Linux mint is user friendly but is it really the best option if hardening is something that is being kept in mind?
Tails and whonix are great but good luck making these your daily drivers. Of course. Qubes is a similar story, huge security and privacy benefit, ability to isolate into VMs, but a mission to make it a daily driver.
I've been experimenting with Nix OS, which is secure in the sense that it runs from one core configuration file which you can see changes if any are made (great for security and auditing, life is easy). I've also been watching Parrotsec create their Parrot software. Debian based, seems to work and quite hardened out of the box.
I think these are much easier than tails and whonix from my little experience, everything is easier than Qubes but if you manage to use that as a daily driver and become experienced with it, you have done a hell of a good job! I'm yet to try and properly conquer it.
Topic: Which Linux distribution would you use now? - page 2. (Read 777 times)
I've tried Mint on a live CD and it comes way too bloated for my taste, too many media related software that I don't need for this purpose. A basic text editor, a spreadsheet editor, and basic dependencies to compile Bitcoin Core as well as Tor should be it. Im either going to use Xubuntu or try the latest Debian release.
I just tried installing Linux Mint on VM and amount of the bloat isn't as bad i expected. But since it's too bloated, your option is limited to Debian or manually uninstall the bloat. And i expect Xubuntu has many bloat for you needs since the ISO alone has size 2.8GB.
I've tried Mint on a live CD and it comes way too bloated for my taste, too many media related software that I don't need for this purpose. A basic text editor, a spreadsheet editor, and basic dependencies to compile Bitcoin Core as well as Tor should be it. Im either going to use Xubuntu or try the latest Debian release. Seems pretty easy to install nowadays compared to back then. Does anyone here use that distro at all? It comes with a full disk encryption setting on the wizard.
I'll try automatic partition setting and just encrypt the whole thing. Im not sure if it encrypts the boot partition too, but I want it to encrypt for sure swap and home. Some people don't realize these may remain unencrypted and leak your data on there.
In that case, use Debian and then replace the default GNOME desktop with an XFCE desktop.I'll try automatic partition setting and just encrypt the whole thing. Im not sure if it encrypts the boot partition too, but I want it to encrypt for sure swap and home. Some people don't realize these may remain unencrypted and leak your data on there.
I don't recall Debian has default DE since you need to chose the DE either when choosing ISO or during installation. Is that no longer true?
The image that shows up here doesn't look like it has the desktop interfaces separated:
https://www.debian.org/
The download button leads to this file:
https://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/current/amd64/iso-cd/debian-12.2.0-amd64-netinst.iso
This requires internet connection to install. Im assuming this contains all the different interfaces. Also im not sure if this will work with an nvidia GPU. Has anyone tried? it may give error since it has free firmware. In that case you may want to try this:
Quote
Non-free Firmware
This Debian image build only includes Free Software where possible. However, many systems include hardware which depends on non-free firmware to function properly so this build also includes those firmware files for those cases. See the Debian Wiki non-free firmware page for more information.
This Debian image build only includes Free Software where possible. However, many systems include hardware which depends on non-free firmware to function properly so this build also includes those firmware files for those cases. See the Debian Wiki non-free firmware page for more information.
https://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/weekly-builds/amd64/iso-dvd/
And when it comes to partitions, im just going to select it to automatically make whatever partitions are needed, will this encrypt the /home and /swap partitions? I just want to make sure that full disk encryption is applied, but I don't want to screw around with manually doing things. So during the wizard I enter the encryption LVM setting and enter a password, it does encrypt the whole thing?
Edit: Found this:
https://xo.tc/setting-up-full-disk-encryption-on-debian-9-stretch.html
According to this, only the sda5_crypt volume is encrypted? what about the swap one?
Also looks like interfaces are included within the iso:
I've tried Mint on a live CD and it comes way too bloated for my taste, too many media related software that I don't need for this purpose. A basic text editor, a spreadsheet editor, and basic dependencies to compile Bitcoin Core as well as Tor should be it. Im either going to use Xubuntu or try the latest Debian release. Seems pretty easy to install nowadays compared to back then. Does anyone here use that distro at all? It comes with a full disk encryption setting on the wizard.
