Picking a linux os.

[HamBone41801]

so I've decided to turn my old Asus sonic-master laptop (the core i5 one) into a Linux machine for development. (currently using my windows 10 PC) anyway, I'm not sure which OS to go for. So, what are the advantages/disadvantages of your favorite OS's for development?

 

[Deleted User]

inb4 someone says "Arch"
I suggest using Linux Mint or if you're into "real shit" go with Kali Linux.
Or, grab whatever OS is good for you.

 

[FireEmblemGuy]

If you're not dual-booting and don't have anything to mess up, I actually would suggest Arch. The installation process forces you to learn a little bit about how Linux works, and the AUR is invaluable, time-wise, as a developer - no more hunting down, fixing, and building a bunch of obscure libraries if half of them are in AUR to simplify the process.

Linux Mint is a good enough starter distro, and close enough to Ubuntu in most respects that a lot of tutorials designed for Ubuntu or even Debian will apply.

 

[The Real Jdbye]

so I've decided to turn my old Asus sonic-master laptop (the core i5 one) into a Linux machine for development. (currently using my windows 10 PC) anyway, I'm not sure which OS to go for. So, what are the advantages/disadvantages of your favorite OS's for development?

Personally I like Ubuntu, but I always replace Unity with Gnome, I can't stand Unity. Other good choices for WM/DE are Xfce and MATE (both of which have their own Ubuntu flavors)
Or go with Linux Mint if you prefer Cinnamon. I didn't like it much myself.

 

[HamBone41801]

Personally I like Ubuntu, but I always replace Unity with Gnome, I can't stand Unity. Other good choices for WM/DE are Xfce and MATE (both of which have their own Ubuntu flavors)
Or go with Linux Mint if you prefer Cinnamon. I didn't like it much myself.

I was never a fan of using ubuntu in the past, but I wasn't too unhappy with debian. I think Im going to try out arch, if not just for a few days. I like the control.

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If you're not dual-booting and don't have anything to mess up, I actually would suggest Arch. The installation process forces you to learn a little bit about how Linux works, and the AUR is invaluable, time-wise, as a developer - no more hunting down, fixing, and building a bunch of obscure libraries if half of them are in AUR to simplify the process.

Linux Mint is a good enough starter distro, and close enough to Ubuntu in most respects that a lot of tutorials designed for Ubuntu or even Debian will apply.

does arch give you the option to clear your hard drive during the installation?

 

[The Real Jdbye]

I was never a fan of using ubuntu in the past, but I wasn't too unhappy with debian. I think Im going to try out arch, if not just for a few days. I like the control.

Debian and Ubuntu are more or less the same, Debian is just a more minimal install, but you can tweak either to be pretty much identical to the other, you can even use packages designed for the other one (don't do that unless you have to though)
Never tried Arch so I can't comment on that, but a lot of people seem to like it. I just like Ubuntu for its simplicity (Debian too for that matter)

 

[FireEmblemGuy]

I was never a fan of using ubuntu in the past, but I wasn't too unhappy with debian. I think Im going to try out arch, if not just for a few days. I like the control.

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does arch give you the option to clear your hard drive during the installation?

You can if you want to. Arch's installer is all command-line based, so you can use a disk tool to delete or mount any partitions you want.

 

[Deleted User]

if you haven't used Linux before, I'd suggest going into Linux Mint first. I did it and don't regret it. As I learn more over the next few months, I might switch to something along the lines of Solus or Arch.

 

[HamBone41801]

Finished my first attempt at an install. made one or two mistakes, and I'm still figuring out how I want to do my partitions, so I'm gonna make another go at it.

 

[Deleted User]

Manjaro or Linux Mint are both good choices, the former is based on Arch while the latter is based on Ubuntu.

 

[shadoom]

Ubuntu/Debian 4 lyfe

 

[hobbledehoy899]

Linux Mint with the Cinnamon desktop is really good!

 

[The Catboy]

I am ashamed of myself for not commenting on this thread.
I personally use Solus and I have been for over 4 months now (in fact I stopped distro hopping for it.) Solus is a rather new distro, but extremely solid. It's a rolling release distro that uses up to date programs (not bleeding edge, just up to date.) As well uses it's own DE called "Budgie." Which is a simple, but extremely elegant DE based on GTK (although will be QT soon.) Solus was made for desktop use and has all the applications you would ever need for a desktop. Plus devs who are extremely open to suggestions. No really, several games on there were from my suggestions.
The downside? Some people don't like the thin repos and they still haven't finished working on their community repo. And Budgie can be rather hard to customize, which is also something they are working. So it's still a work in progress.

