5 ms·

Pop!_OS has been my daily driver for three years and counting. I think its desktop enviroment is already fine, with a few annoyances (hiding the top bar require

Pop!_OS has been my daily driver for three years and counting. I think its desktop enviroment is already fine, with a few annoyances (hiding the top bar requires GNOME Toolkit and doesn't work reliably). I've been following the progress of Cosmic casually. To me it seems a slightly more [cohesive|streamlined|robust] version of the current desktop, which would be great. Although it also seems like for non-early adopters like myself who just want to use something that works and gets out or their way is a long way off. Videos reviewing the alpha version say this fairly universally.

Arisaka1 2y ago
Unfortunately the one thing that will always keep me to Fedora is System76's disinterest in keeping the repositories somewhat up to date with the rest of the world. It boggles my mind why is there no Debian-based distro that are either bleeding edge or at the very least on par with Fedora's freshness in terms of updates.
- vondur 2y ago
  Cosmic is available for Fedora too.
- dak89 2y ago
  Good news: I heard on a podcast with someone from System76 that they plan to support Fedora with an official Cosmic spin!
  - RDaneel0livaw 2y ago
    I heard that too and am very excited for this! When I build my new machine with a new rdna4 machine, this'll be the distro/de I'll use at first bootup.
- cassianoleal 2y ago
  > why is there no Debian-based distro that are either bleeding edge Debian testing or sid are more or less that. Barring major upgrades (Plasma 6 is taking some time), most packages are kept quite up-to-date.
  - 3np 2y ago
    sid is more like cutting edge, no? Comparable to Fedora Rawhide. But yeah, there are options! One shouldn't be afraid of being on the base distro.
    - cassianoleal 2y ago
      I'm not familiar with Rawhide so can't comment on that. > Debian Unstable (also known by its codename "Sid") is not a release, but rather the development version of the Debian distribution containing the latest packages that have been introduced into Debian. https://wiki.debian.org/DebianUnstable#Introduction https://wiki.debian.org/DebianUnstable#Introduction It's worth it reading the FAQ [0] before hopping on either, but as someone who's been running a mixed testing/unstable system for years, there's no reason for panic. [0] https://wiki.debian.org/DebianUnstable#FAQ https://wiki.debian.org/DebianUnstable#FAQ
      - ensignavenger 2y ago
        What I would love to see in the Debian ecosystem is a "Slowroll" release, similar to OpenSuse's upcoming "Slowroll" option. Maybe take Sid and make include any Sid packages that have been in it and stable for at least 2 weeks, and release an update every 30 days or so. Do some additional testing, backport any critical security fixes... sounds like a lot of work but it would be a valuable option.
        JoshTriplett 2y ago
        That is mostly what testing does, modulo the exact numbers/durations involved. One reason people don't do snapshot-releases of testing is that such releases wouldn't get security support. And security support shouldn't wait 30 days.
        ensignavenger 2y ago
        Which is why I explicitly mentioned security stuff being backported. Maybe it wasn't clear enough, but yes, I agree that security updates need to be released faster in many cases, and need a special handeling. The amount of work involved in handeling security patches is probably why it hasn't happened yet.
- j_0 2y ago
  I am currently running Cosmic in Fedora 40, dnf installed from a popular COPR (ryanabx/cosmic-epoch) and (*I*) have had no issues with an existing fedora install.
  - WD-42 2y ago
    Same. It’s been pretty stable in my experience.
- zokier 2y ago
  Ubuntu is Debian based and has similar 6 month release cycle as Fedora?
  - cevn 2y ago
    Ubuntu does not keep up, speaking from experience.
- nerdponx 2y ago
  Debian Sid is surprisingly usable.
- aryonoco 2y ago
  There is Vanilla OS, which is based on Debian Sid, is immutable and rolling release. As for freshness/pace of updates, it really is a matter of taste. Even though I've been using Debian stable in one form or another for nearly 25 years, and it's still my platform of choice for servers, when it comes to desktop, I find it hard to move away from ooensuse Tumbleweed, cause TW makes even Fedora feel old and stale.
- jwells89 2y ago
  Having packages land in that goldilocks zone of not cutting edge but not old either is particularly pertinent for multiplatform users. It can get annoying trying to keep everything pinned on macs and windows boxes to match distros that are slower to update. I could totally see using something like Debian stable in a pure Linux environment with no newly-supported hardware being added, though.
- bbkane 2y ago
  Most of the bleeding edge stuff I want is in a Flatpack or Homebrew. It's definitely not ideal to have 3 separate ways to acquire software, but in practice I haven't run into many issues (Homebrew works surprisingly well on Linux!!)

