[whyhow]

I tried Ubuntu for the first time in years last month. At first I was pretty happy with it, but gradually I grew frustrated. Every time I would install a new library in R (statistical programming language) I would have to spend 10-15 minutes trying to figure out why it didn't work. I'd end up in this deep rabbit hole of missing dependencies that I never had a problem with in MacOS or windows

[tfehring]

For future reference the package r-base-dev includes all of the tools needed to build R packages on Linux. The R maintainers should really do a better job of publicizing this. (It's not even included in recommends/suggests for r-base!)

Edit: To clarify, r-base-dev is a .deb package, not an R package.

[ramshorns]

This probably isn't the advice you're after, but you can install CRAN packages from the Ubuntu archive. apt install r-cran-<whatever>.

I haven't actually used R much, but this might be less error prone than downloading the packages from the web. TeX packages from CTAN can also be installed in a similar way which I know works pretty well.

[fishstamp82]

I would recommend arch linux, everything exists in the aur and most things work out of the box.

Dont buy the hype that arch is hard, its a really simple system imo.

[ohazi]

The setup process for Arch is challenging, but it can be a rewarding exercise if you want to have a better understanding of how a Linux system is put together. It's like Linux from Scratch, but less time consuming, and you end up with a system that you can actually use when you're finished.

But yeah, once it's set up, and you've figured out how things typically work in Arch (e.g. you install a package first, but nothing is enabled by default - you have to decide how you want it to start), it's a great system. You'll learn how to actually use systemd, and will generally have a better feel for how everything is supposed to function, which will make you better at investigating things when they break, or when they don't work out of the box, even on other systems.

Also the Arch wiki is an amazing resource regardless of what you're running.

I don't necessarily have any reservations about recommending Arch to a beginner, but you do have to be curious and willing to learn. People who tried Linux and then got frustrated because some piece of software didn't work quite right out of the box probably wouldn't enjoy using Arch.

[kjsthree]

Manjaro takes the edge off Arch. After having tended my Arch garden for a year or so (very grateful for all the learning) I’m happy with the balance of some handholding without losing the AUR.