Hello community!
I come to you for advice. Using an m1 macbook air since 2020, I installed popos on my old 2013 macbook pro and I was quite happy with it but… I bought a steamdeck two weeks ago and exploring its desktop mode made me reconsider some choices. Using distros based on different systems, with different commands, desktop environment, etc. gets a little confusing for someone like me, who doesn’t use linux as my main machine. Do you have any advice for me? From what I understand, steamos is debian-based while popos is ubuntu-based: is that the biggest part of how a distribution works, ie commands, etc.? Good ui/ux is important for me so i should maybe use nitrux or deepin, that are debian-based, or is it a bad idea to choose a less common distro for a amateur like me?
Thanks in advance, I’m a bit lost.
steamos is debian-based
This used to be the case until the launch of the Steam Deck, on which SteamOS (3) is actually based on Arch instead. However, SteamOS is a very special distro based on Arch due to ‘immutability’, how it achieves said ‘immutability’, the implications thereof, ‘freezing’ of packages, inability to install packages persistently without some hacking etc. So, SteamOS is not representative of how Arch works in general.
while popos is ubuntu-based
And Ubuntu is based on Debian.
is that the biggest part of how a distribution works, ie commands, etc.?
If we take your average (popular) distro, so the likes of Gentoo, NixOS etc are dismissed as they are very unique compared to the others, then arguably the most important differentiators would be: Model for updates, package manager and available packages. One might delve deeper into this and with the advent of stuff like Distrobox this becomes a lot more blurred, but traditionally speaking the aforementioned three things used to be the main differentiators. Beyond those, the end-user has the freedom to do whatever with their system. For example, Pop!_OS comes with GNOME + their own touches by default. However, the desktop mode of SteamOS comes with KDE. But you can install KDE on Pop!_OS and even customize it very closely to how it’s done over at SteamOS. This is not a special quality of Pop!_OS, but of Linux in general.
Good ui/ux is important for me so i should maybe use nitrux or deepin
It’s important to note that both of these are not unique in what they offer in terms of UI/UX. You can recreate 99% of it yourself, simply by installing the appropriate desktop environment; which constitutes most of the UI/UX. Nitrux has KDE as its desktop environment (with a touch of Maui), while deepin uses the Deepin desktop environment. Personally, I wouldn’t recommend any desktop environment beyond Cinnamon, GNOME, KDE and Xfce. Don’t be discouraged by this though, feel free to put Nitrux and deepin on a Live USB to get a feel for them. Regarding good UI/UX, your best bets are probs Kubuntu, Linux Mint, openSUSE and Pop!_OS. Honourable mention would be MX Linux, but I don’t recommend systemd-less distros to newer users.
that are debian-based
Sure, Nitrux is based on Debian. But it’s immutable, systemd-less and favors AppImages over Flatpak/Snap. It’s a cool project, but I find it hard to recommend to a newer user. While deepin is less unique by comparison, it’s far from a distro that’s known for its polish. I’d argue it’s mostly just eye-candy instead 😅.
or is it a bad idea to choose a less common distro for a amateur like me?
Bullseye! This isn’t a hard rule though. I started venturing into Linux through a somewhat obscure distro as well 😅. But, at the time, I researched for about a week which distro to install and why. Afterwards I spent another week on how I should install it and what should be considered for install. And then I installed it, after which I spent almost two weeks getting the system to a working state. It still wasn’t quite there yet, but after spending a month on it from start to finish I wanted to move on to something else 😅. I kept the install, don’t get me wrong. And it became my daily-driver. After some time I even ‘fell in love with it’. But like, I know that I can be stubborn about things like this and persevere where others might have preferred to hit their heads to the wall instead. So your mileage may vary…
Do you have any advice for me?
As you’ve correctly assessed, you are indeed lost 😅 . That’s fine, I think almost all of us have been lost at some point in time. Uhmm…, but honestly, I think you’re conflating two very distinct things. Pop!_OS is a general-use distro on which you can do whatever. And most distros that people talk about and engage with are similarly general-use distros. SteamOS, on the other hand, isn’t quite like that. Sure, you may hack your way and achieve some things with it. But it’s false to believe that you can find any distro that qualifies as SteamOS but on your laptop. Before giving you any recommendations, would you be so kind to answer the following:
- Your post is written in a way that implies that you want to forego Pop!_OS for another distro that’s more like SteamOS. Therefore my question would be:
- What things from SteamOS did you prefer over Pop!_OS? Please be specific and elaborate*.
“hacking” ಠ_ಠ you mean tinkering.
I realize this is a lost battle at this point, but I hate how the media hijacked “hacking” as a catch all for malicious purposes and crime. Hackers built Unix and the Internet. Hackers hack together solutions with the resources available to serve a purpose or solve a problem. Tinkerers play for hobby and education.
Crackers and script kiddies are responsible for ruining lives and businesses.
/rant
Typing a command in the terminal is not hacking , just because you made a change to the system doesn’t mean you “hacked it”, it’s basic functionality of Linux; being no different from changing a setting, it’s just using an interactive user interface that’s text based. Additionally, Valve doesn’t put anything to block the changes; They even encourage those whom want to make these changes. There is no problem to solve.
I’m sick of people assuming Terminal = Hacking, it’s a blatantly false stereotype that only serves to scare monger people into thinking the terminal is “1337 Haxers only”.
Crackers and script kiddies are responsible for ruining lives and businesses.
Script kiddies & Crackers aren’t even hackers; Hackers build their own tools; Script kiddies & Crackers are at most a customer or plagiarist.
I hate how the media hijacked “hacking” as a catch all for malicious purposes and crime.
Hacking is the practice of extending or exploiting a system to do something it wasn’t originally designed to do.
This could mean modifying source code, injecting mods, exploiting a vulnerability, etc.
Contrary to popular belief this doesn’t automatically make any of the examples ”malicious”, because if you’re using your own property or have permission it’s completely legal.I thought hacking “originally” just meant figuring things out? …like short for hacking away at figuring out how to do things.
Why did you quote “originally” when you’re using it in a completely different context?
No, not in the context of computer hacking. if that was the definition then there’d be no difference between a “hacker” & a programmer who builds consumer applications. Finding solutions to a problem is just every programmer ever.I used quotes because I wasn’t sure if that was the real original use. (Also because I don’t pay attention to or know proper grammar rules).
Ah, ok. It’s just that it reads like you’re quoting me.
- Your post is written in a way that implies that you want to forego Pop!_OS for another distro that’s more like SteamOS. Therefore my question would be:
