Hey fellas friends. Sorry to create yet another post on this topic (maybe we should have a sticky for this?).

About 2 weeks ago I decided it was time to move on from Windows and installed Manjaro. I would consider myself a newbie-intermediate level linux user.

Though I’ve used Windows most my life, we use Linux servers (no GUI) at work, managing them is part of job description. I also own a late 2011 Macbook Pro with vanilla Arch Linux. I barely ever use it but boy, Arch really brought it back to life!

I’ve been reasonably happy with Manjaro so far, feels easy and intuitive to use but the community has made me aware that Manjaro is maybe a questionable choice. Since I don´t plan on distro-hopping a lot I want to get it right sooner rather than later.

Here’s what I’m looking for:

  • Rolling distribution, preferably. Though this machine is also used for work, our environment depends mostly on remote servers anyway. I’d rather have a distribution that provides the most recent packages for whatever I want
  • I don´t mind running a distribution that forces me learn new things or do things in a different way, I kinda embrace it. I just don´t enjoy complexity for complexity’s sake.
  • KDE is my preferred Desktop Environment so far, though I guess that’s not very relevant. I’d love to run Hyprland, but you know… Nvidia :(
  • I play games on Steam but from my understanding this doesn´t matter either. Everything I tried worked great, I don´t think I want a ¨gaming focused" distro or anything like that
  • No Ubuntu, please.

My hardware, in case you feel is relevant!

OS: Manjaro Linux x86_64 
Kernel: 6.5.5-1-MANJARO 
Shell: bash 5.1.16 
Resolution: 2560x1440, 2560x1440 
WM: KWin 
Terminal: konsole 
Terminal Font: MesloLGS NF 10 
CPU: 12th Gen Intel i7-12700K (20) @ 4.900GHz 
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Lite Hash Rate 
Memory: 23313MiB / 64087MiB
  • MrBubbles96@lemmy.mlEnglish
    7·
    1 year ago

    Yet another “Time to reccomend EndeavourOS” reply.

    Seriously tho, EndeavourOS is a pretty solid distro, and not that different from what you’re currently rocking (Manjaro is based on Arch) except well…it actually works as an Arch based distro should, unlike Manjaro. EndeavourOS’s a bit on the light side tho, and it comes with no GUI Add/Remove Software outta the box, but if you don’t like using the Konsole for that, nothing a “yay pamac-all” (or “yay pamac-all-no-snap”) and a bit of installing the packages you want/need can’t fix.

    • radix@lemm.ee
      2·
      1 year ago

      I’ve looked into EndeavourOS now, and I’m very confused. Normally I’d download a .iso and burn it onto a USB using Balena Etcher (or Rufus), but the official page for EndeavourOS doesn’t have a .iso. I tried following “method three” on that article, but I don’t understand the dialog asking me to choose between Raspberry Pi, Odroid, and Pinebook. I don’t have any of those. I just have my own desktop PC with its Intel CPU. Also I see “ARM” everywhere and I think that also implies incompatibility because ARM is RISC whereas my 6th-gen Intel is CISC.

      How do I get started?

      • MrBubbles96@lemmy.mlEnglish
        1·
        1 year ago

        They seem to be doing UI changes to the website.

        Currently the non-ARM version of the ISO is in the main page (https://endeavouros.com/) just scroll down and you’ll find the mirror list of the most recent ISO by country. Dunno why it’s there NGL shrug

      • MrBubbles96@lemmy.mlEnglish
        2·
        1 year ago

        I also do this, partly outta habit and partly to hear the sounds my mechanical keyboard makes when typing lol

        Anyways, I’d say you’re golden if you wanna give Endeavour a shot then

        • pathief@lemmy.worldOP
          1·
          1 year ago

          I too have been in the Mechanical Keyboard rabbit hole. I ended up with the Happy Hacking Keyboard 2. Such a joy to type! :D

  • pastermil@sh.itjust.works
    3·
    1 year ago

    I’d usually recommend Linux Mint, but since you seems to be up for a challenge, how about Gentoo?

    Otherwise for something more mild, you can go for OpenSUSE Tumbleweed.

  • danielfgom@lemmy.worldEnglish
    2·
    1 year ago

    In short: Manjaro sucks. No one should ever use it.

    For rolling distro you should look at:

    1. Opensuse Tumbleweed: latest packages, well tested, bullet proof reliability and built in system rollback. RPM based.

    2. Garuda Linux: full flavoured ARCH. Very fast, has all the latest packages. Reliable. Built in rollback. Cool theming.

    • Aties@lemmy.world
      1·
      1 year ago

      In short: Manjaro sucks. No one should ever use it.

      I’ve seen their certificates fail to renew multiple times. I feel like I don’t know anything, but I could at least certbot.

