what linux distro should i install

[Sniping]

So I have an extra windows laptop on me and it's not doing much. I usually use my macbook most of the time. I've been thinking of installing a hipster linux distro onto my spare laptop just for the experience of trying it and for the hell of it. Should I just go with arch or is there something cooler out there I should try.

[exitfire401]

I've been using Antergos for around a year now. All the benefits of Arch, none of the hassle of the installation process.

[SBJ]

I've been using Antergos for around a year now. All the benefits of Arch, none of the hassle of the installation process.

I decided to try out Antergos as well a couple of months ago and it's quickly becoming one of my favorite distributions.
Hasn't borked itself yet with all the extra programs I install from yaourt.

[Leslieann]

I love Antergos (I'm typing this on it), but I would recommend Mint or Ubuntu for your first foray into Linux.

Antergos isn't difficult to install, it's not hard to use. Where Antergos (and Arch) fails for new people is stability, documentation and troubleshooting. Arch, and Antergos is bleeding edge, it's not a matter of when an update with bork something, but a matter of when. I'm not saying it's unstable, I find it better than Win10 by a long shot, but when it does, someone new has no point of reference of where to even start looking for help when something goes wrong, they do not know the right terms yet. When they do find help, the help is often in code.

Ubuntu and Mint are a bit down the line on updates and therefore a bit more stable, there is more people looking for help using similar terms to what someone new would use, and Ubuntu and it's users do a pretty good job of explaining things in ways they will understand. Ubuntu has a reputation of being for noobs, it's stable, it works, just because it's not hardcore enough doesn't make it a noob OS, there are more servers running Ubuntu Server than there are running Arch for this very reason. Ubuntu is for everyone, noobs and experts alike, while Antergos and Arch are more for Linux gurus and sadists people who love a challenge.

The whole point of trying this is to see if it's something you like and can handle, starting with something difficult or has some weird bug isn't going to give you the best impression. Start simple. Figure out if it works, find what you like, then push forward.

[Sniping]

I love Antergos (I'm typing this on it), but I would recommend Mint or Ubuntu for your first foray into Linux.

Antergos isn't difficult to install, it's not hard to use. Where Antergos (and Arch) fails for new people is stability, documentation and troubleshooting. Arch, and Antergos is bleeding edge, it's not a matter of when an update with bork something, but a matter of when. I'm not saying it's unstable, I find it better than Win10 by a long shot, but when it does, someone new has no point of reference of where to even start looking for help when something goes wrong, they do not know the right terms yet. When they do find help, the help is often in code.

Ubuntu and Mint are a bit down the line on updates and therefore a bit more stable, there is more people looking for help using similar terms to what someone new would use, and Ubuntu and it's users do a pretty good job of explaining things in ways they will understand. Ubuntu has a reputation of being for noobs, it's stable, it works, just because it's not hardcore enough doesn't make it a noob OS, there are more servers running Ubuntu Server than there are running Arch for this very reason. Ubuntu is for everyone, noobs and experts alike, while Antergos and Arch are more for Linux gurus and sadists people who love a challenge.

The whole point of trying this is to see if it's something you like and can handle, starting with something difficult or has some weird bug isn't going to give you the best impression. Start simple. Figure out if it works, find what you like, then push forward.

So I use Ubuntu at work already so most of the code I write is in an Ubuntu environment. It's not exactly what I'm looking for here, I am indeed looking for a challenge and something fun to play around with. I've been considering either void or arch but not entirely sure where to go.

[joey]

my vote is void!

[xtrafrood]

A few days ago I was messing around with the Debian barebones iso (net?) and found that I could install 9.5 base without DE or DM/compositor/WM.

So that's something to think about if you want to go full hipster tiling window manager 'from scratch' with the added bonus of apt-get at your disposal.

Btw, I use AL (AUR: trizen ftw).

I would definitely go with Antergos and avoid Manjaro if you decide full AL isn't for you. Manjaro is great to test out a tiling wm in a vm...

After a year of Manjaro I decided that translating AL wiki to Manjaroism was not for me. Definitely not a problem with Antergos.


edit - screenshot of that Debian 9.5 vm https://i.imgur.com/YdYEkWK.png for lols

[Leslieann]

So I use Ubuntu at work already so most of the code I write is in an Ubuntu environment. It's not exactly what I'm looking for here, I am indeed looking for a challenge and something fun to play around with. I've been considering either void or arch but not entirely sure where to go.

Info like that probably should have been mentioned in the first post.

[Sniping]

So I use Ubuntu at work already so most of the code I write is in an Ubuntu environment. It's not exactly what I'm looking for here, I am indeed looking for a challenge and something fun to play around with. I've been considering either void or arch but not entirely sure where to go.

Info like that probably should have been mentioned in the first post.

oops

[xtrafrood]

I've been using Antergos for around a year now. All the benefits of Arch, none of the hassle of the installation process.

I decided to try out Antergos as well a couple of months ago and it's quickly becoming one of my favorite distributions.
Hasn't borked itself yet with all the extra programs I install from yaourt.

Seems as though yaourt is no longer maintained. Just a friendly heads up.

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/AUR_helpers#Comparison_table
https://itsfoss.com/best-aur-helpers/
https://github.com/archlinuxfr/yaourt

I've used trizen for the past six months without any hiccups. But there are plenty of other AUR helpers.

[SBJ]

I've been using Antergos for around a year now. All the benefits of Arch, none of the hassle of the installation process.

I decided to try out Antergos as well a couple of months ago and it's quickly becoming one of my favorite distributions.
Hasn't borked itself yet with all the extra programs I install from yaourt.

Seems as though yaourt is no longer maintained. Just a friendly heads up.

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/AUR_helpers#Comparison_table
https://itsfoss.com/best-aur-helpers/
https://github.com/archlinuxfr/yaourt

I've used trizen for the past six months without any hiccups. But there are plenty of other AUR helpers.

Thanks for that. Switched to aurman.

[suicidal_orange]

So I use Ubuntu at work already so most of the code I write is in an Ubuntu environment. It's not exactly what I'm looking for here, I am indeed looking for a challenge and something fun to play around with. I've been considering either void or arch but not entirely sure where to go.

As you claim to be a newbie can I check you know the difference between a Distro and a Desktop Environment?  You can run Gnome, KDE, XFCE and a whole lot of other options in Ubuntu so if you don't like the look/layout of the toolbars or the behaviour of the file manager (or similar GUI annoyances) that's not a Ubuntu problem.  If you've never tried these install Ubuntu with all of them and disable auto login, then you can switch between them on the login screen until you find one you like.

Feel free to ignore this if you're looking to go all out and design your own unique desktop setup

[no, the other guy]

Have you tried Void? It is probably the most obvious hipster distro - its package manager works similarly to pacman and all the uncool people use something else...