What Linux Distro do the Linux users of GH use?

[funderburker]

Been using ElementaryOS Freya 3.2 for about a year now. Before that Ubuntu 14.04LTS for about six months.

[algernon]

Debian user since 1998, developer since 2000 (with a minor hiatus in 2010). But nowadays, I live in Emacs, and Debian is a glorified bootloader for the One True Operating System.

[iri]

Debian user since 1998, developer since 2000 (with a minor hiatus in 2010). But nowadays, I live in Emacs, and Debian is a glorified bootloader for the One True Operating System.

I'm so sad that your OS lacks a decent editor.

[CSCoder4ever]

Debian user since 1998, developer since 2000 (with a minor hiatus in 2010). But nowadays, I live in Emacs, and Debian is a glorified bootloader for the One True Operating System.

I'm so sad that your OS lacks a decent editor.

Shouldn't be as #Vimmasterrace

 )

[algernon]

Debian user since 1998, developer since 2000 (with a minor hiatus in 2010). But nowadays, I live in Emacs, and Debian is a glorified bootloader for the One True Operating System.

I'm so sad that your OS lacks a decent editor.

Shouldn't be as #Vimmasterrace

 )

The best editor is neither Vim nor Emacs. It is Vim AND Emacs. All hail the Spacemacs! (Also serves as a great, portable OS you can boot with Windows, MacOS, Linuxen and the various BSDs!)

[philphilphil]

OpenBSD Users also welcome here? (not on my primary notebook thought)

[rowdy]

OpenBSD Users also welcome here? (not on my primary notebook thought)

Why not?

I haven't tried OpenBSD, but I had a bunch of servers running FreeBSD a few years back, and a few running NetBSD too.

[CSCoder4ever]

Debian user since 1998, developer since 2000 (with a minor hiatus in 2010). But nowadays, I live in Emacs, and Debian is a glorified bootloader for the One True Operating System.

I'm so sad that your OS lacks a decent editor.

Shouldn't be as #Vimmasterrace

 )

The best editor is neither Vim nor Emacs. It is Vim AND Emacs. All hail the Spacemacs! (Also serves as a great, portable OS you can boot with Windows, MacOS, Linuxen and the various BSDs!)

touche, everything I like about vim and emacs in one editor

[philphilphil]

OpenBSD Users also welcome here? (not on my primary notebook thought)

Why not?

I haven't tried OpenBSD, but I had a bunch of servers running FreeBSD a few years back, and a few running NetBSD too.

i was just joking sometimes you just get weird looks from other linux users because all your software is so old (and secure and stable!) and much is missing.

[rowdy]

OpenBSD Users also welcome here? (not on my primary notebook thought)

Why not?

I haven't tried OpenBSD, but I had a bunch of servers running FreeBSD a few years back, and a few running NetBSD too.

i was just joking sometimes you just get weird looks from other linux users because all your software is so old (and secure and stable!) and much is missing.

That's why I switched back to Linux, plus Linux seems to support more hardware.

[philphilphil]

OpenBSD Users also welcome here? (not on my primary notebook thought)

Why not?

I haven't tried OpenBSD, but I had a bunch of servers running FreeBSD a few years back, and a few running NetBSD too.

i was just joking sometimes you just get weird looks from other linux users because all your software is so old (and secure and stable!) and much is missing.

That's why I switched back to Linux, plus Linux seems to support more hardware.

Yeah thats true. Luckily the hw-support of openbsd is pretty good for the Thinkpads. But if i had to use it as my main computer i would probably go back to Gentoo or Arch. I got to OpenBSD in the first place after a friend showed me http://suckless.org and i liked the idea of well written software which sucks less.

[davkol]

lol at suckless

[xtrafrood]

Suckless seems like an even lazier version of slack.. How does that work?  Will it seek and destroy my computer?

[philphilphil]

Suckless seems like an even lazier version of slack.. How does that work?  Will it seek and destroy my computer?

Its not a linux distribution, its just software. For example dwm, a window manager, or surf a browser etc. the goal of suckless is to build quality software with a clean and simple approach, see here: http://suckless.org/philosophy

[n0rvig]

<3 the suckless movement!