      • danielfgom@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        1 year ago

        They are notorious for breaking your system because they mix old packages with new which causes dependency issues and driver issues.

        If you’re using a rolling distro both the system packages and library’s, as well as the apps packages must both be up to date.

        Manjaro doesn’t follow this

  • CocoLopez@lemmy.world
    2·
    1 year ago

    I’ve already mentioned this a couple of time this week, so I hope no one get bothered. But I can’t recommend Xerolinux enough (page). I think it’s what you may like. Rolling release, gorgeous KDE, a ready to use as is system. I’ve been distro hopping for a while but this made me settled.

    • pathief@lemmy.worldOP
      1·
      1 year ago

      Do they use Arch official repositories or is it like manjaro where they have their own repo?

      • Skerse@lemmy.world
        1·
        1 year ago

        It uses the Arch official repositories so it’s as rolling as pure Arch, i used it before it’s great. It uses KDE Plasma and has different theming options to pick from that all look really nice.

        You can always try it in a live environment before installing it to see if you like it.

  • radix@lemm.ee
    21·
    1 year ago

    I’m just like you, newbie-intermediate Linux user who recently jumped from Windows to (Ubuntu then) Manjaro. What’s wrong with Manjaro?

      • radix@lemm.ee
        1·
        1 year ago

        Thanks. Guess I’ll have to look into EndeavourOS too, as commenters seem to be saying.

          • radix@lemm.ee
            2·
            1 year ago

            We have the same exact requirements, which is a first. No Ubuntu, must play nice with Nvidia GPU, KDE is nice, basically your entire list of preferences. I’m glad you posted, for one.

    • MrBubbles96@lemmy.mlEnglish
      2·
      1 year ago

      Pasting an old reply of mine from another thread answering this same question:

      Manjaro is…tricky.

      I’ve called it an Arch based distro that kinda sucks at being an Arch based distro before, and I stand by that. You can’t treat Manjaro like you would EndeavourOS or Vanilla Arch Linux because of how Manjaro decides to do things: essentially, updates are held back by a couple of weeks for better and worse instead of being released as they’re made avaliable. While that means it can catch disastrous things like the GRUB issue another user pointed out (Manjaro was unaffected by it IIRC), it also means the system is prone to breaking itself more often. And you can forget about using the AUR if you’re using Manjaro–or well, you can, but the AUR and Manjaro are nortorious for not playing nice with one another because of the latter’s tendencies to hold back packages, which, natrually, leads to even more breaking.

      Personally, I wouldn’t recomend it. However, If you don’t mind being extra careful with what you install (really that’s standard practice for any distro, but hey, I’ve never found a WIP package that messed up my system anywhere other than when using Manjaro, so make of that what you will), are willing to tolerate constant mild to severe breakage, and just using Flatpaks and appimages over the AUR, then give Manjaro a try, but otherwise? Go with EndeavourOS, or Garuda, or literally anything else.

      • radix@lemm.ee
        1·
        1 year ago

        Thank you for the detailed explanation. I haven’t had any issues in my few weeks with it, but I don’t want to wait until issues do show up.

        Honestly I was just in love because the wifi just worked somehow without me having to port over drivers via USB dongle from my laptop.

  • KISSmyOS@lemmy.world
    1·
    1 year ago

    OpenSUSE Tumbleweed gets recommended here a lot. Just be aware: It’s an expert distro masquerading as beginner-friendly.
    Out of the box, it won’t recognize printers and scanners. Setting them up is a hassle without cups-airprint and sane-airscan which aren’t preinstalled, and the latter is only available through a user’s repo.

    Printer setup will also fail unless you add an exception to the built-in firewall. Nothing in the GUI tells you about this.

    It also won’t play web videos before you install the codecs. These are available in the packman repo, which will require learning the concept of repo priorities and “vendor-change”, what it does and when to use it. (It can break your system)

    The package manager is very sophisticated and complex, but some of its features shouldn’t be used in Tumbleweed. Updating Tumbleweed like you would the normal fixed release system is possible (in fact, if you use the GUI, it’s the default) but it will break your system.

    And the system administration tool YAST offers a lot of functionality that is already present in the KDE options. What the differences are? Who knows.

  • GustavoM@lemmy.worldEnglish
    32·
    1 year ago

    Just “man up” and do a minimal install of (any distro you want), and (manually) install the things you want via the package manager.

    …no really. All it takes is two commands (one to search for the package you want, and the another one to install it).

    “b-buh its my first ti–”

    DO IT

  • iHUNTcriminals@lemm.ee
    23·
    1 year ago

    Funny story … I hunt theives in PA. Especially luchessi fam connected to la Costa Nostra. True stories.