this post was submitted on 09 Nov 2023
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Linux

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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System Details Report


Hardware Information:

  • Hardware Model: Dell Inc. Inspiron 3480
  • Memory: 8.0 GiB
  • Processor: Intel® Core™ i5-8265U × 8
  • Graphics: Intel® UHD Graphics 620 (WHL GT2)
  • Disk Capacity: 240.1 GB

Software Information:

  • Firmware Version: 1.25.0
  • OS Name: Fedora Linux 39 (Workstation Edition)
  • OS Type: 64-bit
  • GNOME Version: 45.1
  • Windowing System: Wayland
  • Kernel Version: Linux 6.5.10-300.fc39.x86_64
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[–] [email protected] 15 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Software information says you're already using Fedora ? Do you mean you want to switch distros ? If so, it'll be useful to say what you're looking for and why Fedora didn't fulfill those needs so we can recommend alternatives.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

We would love to help you! But please consider helping us by providing more information:

  • Do you actually want to switch distros? Or just interested in what's out there?
  • If Fedora 39 didn't satisfy you, then what exactly is bothering you?
  • What is it that you seek from your distro? Being out of the way? Freedom? Polish? Blank slate? Security? Privacy? Ease-of-use? Up-to-date? Big repos? etc
[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I have distro-hopped before so i don't mind switching

I need a distro which is package-agnostic since i use a lot of old ooen source academic software and they alternate between being only supported on RHEL or Ubuntu

Fedora 39 is great except when i need to build the above mentioned software from source and i spend 2 hrs failing to match the dependencies from Ubuntu

Also want to improvey laptop's battery life, but i think i can't get it much better than in Fedora

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Thank you for responding!

I need a distro which is package-agnostic since i use a lot of old ooen source academic software and they alternate between being only supported on RHEL or Ubuntu

Perhaps you should look into container solutions like e.g. Distrobox. You can basically install/run any package; just ensure usage of the correct container environment.

Fedora 39 is great except when i need to build the above mentioned software from source and i spend 2 hrs failing to match the dependencies from Ubuntu

If you're otherwise content with Fedora, then perhaps consider installing the aforementioned Distrobox; which happens to be found within Fedora's repos and thus one sudo dnf install distrobox away from being installed on your machine.

Also want to improvey laptop’s battery life, but i think i can’t get it much better than in Fedora

I'd argue that Fedora is not best for battery life, though. Minimalist distros tend to be a lot better at this. Installing auto-cpufreq in Fedora Silverblue on my AMD-powered laptop did come with significant improvements, so perhaps you could prolong your battery life by utilizing it or similar programs; think of TLP, thermald etc to name a few.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Thank you for the fast reply

I looked into distrobox and checks all the boxes but there is the issue of my lack of storage space(currently only 130 GB left out of 240)

Also thank you for the suggestions regarding battery life, will look into those.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

I looked into distrobox and checks all the boxes but there is the issue of my lack of storage space(currently only 130 GB left out of 240)

It can definitely fill up space if you're not careful. Just ensure that only the minimal amount of containers and their respective images are on the system.

I would assume one container each for Ubuntu and Arch should suffice for most people. Sure; this will likely take up to 10 GB of extra storage in total (eventually), but foregoing this solution means that you'd likely have to settle for Arch (because of the AUR) or something like Gentoo (because no other distro does compiling and building from source like Gentoo does).

If you feel particularly adventurous, you could also consider Nix and/or NixOS; though you'd have to ensure that said packages are available as a nixpkg. Nix can also be installed on Fedora; consider Determinate Systems' installer for that*.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 months ago

Dell laptops are usually pretty good in Linux support afaik so go with whatever you like.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 months ago

You should be fine on basically anything. I have a similar-spec machine running Arch with KDE and it's rock solid.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I would say debian but as others said, are you on hopping distros? Do you have any problem with fedora 39?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

I have almost nothing to complain about Fedora, but more so about the dependancy hell i face while trying to build any of the software i require. I want something like NixOS but without the learning curve of learning config file syntax.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

Fedora which you're already using. Install distrobox

[–] [email protected] -1 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Mint if you are a newbie.

ZorinOS if you have no idea what you are doing.

Gentoo if you hate yourself.

Debian for that false sense of security (Its motto is "outdated packages = more security").

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago

Debian actually does security updates on those old packages.

Debian is more a "stable and boring" kind of thing :-)

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Sorry, I had forgotten to mention in my post, i am looking for a distro for max performance.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

If what you really seek is the max performance, then the answer is easy: Gentoo.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

Arch or Gentoo, depending on if you have the time to compile everything.