I’m currently looking for a new OS, coming from KDE neon and I like it, but the fact I have to FUCKING restart because someone decided to push an OS update that broke my previous install, now the OS freezes my whole PC (never did before!) and I have to restart.
I’m looking for good apps support so Debian? Idk Using it for daily usage (Android/games development) and gaming.
I’m also looking for:
- Wobbly windows (yes useless but cool lol)
- Good customization
- KDE connect support (a must)
- Krunner or equivalent (MacOS like search)
- Idk?
Thank you!
For what you call ‘MacOS like search’ I’d recommand Recoll, working on any OS (and perfectly on my Debian install, for years on) : really can find ANY text string inside any document, from almost any app (e. g. Joplin, that I’d bet nobody heard of here), also including e. g. words within attachments within zipped backup email databases, pictures located on unpermanent backup volumes etc.
Regularly updated, that the one thing that definitely had me ‘finally forgetting’ MacOSX.I didn’t know how to exactly tell people how the search is but if I can also search inside files, it’s even better! I’ll try it for sure
fedora has a KDE spin, and others have mentioned stuff like Bazzite which is similar. I’m personally planning to switch eventually.
Atomic distros were created to solve exactly that problem. I like Bazzite because it also has seamless background updates (among other reasons).
I’m looking for good apps support so Debian?
Any Debian fork will run .deb packages. But plain Debian is just very vanilla and will be missing a lot of stuff you’ll probably want.
Wobbly windows (yes useless but cool lol) Good customization KDE connect support (a must) Krunner or equivalent (MacOS like search)
These are all going to be features of the DE, and you can install any DE on any distro (AFAIK).
I tried Bazzite as my first try with Linux for a while and liked it; it was super easy. I didn’t like that the immutability went so far as to lock me out of some parts of the OS that I thought should be open, like lock screen customization.
Now I am on Garuda Arch and it has been really easy too.
I meant Debian based OS
I see. Deb is definitely the most package-friendly.
GNOME combines Mac’s “stage manager” and “spotlight” into a single function activated by the Super key (windows key/command). It’s really excellent and probably my favorite thing about GNOME.
Stage manager?
Yes, I prefer deb because its easier for me to install stuff
Stage Manager is the one where it zooms out to show all of your open windows and switch between them.
I’m quite happy with Fedora. It has kde support, many apps (especially with rpmfusion), and is quite stable because it is still a 6 month ish major release schedule. Wobbly windows, kde connect, and krunnuer will definitely work. Good customization is subjective, and honestly I consider c/unixporn to be weird but cool wizardry, but I’m happy with it. One thing to consider is if you have a newer amd CPU with an iGPU being used it will get slow and crash every now and then (few months). It’s a bug in the linux kernel starting around 6.10.
Good customization is subjective
Yes, but I mean you can customize a lot in settings, themes, icons, etc
I have a 5800x and a 6950 so it should be okay
Yeah, that’s a kde thing, so I doubt it would be very different than neon.
If it doesn’t crash for no reason I’m happy with that
Nothing crashes for no reason. Until you identify the reason, you’re employing stochastic problem solving.
Except my KDE OS. No idea what causes freezes and sometimes (like yesterday) it happened while idle
Yeah, I was being trite but still there is a reason. Idle doesn’t mean doing nothing. Perhaps it’s obscure, perhaps as impenetrable as some combination of machine state and number of milliseconds since 1970 being an even number. But you could try to track it down.
And sometimes the easiest thing is to reinstall from scratch.
The problem started after they pushed an update that broke my install and others too. Reinstalled and started to get these problems, probably due to the new update
the Bazzite KDE flavor sounds like what you need
OpenSuSE with default filesystem configuration
or kubuntu
Check out PikaOS
Nixos, never have that break happen again
Try Aurora DX (it means the developer edition). It’s KDE but with a Fedora base and immutability. It means that even if an update breaks something (unlikely but still) you will always have a working system available to fall back to. It does mean that development is meant to be done via containers, but I find this solution to be way cleaner and easier to work with than traditional package conflicts madness. Give it a go.
