I’m thinking of switching to linux and I’m looking for a lighter weight easy starter distro. Any tips or recommendations?
recommendation: something simple like fedora
favourite: either NixOS or gentoo
Fedora Budgie spin. Budgie has been my fav on my old Lenovo T510 and my Acer Ryzen 3 laptop, to the point I’m thinking of converting all my stuff to it.
Clean and light bout 600 - 640 MB RAM at boot.
I use and really like Fedora. But the documentation for the needed multimedia packages isn’t good.
Ubuntu (also as basis for other distributions) is more widely used. So you can find more instructions for that.
I were able to use my Nvidia graphics card and steam on both of them. On Fedora the Nvidia driver is in the repository. So you don’t need to download from the Nvidia package. Also my fingerprint sensor on my Lenovo T15 worked out of the box with Fedora.
Is there actually a big difference in lightweightness between distros, that does not go back to the Desktop Environment and used Software?
since i installed debian ( ??3?? i think) , on the first xbox with a self soldered chip ( sorry, its to long ago. i use debian. startet with SuSE 4.2 but then the xbox incident with debian and so, just debian. on my server, on my vm’s, on my workstation… just debian.
My answer to such questions will always be Debian Stable with the Xfce desktop. https://wiki.debian.org/Xfce
Debian is the basis on which Ubuntu (and in turn everything based on Ubuntu) is built. If you take Ubuntu, remove most of the bullshit, add a lot of well-written help documents, and do a lot of QA work and bug-fixing, you end up with Debian Stable. The only real downside is that with Debian you really need to read the installation guide. Where other distribution’s installers just do things to your computer without your consent, the Debian installer will ask a lot of questions, and the installation guide gives you the necessary knowledge so you can give an informed answer. Another issue with Debian is that some default security settings are rather restrictive, and you might need the administrator (“root”) password more often than you’d like (and be it only to change those settings…).
That said, there are more lightweight distributions than Debian, and more lightweight desktops than Xfce, but I think Debian with Xfce is a good compromise for a beginner, when it comes to the balance between being lightweight and still user-friendly. (I personally use Gentoo on my desktop, with the Sway window manager. That’s way more lightweight, but Gentoo is a lot more complicated to set up and maintain than Debian, and Sway is, well, let’s just say you need to write a configuration file in order to use it.)
Ubuntu is my favourite distribution. I tried Manjaro but returned to Ubuntu because I am used to APT. I don’t like pacman…
I started with Linuxmint on my latop. It is easy to install and to use. But now I’m using Debian (stable) on my laptop. On my desktop I’m using Debian (testing) because of the newer hardware for gaming.
TL;DR: I’d say EndeavourOS.
Note that as a general rule, the more lightweight a distro is at “run-time”, the heavier it is at “configure-time”, because you’ll have to make choices depending on your needs to get better performance. As an example, probably the lightest weight distro is Gentoo, thanks to compiler optimization and USE flags. But it’s a distro with an incredibly steep learning curve. On the other side of the spectrum, there’s Ubuntu, which is one of the distros that requires least user configuration, but is also a resource hog. In my opinion EndeavourOS strikes a good balance between the two factors (Disclaimer: I don’t daily drive it. I’ve used it enough to know I can recommend it)
I’m using Endeavour and Fedora on Desktop and Laptop and love both OS. Endeavours advantage: always the newest software, no hassle with upgrading/new installation. On the downside is Archlinux (and Endeavour) not usable without AUR (and AUR is a little scary as far as security is concerned). Fedora’s sweet point is it’s professional quality (compared with Endeauvour): No AUR needed, more comfortable overall (Fedora is more userfriendly than Ubuntu), and skills in Fedora pays of when working on the webserver. Downside: Update/new installation every half year is not so fine.
Definitely try Ubuntu as a easy starter. Supports a lot of hardware, is a good first step.
OP said lightweight. Ubuntu is many things, but lightweight isn’t one of them.
Install the Ubuntu server. Do not install any (suggested) programs and DEs. After reboot manually install xorg, xinit and some lightweight WM (for example sudo apt install xmonad xmobar). Open terminal and write echo >> ~/xinitrc exec xmonad (for example). Reboot. At the tty prompt type startx /usr/bin/xmonad. You get an empty and fast ubuntu-based distro.
It’s more of a hassle than just installing Debian with your preferred WM. Plus doing the latter, you don’t have to scratch your head at snaps
undefined> It’s more of a hassle than just installing Debian with your preferred WM. Plus doing the latter, you don’t have to scratch your head at snaps
I think setting up wifi in Debian netinstall will be just as troublesome as fighting the dreaded and horrible snap.
Depends if you’re using the non-free firmware iso or not
There is a wifi/bluetooth module, the rtl8821. It comes with cheap or old Windows laptops, try to find an open source driver for it.
I happen to have this exact chipset in my laptop (RTL8821CE to be exact), and it has driver modules directly in the mainline kernel (
rtw_8821ce). The only possible issue would be firmware, but I honestly had absolutely no issue installing Arch, Gentoo, or Debian (with the non-free firmware iso) on it multiple times.
You can Try Fedora Workstation. its good for beginners and advanced users alike. It has brought hardware support and comes with flatpak - a large repository of software.
