this post was submitted on 09 Jun 2024
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I'm planning to put Debian-based operating system onto my Surface Laptop Gen 1, following the guide (linux-surface). Any good Debian-based Linux recommendations? For now I'm considering AntiX (lightweight debian) and normal Debian.

P.S. I’ve installed pure Debian, as everyone suggests. Thanks for advice!

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[–] vk6flab@lemmy.radio 83 points 2 years ago (1 children)

What about something novel, like installing actual Debian?

[–] mrgreyeyes@feddit.nl 5 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Will work fine indeed. Only I always have some issues getting the touchscreen working seamlessly. Is there a window manager on Debian who does it well?

[–] Fisch@discuss.tchncs.de 5 points 2 years ago

I've used both KDE Plasma and GNOME on my Laptop with a touch screen and both worked well. GNOME is better with touch screens in general but that's just because of the gestures and GTK apps working better with touch screens (e.g. you can always scroll by swiping up or down, not sure if that's the same in QT apps).

[–] vk6flab@lemmy.radio 1 points 2 years ago

I don't have a touchscreen, so I have no lived experience, but this should get you started at least:

https://wiki.debian.org/TabletAndTouchScreen

[–] yak@feddit.it 40 points 2 years ago (1 children)

If you want Debian, just install Debian.

Maybe if you're into wm setups and you'd like to not have to do everything from scratch you can install Bunsenlabs instead.

It's just plain Debian with preconfigured Openox, that's all.

[–] fin@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Never heard of Bunsenlabs. It looks good!

[–] yak@feddit.it 3 points 2 years ago

It is :)

There's a very useful and friendly forum at https://forums.bunsenlabs.org/ and it is very easy to replace openbox with any other wm of your choice, as long as you're fine with X11.

[–] Meowie_Gamer@lemmy.world 33 points 2 years ago

Just use debian

[–] banazir@lemmy.ml 29 points 2 years ago

Just go with Debian.

[–] KindaABigDyl@programming.dev 25 points 2 years ago (1 children)
[–] spicytuna62@lemmy.world 6 points 2 years ago

Can confirm. I use Debian on a laptop and it's great.

[–] solrize@lemmy.world 20 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I just use Debian and it's fine. I don't understand the point of using "Debian-based" instead of just plain Debian. Maybe I'm missing something but we have some Ubuntu machines at work and it's hard to tell much difference.

[–] fin@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Idk I thought something niche is better fun

[–] pmarcilus@discuss.tchncs.de 12 points 2 years ago

Ur already a Linux user, being niche is kinda of our character

[–] solrize@lemmy.world 4 points 2 years ago (1 children)

That would be Guix, I think. Debian is pretty traditional.

[–] fin@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Hmm... I wonder if Guix is ok to use with Surface

[–] pmk@lemmy.sdf.org 16 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Which features are you looking for beyond what can be done on Debian?

[–] fin@sh.itjust.works 4 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Lightweight and maybe has some “cool features”

[–] pmk@lemmy.sdf.org 9 points 2 years ago

Maybe Debian with a wm? I like cwm, but there are many to choose from. You can add pretty much any cool feature on top.

[–] ElectronBadger@lemmy.ml 14 points 2 years ago

Debian Testing. My daily driver since.. a long time :)

[–] just_another_person@lemmy.world 13 points 2 years ago

Pick one. It's debian-based. You literally can't pick "the wrong one". You just have uninstall what you don't like, and install what you want. That simple.

[–] SeikoAlpinist@slrpnk.net 12 points 2 years ago

Debian.

If you want to try something different, maybe LMDE.

[–] pastermil@sh.itjust.works 10 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Not Debian-based, but Debian. With KDE.

[–] fin@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 years ago (4 children)

Some say that KDE on Debian is unstable. Is it real?

[–] pmk@lemmy.sdf.org 4 points 2 years ago

There's a difference between stability and reliability. Stable means that functionality is the same over a period of time, no major changes to how it works. Reliable means that it doesn't crash all the time. If something crashes the same way for the same reason, it's stable but not reliable. If something changes a lot but doesn't crash, it's reliable but not stable.
In practice what it comes down to is a choice if you want outdated but known bugs or new surprise bugs.

[–] pelya@lemmy.world 3 points 2 years ago

I've had problems with KDE on Wayland on Debian 12, it fails when entering sleep mode with multiple monitors. Thankfully, KDE on X is just one package install away, and it works with no bugs.

[–] pastermil@sh.itjust.works 3 points 2 years ago

Been using KDE since Debian 9. I'd say it's stable enough.

[–] electric_nan@lemmy.ml 10 points 2 years ago

Linux Mint Debian Edition.

[–] filister@lemmy.world 9 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Why don't you give PopOS a try, it is quite user friendly Ubuntu/Debian based

[–] shaked_coffee@feddit.it 3 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Up! Depending on what you are looking for also VanillaOS could be an interesting option

[–] filister@lemmy.world 2 points 2 years ago

Yes, this OS looks interesting and beginner friendly

[–] bloodfart@lemmy.ml 9 points 2 years ago

i tend to go with debian.

[–] rtxn@lemmy.world 8 points 2 years ago

If you want something Debian-but-not-Ubuntu-based, give LMDE a try.

[–] GolfNovemberUniform@lemmy.ml 4 points 2 years ago

You can just go for Ubuntu, Mint or AntiX if you want good experience. Debian can be harder but it's quite stable (unless you use KDE). Any other suggestions depend on your use cases. For example, you can only use Ubuntu based distros for some Android development tasks

[–] eugenia@lemmy.ml 4 points 2 years ago

Go with Linux Mint, but the Edge edition. This will have the best chances to support your hardware, because it uses a newer kernel.

[–] paolab@lemmy.ml 4 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Look into MxLinux. It is Debian based with lots of noce tools. And as DE you could use KDE.

[–] fin@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 years ago

MX seems good

[–] drspod@lemmy.ml 4 points 2 years ago

You could try VanillaOS 2.0 Beta which is a Debian-based immutable distro, planned for final release later this year.

[–] CuttingBoard@sopuli.xyz 3 points 2 years ago
[–] jonwyattphillips@lemmy.ml 3 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Check out projectbluefin.io, the developer experience has lots of goodies built in.

It's a immutable/atomic fedora silverblue spin based on cloud native principles.

[–] barsquid@lemmy.world 4 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I agree with you but I assume they want Debian for a reason.

[–] jonwyattphillips@lemmy.ml 2 points 2 years ago

distrobox enter debian-toolbox :)

[–] veer66@lemmy.one 2 points 2 years ago

Maybe Sparky Linux ...

Normally, I use Debian. However, Debian 12 installer didn't work on my Acer Extensa 💻. So I installed Sparky Linux, and it works.

[–] jaagruk@mander.xyz 1 points 2 years ago
[–] rotopenguin 1 points 2 years ago

How lightweight do you really need to go? I have a Lenovo "barely worth calling a chromebook" with 4GB/64GB/2 core N4000. It's fine with Gnome on Bookworm.

[–] Sammy@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

My Son, SpiralLinux, is the neatest lil package of Debian you could ever want. It comes with all the Bluetooth and Wi-Fi drivers I need and it actually has an installer (Calamari’s I think?) that’s efficient and easy to understand.

Other than that-…. Uuuuhhhhh have you tried Hanna Montana OS?

[–] fin@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 years ago

Hannah Montana Linux – a live Linux distribution based on Kubuntu with a Hannah Montana theme. It has been created to “attract young users to Linux”.

Thanks that’s attractive