It also means updates are just full system images, so no way for a package manager or differential update to mess anything up. It also means no way of downloading tiny differential updates (if I understand everything correctly).
If you don’t need DX or would like to switch off of KDE, there are other fedora atomic desktop based distributions available.
Oh right, a distribution is just an image, so switching distributions is as simple as switching the base OS image and rebooting.
Fedora KDE spin might be suitable for you.
why not arch? it’s a fun distro to try if you haven’t yet
Because I’m used to Debian and the features listed? Krunner, Wobbly windows (useless but heh), full KDE connect support
Krunner, wobbly windows and KDE connect are features of KDE Plasma, not Debian. You can install KDE plasma on arch and use all of the things you listed. Arch also has good app support through the AUR. Plus the wiki is called the Linux bible for a reason
I know. I’m also used to install package with apt
Is there an arch based distro with KDE support?
EndeavourOS is Arch with an installer and a few utilities. You can install offline and it will use KDE or you can install online and choose KDE. The major difference is whether you need to update after installing.
I can also recommend EndeavorOS, mostly seamless install even with a Nvidia Optimus GPU (well that one took a bit of research on what to install exactly, not that it’s easier on other distros)
From all the ones I tried EndeavourOS is the one I liked the most but it doesn’t have apt but yum so I have to learn from 0 and it doesn’t have Plasma’s discover. I tried to install jellyfin package but couldn’t find it in my installed apps and I could only run it through command
Endeavor uses yay and has tons of software. The only other package manager I knew before was apt, but learning yay is super easy. Yay by itself is like apt update; apt upgrade, yay package to search for and install a package, yay -Rns package to remove.
I kinda like it, my only “problem” is: It’s not Debian so it’s not just install a deb file and that’s it, most of the programs I install have only a deb file or flatpak and for the latter I have to make my own shortcut (annoying)
what’s the difference between endeavour and arch with archinstall btw? do they use different repos?
It’s basically Arch with a familiar installer and an extra repo for their system maintenance tools. Also the community is friendlier.
The main difference is imo the preinstalled ( ery nice) theme /jk
i mean arch supports kde?
you can even have the automatic arch installer (
$ archinstallin the live usb) set up a kde environment just like in the debian netinstaller
Fedora KDE or Linux Mint.
Yum. Not used to it but it’s not bad
Fedora Kinoite is KDE but also atomic, so you can easily roll back from bad upgrades in future.
Everyone is recommending KDE, but forgive me if I’m missing something, I don’t see it needing to be KDE support as a requirement on your list?
Any mainstream GNOME distro, eg Fedora, will have all the features you need through extensions (compiz window effect, gconnect for KDE Konnect, GNOME has the search you want by default and supports lots of customisation via shell themes, GTK themes, icon packs and extensions.
Edit: )
Why cripple Gnome to something Knomeish when OP is already familiar with KDE and there are gazzillions of KDE distros?
Gnome is ugly IMO and the extensions and custom themes to make it pretty break at each and every update. I just don’t bother with it anymore. KDE was customized to my liking once and it stays that way through updates without any failure.
If you like KDE your night find endeavouros with KDE pretty good. It is an arch derivative so it is rolling release, if that is acceptable then I would say give it a try.
I don’t like the recent update and all the problems it has but I like KDE as OS yeah
KDE is a desktop environment, you can install it on almost all distributions and it will look and behave same (yes can use wobly windows and krunner). I do not recommend KDE on Debian12 as its outdated enough that you can’t install themes from kde’s settings anymore.
Personally I recommend Fedora’s KDE Spin, I believe its a distribution that you can install and forget and occasionally check for updates on kde’s software center.
There’s also arch based distros like cachyos or endeavouros with calamares installer that let you choose desktop environment before install.
I (after a lot of prior distro hopping) went from neon to tuxedo OS and have had very few issues, and only one that was major (was my own fault).
I’ll install it tomorrow! I want to try it
cool, lmk what you think after you try it. also, there’s no posts yet but on one of my Lemmy accounts I made a community for it.
