Beside DE and terminal commands , is there anything else I should try in a linux distro ?
If you’ve no prior experience with Linux, I’d say just try using it. For the average computer user, the overall experience will be very similar to Windows or Mac.
Go easy on yourself, and don’t try to do/learn everything all at once. Just use the system like you would any other. Once you’re comfortable with the overall experience, you can then tackle more complex stuff if/when you feel the need.
Edit: Just wanted to add that Fedora, Linux Mint, and Ubuntu are all solid choices for beginners.
As in part of a review process?
Things like:
- Software update process
- Installing software which isn’t in a repository
- Seeing how the community is for support ?
Installing software which isn’t in a repository
This is a massive one that’s often overlooked. For example, I love Bazzite, but it’s nigh impossible to install Private Internet Access’s client on it. On the other hand, installing the VPN my work requires is trivially easy, but you’d have to build it manually for any non-RPM-based distro.
It sounds as you want to evaluate different Linux Distributions.
DE/GUI is a good one, terminal commands is a bit useless since the vast majority of Linux systems use Bash as default.
This is what I would look into on a new distro:
UI - What DE or WM is it using, what is the default config like, and try to learn from that. How is the terminal prompt configured (the default Ubuntu and Debian prompts are terrible, I allways change them)
Package Manager - how does it work, what software is available?
Unique software - Does the distribution include some tools, applications or games I haven’t heard about? If so, what do they do, and how do they work.
This gives me a feel for the distribution and how to use it.
I disagree that the UI/DE/WM is a good way to evaluate a distro. One could make any distro look and feel like any other.
In my opinion one should look primarily at three factors:
- Package manager
- Release type
- Stability
From there just choose either Debian or Arch and install the UI you want with the DE/WM
You are technically correct (I know) but I would argue that distros that come with a certain DE usually have their experience built into it. Sure you can install gnome in kde neon but don’t expect anything to work, if it does it’s mostly by accident.
This is true for distros that cater to “simple” users that want to install and be productive of course, not for those like Debian or arch which cater to users who want to build their own experience.
How do you like Manjaro? I am on normal arch with kde and I love it. Manjaro’s own repos scare me.
As well as the package manager (and release type/schedule as mentioned in a different reply) you might want to look at the overall structure.
Does the distro use selinux or app armor (you probably want at least one)? Does it follow traditional distro structure like Ubuntu/Debian or is it weird like atomic (ex Silverblue) or declarative (ex Nixos) distro? Is it a minimalist distro (Arch is the big modern one) it maximalist (Suse)? Those kinds of things can also be informative.
While it’s a bit off topic regarding the question, if you want a quick glimpse of what’s out there, try https://distrosea.com/
First and foremost, that my hardware peripherals work with it (wifi card, camera, bt stuff if you have it…) - if not (and hope you don’t nor would be frustrated by it happens), that there’s a way to make it work
