[addajones]

Do most of you posting here code in Linux? Or is it just your desktop of choice. I’ve been on macOS for many years. Probably 30+ and I’ve dabbled in so many Linux distros. I do want to set up a system again that is minimal and quick. Any recommendations? Cheers!

[heavyset_go]

Debian if you care about stability and running it on anything, or a rolling release if you care about using latest releases of software. Arch is nice, access to the AUR is nice, too. You can also use Debian unstable or testing.

A lot is happening on desktop Linux right now, and I've found rolling release distros to be nice for that reason. Debian or Arch with KDE Plasma Desktop is a nice combination.

Regarding minimal installations, if you're new to Linux, I think you should try to use a popular Linux desktop distribution, Debian has several, there's Ubuntu, EndeavorOS for Arch, and others.

You can also boot live Linux instances from a flash drive and try things out before you install.

To answer your first question, I went from Linux to macOS back to Linux again.

Check this if you want to use macOS keybindings on Linux: https://github.com/rbreaves/kinto

[forgotmypw17]

I code on Linux, and I run Mac on my desktop.

For media playback, safe web browsing, and writing documents, I use the Mac.

For a sane coding environment and a workstation without non-consensual changes, I use the Linux VM. (Bonus: easy snapshots, including RAM state.)

Currently using a 7-year-old Mac and it's reasonably performant for my purposes.

The best of both worlds, IMO.

For distros, I recommend you spend a couple of hours trying several different ones (and several different VMs) until you find one which you like. Again, I avoid anything with a history of non-consensual changes, so Gnome and KDE are out, but there are plenty of other choices. Inside a VM, of course, lighter is better.

[nicoty]

Void Linux is both minimal and quick. The base live image is <700MB. I've been using the same installation I've had for >5 years with no hiccups so it seem pretty stable for my use case too, although I only really use it for basic stuff like programming, browsing, reading books so ymmv.

[addajones]

Thanks for the recommendation, I’ll take a look at it. 5 years that’s great!

[stjohnswarts]

Run linux in a VM like VirtualBox first and find a linux distribution that you like. I would say try Endeavor OS (arch-related), Ubuntu, and Fedora linux and see if you like on of those to start. Warning, they will run a lot faster on real hardware but VirtualBox is a good place to start.

[alfiedotwtf]

Arch is as minimal as you'd probably want a user system.