[dmpk2k]

I liked Slackware a lot way back when. No deeper reason.

Currently leaning towards Debian Testing, but that might depend on my testing of Slackware now. I use Arch daily in WSL, but I've have had enough breakages that I don't want it as my primary OS.

[Flamingoat]

I use Debian 13 (stable). It is very solid. I was using Debian Trixie when it was testing and there was breakage twice.

I would make the /boot partition twice the size the installer suggests though as on my laptop I can't upgrade the kernel because the /boot runs out of space. The laptop is used to view old manuals in PDFs while working on my car so I don't really care.

TBH any of the major Linux distros that have been around for a while are fine. I don't like Fedora or Ubuntu because they are a bit corporate.

I personally wouldn't bother with any of the derivative distros. Typically there isn't a lot different other than they've pre-configured some packages. IME that causes more headaches long term.

[immibis]

Debian is a very solid, stable, but slow-moving distribution.

[Flamingoat]

Yeh. I'm used to using old version of RHEL at work so I ended up learning how to deal with slow moving distros.

I use the OS as a base system and most of the stuff that needs to be newer versions can be done by installing the binary to to ~/bin as it is added to your path by ~/.profile if the directory exists on Debian.

Stuff like Discord, Slack, Kdenlive, OBS etc. I install using flatpak.

Other stuff. Go, Vim (I compile vim from source) and nvim can stuff can be compiled or dropped into /usr/local

That covers most stuff IME. However I appreciate this won't work for everyone.

[happymellon]

Remember that Debian uses stable to indicate slow moving and predictable breakage, not "avoids breaking".

I would avoid using those two terms together because it implies two different goals when you are in fact repeating yourself.

Not everyone would consider avoiding fixing bugs as "stable" if those bugs directly impacts your day to day working.