A quick guide to choosing the right linux distro and desktop environment
Disclaimer: This is my opinion, but I will try to make it as objective as possible. This post is meant for beginners, searching for their first linux distro or desktop environment (DE). Look at the comments for differing opinions as well.
General guidelines:
-You should choose something popular, because that usually means there’s more bug reports, more development and therefore more stability.
-If a DE only has experimental wayland support, don’t use wayland yet.
First off, I believe, that choosing the DE is the first thing you should do.
-KDE: It’s a modern and polished DE with an intuitive design, especially if you’re coming from windows. Most things should “just work”.
-GNOME: It’s also a modern and polished DE, but might be a bit less intuitive for a windows user (I have heard it’s better for MacOS users, but I can’t comment on that). You can install a few extensions to suit your needs, and that should make it easy to switch from windows.
-Cinnamon: It’s polished and intuitive, but a bit less modern in feature set and imo in design (look at pictures online and judge for yourself)
These are the DEs that a first time user should use imo, other ones have less development and are either older in feature set, design, or are less stable (or targeted at experienced linux users). If you’re reading this in the future, when COSMIC DE has released, then you can look into that as well.
When you’ve decided on the DE, then the only thing you should worry about is the update-cycle of the distro. If you have very new hardware, then choosing a distro with a quick update cycle is the best option.
If you chose KDE, then there are a few options:
If you want updates once every 2 years, choose Debian
If you want updates twice a year, choose kubuntu
If you want updates a few times a month, choose fedora KDE
and If you want updates a few times a day, then choose something Arch based (Endavour OS is my recommendation)
If you chose GNOME,
If you want updates once every 2 years, choose Debian
If you want updates twice a year, choose Ubuntu
If you want updates a few times a month, choose fedora
and If you want updates a few times a day, then choose something Arch based (Endavour OS is my recommendation)
And if you chose Cinnamon, I think that Linux Mint is the best option, because Cinnamon is developed together with Mint.
I don’t recommend installing POP OS until the COSMIC de releases, because it’s not getting updates until it does.
For transparency, I currently use Arch with Enlightenment WM, and have experience with all of the DEs and distros that I mentioned except Debian. I also have experience with hyprland, xfce, cosmic alpha and probably other ones that I don’t remember at the moment.
When I first tried to install linux I really wanted a simple and quick guide for choosing the right distro and DE combination for everyone, and so I wrote it now, that I have more experience with linux. In pursuit of keeping it simple I only mentioned the options that I think a beginner should use.
If I got anything wrong, or if you don’t agree with something, comment on this post and I will update it.
https://redd.it/1nm22va
@r_linux
Disclaimer: This is my opinion, but I will try to make it as objective as possible. This post is meant for beginners, searching for their first linux distro or desktop environment (DE). Look at the comments for differing opinions as well.
General guidelines:
-You should choose something popular, because that usually means there’s more bug reports, more development and therefore more stability.
-If a DE only has experimental wayland support, don’t use wayland yet.
First off, I believe, that choosing the DE is the first thing you should do.
-KDE: It’s a modern and polished DE with an intuitive design, especially if you’re coming from windows. Most things should “just work”.
-GNOME: It’s also a modern and polished DE, but might be a bit less intuitive for a windows user (I have heard it’s better for MacOS users, but I can’t comment on that). You can install a few extensions to suit your needs, and that should make it easy to switch from windows.
-Cinnamon: It’s polished and intuitive, but a bit less modern in feature set and imo in design (look at pictures online and judge for yourself)
These are the DEs that a first time user should use imo, other ones have less development and are either older in feature set, design, or are less stable (or targeted at experienced linux users). If you’re reading this in the future, when COSMIC DE has released, then you can look into that as well.
When you’ve decided on the DE, then the only thing you should worry about is the update-cycle of the distro. If you have very new hardware, then choosing a distro with a quick update cycle is the best option.
