*or distribution
Having been a (GNU-)Linux user since 2006 (desktop only), I have done what many Linux users have also done: hop around from one thing to another.
That all stopped a few years ago when I decided that I would just stick with Debian. I was happy and comfortable. It worked. I used Stable, Testing, Unstable… no issues.
That is until about 4 months ago I was cleaning and found an older laptop and decided to try something different on it: Alpine Linux.
I even wrote about it on my blog. It was such a nice installation and process that I decided to put it on my main personal laptop.
Since April I have been using Alpine and I must say I am pleased. Differences from one Linux to the next aren’t much to write about. With Alpine however, I finally experienced another part of Linux that I hadn’t had the opportunity to enjoy: the community.
Package requesting? Easy. Asking for help? No shame. Patience and help provided? Excellent.
None of those comments are to disparage other OS communities. It is simply that I had only ever used popular distros (Debian- and Arch-based) so I never needed to ask for help. Either way, I am still using Alpine.
So, just to repeat the titular question: what have you tried out this year? What are your impressions?
I messed around with Steam OS. Seems capable. It works for what it is. I haven’t used any Linux distro other than that for the last year since last year I tried Manjaro, Fedora, OpenSuse, and Linux Mint, but all failed to pass my basic tests, because I was using KDE, Nvidia, and Wayland, most failed to even boot into the live CD. Looking at you Fedora and OpenSuse! I’ve been using Linux since 2007 in some form or another. Had it as my daily driver at one point and gave up on it. Been waiting for it to finally mesh with the majority of my workflow.
8 have Nvidia and am looking into a Linux distro. I wasn’t aware KDE had problems. What desktop environments should I look for?
It’s specifically wayland, kde, and nvidia as a combination. If you get a distro that still uses Xorg it should be fine. You could also use XFCE, Cinnamon, or if you don’t mind a new feel/learning curve gnome.
I used xubuntu on an old laptop so I’m at least somewhat familiar with XFCE. I was thinking about giving KDE a try but I’ll avoid it as my first pick. It will be less frustrating to get a GUI that works first then experiment later.