Not sure what others are doing to use Ubuntu (23.04) without snaps, but this is what I am doing:

  • for Firefox I found a guide here
  • for chromium I am actually using the Linux Mint packages (which work absolutely fine), and I have just set up a small repository I can add to apt:
deb [arch=amd64 allow-insecure=yes] http://snapless.cmeerw.net victoria upstream
  • this just syncs from Linux Mint and only republishes chromium in the Packages file (with downloads redirected to a Linux Mint mirror). BTW, I am not signing these…

What are others doing?

  • @AbidanYreEnglish
    38•1 year ago

    Just use debian testing or unstable.

    • packetlossEnglish
      8•1 year ago

      This.

      I just went from Arch to Debian 12 Bookworm. Running the stable branch, but so far most of the packages are rather recent. Kernel is 6.1 instead of 6.4, but I could switch to the Testing or Unstable branch to get the “bleeding edge” packages/kernels if I need to. But honestly so far it’s been a real pleasure to use. Everything is just working and is stable.

      • @[email protected]
        5•1 year ago

        Debian 12 was just released. Compare it to Arch even six months from now and see how current the packages are. Then compare it again in 18 months.

        I am a happy Arch user but I must admit the constant kernel updates can seem a bit much. An experiment I have considered is moving to Debian 12 and using distrobox to get access to Arch repos and the AUR. I would use the Debian stuff as much as possible but for anything missing or anything that I really need to be more current, I could just fall back to the Arch repos.

        It could be the best of both worlds.

        • @RogerWilco
          1•1 year ago

          FYI Arch offers linux-lts. You can install that and linux-lts-headers and switch grub/whatever your boot loader is to default to that and forget about running the bleeding edge kernel. Linux 6.4.x has been literal dog shit with several ugly amdgpu bugs and suspend is randomly borked about 1/3 of the times I try to suspend my PC for the evening (and issue I’m not experiencing alone).

          So, yeah. Give the linux-lts linux-lts-headers packages a try. You get the benefits Arch’s cutting-edge packages on a stable kernel.

      • Yote.zipEnglish
        3•1 year ago

        I switched from Arch to Debian Stable as well. I grabbed the Xanmod kernel repo for a more recent kernel, and use Flatpaks and Homebrew for some cutting edge stuff. I don’t miss anything from Arch so far.

        • @[email protected]
          2•1 year ago

          don’t miss anything from Arch so far.

          same I switched to debian testing. best experience. never had issues since a year. Arch usually borked once in this period.

      • @AbidanYreEnglish
        4•1 year ago

        He mentioned wanting more up to date packages. I like debian stable, but it’s not exactly known for being the latest and greatest.