If you chose KDE, then there are a few options:
If you want updates once every 2 years, choose Debian
If you want updates twice a year, choose kubuntu
If you want updates a few times a month, choose fedora KDE
and If you want updates a few times a day, then choose something Arch based (Endavour OS is my recommendation)
If you chose GNOME,
If you want updates once every 2 years, choose Debian
If you want updates twice a year, choose Ubuntu
If you want updates a few times a month, choose fedora
and If you want updates a few times a day, then choose something Arch based (Endavour OS is my recommendation)
And if you chose Cinnamon, I think that Linux Mint is the best option, because Cinnamon is developed together with Mint.
I don’t recommend installing POP OS until the COSMIC de releases, because it’s not getting updates until it does.
For transparency, I currently use Arch with Enlightenment WM, and have experience with all of the DEs and distros that I mentioned except Debian. I also have experience with hyprland, xfce, cosmic alpha and probably other ones that I don’t remember at the moment.
When I first tried to install linux I really wanted a simple and quick guide for choosing the right distro and DE combination for everyone, and so I wrote it now, that I have more experience with linux. In pursuit of keeping it simple I only mentioned the options that I think a beginner should use.
If I got anything wrong, or if you don’t agree with something, comment on this post and I will update it.
https://redd.it/1nm22va
@r_linux
Reddit
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Git: Introduce Rust and announce that it will become mandatory
https://lore.kernel.org/git/20250904-b4-pks-rust-breaking-change-v1-0-3af1d25e0be9@pks.im/
https://redd.it/1nm2y05
@r_linux
https://lore.kernel.org/git/20250904-b4-pks-rust-breaking-change-v1-0-3af1d25e0be9@pks.im/
https://redd.it/1nm2y05
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Reddit
From the linux community on Reddit: Git: Introduce Rust and announce that it will become mandatory
Posted by TheTwelveYearOld - 79 votes and 38 comments
This Week in Plasma: KDE 6.5 beta (Only Notable Change Log A.K.A. "TL;DR") by Nate Graham
Source: https://blogs.kde.org/2025/09/20/this-week-in-plasma-6.5-beta-and-start-of-the-bug-fix-a-palooza/
https://redd.it/1nm6xef
@r_linux
Source: https://blogs.kde.org/2025/09/20/this-week-in-plasma-6.5-beta-and-start-of-the-bug-fix-a-palooza/
https://redd.it/1nm6xef
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KDE Blogs
This Week in Plasma: 6.5 beta and start of the bug-fix-a-palooza
Welcome to a new issue of This Week in Plasma!
This week we finalized the set of features and major changes in Plasma 6.5, and released the first beta. I’d encourage everyone to test it out! One of the best ways these days is via KDE Linux. Many other distros…
This week we finalized the set of features and major changes in Plasma 6.5, and released the first beta. I’d encourage everyone to test it out! One of the best ways these days is via KDE Linux. Many other distros…
Graphite (FOSS, non-destructive 2D art/design suite) September update - project's largest release to date
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vl5BA4g3QXM
https://redd.it/1nmdrgd
@r_linux
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vl5BA4g3QXM
https://redd.it/1nmdrgd
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YouTube
September Update - Graphite, the Open Source 2D Graphics Suite
Graphite is a procedural design tool and graphics editor that's free and open source. What's new in the September 2025 release, our biggest update ever? Find out the most exciting and noteworthy improvements from over 300 changes developed by our project…
What happened to unix.com???
Does anyone know what happened with unix.com? I remember using and learning Linux and other *nix from it for 15 or so years. I was on there less as I got to where I could answer most questions myself or with google. I went to just browse it the other day and it seems to be gone. Wondering if anyone knows what happened as it was a great resource.
https://redd.it/1nmh7oh
@r_linux
Does anyone know what happened with unix.com? I remember using and learning Linux and other *nix from it for 15 or so years. I was on there less as I got to where I could answer most questions myself or with google. I went to just browse it the other day and it seems to be gone. Wondering if anyone knows what happened as it was a great resource.
https://redd.it/1nmh7oh
@r_linux
Reddit
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Serial console on a vm
I am running a server with Debian Trixie. It runs two virtual machines using kvm. I always ssh into these machines to do maintenance tasks. Yesterday I learned that I can also use
to connect to the vm if the host hast serial console enabled, which may be useful in some situations.