[xtrafrood]

Suckless seems like an even lazier version of slack.. How does that work?  Will it seek and destroy my computer?

Its not a linux distribution, its just software. For example dwm, a window manager, or surf a browser etc. the goal of suckless is to build quality software with a clean and simple approach, see here: http://suckless.org/philosophy

I tuned out when I read the word Manifest. I'm sorry, too many retail overnights spent unloading trucks. I'm still wondering what this software has to offer that the most basic of Ubuntu can't offer. I've installed Chromium on Ubuntu, web browser, check. Window manager? Visually I prefer Gnome, but for lightness I prefer XFCE. Very basic stuff.

[philphilphil]

Suckless seems like an even lazier version of slack.. How does that work?  Will it seek and destroy my computer?

Its not a linux distribution, its just software. For example dwm, a window manager, or surf a browser etc. the goal of suckless is to build quality software with a clean and simple approach, see here: http://suckless.org/philosophy

I tuned out when I read the word Manifest. I'm sorry, too many retail overnights spent unloading trucks. I'm still wondering what this software has to offer that the most basic of Ubuntu can't offer. I've installed Chromium on Ubuntu, web browser, check. Window manager? Visually I prefer Gnome, but for lightness I prefer XFCE. Very basic stuff.

Well, at the end its all personal preference. I don't use suckless's window manager or browser because i like awesomewm more and the browser is afaik just a window which renders webkit which is also to less for me. But as a software developer whos coding overthinked business apps all day i like the idea of having small applications which only do one thing and this thing they do good and secure and stable.

[sth]

Suckless seems like an even lazier version of slack.. How does that work?  Will it seek and destroy my computer?

Its not a linux distribution, its just software. For example dwm, a window manager, or surf a browser etc. the goal of suckless is to build quality software with a clean and simple approach, see here: http://suckless.org/philosophy

I tuned out when I read the word Manifest. I'm sorry, too many retail overnights spent unloading trucks. I'm still wondering what this software has to offer that the most basic of Ubuntu can't offer. I've installed Chromium on Ubuntu, web browser, check. Window manager? Visually I prefer Gnome, but for lightness I prefer XFCE. Very basic stuff.

Well, at the end its all personal preference. I don't use suckless's window manager or browser because i like awesomewm more and the browser is afaik just a window which renders webkit which is also to less for me. But as a software developer whos coding overthinked business apps all day i like the idea of having small applications which only do one thing and this thing they do good and secure and stable.

surf isn't bad with a few extensions but unfortunately pretty much every 'minimal' browser ****s the bed when it comes to JS, making a ton of (arguably not-suckless) websites basically unusable - surf would crash reliably on facebook every time i used it.

[davkol]

The point of suckless is to circlejerk. There's nothing beyond it.

Take, for example, dwm:

Because dwm is customized through editing its source code, it’s pointless to make binary packages of it. This keeps its userbase small and elitist. No novices asking stupid questions. There are some distributions that provide binary packages though.

[sth]

The point of suckless is to circlejerk. There's nothing beyond it.

Take, for example, dwm:

Because dwm is customized through editing its source code, it’s pointless to make binary packages of it. This keeps its userbase small and elitist. No novices asking stupid questions. There are some distributions that provide binary packages though.

for once i agree with you

[philphilphil]

The point of suckless is to circlejerk. There's nothing beyond it.

Take, for example, dwm:

Because dwm is customized through editing its source code, it’s pointless to make binary packages of it. This keeps its userbase small and elitist. No novices asking stupid questions. There are some distributions that provide binary packages though.

maybe true. I like it anyway, its a good idea and they produced some good applications like dmenu.

[G33K]

Desktop: Windows 10
Personal servers: Debian (always)
Work: Windows 10, El Capitan, Redhat (nothing non-Redhat allowed)

[sean]

Desktop: Windows 10
Personal servers: Debian (always)
Work: Windows 10, El Capitan, Redhat (nothing non-Redhat allowed)

What's running on your server if I may ask? 

[G33K]

Desktop: Windows 10
Personal servers: Debian (always)
Work: Windows 10, El Capitan, Redhat (nothing non-Redhat allowed)

What's running on your server if I may ask? 

