribution is likely to endure?
It is the second-oldest existing Linux distribution, and has a large community. It is likely that more Linux distributions than not are based on Debian as a foundation.

III. What is software support like?
Debian has massive software repositories, and wherever you see Linux programs from a third-party, they will typically offer .deb support.

IV. How easy is it to set up, use, and/or maintain it?
Debian isn’t as easy as some to install and set up, but it is easy enough, and it tends to get easier with time. In the near future, Debian’s installer will include non-free firmware. As far as stability and maintenance, popular consensus is that Debian Stable is ‘rock-solid’.

V. What type of applications do you expect the distro to come with after a fresh install?
It is very simple to get a minimal Debian install, and easy to install the software you want after the fact.

VI. Do you like it (whether the product, or the brand, or the people who put it out) more?
Neither Debian nor its community have any onerous quirks that I am aware of.

When I was a kid using Mac OS 8.6 in 1998, I felt then that Debian was representative of ‘default’ or ‘official’ Linux, and although my understanding of what Linux is has evolved, I have never really aged out of that childhood impression. And it is, in fact, upstream for half of the Linux world.

I like stable things, things that have survived a long time, and things that other people consider ‘boring’ or ‘passé’, and Debian, the second-oldest existing Linux distribution, is every one of those.

Debian flew on the Space Shuttle Columbia, and NASA has been known to use it since.

All in all, Debian is a classic, and…