Does having the serial console enabled on a vm possess any security risks?
https://redd.it/1nmj3dr
@r_linux
I am running a server with Debian Trixie. It runs two virtual machines using kvm. I always ssh into these machines to do maintenance tasks. Yesterday I learned that I can also use
virsh console <machine_name>to connect to the vm if the host hast serial console enabled, which may be useful in some situations.
Does having the serial console enabled on a vm possess any security risks?
https://redd.it/1nmj3dr
@r_linux
Reddit
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Service offerings from Mastodon
https://blog.joinmastodon.org/2025/09/service-offerings-from-mastodon/
https://redd.it/1nmpgz7
@r_linux
https://blog.joinmastodon.org/2025/09/service-offerings-from-mastodon/
https://redd.it/1nmpgz7
@r_linux
Mastodon Blog
Service offerings from Mastodon
We're offering hosting, support and moderation services, to establish a more sustainable financial base while we continue to build a better social web.
Deleting a project on Fedora COPR
An image showing a snapx project dashboard with a \\"Delete Project\\" prompt. The prompt asks the user to solve a word problem to confirm the deletion: \\"3.6 hens lay 2.0 eggs in 3.4 days. How many eggs do 4.2 hens lay in 1.3 days?\\"
I think I might leave the project up... Human verification too hard these days /s
https://redd.it/1nmrtf9
@r_linux
An image showing a snapx project dashboard with a \\"Delete Project\\" prompt. The prompt asks the user to solve a word problem to confirm the deletion: \\"3.6 hens lay 2.0 eggs in 3.4 days. How many eggs do 4.2 hens lay in 1.3 days?\\"
I think I might leave the project up... Human verification too hard these days /s
https://redd.it/1nmrtf9
@r_linux
I Created A CLI Data Processor
Lately, I built a data processor in Rust. It's incredibly fast compared to Python-based and other interpreted applications. I used it to check if 100M random numbers up to a billion were prime, and it finished in 3:42.6, a tiny amount of time compared to doing the thing with some python modules on my i7-3450QM. This data processor is also very easily integrated as a backend with AI middlemen and GUI frontends via shell and stdin, and the result is simply printed to stdout. If you find any problems or think I should add more features, please put in Issues tab.
https://github.com/matthewyang204/dproc
https://redd.it/1nmsqwn
@r_linux
Lately, I built a data processor in Rust. It's incredibly fast compared to Python-based and other interpreted applications. I used it to check if 100M random numbers up to a billion were prime, and it finished in 3:42.6, a tiny amount of time compared to doing the thing with some python modules on my i7-3450QM. This data processor is also very easily integrated as a backend with AI middlemen and GUI frontends via shell and stdin, and the result is simply printed to stdout. If you find any problems or think I should add more features, please put in Issues tab.
https://github.com/matthewyang204/dproc
https://redd.it/1nmsqwn
@r_linux
GitHub
GitHub - matthewyang204/dproc: A basic CLI data processor, designed to be fed data and output data directly from the commandline
A basic CLI data processor, designed to be fed data and output data directly from the commandline - matthewyang204/dproc
any linux distro left that support i686 32bit cpu?
I have a really old laptop and I just realize that the CPU is i686 and that means no 64 bit linux distros, I try downloading voidlinux, it worked but not fully and any older version were impossible look for as most and all links are expired.
https://redd.it/1nmvxqd
@r_linux
I have a really old laptop and I just realize that the CPU is i686 and that means no 64 bit linux distros, I try downloading voidlinux, it worked but not fully and any older version were impossible look for as most and all links are expired.
https://redd.it/1nmvxqd
@r_linux
Reddit
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Does Linux suffer from a community that suffers the "Curse of Knowlege"?
So the idea of this post is to ask a very simple question. Does the Linux community suffer from the Curse of Knowlege?
The Curse, or at least my interpretation of it, is simmilar to "math teacher syndrome" where a teacher doing a lesson on math can sometimes "skip trivial steps" when teaching more complex topics.
