What linux distributions is everyone using?

[tkamiya]

I have a fairly elaborate home network of computers.  Two servers running Ubuntu acting as nfs and samba storages (one backs up the other), Windows 10, and 11 workstations, Mac workstations, and Linux workstations. 

My question is about Linux.  Ubuntu used to be small and nimble.  But I'm not so sure about the latest version, 22.0.4.  It seems bloated, and I am even having stability issues.  Samba disconnects periodically and randomly.  ntp service fed by gpsd simply doesn't recognize the GPS device (worked on 20.0.4).  Plainly put, it feels it's coming closer to how Windows used to be.

I'm not trying to find the best, as it really is a matter of opinion and use case.  But I am curious what Linux distributions everyone is using for server and workstation duties.  Would guys mind sharing that information with short descriptions on why?

Thanks in advance.

[sokoloff]

Mostly Ubuntu. I switched from fedora years ago, for a variety of minor reasons that I can no longer enumerate.

I do like apt better than yum, but I doubt that was a major driver.

[Pbtz]

I use artix linux, which is like arch without system d. I run it in my fairly outdated thinkpad and it's great.

I've been experimenting with dwm and dwmblocks as my tiling window manager/user interface and it's great for tinkering due to how easy it is to interface it with custom scrips/programs.

There's a installation script (https://larbs.xyz) from Luke Smith (somewhat famous linux youtube guy) that installs it and a lot of neat dotfiles on a bare arch/artix install. I recommend everyone interested in linux installing it in a older unused laptop to start playing with it.

[ferdieCX]

I dropped CentOs in December and installed Debian. I am very satisfied with it.

[xrunner]

Linux Mint on two PCs using Ryzen 7 1700s.

One of them runs 24/7 for Einstein@home. The other PC I use in the evenings to keep in touch (like this forum) while also running Einstein@home. Seems to be a very reliable system for the last few years I've been using it.

[rodcastler]

I run Debian on my home media and file server and just moved over to Elementary for desktop duties after years on Ubuntu, mainly for the same reasons the OP exposed. Very happy with it.

[brucehoult]

Ubuntu when I can, but anything Debian-based will do.

I run Ubuntu server (i.e. no GUI) on everything from under $10 Arm and RISC-V boards (Pine64 Ox64 is cool) to a 64 core 2 GHz OoO SG2042 RISC-V board, AWS Graviton 3 in the cloud, VMs/docker on my M1 Mac. Oh, and yeah, on a few x86 machines as well :-)

The certainty of knowing that everything from shell scripts to C++ code is going to Just Work across all those devices without worrying about whether X utility is available or Y option is supported on tar or ps or whether a system header file is incompatible is just about magical. Just put Ubuntu 20.04 LTS (ok 22.04 soon) and be happy.

[BradC]

Devuan on everything. I've always used Debian or Ubuntu and I just don't seem to get on with systemd.

[SiliconWizard]

I use Arch on all machines I've installed Linux on, including SBCs (using archlinux arm), except my NAS which runs on CentOS (but I wouldn't use CentOS these days, I just don't see any benefit of reinstalling it as it's been running smoothly for years.) My next install is going to be migrating my main workstation from Windows to Linux, and it's going to be Arch as well.

[thermistor-guy]

Mint xfce on a few PCs. Debian on an Udoo Bolt Gear.

Thinking of moving to Debian on the PCs, when the LTS expires.

[JoeRoy]

                  +I+                   
                 +777+                   OS: EndeavourOS rolling rolling
                +77777++                 Kernel: x86_64 Linux 6.1.29-1-lts
               +7777777++                Uptime: 3d 5h 8m
              +7777777777++              Packages: 4565
            ++7777777777777++            Shell: bash 5.1.16
           ++777777777777777+++          Resolution: 1920x1080
         ++77777777777777777++++         DE: Xfce4
        ++7777777777777777777++++        WM: Xfwm4
      +++777777777777777777777++++       WM Theme: Materia-dark-compact
    ++++7777777777777777777777+++++      GTK Theme: Materia-dark-compact [GTK2]
   ++++77777777777777777777777+++++      Icon Theme: Adwaita
  +++++777777777777777777777777+++++     Font: Noto Sans 10
       +++++++7777777777777777++++++     Disk: 268G / 938G (31%)
      +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++      CPU: Intel Core i7-8750H @ 12x 4.1GHz [59.0°C]
     +++++++++++++++++++++++++++         GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060
                                         RAM: 12154MiB / 31951MiB


               +                OS: Arch Linux x86_64
               #                Hostname: pc
              ###               Kernel Release: 6.1.29-1-lts
             #####              Uptime: 3 days, 5:08
             ######             WM: Xfwm
            ; #####;            DE: Xfce
           +##.#####            Packages: 4565
          +##########           RAM: 9340 MB / 31951 MB
         #############;         Processor Type: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-8750H CPU @ 2.20GHz
        ###############+        $EDITOR: /usr/bin/vim
       #######   #######        Root: 268G / 937G (28%) (ext4)
     .######;     ;###;`".     
    .#######;     ;#####.       
    #########.   .########`     
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  ##'                     '##   
 #'                         `# 

[golden_labels]

Arch Linux on all my private machines. Ubuntu on my mother’s laptop, though I will certainly replace it with something else in the future.

