so i am finally down to two clear options and i genuinely want to ask you guys, which one should i actually install?
after spending hours fixing tty errors, wiping gdm3, and fighting wayland session locks, i narrowed my choices down to two rock solid distros. both get rid of the grey screen issues, both run lightdm on pure x11, and both give me that fast old school linux feeling without any extra bloat.
here is where i am stuck.
option a is linux mint xfce. it is complete comfort. it keeps the same debian and apt workflow i used back when i ran debian mate. it is plug and play, codecs and drivers are ready right away, and i can drop my desktop themes in and get straight to work. my only question is whether it stays a bit too far behind on kernel and package updates.
option b is fedora mate or xfce spin. it is fast, modern, and sharp. i get the latest linux kernel, great hardware performance, and smooth desktop effects with compiz. all it takes is spending five minutes setting up rpm fusion and changing my muscle memory from apt to dnf.
if you were in my position, wanting a clean daily system that handles some customization, runs security tools when needed, and never freezes on boot, which way would you go?
leave your thoughts below and help me make up my mind.
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already
well, i can't give a super educated opinion, but i run mint xfce, so i'll go with that one :p
i don't think you'll have any stability issues at all, and mint makes more sense if you want to stick with your apt muscle memory, but i totally feel you on wanting to see new and different things haha. by the way, have you ever run into driver or package freshness issues on it? i usually go for rolling release distros myself, not really used to lts stuff
by d a v i d; ; Report
well i'm not the type to run super up-to-date or cutting edge stuff so i'm not the most reliable source.. i've never had problems with drivers personally and i tend to install on patchwork frankensteined devices full of salvage parts and random peripherals. but i confess that sometimes i go months or even years without running update manager, especially when i install on drives that i take in and out of my tower :'^I
by already; (edited); Report
oh ok, fair enough. i'm a bit obsessed with keeping things up to date. still, looks like i'll test both distros and take it from there. thanks for your thoughts
by d a v i d; ; Report
you can always load mint on a flashdrive or something and test that way :)
by already; ; Report