Home server is just Plex, Samba, SSH, mostly a media server and homelab.  It's old junk hardware though, so I shut it off when I'm not using it to save on the power bill until the eventual i5 upgrade.  Then I'm going to get some home automation, maybe some coding and such going on.

Also I have a bottom barrel DigitalOcean droplet soon to be a website for some friends and my small YouTube channel, and some team software like password managers.

[vivalarevolución]

The point of suckless is to circlejerk. There's nothing beyond it.

Take, for example, dwm:

Because dwm is customized through editing its source code, it’s pointless to make binary packages of it. This keeps its userbase small and elitist. No novices asking stupid questions. There are some distributions that provide binary packages though.

for once i agree with you

Wonderful harmony we just had here.

[vivalarevolución]

Also, does Chrome OS count as a Linux distro?  I bought a Chromebook and I'm happy with it for the basic stuff.  Just can't do much multitasking because of the only 4GB of RAM and the RAM-hog Chrome browser.  Although if I use Crouton to install Ubuntu or Debian, there is less stress on the RAM.

[sean]

Also, does Chrome OS count as a Linux distro?  I bought a Chromebook and I'm happy with it for the basic stuff.  Just can't do much multitasking because of the only 4GB of RAM and the RAM-hog Chrome browser.  Although if I use Crouton to install Ubuntu or Debian, there is less stress on the RAM.

Absolutely put another OS on it and give it functionality!!!

Desktop: Windows 10
Personal servers: Debian (always)
Work: Windows 10, El Capitan, Redhat (nothing non-Redhat allowed)

What's running on your server if I may ask? 

Home server is just Plex, Samba, SSH, mostly a media server and homelab.  It's old junk hardware though, so I shut it off when I'm not using it to save on the power bill until the eventual i5 upgrade.  Then I'm going to get some home automation, maybe some coding and such going on.

Also I have a bottom barrel DigitalOcean droplet soon to be a website for some friends and my small YouTube channel, and some team software like password managers.

My Debian server doesn't do a whole lot right now. I used to run a Halo CE server vm, Folding@Home vm, and Minecraft server vm for my sister, but nowadays it only runs the Minecraft server without a vm. While it has an 8 core FX processor and dedicated graphics the power draw is only 100w according to the UPS. I have a FreeNAS box for all of my media server needs which is hassle free.

[widdlekitty]

At work I run a modified version of CentOS, with the craziest parallel file system. 8 node based servers, booting off a master system.

[LiquidEvilGaming]

Mint, Solely and only use it on my laptop.

[G33K]

Also, does Chrome OS count as a Linux distro?  I bought a Chromebook and I'm happy with it for the basic stuff.  Just can't do much multitasking because of the only 4GB of RAM and the RAM-hog Chrome browser.  Although if I use Crouton to install Ubuntu or Debian, there is less stress on the RAM.

Absolutely put another OS on it and give it functionality!!!

Desktop: Windows 10
Personal servers: Debian (always)
Work: Windows 10, El Capitan, Redhat (nothing non-Redhat allowed)

What's running on your server if I may ask? 

Home server is just Plex, Samba, SSH, mostly a media server and homelab.  It's old junk hardware though, so I shut it off when I'm not using it to save on the power bill until the eventual i5 upgrade.  Then I'm going to get some home automation, maybe some coding and such going on.

Also I have a bottom barrel DigitalOcean droplet soon to be a website for some friends and my small YouTube channel, and some team software like password managers.

My Debian server doesn't do a whole lot right now. I used to run a Halo CE server vm, Folding@Home vm, and Minecraft server vm for my sister, but nowadays it only runs the Minecraft server without a vm. While it has an 8 core FX processor and dedicated graphics the power draw is only 100w according to the UPS. I have a FreeNAS box for all of my media server needs which is hassle free.

Nice, mine is just a Phenom x4 9500 I had spare.  Are you using Debian as the host OS?  What hypervisor?

[vivalarevolución]

Also, does Chrome OS count as a Linux distro?  I bought a Chromebook and I'm happy with it for the basic stuff.  Just can't do much multitasking because of the only 4GB of RAM and the RAM-hog Chrome browser.  Although if I use Crouton to install Ubuntu or Debian, there is less stress on the RAM.