In the terms of Linux's community, its the idea that when we give our opinions, advice, and knowlege to others, we tend to do so with the Curse of Knowledge.
Take Nvidia Drivers. We can argue every day to Sunday about how, "objectively" Nvidia is a worse time on Linux than AMD (this is not an invitation to argue this is the comments haha).
This can put off new users as it makes Linux seem unstable when we talk about stuff like drivers not updating properly etc. But the reality is that, unless you are doing everything from complete scratch, the drivers are not likely to poop themselves if you use something like Ubuntu, Bazzite etc.
Another is "what is important". On Ubuntu, they spent a solid year updating their installer to be "more modern". But last year, when I helped around 12 students install Ubuntu on old laptops that they had "given up on"... not a single one of them even commented on the installer... which was the older version.
When it comes to major adoption, do we struggle to get people moving to Linux because, to be frank, the most important opinions, topic, advice... knowlege... is from a position of folk who have drunk quite a bit of the Linux sauce?
This is a community where we spend months on updating niche or intermediate / advanced tools and software... but then still dont have a way to change % to the actual raw values on GNOME's out of the box system monitor (that I know of haha).
So I guess my question is, are we held back a bit by a "Curse of knowlege" and does it effect the image folk have of Linux's stability / viability?
Interested to hear folk's opinion below 😁
https://redd.it/1nn1a06
@r_linux
So the idea of this post is to ask a very simple question. Does the Linux community suffer from the Curse of Knowlege?
The Curse, or at least my interpretation of it, is simmilar to "math teacher syndrome" where a teacher doing a lesson on math can sometimes "skip trivial steps" when teaching more complex topics.
In the terms of Linux's community, its the idea that when we give our opinions, advice, and knowlege to others, we tend to do so with the Curse of Knowledge.
Take Nvidia Drivers. We can argue every day to Sunday about how, "objectively" Nvidia is a worse time on Linux than AMD (this is not an invitation to argue this is the comments haha).
This can put off new users as it makes Linux seem unstable when we talk about stuff like drivers not updating properly etc. But the reality is that, unless you are doing everything from complete scratch, the drivers are not likely to poop themselves if you use something like Ubuntu, Bazzite etc.
Another is "what is important". On Ubuntu, they spent a solid year updating their installer to be "more modern". But last year, when I helped around 12 students install Ubuntu on old laptops that they had "given up on"... not a single one of them even commented on the installer... which was the older version.
When it comes to major adoption, do we struggle to get people moving to Linux because, to be frank, the most important opinions, topic, advice... knowlege... is from a position of folk who have drunk quite a bit of the Linux sauce?
This is a community where we spend months on updating niche or intermediate / advanced tools and software... but then still dont have a way to change % to the actual raw values on GNOME's out of the box system monitor (that I know of haha).
So I guess my question is, are we held back a bit by a "Curse of knowlege" and does it effect the image folk have of Linux's stability / viability?
Interested to hear folk's opinion below 😁
https://redd.it/1nn1a06
@r_linux
Reddit
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How unsafe is it to have a simple weak password for a general use linux pc?
With Windows becoming worse and worse as years go on i'm planning to make the jump to linux soon. I have some knowledge of linux, but one thing always bothers me is the actual requirement of your password. I'm not planning on having my pc run servers ssh or anything like that just a simple gaming PC and my question is it really required to have a strong password? Like can I use for example 123 and not be vulnerable to just random attacks?
https://redd.it/1nn6yu7
@r_linux
With Windows becoming worse and worse as years go on i'm planning to make the jump to linux soon. I have some knowledge of linux, but one thing always bothers me is the actual requirement of your password. I'm not planning on having my pc run servers ssh or anything like that just a simple gaming PC and my question is it really required to have a strong password? Like can I use for example 123 and not be vulnerable to just random attacks?
https://redd.it/1nn6yu7
@r_linux
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Hardest Distro You’ve Ever Set Up?
I’m about 2 years into my linux journey and about 9 months after ditching Windows as my main operating system for Fedora.
