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I don't game much... My computer is my workstation. I used Windows for 10+ years and was very comfortable. I felt, more and more often, that I was losing cont

I don't game much... My computer is my workstation. I used Windows for 10+ years and was very comfortable. I felt, more and more often, that I was losing control. Things were changing without my consent. So I tried Mac, and it was good for a while. Then, things also changed without my consent. So I switched to an OS where I have more control. I tried one distribution and WM and then another. Until I found a combination which works for me. And now I am content. Thank you, GNU. Thank you, FOSS. I am so grateful.

apengwin 5y ago
mherrmann 5y ago
Same journey here. Mac vs Linux is like living in a hotel vs living at home. On Mac, everything is designed but you can't bring your own furniture. On Linux, you have to do the dishes but there is no external agenda. It's simply yours. Where I have ended up after the above 25 years is Debian + i3wm. Rock solid, a good fit for my daily work (mostly coding web apps), minimalistic and very productive through keyboard shortcuts. Can highly recommend.
- brightball 5y ago
  I’ve been looking for a way to describe it for a while and you nailed it.
sebazzz 5y ago
That's funny - I enjoyed Ubuntu until Gnome 2 was replaced with Unity / Gnome 3 which were then far less capable. Then I was back onto Windows. Maybe the lesson is not using Ubuntu.
- fgonzag 5y ago
  If you're ever interested in trying it out again, the MATE desktop environment is an up to date fork of Gnome 2. Most distros should have a version available with it. I believe ubuntu has one.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
- forgotmypw17 5y ago
  Yes, Gnome 3 sent me running... But I realized the problem is Ubuntu and Gnome, and there are many other choices.
- squarefoot 5y ago
  Ubuntu is just one of the many distros derived from Debian; some apps even share the same repositories. If you're familiar with the apt package manager you could jump straight back to Debian without noticing much differences, although you may have to spend some time to configure your desktop manager of choice (XFCE for example defaults to absolutely ugly settings). On Debian you can choose among Gnome, KDE, XFCE, Mate, LXDE, ... during install but any of them plus others can be installed afterwards, and if you change the desktop manager after installing applications, that won't be a problems since all will inherit the applications menu and some other customizations. The user can also use a different desktop manager at each login, but that integration is true also for any other Linux distro. If you don't care about changing package manager, however, I've found Manjaro to be really clean and easy to set up. It appears to have "a bit less knobs" than Debian, but they do their work nicely: very good for desktop applications.
- entropicgravity 5y ago
  I've been using Linux Mint since Ubuntu became a bit of a mess. Well worth a look.
- rubicks 5y ago
  It might be worth your time to try `xubuntu-desktop`. Like my sibling comment says, it's not pretty, but it is highly functional and avoids the Gnome-esque candy to which you allude.

apengwin 5y ago

mherrmann 5y ago

Same journey here. Mac vs Linux is like living in a hotel vs living at home. On Mac, everything is designed but you can't bring your own furniture. On Linux, you have to do the dishes but there is no external agenda. It's simply yours. Where I have ended up after the above 25 years is Debian + i3wm. Rock solid, a good fit for my daily work (mostly coding web apps), minimalistic and very productive through keyboard shortcuts. Can highly recommend.

brightball 5y ago
I’ve been looking for a way to describe it for a while and you nailed it.

sebazzz 5y ago

That's funny - I enjoyed Ubuntu until Gnome 2 was replaced with Unity / Gnome 3 which were then far less capable. Then I was back onto Windows. Maybe the lesson is not using Ubuntu.

fgonzag 5y ago
If you're ever interested in trying it out again, the MATE desktop environment is an up to date fork of Gnome 2. Most distros should have a version available with it. I believe ubuntu has one.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
forgotmypw17 5y ago
Yes, Gnome 3 sent me running... But I realized the problem is Ubuntu and Gnome, and there are many other choices.
squarefoot 5y ago
Ubuntu is just one of the many distros derived from Debian; some apps even share the same repositories. If you're familiar with the apt package manager you could jump straight back to Debian without noticing much differences, although you may have to spend some time to configure your desktop manager of choice (XFCE for example defaults to absolutely ugly settings). On Debian you can choose among Gnome, KDE, XFCE, Mate, LXDE, ... during install but any of them plus others can be installed afterwards, and if you change the desktop manager after installing applications, that won't be a problems since all will inherit the applications menu and some other customizations. The user can also use a different desktop manager at each login, but that integration is true also for any other Linux distro. If you don't care about changing package manager, however, I've found Manjaro to be really clean and easy to set up. It appears to have "a bit less knobs" than Debian, but they do their work nicely: very good for desktop applications.
entropicgravity 5y ago
I've been using Linux Mint since Ubuntu became a bit of a mess. Well worth a look.
rubicks 5y ago
It might be worth your time to try `xubuntu-desktop`. Like my sibling comment says, it's not pretty, but it is highly functional and avoids the Gnome-esque candy to which you allude.