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> The problem with Ubuntu is - when it releases their latest version, it is already shipping a couple years old software versions. That is quite a dramatic tak

> The problem with Ubuntu is - when it releases their latest version, it is already shipping a couple years old software versions. That is quite a dramatic take and simply not true. It maybe fits somewhat for Debian Stable (that has a freeze of 4 to 6 months), but Ubuntu bases off Debian Unstable (sid) and sid is very close to the Arch experience - I know because I use both a lot. Granted, Ubuntu adds a bit of a delay due to QA and all that release fuzz a rolling release like Arch does not has to care for, but if an upstream software release happened one or two months before an Ubuntu release it's really likely to be included in that release. > And for pipewire, wayland, mesa and other desktop related things you want to run the latest version at all times. Meh, in general I agree with the sentiment, but there are also regressions that hurt running into, and if you have HW that was released over a year ago it may not matter that much. > This is one of the major reasons why Valve chose Archlinux as a base for their new SteamOS version for Steam Deck. Not directly, they could have used Debian sid for that, and the fact that SteamOS 2.0 is still on Debian 8 (newest is 11) also shows that they did not try to go for the latest releases until now. I'm working on a Debian derivative and we just backport things ourself if really required, it is a bit of work but not that much (we're definitively orders of magnitudes smaller than Valve) - especially as the Debian unstable/sid repo is quite up-to-date and thus we often can just take it from there and base on that anyway. But actually Debian and Arch Linux are really close anyway, I do packaging for both (but neither a DM nor Arch trusted user) and if the software is not awful to package in general it's quite the bliss to do for both, there are also lots of parallels, even if often slightly hidden. So I won't care much; may even try out setting up Debian Sid once I get my Steam Deck :) FYI: here's some good background read regarding all this from a Debian developer whom also works for Collabora on the Steam Runtime: https://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2021/07/msg00214.html https://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2021/07/msg00214.html

Jnr 5y ago
Debian used to be my main desktop distro 10 years ago, but I switched to Archlinux because for me personally Debian reqired too much work after packages got broken (I was on testing or unstable, don’t remember anymore), and it happened too frequently. And also Archlinux AUR was very powerful with no good alternatives on Debian at that time. I still have some servers running Debian but I have migrated most to Ubuntu because of much simpler upgrade procedures between stable versions (basically I have enabled automatic upgrades with auto reboot on all of them). I am an enthusiast but I like to have things running smoothly and even with Arch being rolling release, it has been working smoother for me than in my time prior with Debian. Maybe it is because of the excellent documentation on Arch wiki, maybe it comes with experience. All of this is subjective anyway.

Jnr 5y ago

Debian used to be my main desktop distro 10 years ago, but I switched to Archlinux because for me personally Debian reqired too much work after packages got broken (I was on testing or unstable, don’t remember anymore), and it happened too frequently. And also Archlinux AUR was very powerful with no good alternatives on Debian at that time. I still have some servers running Debian but I have migrated most to Ubuntu because of much simpler upgrade procedures between stable versions (basically I have enabled automatic upgrades with auto reboot on all of them). I am an enthusiast but I like to have things running smoothly and even with Arch being rolling release, it has been working smoother for me than in my time prior with Debian. Maybe it is because of the excellent documentation on Arch wiki, maybe it comes with experience. All of this is subjective anyway.