I'll try automatic partition setting and just encrypt the whole thing. Im not sure if it encrypts the boot partition too, but I want it to encrypt for sure swap and home. Some people don't realize these may remain unencrypted and leak your data on there.
I'll try automatic partition setting and just encrypt the whole thing. Im not sure if it encrypts the boot partition too, but I want it to encrypt for sure swap and home. Some people don't realize these may remain unencrypted and leak your data on there.
In that case, use Debian and then replace the default GNOME desktop with an XFCE desktop.
You don't need to encrypt the boot partition, it has no data of interest to inspectors except for maybe your kernel version and the name of the operating system(s) you are booting.
I would argue it's good to learn to use the command line (and vi), but it comes with a steep learning curve. After that, it's much more powerful and faster than using a GUI.
Depends on what precisely you use it for. Simply editing text which could be also done using nano might be worth it, but when writing code, you have tools such as VSCode which provide another level of comfort and efficiency. Even better if you install the vim plugin and gain the advantages of vim, including VSCode's. vim is not so bad since I already know how to use it, but to this day I still find nano convoluted to use (and don't get me started on C-X C-C emacs).
I would argue it's good to learn to use the command line (and vi), but it comes with a steep learning curve. After that, it's much more powerful and faster than using a GUI.
Depends on what precisely you use it for. Simply editing text which could be also done using nano might be worth it, but when writing code, you have tools such as VSCode which provide another level of comfort and efficiency. Even better if you install the vim plugin and gain the advantages of vim, including VSCode's. To me, the answer on that matter is simple. Learn a little bit of everything when it comes to the terminal, but don't put the terminal above everything. Knowing vim has particularly only helped me when editing files via an ssh-ed terminal. I can write code much faster and more correctly on VSCode.
I've tried Mint on a live CD and it comes way too bloated for my taste, too many media related software that I don't need for this purpose. A basic text editor, a spreadsheet editor, and basic dependencies to compile Bitcoin Core as well as Tor should be it. Im either going to use Xubuntu or try the latest Debian release. Seems pretty easy to install nowadays compared to back then. Does anyone here use that distro at all? It comes with a full disk encryption setting on the wizard.
I'll try automatic partition setting and just encrypt the whole thing. Im not sure if it encrypts the boot partition too, but I want it to encrypt for sure swap and home. Some people don't realize these may remain unencrypted and leak your data on there.
Amazing to say the least. I recommend any body who is bored to start learning how to use a Terminal, it is a fun process and helps with your mental too. They say your brain is less likely to degrade if you keep learning new things.
I used to be console-command only but I realized sometimes you just want to rely on a graphical interface. When manually crafting a raw Bitcoin transaction for instance, you can screw up somewhere by entering the stuff manually. I would rather do it on the GUI. Granted, you always have maximum control with the terminal but this comes with great responsibility, and I don't want to gamble screwing up in the process specially in the context of irreversible transactions. Same goes for full disk encryption. One could write a bible about LUKS setups with the command line but I would rather stick to the basics and get it done on the GUI, unless I really needed something so specific that I required to enter it manually.
I'll try automatic partition setting and just encrypt the whole thing. Im not sure if it encrypts the boot partition too, but I want it to encrypt for sure swap and home. Some people don't realize these may remain unencrypted and leak your data on there.
I would argue it's good to learn to use the command line (and vi), but it comes with a steep learning curve. After that, it's much more powerful and faster than using a GUI.