Absolutely put another OS on it and give it functionality!!!

I was running Ubuntu on it for awhile, but took it off because, I wasn't sure which version Ubuntu I wanted to run on it and promised myself to come back to it at a later time.

Chrome OS is turning out to have sufficient functionality for basic task, and it works out of the box with my wireless printer, which is nice.  But yea, for anything more than the basic tasks, I have to bust out the desktop.  Chrome OS provides the basics, but definitely lacks full functionality.

And the RAM situation, good lord.

[Bithor]

Arch on my main desktop and antergos on my laptop. Gentoo on all of the crappy computers i find in dumpsters

[mdmcaf]

I'm primarily a Mac user as my requirements for a computer have changed quite dramatically over the past couple years or so. But I still have my trusty X201 for when I need to get my nerd on and do some "real" computing.

I was running Crunchbang on it even after they'd stopped supporting it because I just couldn't find an OS I found comparable - I didn't look very hard as I wasn't breaking out my ThinkPad very often, but I tried Bunsen Labs in a virtual machine for a while and didn't really like it, I think it was a half-hearted attempt to recreate Crunchbang. But then I discovered Crunchbang Plus Plus and it's all I've ever wanted. It's exactly like Crunchbang: they haven't really messed with anything on it - it operates with the same paradigm and I can get it to look largely the same I had it originally, so I'm quite pleased with it.

I don't do a whole lot of hardcore nerd stuff - no programming (I'm hopeless at that)...mostly just data recovery type stuff and endless tinkering around with the system trying to learn how Linux works. I've found Crunchbang is about the most forgiving for the kind of tinkering I do - I used to be a Xubuntu user and I trashed my system to the point I had to reinstall I don't know how many times. Crunchbang is much more forgiving, or maybe I've just gotten to the point where I'm better at putting things back the way they are.

[Connly33]

Right now im using KaOS on my laptop, ( keep switching to different KDE distros) , unfortunatly i had to go with windows 10 on my main PC, its going to be a little while before i can go full linux like i want to.


Just got my new NAS setup running OpenMediaVault again, which is Debian based, been having some issues but its been forcing me to learn a bit more bout Debian. Im running a 9 TB raid 5 array and trying to get the enterprise Hitachi ultra stars to spin down like i want has been a pain, i may just let them spin 24/7 even though ill only be accessing that pool a couple times a day. hdpram isn't playing nice with my drives weather i do everything in the GUI or at the command line. Trying to find another program that will do drive power management that is relatively easy to setup.

[vkulla]

I run Ubuntu Mate on my Desktop and OpenBSD on my notebook with a separate ssd for Ubuntu with xfce which i use for work.
I also running Raspbian on my "homeserver" (Raspberry PI2) and RecalboxOS on my other Raspberry PI2 for playing old games with emulation station.

[iLLucionist]

Debian user since 1998, developer since 2000 (with a minor hiatus in 2010). But nowadays, I live in Emacs, and Debian is a glorified bootloader for the One True Operating System.

I'm so sad that your OS lacks a decent editor.

Shouldn't be as #Vimmasterrace

 )

The best editor is neither Vim nor Emacs. It is Vim AND Emacs. All hail the Spacemacs! (Also serves as a great, portable OS you can boot with Windows, MacOS, Linuxen and the various BSDs!)

Amen to that.

[iLLucionist]

Other unices suck.

computers suck universally

Multiplan, LISP, and WP5.1 were the peak of computing. Only downhill since then

[iri]

I so long the days of my ZX Spectrum.

[vivalarevolución]

Not trying to troll here, but this weekend I put stock Ubuntu on my Chromebook using Crouton.  I'm actually finding Unity to not be that awful, as long as you become familiar with the keyboard shortcuts and don't mind the lack of customization options.  Could be worse.

On the other hand, if this is the desktop environment that Ubuntu developers hope to appeal the masses, you shouldn't make the typical computer user have to memorize a bunch of shortcuts in order to make the desktop work efficiently.  Just make it easy for point and click, please.

On another note, this Gallium OS seems like another appealing Chrome OS alternative.  Might give it a try.

