What distros have you been testing recently?

Discussion on Linux distributions
User avatar
tlmiller
Posts: 4848
Joined: Tue Jan 16, 2018 12:29 pm
Location: AZ, USA

Re: What distros have you been testing recently?

Post by tlmiller »

All my testing recently has been on VM's as well. I've got several VM's of Arch via the official Arch installer (across several machines). I still have a Void VM that I update semi-regularly to test. Other than that, I just have my Debian VM's, 1 bullseye to build packages on if needed (rather than putting all the dev stuff on one of my actual machines), the other still Buster to test Trinity DE.
User avatar
crosscourt
Posts: 11100
Joined: Sun Jan 14, 2018 5:38 pm
Location: Wash DC
Contact:

Re: What distros have you been testing recently?

Post by crosscourt »

I use to prefer really light distros but with 8-16gb of ram these days, its really not an issue. KDE has also changed and runs between 375-450mbs at GUI depending on the distro so I can use a full featured DE but it is still pretty light with resources. Its gotten to the point that testing isnt needed and very few unique distros have been released so its more about which side of the fence youre on, Arch, Debian, Ubuntu or RPM and which DE you prefer.
Site Moderator
User avatar
bin
Posts: 204
Joined: Wed Aug 05, 2020 11:08 am
Location: Wiltshire UK

Re: What distros have you been testing recently?

Post by bin »

For a long while in the late 2000s I was using Gnome based distros. It was comfy and I liked the customisation that was available. Then came Gnome 3. 'Nuff said. I moved over to Xfce - which I had used before and was quite happy with. However along came MATE so I thought I'd give it a whirl. Some good but the Caja file manager was awful. It would take ages to list files and generally choked up at odd times. Also memory use was very high on a 2gb laptop back then.

Fast forward 10 years. OK I've been playing with Trinity since 2016 but Xfce has been the workhorse over the years. However with GTK3 messing things up and a number of changes that I just don't like in 4.16 it's time to look to the future.
I've been playing with Gnome - and found it to be quite good fun but it still takes 4 clicks to shutdown. I like the shell extensions but trying different versions from Buster / 20.04 through to Bullseye / 21.04 I see a lot of changes in the way it works. Things you could do vanish. Move on.

Well, there's a surprise! MATE has finally come of age. OK it's still a bit of a memory hog but hey - I've got the headroom. Other than that it could be 2009 all over again. It all works fine and I'm having fun dusting off old bits and bobs to achieve the RedHat/Bluecurve look I enjoyed. Using the old Bluecurve icon set I've finished making new folder icons that reflect contents, just need to knock up a couple of new ones for things that didn't exist in 2009 and off we go. Although I've had a good look at Ubuntu Mate I am concerned about the direction they are taking long term and so I'll probably stick with Bullseye......unless of course the next MATE version pops up on the radar and there's no other way than Ubuntu. I see they are a bit behind the normal release pattern but there's still plenty of commits on GIt.
User avatar
crosscourt
Posts: 11100
Joined: Sun Jan 14, 2018 5:38 pm
Location: Wash DC
Contact:

Re: What distros have you been testing recently?

Post by crosscourt »

Enjoyed KDE 3.5 but 4 frustrated me and Gnome 2 with Ubuntu was amazing so I was using it for quite awhile. Ubuntu changed so I went to XFCE for a time but as KDE improved I eventually moved over to it and havent looked back. I was using Mate with Ubuntu and Linux Mint but it still had some shortcomings that I didnt have to deal with in KDE, Zorin with a customized Gnome Shell is the only Gnome based distro I still use.
For what little bit I actually use Linux, mainly as my work OS I havent ventured from KDE since it moved to its present form.
I no longer use any Debian based distros and one Ubuntu based, Feren OS KDE.
Site Moderator
User avatar
tlmiller
Posts: 4848
Joined: Tue Jan 16, 2018 12:29 pm
Location: AZ, USA

Re: What distros have you been testing recently?

Post by tlmiller »

Loved KDE2 (don't remember if I used KDE1 or not actually). Loved KDE 3/3.5. Liked 4 once something like 4.6 was released, it took WELL over a year after it's release for it to be usable. But then, the same thing happened with Plasma by KDE. It really wasn't until 5.8 that it was TRULY stable and usable as a daily usable desktop. I have no doubts the same thing will happen whenever they release 6, it'll be utter garbage for about a year because they release things as a "stable" release when they're still alpha quality.

Beyond KDE, I do try to at least test the new versions of Mate on a VM, and Trinity as well. I gave up on Gnome, and with Gnome 40, it's gotten (IMO) even worse than it was. And the sad thing for Cinnamon/XFCE is that because Gnome controls GTK, the future of GTK for being usable without hacking it to pieces looks bleak, as support for anything that's not in Gnome anymore has been dropped from GTK, so it's getting harder and harder for those desktops to actually still FUNCTION while using GTK.
User avatar
crosscourt
Posts: 11100
Joined: Sun Jan 14, 2018 5:38 pm
Location: Wash DC
Contact:

Re: What distros have you been testing recently?

Post by crosscourt »

Never used KDE 2 but started with 3 but 3.5 had just come out and loved it. Outside of Mate which has definitely improved there really arent any DEs that Im interested in even though I still play with various distros using XFCE.
Early KDE 5 was a mixed bag and I had been using XFCE at that time but I ended up with KDE anyway as it suited my taste a lot more than other DEs. I looked at Trinity but still ended up with KDE.
Site Moderator
User avatar
bin
Posts: 204
Joined: Wed Aug 05, 2020 11:08 am
Location: Wiltshire UK

Re: What distros have you been testing recently?

Post by bin »

KDE 1 Corel Linux - 1998. Happy Days.
User avatar
tlmiller
Posts: 4848
Joined: Tue Jan 16, 2018 12:29 pm
Location: AZ, USA

Re: What distros have you been testing recently?

Post by tlmiller »

Was KDE1 still around that late? If so, I've definitely used it, as I first tried a KDE live CD in late 96/early 97...
wove
Posts: 1188
Joined: Mon May 04, 2020 4:47 pm

Re: What distros have you been testing recently?

Post by wove »

KDE 2 was released on October 23, 2000
User avatar
tlmiller
Posts: 4848
Joined: Tue Jan 16, 2018 12:29 pm
Location: AZ, USA

Re: What distros have you been testing recently?

Post by tlmiller »

OH wow...I thought it was much earlier than that!!
Post Reply