Arisaka1 2y ago

Unfortunately the one thing that will always keep me to Fedora is System76's disinterest in keeping the repositories somewhat up to date with the rest of the world. It boggles my mind why is there no Debian-based distro that are either bleeding edge or at the very least on par with Fedora's freshness in terms of updates.

vondur 2y ago
Cosmic is available for Fedora too.
dak89 2y ago
Good news: I heard on a podcast with someone from System76 that they plan to support Fedora with an official Cosmic spin!
- RDaneel0livaw 2y ago
  I heard that too and am very excited for this! When I build my new machine with a new rdna4 machine, this'll be the distro/de I'll use at first bootup.
cassianoleal 2y ago
> why is there no Debian-based distro that are either bleeding edge Debian testing or sid are more or less that. Barring major upgrades (Plasma 6 is taking some time), most packages are kept quite up-to-date.
- 3np 2y ago
  sid is more like cutting edge, no? Comparable to Fedora Rawhide. But yeah, there are options! One shouldn't be afraid of being on the base distro.
  - cassianoleal 2y ago
    I'm not familiar with Rawhide so can't comment on that. > Debian Unstable (also known by its codename "Sid") is not a release, but rather the development version of the Debian distribution containing the latest packages that have been introduced into Debian. https://wiki.debian.org/DebianUnstable#Introduction https://wiki.debian.org/DebianUnstable#Introduction It's worth it reading the FAQ [0] before hopping on either, but as someone who's been running a mixed testing/unstable system for years, there's no reason for panic. [0] https://wiki.debian.org/DebianUnstable#FAQ https://wiki.debian.org/DebianUnstable#FAQ
    - ensignavenger 2y ago
      What I would love to see in the Debian ecosystem is a "Slowroll" release, similar to OpenSuse's upcoming "Slowroll" option. Maybe take Sid and make include any Sid packages that have been in it and stable for at least 2 weeks, and release an update every 30 days or so. Do some additional testing, backport any critical security fixes... sounds like a lot of work but it would be a valuable option.
      - JoshTriplett 2y ago
        That is mostly what testing does, modulo the exact numbers/durations involved. One reason people don't do snapshot-releases of testing is that such releases wouldn't get security support. And security support shouldn't wait 30 days.
        ensignavenger 2y ago
        Which is why I explicitly mentioned security stuff being backported. Maybe it wasn't clear enough, but yes, I agree that security updates need to be released faster in many cases, and need a special handeling. The amount of work involved in handeling security patches is probably why it hasn't happened yet.
j_0 2y ago
I am currently running Cosmic in Fedora 40, dnf installed from a popular COPR (ryanabx/cosmic-epoch) and (*I*) have had no issues with an existing fedora install.
- WD-42 2y ago
  Same. It’s been pretty stable in my experience.
zokier 2y ago
Ubuntu is Debian based and has similar 6 month release cycle as Fedora?
- cevn 2y ago
  Ubuntu does not keep up, speaking from experience.
nerdponx 2y ago
Debian Sid is surprisingly usable.
aryonoco 2y ago
There is Vanilla OS, which is based on Debian Sid, is immutable and rolling release. As for freshness/pace of updates, it really is a matter of taste. Even though I've been using Debian stable in one form or another for nearly 25 years, and it's still my platform of choice for servers, when it comes to desktop, I find it hard to move away from ooensuse Tumbleweed, cause TW makes even Fedora feel old and stale.
jwells89 2y ago
Having packages land in that goldilocks zone of not cutting edge but not old either is particularly pertinent for multiplatform users. It can get annoying trying to keep everything pinned on macs and windows boxes to match distros that are slower to update. I could totally see using something like Debian stable in a pure Linux environment with no newly-supported hardware being added, though.
bbkane 2y ago
Most of the bleeding edge stuff I want is in a Flatpack or Homebrew. It's definitely not ideal to have 3 separate ways to acquire software, but in practice I haven't run into many issues (Homebrew works surprisingly well on Linux!!)