Earlier on in my journey I distro hopped like most of us do (I assume,) and of course tried out Arch. Despite all the discussion about how involved it is I found the set up quite easy to follow. At the time I was rocking KDE Plasma and had little issue with it. I eventually ditched it because I didn’t want to learn AUR/Pacman, and have spent most of my days on Fedora as mentioned earlier.
Recently I swapped my desktop to proxmox in order to use vms with gpu pass through, and have been playing around with Nix. And at this stage I’ve been learning how to use Linux without a desktop manager. I have a simple macbook air I loaded i3 onto and have been using it quite successfully. And as of most recent, I have been trying Hyprland out. I’ve converted my bazzite install to use it, as well as the macbook, and for what I am currently doing they are going quite well.
But Nix.. Nix has been quite a pain to set up. Took me a day and a half to get to the point where I could get a session going, use keybinds and whatnot. The trickiest part has been (as far as I can tell) some issue with home manager and hyprland on the latest NixOS version. I am on 23.11 and everything seems to be working now though I have to figure out how to update Firefox so I can use extensions.
I will admit I am not the most savvy with these systems and have unfortunately relied too heavily on LLMs to assist me with stuff. So that is definitely a big part of my headache, but everything else I have ever done has been with its assistance, so I’m guessing it isn’t that well trained on Nix documentation, as well as being prone to hallucinations.
Regardless, I am quite happy to have a functioning Nix install and look forward to customizing it further.
I’m curious about what distributions have been the toughest for you to set up? Thanks for reading and commenting, feel free to roast me for using AI :)
https://redd.it/1nn85im
@r_linux
I’m about 2 years into my linux journey and about 9 months after ditching Windows as my main operating system for Fedora.
Earlier on in my journey I distro hopped like most of us do (I assume,) and of course tried out Arch. Despite all the discussion about how involved it is I found the set up quite easy to follow. At the time I was rocking KDE Plasma and had little issue with it. I eventually ditched it because I didn’t want to learn AUR/Pacman, and have spent most of my days on Fedora as mentioned earlier.
Recently I swapped my desktop to proxmox in order to use vms with gpu pass through, and have been playing around with Nix. And at this stage I’ve been learning how to use Linux without a desktop manager. I have a simple macbook air I loaded i3 onto and have been using it quite successfully. And as of most recent, I have been trying Hyprland out. I’ve converted my bazzite install to use it, as well as the macbook, and for what I am currently doing they are going quite well.
But Nix.. Nix has been quite a pain to set up. Took me a day and a half to get to the point where I could get a session going, use keybinds and whatnot. The trickiest part has been (as far as I can tell) some issue with home manager and hyprland on the latest NixOS version. I am on 23.11 and everything seems to be working now though I have to figure out how to update Firefox so I can use extensions.
I will admit I am not the most savvy with these systems and have unfortunately relied too heavily on LLMs to assist me with stuff. So that is definitely a big part of my headache, but everything else I have ever done has been with its assistance, so I’m guessing it isn’t that well trained on Nix documentation, as well as being prone to hallucinations.
Regardless, I am quite happy to have a functioning Nix install and look forward to customizing it further.
I’m curious about what distributions have been the toughest for you to set up? Thanks for reading and commenting, feel free to roast me for using AI :)
https://redd.it/1nn85im
@r_linux
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Why should I switch to Linux?
I don't really know much about like operating systems and such. I know from what I've read/seen that windows sucks (and Microsoft is also super annoying), but what are the pros and cons? I've tried I believe it was mint before, and used steamOS with the deck, but I was very confused/lost.
As someone who almost exclusively uses her laptop for gaming and university coursework, is it worth it to consider switching to Linux?
https://redd.it/1nnm75q
@r_linux
I don't really know much about like operating systems and such. I know from what I've read/seen that windows sucks (and Microsoft is also super annoying), but what are the pros and cons? I've tried I believe it was mint before, and used steamOS with the deck, but I was very confused/lost.
As someone who almost exclusively uses her laptop for gaming and university coursework, is it worth it to consider switching to Linux?
https://redd.it/1nnm75q
@r_linux
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