this post was submitted on 13 Sep 2023
76 points (89.6% liked)

Linux

48122 readers
627 users here now

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

Rules

Related Communities

Community icon by Alpár-Etele Méder, licensed under CC BY 3.0

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
AgreeableLandscape@lemmy.ml
nooter692@lemmy.ml
MarcellusDrum@lemmy.ml
cypherpunks@lemmy.ml
cyclohexane@lemmy.ml
d3Xt3r@lemmy.nz
76
Should I give Arch a shot? (aussie.zone)
submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by unionagainstdhmo@aussie.zone to c/linux@lemmy.ml
84 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

I've been using Linux as my main OS for a couple of years now, first on a slightly older Dell Inspiron 15. Last year I upgraded to an Inspiron 15 7510 with i7-11800H and RTX3050. Since purchasing this laptop I've used Manjaro, Debian 11, Pop OS, Void Linux, Fedora Silverblue (37 & 38) and now Debian 12. I need to reinstall soon since I've stuffed up my NVIDIA drivers trying to install CUDA and didn't realise that they changed the default swap size to 1GB.

I use this laptop for everything - development in C/C++, dart/flutter, nodejs and sometimes PHP. I occasionally play games on it through Proton and sometimes need to re-encode videos using Handbrake. I need some amount of reliability since I also use this for University.

I've previously been against trying Arch due to instability issues such as the recent GRUB thing. But I have been reading about BTRFS and snapshots which make me think I can have an up to date system and reliability (by rebooting into a snapshot). What's everyone's perspective on this, is there anything major I should keep an eye on?

Should also note I use GNOME, vscode, Firefox and will need MATLAB to be installed, if there is anything to do with those that is problematic on Arch?

Edit: I went with Arch thanks everyone for the advice

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] blackbrook@mander.xyz 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'd recommend openSUSE Tumbleweed instead. They originated the btrfs setup that lets you rollback in the grub menu, which has been copied by others. They are bleeding edge except that all packages go through an automated testing system before being rolled out so there's much less breakage to start with.

[–] unionagainstdhmo@aussie.zone 1 points 1 year ago (2 children)

How well does openSUSE Tumbleweed handle proprietary stuff like NVIDIA drivers?

[–] AnUnusualRelic@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I've been using it on my main box for a few years with a 1070 and then a 2080 without issues. Not that it means anything. I've never really had issues with nVidia despite running Linux for 25+ years and having used a fair number of their cards, but according to the Internet I'm the only one on the planet. So YMMV.

[–] blackbrook@mander.xyz 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

There is definitely a caveat with nvidia. The nvidia repo is managed external to the main repos, so it is possible for a new kernel to drop in the system repo and the nvidia repo not yet be updated with a compatible driver.

I always wait a few days on such updates and watch the mailing lists for problems especially from nvidia users. So far I've only experienced problems due to prime wonkiness that required re-running a couple of prime commands. I haven't had to use the boot-from-btrfs-snapshot yet, but it's a nice security blanket.