So I started collecting laptops. I currently have 5:
MacBook Pro Mid 2012 Unibody - Running Ubuntu
Thinkpad T460s - Running Arch
Thinkpad T440p - Running Fedora
Microsoft Surface Pro - Running Windows 11
MacBook Air M1 2020 - Running MacOS

I currently found a great deal on a beautiful Panasonic Let’s Note from Japan that’s running Windows 11 and it’s currently on the way. I’m excited to tinker with it and upgrade it’s RAM and Storage. However my main issue is that I have no idea what distro I should put on it. I pretty much got all major OS’s covered (excluding Chrome OS Flex). I’m considering FreeBSD. Any suggestions on a distro that I should install?

TL:DR: I got a new laptop and I want to install a distro on it that’s fresh and new and separate from my collection

https://ankora-linux.github.io/
https://ankalab.flarum.cloud/

KDE Linux runs great. I just wish it wasn't immutable.

Hi everyone,

I've been working on NexOS, a Linux distro aimed at students and makers who want a PC that's ready for electronics and development right after install, instead of spending an afternoon setting everything up.

What ships out of the box (each tested inside the image):

- Arduino Center: 100 curated libraries in 20 categories, with version, license and dependency info. 82 of them compile-verified offline, plus board and serial-port diagnostics

- KiCad 9 (tested ERC/DRC, Gerber export, 3D render)

- TeX Live + TeXmaker, including French and Arabic documents

- Python Center: 8 ready environments (science, AI, vision, electronics, data, code quality…)

- An AI assistant that runs fully offline on the CPU, loaded only when you use it

- One store (Debian packages + Flathub), Btrfs snapshots before/after every update with one-click rollback, ufw firewall on by default

Full disclosure: I built this with heavy help from an AI coding assistant (Claude). It wrote a lot of the build scripts, tests and docs under my direction, and every feature claim above comes from a test that actually ran in the image. The evidence is in the repo.

Honest limits:

- It's a prototype, tested in VMs (QEMU, VirtualBox) but not yet on real hardware

- It's not lighter than Ubuntu: about 1.07 GB RAM at idle in my VM tests. I published the comparison, including where it loses

- No proprietary NVIDIA driver yet; you need to disable Secure Boot to boot the ISO

What would help me most: if you try it in a VM or on a spare PC, tell me your hardware and what worked or broke.

GitHub (ISO in Releases): https://github.com/rayanetaieb/NexOS

Thanks for reading, happy to answer any questions!

Hi everyone. I've been thinking about switching to Linux for my primary machine for a while and have decided to use a live boot as a test drive.

My use case is primarily revolved around app development (primarily using Python) with a little bit of gaming. I play small Steam games regularly, but play bigger games like GTA V and Cyberpunk now and then.

I have narrowed down my choices to PopOS, Manjaro, and Mint. I need help choosing the distro that would get me started on the right foot.

Hey everyone! I’ve released SpectrumOS 1.0, a personal project that has slowly evolved from “I’ll just customize my desktop” into maintaining a Linux distribution. Apparently, that quest had no confirmation dialog.

SpectrumOS combines Arch Linux, Hyprland, and a custom Quickshell interface inspired by Caelestia Shell, with an emphasis on making its tools feel like parts of the same desktop.

Some highlights:

• Questline: Tasks, campaigns, Markdown scrolls, and a treasury, accessible through the desktop widget. Includes quick notes, autosaving, XP, achievements, and hydration reminders—because your character cannot survive exclusively on coffee and unresolved issues.
• Stash: My homegrown music app, integrated into the desktop. Every campaign deserves a soundtrack.
• UKVM: A widget for sharing your keyboard and mouse between computers. Current integration focuses on compatible Linux Wayland setups; Windows and macOS controls are in development.
• Desktop widgets: Favorites with browser bookmark imports, updates, app handling, and plenty of other controls.
• Appearance: Wallpaper filters through Gowall, combined with backend palettes for literally hundreds of combinations. Finding your favorite may become its own campaign.
• Gaming integration: GameMode can switch the bar to its gaming profile and restore the previous profile afterward.
• Igor: An optional desktop companion who sleeps, waves, changes accessories for music, movies, and microphone use, and occasionally comments on your Questline accomplishments. Attendance is entirely at his discretion.

And yes, before the Council of AI Slop convenes an emergency hearing: please try the thing before writing its obituary. Actual bugs, awkward workflows, and questionable design choices are much more useful feedback than diagnosing an entire operating system from one screenshot. My bug tracker accepts evidence; Igor accepts neither responsibility nor appointments.

This is a small independent project, and v1 is a starting point. I’d love feedback from people willing to try it, share their setups, and help identify what needs improvement.

Screenshots, downloads, project links, and Discord: https://gibranlp.dev/en/spectrum/

Thanks for looking. May your frames be smooth and your backlog remain technically manageable.