[iLLucionist]

Not trying to troll here, but this weekend I put stock Ubuntu on my Chromebook using Crouton.  I'm actually finding Unity to not be that awful, as long as you become familiar with the keyboard shortcuts and don't mind the lack of customization options.  Could be worse.

On the other hand, if this is the desktop environment that Ubuntu developers hope to appeal the masses, you shouldn't make the typical computer user have to memorize a bunch of shortcuts in order to make the desktop work efficiently.  Just make it easy for point and click, please.

On another note, this Gallium OS seems like another appealing Chrome OS alternative.  Might give it a try.

Honestly, don't you find unity immensely disgustingly distastefully ugly? I mean, there was a time when there was hope for the linux desktop, before the default KDE 4 theme (IMHO) turned out to be ugly. When we had compiz and when we finally had almost-smooth animations like OSX. And then Unity happened. Eye-candy wise, it felt like a great step backwards. Also, that default font. What's up with that?

[sean]

Who needs Linux anyway, Windows 10 has Bash now! /s

[FlukeNukem]

Not trying to troll here, but this weekend I put stock Ubuntu on my Chromebook using Crouton.  I'm actually finding Unity to not be that awful, as long as you become familiar with the keyboard shortcuts and don't mind the lack of customization options.  Could be worse.

On the other hand, if this is the desktop environment that Ubuntu developers hope to appeal the masses, you shouldn't make the typical computer user have to memorize a bunch of shortcuts in order to make the desktop work efficiently.  Just make it easy for point and click, please.

On another note, this Gallium OS seems like another appealing Chrome OS alternative.  Might give it a try.

Honestly, don't you find unity immensely disgustingly distastefully ugly? I mean, there was a time when there was hope for the linux desktop, before the default KDE 4 theme (IMHO) turned out to be ugly. When we had compiz and when we finally had almost-smooth animations like OSX. And then Unity happened. Eye-candy wise, it felt like a great step backwards. Also, that default font. What's up with that?

Unity is awful.  KDE is a mess.  Don't get me started on compiz and beryl.  Maybe I'm just a cremudgen but nothing will ever look as good as fluxbox with a diagonal gradient.  All the flashy crap and bells and whistles in newer WMs reminds me of this:

 

[vivalarevolución]

Not trying to troll here, but this weekend I put stock Ubuntu on my Chromebook using Crouton.  I'm actually finding Unity to not be that awful, as long as you become familiar with the keyboard shortcuts and don't mind the lack of customization options.  Could be worse.

On the other hand, if this is the desktop environment that Ubuntu developers hope to appeal the masses, you shouldn't make the typical computer user have to memorize a bunch of shortcuts in order to make the desktop work efficiently.  Just make it easy for point and click, please.

On another note, this Gallium OS seems like another appealing Chrome OS alternative.  Might give it a try.

Honestly, don't you find unity immensely disgustingly distastefully ugly? I mean, there was a time when there was hope for the linux desktop, before the default KDE 4 theme (IMHO) turned out to be ugly. When we had compiz and when we finally had almost-smooth animations like OSX. And then Unity happened. Eye-candy wise, it felt like a great step backwards. Also, that default font. What's up with that?

Not that ugly, but I think I have a great tolerance for ugliness.  I also do not mind a bit of eye candy.  The lighter Radiance theme is not as bad as the stock theme:



Yea, the default font is awful and looks like a comic strip.   Unity does some things that immediately make people run away upon first glance, which is the exact opposite effect Canonical should shoot for if they intend for Unity to be the default, most widely used desktop.  And a lot of simple things, like letting the user move the dock to a different edge.  Seriously guys.

[iri]

Maybe I'm just a cremudgen

You sure are.

All the flashy crap and bells and whistles in newer WMs

Some newer WMs are tiling, they are free of flashy things.

[fohat.digs]

People still talk about things being "intuitive" but now, 3+ decades into "the computer age" it seems that "intuitive" would be better described as whatever you (personally) are accustomed to.

If Ubuntu wants to lure Windows users, they might have tried to mimic Windows' "look and feel" but Microsoft has made that a moving target with drastic changes every other time, at least.

Going for an Apple-esque appearance is a waste of time, Apple is a religion and they are accustomed to paying a top-dollar tithe, so "free" means little to them.