[gjvdheiden]

I use Ubuntu only (except from docker) for Linux distro. I have used it for many years on my work (mainly Java software engineer) computer. At home I use Mac as my desktop computer, it's got a zsh shell I can use.

I don't want to fuzz with compiling stuff I actually need. I can get very annoyed (don't come near is the advice) when tools don't work, and I definitely consider the OS as one of my tools.

I also run Ubuntu 23.04 on my PI, which runs SMB just fine. The PI is runs my KNX (wired home automation) to HomeKit. Very critical little machine that is.

On my machines, I always use them as being easily replaceable. E.g. code and KiCad drawings are in git, documents are safely stored / backed up, SMB config has a backup etc. Kinda like docker images.

Also I don't mock around with my own newest compiled stuff on machines I work on. I only use repeatable installs via package management. (One of things I like about Linux distros in general). Or use a virtual machine to test something out if I really need / want to.

Keeps it clean, everything is "stock". If you search something for Ubuntu, you get loads of stuff. But that is no different to other distros.

[JPortici]

Ubuntu IS the windows of linux, has been for some years now, and if i had to choose between the two i would grab windows 100% of the time.
Long gone are the days in which ubuntu (or almost any functional distro) would fit in 300-400MB (the first distro i installed was actually ubuntu, which came on a neat CD for free from canonical. At that time nobody but internet cafes had DSL, at it would cost an arm and a leg. we all ran 56k dialup)

I found my comfort zone in debian. Easy to install, easy to install packages, fairly good support, embedded linux support. XFCE as a window manager, light on the CPU and polished.

[mapleLC]

Desktop use - Ubuntu

For containerization its a mixed bag but I usually default to Debian.

[mapleLC]

I have a fairly elaborate home network of computers.  Two servers running Ubuntu acting as nfs and samba storages (one backs up the other), Windows 10, and 11 workstations, Mac workstations, and Linux workstations. 

My question is about Linux.  Ubuntu used to be small and nimble.  But I'm not so sure about the latest version, 22.0.4.  It seems bloated, and I am even having stability issues.  Samba disconnects periodically and randomly.  ntp service fed by gpsd simply doesn't recognize the GPS device (worked on 20.0.4).  Plainly put, it feels it's coming closer to how Windows used to be.

I'm not trying to find the best, as it really is a matter of opinion and use case.  But I am curious what Linux distributions everyone is using for server and workstation duties.  Would guys mind sharing that information with short descriptions on why?

Thanks in advance.

You might consider moving to TrueNAS and do your smb shares there. IMO you should run Proxmox and virtualize everything and pick 1 desktop OS, I did and it's been a good change.

Devuan on everything. I've always used Debian or Ubuntu and I just don't seem to get on with systemd.

As mentioned, I use Proxmox and avoid Docker which in no time will become a money grubber company, you see all the signals already. Another Sonos, Synology, Ubuquiti clone company.

[tkamiya]

Thanks everyone for input.  Unexpectedly, it came in all over the map, but Debian or its cousins were the majority.  I will give it more thought as this is a good chance to rearchitect my home system.

Thanks again.

[Karel]

OpenSuSE Leap (@ work & @ home)

[Monkeh]

Yes, is my answer.

More seriously: Gentoo, Arch, Alpine, Debian, (K)Ubuntu. The latter is shortly going to burn in the fires of he- I mean get replaced with something not using snap.

I use Gentoo for my main workstation and for various VMs, it's flexible and generally doesn't get in my way (just mind the compile times).
Alpine for most containers doing odd jobs, it's tiny, fast, and easy to manage.
Arch where Alpine won't work due to silly, silly non-portable software.
Debian for the same reason, where Arch won't work. Possibly going to just replace Arch with it, because pacman is a little clumsy.
(K)Ubuntu was an experiment on my laptop to remove the maintenance burden - instead made it more annoying, because snap is awful and hilariously overcomplicated for the simple task of package management.

[DiTBho]

[Gentoo] is flexible and generally doesn't get in my way (just mind the compile times).

generally doesn't get in your way for x86, for other architectures (especially MIPS) is a different story
Do you have any personal Overlay?

[Monkeh]

[Gentoo] is flexible and generally doesn't get in my way (just mind the compile times).

generally doesn't get in your way for x86, for other architectures (especially MIPS) is a different story

Yes, ancient dead-end architectures receive very little attention.

[DiTBho]

ancient dead-end architectures receive very little attention.

that software - compiled from sources - should be architecture-independent, but in reality, it is not.

that's why I am supporting personal overlays and personal stages. If I don't receive attention, I fix stuff myself.
You have to spend a lot of time committing bugs, and if it's not x86 you will receive little/zero attention.

[David Hess]

I prefer Gentoo first, and then Debian second because of its packages system.

[John B]

I'm on stock Fedora with the KDE environment installed over the stock GNOME environment.

I'm not quite at the point of recommending it to anyone, only for the fact that I want to see if there's any long term issues with upgrades.

I was able to upgrade from F37 to F38 with no issues. The KDE is probably the most problematic thing of the installation, but nothing has been a fatal problem. Sometimes updates will result in a number of bugs with all the associated environment plugins and processes, but they are usually fixed fairly quickly.

[bsfeechannel]

Lubuntu.