Back in my school days I was told GUI is only for the lazy and if I wanted to be cool and fast I should learn Command Line instead. It took me a very long time to understand this because to the average human the Command Line looks like something straight out of a NASA computer. First seemed like a joke. But ended up being true. It is much faster and easier. And you are even told every thing that happens in background most of the time too. Easier to tell why some things go wrong sometimes and can monitor how things run. Things you do not get with Windows or most of the very user friendly focused Operating Systems and GUIs.Amazing to say the least. I recommend any body who is bored to start learning how to use a Terminal, it is a fun process and helps with your mental too. They say your brain is less likely to degrade if you keep learning new things.
I used to be console-command only but I realized sometimes you just want to rely on a graphical interface. When manually crafting a raw Bitcoin transaction for instance, you can screw up somewhere by entering the stuff manually. I would rather do it on the GUI. Granted, you always have maximum control with the terminal but this comes with great responsibility, and I don't want to gamble screwing up in the process specially in the context of irreversible transactions. Same goes for full disk encryption. One could write a bible about LUKS setups with the command line but I would rather stick to the basics and get it done on the GUI, unless I really needed something so specific that I required to enter it manually.
I would argue it's good to learn to use the command line (and vi), but it comes with a steep learning curve. After that, it's much more powerful and faster than using a GUI.
Back in my school days I was told GUI is only for the lazy and if I wanted to be cool and fast I should learn Command Line instead. It took me a very long time to understand this because to the average human the Command Line looks like something straight out of a NASA computer. First seemed like a joke. But ended up being true. It is much faster and easier. And you are even told every thing that happens in background most of the time too. Easier to tell why some things go wrong sometimes and can monitor how things run. Things you do not get with Windows or most of the very user friendly focused Operating Systems and GUIs.Amazing to say the least. I recommend any body who is bored to start learning how to use a Terminal, it is a fun process and helps with your mental too. They say your brain is less likely to degrade if you keep learning new things.
their beginner guide (~) heavily involve terminal usage.
I would argue it's good to learn to use the command line (and vi), but it comes with a steep learning curve. After that, it's much more powerful and faster than using a GUI. SystemRescue just works: https://www.system-rescue.org/
That's not an OS for daily tasks:Quote from: https://www.system-rescue.org/
SystemRescue (formerly known as SystemRescueCd) is a Linux system rescue toolkit available as a bootable medium for administrating or repairing your system and data after a crash.
to be a simple OS that just works.
SystemRescue just works: https://www.system-rescue.org/ 
I have been running the same distro for years and now im basically forced to wipe the install and start from scratch because they stopped rolling updates. I was using Elementary OS version 5 and as you can see the Ubuntu release it's based on doesn't do updates anymore.
elementary OS Version Released Ubuntu Release Ubuntu Maintenance Updates
0.4 Loki Sep 9, 2016 16.04 LTS April 2021
5 Juno Oct 16, 2018 18.04 LTS April 2023
5.1 Hera Dec 3, 2019 18.04 LTS April 2023
6 Odin Aug 10, 2021 20.04 LTS April 2025
6.1 Jólnir Dec 20, 2021 20.04 LTS April 2025
7.0 Horus Jan 31, 2023 22.04 LTS April 2027
I want to ask what people here are using. I want something that is easy to install that has full disk encryption features during the install on the GUI. And basically something without privacy unfriendly bloatware (like Ubuntu).
I would also like something that doesn't force you to wipe your stuff and start from scratch every 2 or 3 years.
I was looking at n0nce's guide on OpenSUSE. I have never tried that one. Not sure if meets the criteria but having a guide is really nice and would save a lot of time. But there's not much documentation in regards to Bitcoin, most of it is Ubuntu or Debian based. Someone commented this:
So I would rather use something more common. I want to be able to search for stuff and find answers.
mocacinno has a guide for CentOS, but it hasn't been update in 3 years so probably there's some stuff that changed.
Does anyone maintain any other guides for different distros? Im interested in mostly a Bitcoin Core node to form transaction in a desktop install, and a watch-only wallet to broadcast them and check funds, and do this through Tor with a laptop.