[iLLucionist]

People still talk about things being "intuitive" but now, 3+ decades into "the computer age" it seems that "intuitive" would be better described as whatever you (personally) are accustomed to.

If Ubuntu wants to lure Windows users, they might have tried to mimic Windows' "look and feel" but Microsoft has made that a moving target with drastic changes every other time, at least.

Going for an Apple-esque appearance is a waste of time, Apple is a religion and they are accustomed to paying a top-dollar tithe, so "free" means little to them.

Agreed. You "expect" toolbars and menus and dialogs in a certain place. It becomes some sort of muscle memory. So I was extremely disgusted with the ribbon "interface" with the back then "new" office. And Win 8 of course.

What I do like about Apple, is consistency in the UI, mostly. That is one thing I really have to give Apple credits for: still top menubar, same Finder, same UI concepts.

Another thing that is extremely annoying with Windows, is how they obfuscate and change control panel more and more with every Windows release. It is like they LIKE you not knowing how to change settings.

[fohat.digs]

extremely annoying with Windows, is how they obfuscate and change control panel more and more with every Windows release

Absolutely. Just like "the ribbon" did away with the "Format" and "View" tabs and scattered their functions all over the place.

I have spent the last couple of days setting up a new laptop with Win10 for my boss, who is wildly anti-tech and cannot stand even the slightest change in anything.

This was my first real serious encounter with 10 and it was unbelievably disorienting, far worse than ever before. I am feeling the urge and need to move my own primary desktop to 10 in the coming weeks (I have been saying that for months) as my several-years-old 7 install keeps getting slower and kludgier, but this did not encourage me.

I never did find the Control Panel. I even asked my teenage son, who has been using 8.1 for nearly a year, and he couldn't find it either. Eventually I installed a 3rd-party piece that cobbles on a 7-esque desktop and that will suffice for the immediate present.

[iLLucionist]

extremely annoying with Windows, is how they obfuscate and change control panel more and more with every Windows release

Absolutely. Just like "the ribbon" did away with the "Format" and "View" tabs and scattered their functions all over the place.

I have spent the last couple of days setting up a new laptop with Win10 for my boss, who is wildly anti-tech and cannot stand even the slightest change in anything.

This was my first real serious encounter with 10 and it was unbelievably disorienting, far worse than ever before. I am feeling the urge and need to move my own primary desktop to 10 in the coming weeks (I have been saying that for months) as my several-years-old 7 install keeps getting slower and kludgier, but this did not encourage me.

I never did find the Control Panel. I even asked my teenage son, who has been using 8.1 for nearly a year, and he couldn't find it either. Eventually I installed a 3rd-party piece that cobbles on a 7-esque desktop and that will suffice for the immediate present.

I wish you the best of luck. If even your son cannot find it, nobody can. I've tried fixing networking on Win10 recently.. it wasn't working. Oh man.. the places I had to look, the obfuscating going on. I felt 10 years older when I was done.

[FlukeNukem]

All the flashy crap and bells and whistles in newer WMs

Some newer WMs are tiling, they are free of flashy things.

Yeah if I ever feel the need to reformat my Debian box I'll probably check out something like Notion or wmii.  But for now fluxbox is serving me well as it has for years.  I spend most of my time on Linux in a terminal running tmux so that's basically a tiling wm already.

extremely annoying with Windows, is how they obfuscate and change control panel more and more with every Windows release

I never did find the Control Panel. I even asked my teenage son, who has been using 8.1 for nearly a year, and he couldn't find it either. Eventually I installed a 3rd-party piece that cobbles on a 7-esque desktop and that will suffice for the immediate present.

I don't know if there's a ui button you can click on to get to the control panel, but Win+R to bring up the run box then typing "control" still works.  For me that's always been faster than clicking through the start menu so I prefer accessing it that way anyway.  I dread the day ms decides to remove it completely and force people to use the new "settings" panel.

[fohat.digs]

I dread the day ms decides to remove it completely and force people to use the new "settings" panel.

I found the settings panel but it did not include whatever it was that I needed to do (such as find the control panel).

All the usual headings such as "Appearance" and "User Accounts" seem to have been stripped of 80% of their contents.