[usr1106]

I don't like snap and have always uninstalled it in the past. However, that gets more difficult in newer releases, so probably not a sustainable path. Still searching for the distro I could install instead of Xubuntu for friends and family who don't want or need the latest and greatest.

The main reason for my dislike is the closed source nature of snap distribution. App isolation is important and not easy. That bugs will happen and be fixed there is natural. Happens with every other system that was supposed to increase security, too.

[atwrk]

Have you tried Debian with the XCFE desktop? Should be pretty similar to Xubuntu (but without Snap, of course)

[Sander_Marechal]

I second Debian. All the good bits of Ubuntu have long since been ported back to Debian, and it has much more timely releases now.

[sigmoid10]

Me too. Switching my home system from Ubuntu back to Debian was influenced a lot by snap. I don't get how they could fumble that one so hard. It goes against everything they used to stand for. If I want a bloated, slow, closed-source, proprietary app store with unclear security ramifications, I'll install MacOS or Windows. It also feels like app developers at least care a little bit about those stores. Mozilla for example still officially recommends installing their Debian package rather than through snap on Linux, despite shipping via snap by default on Ubuntu now.

[Jnr]

Yes, Debian is great.

But there is also Arch by the way :)

[usr1106]

Sure, I like Arch. Did not consider it for completely non-technical users, though.

[fmajid]

CachyOS gets close, including for gamers, but it is not as stable as Ubuntu.

[littlecranky67]

Pop!_OS is basically Ubuntu without snap. Debian is fine, but for some reason it is ugly. Like, you can style and configure it with a thousand options, but simply fails to have a nice theme and UI out of the box.

[Xiol]

Worth looking at Fedora. Been using it for work and play for over a decade and it's never let me down. Absolutely solid.

[usr1106]

I know Fedora, although haven't used it recently anymore because it's not approved at my current job.

But is that something to use by non-geeks on really low end machines?

[throwa356262]

I love multipass. It is a simple no BS virtualization solution and probably the best thing to come out of Ubuntu after LXD.

But I can't use it. You know why? Because despite being open source Canonical wont tell you how to compile it and install it as a standalone program. Instead all their documentation says "install via snap"... even if your are on fedora or debian or arch:

https://github.com/canonical/multipass

Snap needs to die, it is hurting everybody including canonical

[fulafel]

They do document how to build and run, in the OS specific build docs. Eg this: https://github.com/canonical/multipass/blob/main/BUILD.linux...

I think pointing end users to use the end user packaged app is fine, as is to trust people who are comfortable with building from source to find the build docs from the repo.