There has to be a simple OS that just works. But I guess im going to need to go with Ubuntu based ones so that will require full updates every 2 or 3 years when LTS versions run out of updates. And since I use full disk encryption im going to need to reinstall the whole think backing up the wallets and resync. I guess I can do that every few years. In that case I would try the new ElementaryOS but I would like to know what people hereare using, please let me know so I decide what to install.
The most common is Ubuntu since there is community support, and easy to install, also meets your requirement, they have upgrades but ofcourse even those who are familiar with linux always do backups when worse happen they have something to restore, you are responsible on what you run on linux or ubuntu, it won't run it unless you say so, even the firewall, 5 years is already long enough, what are you trying to achieve? security updates or application updates? I've been using ubuntu for years now I'm still have one running ubuntu 16, also someone using slackware though it has different purpose and still running for almost 10yrs or more now, without issue. elementary OS Version Released Ubuntu Release Ubuntu Maintenance Updates
0.4 Loki Sep 9, 2016 16.04 LTS April 2021
5 Juno Oct 16, 2018 18.04 LTS April 2023
5.1 Hera Dec 3, 2019 18.04 LTS April 2023
6 Odin Aug 10, 2021 20.04 LTS April 2025
6.1 Jólnir Dec 20, 2021 20.04 LTS April 2025
7.0 Horus Jan 31, 2023 22.04 LTS April 2027
I want to ask what people here are using. I want something that is easy to install that has full disk encryption features during the install on the GUI. And basically something without privacy unfriendly bloatware (like Ubuntu).
I would also like something that doesn't force you to wipe your stuff and start from scratch every 2 or 3 years.
I was looking at n0nce's guide on OpenSUSE. I have never tried that one. Not sure if meets the criteria but having a guide is really nice and would save a lot of time. But there's not much documentation in regards to Bitcoin, most of it is Ubuntu or Debian based. Someone commented this:
Quote
SUSE is rather painful to get in to in some aspects. I did many custom deployments of OS and post install automatic configuration. Suse frustrated me because they put things in different places compared to most of the other distros, and have an extremely capable and complicated installation control file. Unfortunately, it is not easily created and the documentation is partially missing. To allow users/admins to make use of control files; ALL the possible valid options must be listed in the documentation and this documentation needs to be in a well known or easily found location. It is only AFTER investing considerable time that I came to appreciate the odd and different over-engineered aspects of SUSE. It is very powerful.
So I would rather use something more common. I want to be able to search for stuff and find answers.
mocacinno has a guide for CentOS, but it hasn't been update in 3 years so probably there's some stuff that changed.
Does anyone maintain any other guides for different distros? Im interested in mostly a Bitcoin Core node to form transaction in a desktop install, and a watch-only wallet to broadcast them and check funds, and do this through Tor with a laptop.
There has to be a simple OS that just works. But I guess im going to need to go with Ubuntu based ones so that will require full updates every 2 or 3 years when LTS versions run out of updates. And since I use full disk encryption im going to need to reinstall the whole think backing up the wallets and resync. I guess I can do that every few years. In that case I would try the new ElementaryOS but I would like to know what people hereare using, please let me know so I decide what to install.
It's definitely possible. But since OP said "There has to be a simple OS that just works", there are few things i'd like to point.
1. Conflict possibility between DE or default app comes with DE. You might mention you could just remove GNOME, but there's risk you accidentally remove important application or library.
2. I have doubt there won't be any problem when you perform major update (e.g. 20.04 LTS to 22.04 LTS).
1. Conflict possibility between DE or default app comes with DE. You might mention you could just remove GNOME, but there's risk you accidentally remove important application or library.
2. I have doubt there won't be any problem when you perform major update (e.g. 20.04 LTS to 22.04 LTS).
Linux Mint fits the bill nicely, for this reason.
