Favourite Lesser-Known GNU/Linux Distribution

[RobertX]

What's the difference between a Red Hat derivative and a Mandriva derivative, the same as a Debian and an Ubuntu derivative?

I know that Ubuntu and Debian are not the same.

[waregim]

Forks are basically:

Red Hat (Fedora)-> Mandriva -> Magaiea

Red Hat gets most of its money from its server software, where things like multimedia and software updates are not much appreciated. A good sysadmin could give a tinkers damn about the sexiest window manager.

Its the GUI and spins (software loaded) that seem to be the major differences. Magaiea has to be the most elegant system I have seen, but its a bit behind the times compared to Debian Testing where I do not like my scripting languages to fall behind. Besides its KDE, which is my favorite to look at, but not to work with as its not as hackable as Mate (which I use).

[RobertX]

Off-topic: I have been using Cubic for making my customised Ubuntu-based distributions, anyone know a good one for any distro? One that works?

On-topic: Thanks for the answer, waregim. I'm also seeing if I should bother with Slackware. It doesn't seem to be much of an alternative and it's behind the times like Mageia. I mean, I don't even see a fork of Slackware.

[waregim]

If its for Ubuntu, I would search the Bazaar git-like repo. Perhaps even Git.

Slackware is one of the oldest distros. Its what I used in the v0.9 days. Its modern form is Arch. Ideally, with my modus operandi I should be using Arch, but as a compiler based distro, creating a *large install* can take months, if not longer.

Can Ubuntu directly import Debian .debs these days?
If so you could use a Debian Buster install (even on a USB stick) where they have all the resources under (deb-* packages) to create full repo packages from sources.

Be aware that there are '.deb' packages that are pure Ubuntu, and not from the Debian archives. If you install Buster use Synaptic to manage the packages.

If you are considering Multimedia apps that rely on any of the Mint packages, its important to know that debian.multimedia.org is Lem's repo, and is NOT related to Debian. Installing Mint packages on Buster will likely break it.

Point is, that if Ubuntu does not come with a prebuilt system to fully create distro packages, you should be able to use Debian, which does.

Hells bells, you just might be able to install Synaptic directly from Debian on Ununtu!

(I havent ran as a system Ubuntu since Maverick)....

[Rx8driver]

Well you absolutely CAN install Synaptic on Ubuntu, without any issue whatsoever. Works just fine. The biggest thing about Ubuntu and other release-based distros is that you're going to have a much slower update cycle. For instance, I think Ubuntu is still running linux kernel 5.4, whereas those of us who run rolling-release distros (Arch, debian, etc- I happen to be very happy with Parrot Security OS (Debian-based rolling-release) with the Mate DE (KDE is also available, as are a few others, but Mate is the "default") as it's well-updated, runs kernel 5.7 as of the moment, includes all the packages I need for both hacking and development, good multimedia support, and I haven't managed to break anything yet!) are going to be more on the bleeding-edge with updates/etc. Sometimes that will cause issues, so you'll want to have a firm understanding of how to manipulate your environment- I personally use snapshots to manage my itchy update-finger lol but I have a wonderfully customized DE and the system is FAST FAST FAST compared to Windows!

[theSEMAR]

If you are already on Windows or Mac, get Virtual Box and then start with one of the bigger ones like Debian or Ubuntu.  Then, once you find what features you particularly like, you can move into the more niche distros.  Using Virtual Box, you can create as many images as you have disk space for, and you can compare them by running as many side by side as your system will allow.

yes agree

for me, try windows or mac with Ubuntu MATE is enough to know how windows or mac works

but for now i still use windows for main PC and laptop

and you will know better if you running it natively without layers (not in virtual machines/virtual box)

many kms_vl_all are already available in TPB if you just want to learn windows.

[Rx8driver]

Best "little-known" distro I've encountered is one called Garuda Linux (garudalinux.org). It's Arch based with KDE front-end (or a wide range of others) and SUPER SEXY with the Plasma DE! I highly recommend it.

[RobertX]

I don't know how many didn't know of this, but in case that aren't many, here's a website I found that lists links and information of GNU/Linux distributions along with ReactOS and BSD.

OK, off-topic, I know, but I was hoping that someone can learn and get helped.

[Rev_Thomas]

I've been using Linux Mint for the last seven years and I am currently considering a switch to another GNU/Linux distribution.

What I'm considering is a distribution that's not a Mint, Ubuntu, Fedora, or anyone that's on the top of a "best distro" list.

I'm open to any suggestions. They can be a derivative, just not the aforementioned ones in the flesh.

Thank you.

Ive been running a debian based spin. sparkylinux-2021.10-x86_64-mate.iso is there latest. im running 6.1 now, have been for 3 months.seems stable and packages are a plenty. i have a torrent made for their latest build.which i will try on a differnt pc soon to compare

[am a giant]

use Plan 9 from bell labs