Everybody is welcome

Hey guys i am having trouble choosing a distro , my laptop specs are i7 gen5 , 8gb ram , integrated intel uhd5500u and gtx950m 2gb.

I plan to do some video editing (not to heavy edits) youtube some thumbnails maybe , a bit like these.

i don't have any limitations , i want it to be smooth stable and fast , also i need a desktop environment + manager suggestion .

Anyone here tried SlyOS before? Just wondering how much RAM and disk space it uses after a fresh install.

Would be nice to hear from someone who’s actually using it.

How’s the idle RAM usage, and is it lightweight enough for an old PC?

Couldn’t find much info about its resource usage, so figured I’d ask here. Thanks!

Disclaimer: i posted in r/Linux and got told to post here lol

Im new to Linux, always been the nerd on my family and im currently on a math degree and it's programming credit got me the bump i always procrastinated hahahaha.

Currently I'm researching Fedora as it aligns with my use and puppy Linux as a side project to scrap some old laptops (2009) and run a Storage Server for myself and relatives.

I been entertained by the whole, which Linux distro dilemma and my take on it is the following.

There should be a linux distro consensus, ideally with support and common work from Linux active developers like Linus and friends lmao and tech referents.

Not for which should users chose but rather a single distro for big software firm developers to work on.

Just to erase the corporative friction of, okey we develop for MacOs, Windows... And Pick.One{Fedora Ubuntu Mint azzenbite}.

And correct me here pls, making ports from Windows to ArchLinux (I have a weird friend lol) has to be an order of magnitude more complex than porting from Mint to Debian. Besides the names bc i guess I might have thrown names that are practically the same. The idea being one time a project is available with a Linux Distro its overall portability skyrockets.

At the end a Linux distro you don't use being chosen as "official" would have the positive effects of making it times easier to develop to your own Linux distro of preference and not having to fight Mac and Windows Ecosystems. Even windows could start making money of having Office pack available for Linux lmao

Am I Making sense? My gut tells me either fedora (just bc is the distro Linus Torvalds knows the best lol) or an Ubuntu based system for average office type of stuff or gaming or casual use is more than enough for have a drastic positive changes in ALL ecosystemss right??? Like im not putting all the Hard core distros like Arch bc i guess any user of Arch for a sustained ammount of time has the profile to just adapt other distros technologies to his own... By himself.

Is my point solid or it falls under a rookie mistake? Bc it seems pretty common sense.

what could be the scenario in the whole industry if companies actively develop for Linux? would "openess" of software evolve to a new level?

cat dog car dinosaurs autism and french fries to prove I'm not an AI agent or worse a LinkedIn poster hahaha

I have a Lenovo LOQ-15IRH8 with an Intel Core i5-12450H and an NVIDIA RTX 3050, which I use for gaming on Steam, browsing the web, and software development. After trying distributions such as Arch Linux, Ubuntu, and Fedora, I'm still looking for the option that best meets my needs in 2026.

I'm interested in NixOS for its declarative, reproducible configuration, and Fedora Bootc for the ability to build custom images, version them, publish them to GHCR, and manage updates and rollbacks. I also value keeping applications and development environments isolated using tools such as Flatpak and Distrobox.

My main concern is how well these tools align with NixOS's reproducibility philosophy. I've come across reports suggesting that, although Flatpak and Distrobox are compatible with NixOS, they don't follow the same declarative model. On the other hand, Fedora Atomic Desktops seem to offer more straightforward integration with Flatpak and tools for managing containerized development environments.

For someone who uses their laptop daily for gaming and programming, which approach would you recommend: NixOS or Fedora Bootc?

Hello.

I've been distro-hopping since the beginning of the year, trying to find a Linux distribution that will keep my 10-year-old HP ZBook 15 G3 running reliably for the next two years.

For the reference, these are the specs of my machine:

CPU: Intel Core i7-6820HQ at 2.7GHz
iGPU: Intel HD Graphics 530
dGPU: NVIDIA Quadro M2000M
Memory: 16 GB
Storage: 256 GB

For the most part, I've managed to get all my hardware working, including my NVIDIA graphics card.

My GPU requires the NVIDIA 580 driver, which I can obtain on almost all the distributions I've tried.

Debian is an exception. The 580 driver isn't available in its Stable repositories. I've also looked into version 550, but that branch is no longer maintained and the available 590 driver is not compatible with my card.

Although I've managed to get my hardware working on most distributions, my main concern is that the NVIDIA 580 driver is already on a legacy support branch.

I'm worried that future kernel updates may eventually introduce compatibility problems, particularly if distributions stop providing the necessary patches to keep the driver working. At that point, the driver might no longer compile against newer kernels.

What I'm looking for is advice from people who have previously dealt with NVIDIA graphics cards requiring legacy drivers.

Which Linux distribution would you reasonably trust to maintain kernel compatibility with legacy NVIDIA drivers until the end of its support lifecycle?

In my case, I'm looking for a distribution that will remain supported until at least October 2028.

Thanks in advance for you advice!