Does it do any telemetry? Found these comments on this YT video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKggSOKHFZg
Quote
5 days ago
Even if that wasn't something you could configure, with the open source nature of Linux someone knowledgeable enough could write a script or app and change it anyhow or at least get the effect they want. Also if we are afraid of them collecting data we can use Wireshark or a similar program and see for ourselves. It may be encrypted but we will still see where it is going. You could set up a spare computer just to monitor the network or at least keep a log of network traffic that way and not have it placing any new load on your main computer. That would be helpful for those who like to buy low power computers that are often single board or use a mobile Intel or AMD CPU that while usable for its purpose is not great for gaming or other demanding tasks.
Even if that wasn't something you could configure, with the open source nature of Linux someone knowledgeable enough could write a script or app and change it anyhow or at least get the effect they want. Also if we are afraid of them collecting data we can use Wireshark or a similar program and see for ourselves. It may be encrypted but we will still see where it is going. You could set up a spare computer just to monitor the network or at least keep a log of network traffic that way and not have it placing any new load on your main computer. That would be helpful for those who like to buy low power computers that are often single board or use a mobile Intel or AMD CPU that while usable for its purpose is not great for gaming or other demanding tasks.
Quote
1 month ago
Yes they are you can check that data in Kernel logs, I posted on the mint forums, the mods felt it necessary to delete the part that shows Data being sent. I traced that logs origin
Yes they are you can check that data in Kernel logs, I posted on the mint forums, the mods felt it necessary to delete the part that shows Data being sent. I traced that logs origin
This sucks. Has anyone tried building Bitcoin Core from source with Whonix? I was looking at the documents and they have a section for Bitcoin which is nice:
https://www.whonix.org/wiki/Bitcoin_Core
Also I found this article (in German) that says it found unnecessary pings during installation in Arch, EndeavourOS, Manjaro, Garuda, openSUSE, Linux Mint, Ubuntu, and ElementaryOS distros:
https://www.michlfranken.de/linux-distros-dns-tracing/
Not sure why they would try to ping some server during installation, probably no big deal but still. And I still have to figure out how to avoid any software leaking data from temporary files. I found the software that was doing it on ElementaryOS, it's called "Code", it is basically the Scratch text editor. I wish there was a way to disable all of these things by default because I just find it unnecessary.
I would recommend 2 options for you:
1.- If you was under a Ubuntu/base OS, then try direct Ubuntu, i have that OS on one of my laptops because it has an Nvidia card, and is really easy with ubuntu to install the drivers.
2.- If you want to go for something new then i highly recommend Fedora, i have been using that OS for a long time, and try with other variants like CentOS and Red Hat, but in the end i liked more fedora. I feel is more user-friendly.
And another thing i recommend is the right user interphase, I'm old-school and always loved the Mate UI, you can find them on the next links:
https://fedoraproject.org/spins/mate/
https://ubuntu-mate.org/
1.- If you was under a Ubuntu/base OS, then try direct Ubuntu, i have that OS on one of my laptops because it has an Nvidia card, and is really easy with ubuntu to install the drivers.
2.- If you want to go for something new then i highly recommend Fedora, i have been using that OS for a long time, and try with other variants like CentOS and Red Hat, but in the end i liked more fedora. I feel is more user-friendly.
And another thing i recommend is the right user interphase, I'm old-school and always loved the Mate UI, you can find them on the next links:
https://fedoraproject.org/spins/mate/
https://ubuntu-mate.org/
Has anyone tried Xfce? I've always used this environment, it is the one used by the super lightweight distros, should be the less fancier and thus snappier one.
Not sure why they've blocked their page to Tor tho, had to use a proxy on top to get it.
Not sure why they've blocked their page to Tor tho, had to use a proxy on top to get it.
Xfce is short and snappy, but I would not be opposed to using MATE either, provided that it is packaged by the distro I want to use.
I don't use Linux mint myself, but usually it can be solved by,
1. Disable "trash" or "recycle bin" feature from your file manager.
2. Disable or uninstall application which manage clipboard locally. For example, Xfce comes with application called qlipper.
1. Disable "trash" or "recycle bin" feature from your file manager.
2. Disable or uninstall application which manage clipboard locally. For example, Xfce comes with application called qlipper.