 

[Deleted User]

@Crystal the Glaceon Nice info, gonna try out that distro in a VM soon before maybe deciding to install it on a physical computer. ^^

 

[Lacius]

I also really like Linux Mint and Ubuntu.

 

[matpower]

Well, let me see... what kind of development are you trying to do here?
You can pretty much discard Debian Stable if you are going to work with software development, since it will have some pretty old libraries in a few months, backports will help, but it's a bit of a hassle IMO. (Currently, it's about 2 years old, but Stretch will become Stable next week, which will bring newer packages and new software).
Debian testing/sid is pretty good because of their rolling release nature and big repositories, but they aren't exactly proper releases, so YMMV. I personally use Debian testing and I'm thinking of going to sid in a few months after I get the hang of it, so far so good.
Arch is great, while it isn't exactly "professional", it's a solid distro with upstream packages. The AUR will be useful for you if you plan to work with obscure libraries or software. Beware though, it "breaks" expected Python behavior, so you'll need to edit scripts or mess with symlinks. ("python" is actually Python 3 instead of being Python 2, which is "python2". Expected behavior is "python" for Python 2 and "python3" for Python 3.)
Ubuntu is pretty good too, beginner-friendly, stable and well-supported by 3rd parties, you WILL find a PPA for anything not in default repos or outdated. If you want more control over it, you can use the UbuntuMinimal Install image. As a side note, Ubuntu is based on Debian sid for most releases, while LTS releases are based on Debian testing.
And finally, Fedora. Fedora is solid and pretty much moves development forward in Linux, working together with the upstream and testing new technologies, it updates frequently, so you'll have newer stuff with a stable base.

I've heard some good stuff about Solus and OpenSUSE, but I haven't used either. Solus might be a bit troublesome because of the small repo, so be sure to check out if they have what you'll need if you ever try it out.

inb4 someone says "Arch"
I suggest using Linux Mint or if you're into "real shit" go with Kali Linux.
Or, grab whatever OS is good for you.

I can't believe you suggested Kali Linux for development, lmao.

 

[grossaffe]

Xubuntu wouldn't be a bad beginner distro (Ubuntu with the XFCE desktop environment). I've been using it for years and it's remained a decent choice as I became more knowledgeable and experienced with Linux. I'm looking now to transition to Gentoo, but I would very much not recommend that one to someone who's still learning the ropes of Linux.

 

[tech3475]

I still recommend that people new to linux use a VM first, that way you can mess around all you want and be able to use 'snapshots' to restore it to a previous state without affecting the host computer.

In terms of distros:
Linux Mint- easier for windows users, good ootb experience
CentOS- may be better for certain kinds of development (had problems with Mint running some C demos and Oracle SQL)
Arch- supposed to be better for updates, but allot more difficult to set up

 

[enarky]

Completely depending on what your goals are, in my opinion. Here's my completely subjective advice:

Personally my own Linux servers all run a version of Debian, but that's coming from me starting out with Ubuntu back in 2006. I don't know if I'd recommend Ubuntu for a beginner nowadays, since its Desktop Unity is on its way out and Unity has never been gaining much traction, anyways. From what I read people seem to hold Linux Mint in high regard, never got into that personally. At work we mainly use CentOS for our servers, which is binary compatible to Red Hat Enterprise Linux. What Ubuntu once was to Debian that's Fedora Core to RHEL/CentOS now. If your goal is to learn something for an administration job starting out with Fedora probably isn't the worst idea.

If you're looking to learn the ins and outs of Linux Gentoo and Arch Linux are the two distributions that come to mind. Personally I haven't used both much, but they both are be very developer oriented. Looking at this thread a lot of people are into Arch. Arch has a lot of documentation online that's also usefull if you're into other distributions.

Forget the Kali Linux recommendation. It's a penetration testing tool, it's a single purpose distribution and only really usefull if you already know what you're doing.

 

[Deleted member 371699]

I can't believe you suggested Kali Linux for development, lmao.

Gotta let everyone know how kool they are using a pentesting kit as their default OS. You know how it is.