I don't really like clipboard managers (besides providing the the essential copy/paste support), particularly the clipboard history feature which I never use.
Although I fail to see how the trashcan will pose a problem, because you can avoid having to do that by simply deleting your files with rm command.
Has anyone tried Xfce? I've always used this environment, it is the one used by the super lightweight distros, should be the less fancier and thus snappier one.
I didn't like Xfce much. I like a menu bar at the full bottom of my screen, some shortcut icons on the left, active programs in the middle, and some status icons on the right. I had to check what I'm currently using: Marco (MATE) window manager, with Clearlooks Appearance (and some customizations). I want my active window to have a clear different color from anything on the background (which is rare nowadays).After disabling all animations, I don't think it's very resource demanding (and my laptop is quite old).
Does anyone here recommend some "first thing to do after installing" tips?
There are many of such article about it on internet. Since you're not being specific, i'd just recommend you to update the system immediately then install necessary driver/application.
Something that I always want to be sure is that no temporal stuff is left somewhere. I remember with Elementary OS, it used some sort of temporal backups for unsaved text files for instance, so if you wrote anything you didn't want to keep, and you didn't know this, there would be traces of what you wrote elsewhere. These things are what I really want to keep under control. I want to know that when I delete a file, this file is not saved elsewhere because reasons. This is why I do full disk encryption to begin with, but still, I want to know those things are happening.
I don't use Linux mint myself, but usually it can be solved by,
1. Disable "trash" or "recycle bin" feature from your file manager.
2. Disable or uninstall application which manage clipboard locally. For example, Xfce comes with application called qlipper.
Those are very tough requirements, i'd just recommend Linux Mint or Debian which tick most of your requirements. You can even choose desktop environment you prefer.
As you mentioned Linux Mint, I needed some suggestion of yours.So the thing is, I am looking for a distro for a perfect daily use. My requirements isn't that much. Only able to do everything that a daily user does on his windows should be enough. As example, browsing, little editing, writing on Microsoft words(I know it have a alternative version), gaming a little (like, age of empire), using VPN and a VM to run windows just in case if needed. Some customization should be nice, like applying new theme, skin etc. Lastly what everyone needs is performance and have to be user friendly. It also should get updates, not any discontinued distros.
I was thinking of Linux Mint Xfce (21.2 Victoria something) ..What are your thoughts on that? Is there anything better? Like lite but powerful without any blotwares (I hate heavy distros that contains unnecessary packages, apps). I also know there are many app store to install apps on linux. Does mint supports it? I found it difficult to manage, install and uninstall apps sometimes, through the command prompt, when I used it on my friends desktop.
Also, I don't wanna install drivers manually. It should be builtin.
I'll install Linux the moment I get my hands on a laptop, as I don't have any now. I am planning to buy in a month.
Edit: I'll also need to run Microsoft visual studio code or any other compiler for programming purpose.
I know my writing is a mess, but if you were kind enough to guide me, I would be grateful.
Next time please create new thread since what you're doing might be considered as hijacking/derailing thread. AFAIK by default Linux Mint install open source driver which isn't suitable for gaming. Consider Pop os (https://pop.system76.com/) which already include closed-source Nvidia driver (which suitable for gaming) where they also claim they offer customization and various development toolkits.
Those are very tough requirements, i'd just recommend Linux Mint or Debian which tick most of your requirements. You can even choose desktop environment you prefer.
As you mentioned Linux Mint, I needed some suggestion of yours.So the thing is, I am looking for a distro for a perfect daily use. My requirements isn't that much. Only able to do everything that a daily user does on his windows should be enough. As example, browsing, little editing, writing on Microsoft words(I know it have a alternative version), gaming a little (like, age of empire), using VPN and a VM to run windows just in case if needed. Some customization should be nice, like applying new theme, skin etc. Lastly what everyone needs is performance and have to be user friendly. It also should get updates, not any discontinued distros.
I was thinking of Linux Mint Xfce (21.2 Victoria something) ..What are your thoughts on that? Is there anything better? Like lite but powerful without any blotwares (I hate heavy distros that contains unnecessary packages, apps). I also know there are many app store to install apps on linux. Does mint supports it? I found it difficult to manage, install and uninstall apps sometimes, through the command prompt, when I used it on my friends desktop.
Also, I don't wanna install drivers manually. It should be builtin.
I'll install Linux the moment I get my hands on a laptop, as I don't have any now. I am planning to buy in a month.
Edit: I'll also need to run Microsoft visual studio code or any other compiler for programming purpose.
I know my writing is a mess, but if you were kind enough to guide me, I would be grateful.
It's definitely possible. But since OP said "There has to be a simple OS that just works", there are few things i'd like to point.
1. Conflict possibility between DE or default app comes with DE. You might mention you could just remove GNOME, but there's risk you accidentally remove important application or library.
2. I have doubt there won't be any problem when you perform major update (e.g. 20.04 LTS to 22.04 LTS).
1. Conflict possibility between DE or default app comes with DE. You might mention you could just remove GNOME, but there's risk you accidentally remove important application or library.
2. I have doubt there won't be any problem when you perform major update (e.g. 20.04 LTS to 22.04 LTS).
Linux Mint fits the bill nicely, for this reason.
Yeah this looks good:
https://www.linuxmint.com/download_all.php
Has anyone tried Xfce? I've always used this environment, it is the one used by the super lightweight distros, should be the less fancier and thus snappier one.
Not sure why they've blocked their page to Tor tho, had to use a proxy on top to get it.
Does anyone here recommend some "first thing to do after installing" tips?
Something that I always want to be sure is that no temporal stuff is left somewhere. I remember with Elementary OS, it used some sort of temporal backups for unsaved text files for instance, so if you wrote anything you didn't want to keep, and you didn't know this, there would be traces of what you wrote elsewhere. These things are what I really want to keep under control. I want to know that when I delete a file, this file is not saved elsewhere because reasons. This is why I do full disk encryption to begin with, but still, I want to know those things are happening.
It's definitely possible. But since OP said "There has to be a simple OS that just works", there are few things i'd like to point.
1. Conflict possibility between DE or default app comes with DE. You might mention you could just remove GNOME, but there's risk you accidentally remove important application or library.
2. I have doubt there won't be any problem when you perform major update (e.g. 20.04 LTS to 22.04 LTS).
1. Conflict possibility between DE or default app comes with DE. You might mention you could just remove GNOME, but there's risk you accidentally remove important application or library.
2. I have doubt there won't be any problem when you perform major update (e.g. 20.04 LTS to 22.04 LTS).
Linux Mint fits the bill nicely, for this reason.
You need to recheck these pages, https://xubuntu.org/download/ and https://kubuntu.org/getkubuntu/. Both offer still offer LTS version. But unlike Ubuntu which has 5 years support (10 years if you subscribe to Ubuntu Pro), those distro only receive 3 years support.
Right, I messed up. The LTS versions actually have 3 years support, but it's still less than the 5 years I can get out of the main Ubuntu distro. (And this is confirmed here.)
You can just install Xfce on Ubuntu and still get 5 years LTS, right? The few GB size difference for having some unused software on your system shouldn't matter compared to the size of the blockchain.
Correct, but as you can see in the link I shared, all packages in the repository called main are supported for 5 years. XFCE Desktop is not inside that repository, so it gets support for 3 years.
You need to recheck these pages, https://xubuntu.org/download/ and https://kubuntu.org/getkubuntu/. Both offer still offer LTS version. But unlike Ubuntu which has 5 years support (10 years if you subscribe to Ubuntu Pro), those distro only receive 3 years support.
You can just install Xfce on Ubuntu and still get 5 years LTS, right? The few GB size difference for having some unused software on your system shouldn't matter compared to the size of the blockchain. Jump to: