elfprince Perhaps he alluded to the potential problem of a distro not running on hardware installation, but ok on VB?

Seems unlikely, but not impossible. Perhaps he'll clarify that for us. If that really is his problem, maybe he should just make his hardware a VM host, and create VMs for his daily use?

    elfprince Perhaps he alluded to the potential problem of a distro not running on hardware installation, but ok on VB?

    I suspect so. The problem with virtual machines (and I currently have 11 available in Gnome Boxes, Zorin 16 Core permanent and the others referential/experimental temporary) is that virtual machines frequently mask hardware issues.

    Mars Attacks! Yeah, that was the name I couldn't remember when I wrote that. I think it was the best combination of sci-fi and comedy that I've seen so far. The sequel, perhaps not so much.

    WetGeek I've had many issues with Fedora. Runs great in my VMs, but won't run at all or runs like garbage on metal with my hardware. I haven't tried Silverblue or some of the community spins, but I also don't really have any desire to.

    I've recently got my oldest son on MX Linux XFCE, which he seems to enjoy. Main reason was some of the software he needs is only available for Debian/apt and I want him to learn Linux before trying to compile from source first. Looks like a very nice distro though from what I've seen.

      Brucehankins I've recently got my oldest son on MX Linux XFCE, which he seems to enjoy. Main reason was some of the software he needs is only available for Debian/apt and I want him to learn Linux before trying to compile from source first. Looks like a very nice distro though from what I've seen.

      I find myself in the same spot. I need to run Microsoft Edge on the laptop I use at the railroad, and it has become clear to me that Microsoft is not going to develop either a Snap or a Flatpak version any time soon.

      I am temporarily using Zorin 16 Lite (XFCE) and it is working fine, but I'm looking at Ubuntu Budgie, Lubuntu (LXQT), Ubuntu MATE, and Xbuntu (XFCE) for a longer-term solution after 22.04 is released, because Zorin 16 is based on 20.04 LTS and will not move to 22.04 LTS until the summer of 2023.

      The laptop is low-spec (AMD A6/R4, 4GB, 32GB) but ran Solus Budgie acceptably. I suspect, given Ubuntu's general sluggishness, that I'll not be able to run Ubuntu Budgie comfortably on that laptop.

      A side note: Ubuntu Budgie lists 60GB hard drive space as recommended. I asked about that, and got this response from fossfreedom (one of the team members of both UB and BuddiesOfBudgie): "Most distros quote out of the box requirements. This isn't realistic. When folk use a desktop, lets say for 2 or more years, all sorts of apps are installed together with lots of data accumulated. 60GB is a fair figure in a realistic real world calculation." An interesting observation on his part, although I comfortably run Linux under 30GB except on my primary Solus desktop, where Gnome Boxes distro images eat up 197GB.

        tomscharbach I'm a huge fan of Lubuntu. It works wonderfully and it's very light on resources. It can get a bit heavier if you start adding Plasma bits and bobs, or switch to a wm like kwin, but out of the box it's not bad so those are more for aesthetics. Another big plus for me is it's a Qt desktop, which I prefer to GTK desktops or something like Awesome or i3.
        On a side note, LXQt doesn't handle HiDPI scaling very well. It does great with Qt apps, but there isn't a way to scale GTK apps that I've found yet. So, if you run it on a large 4k display, it can be hard to read sometimes.
        If resources and apt are your main concern, I'd check out MX too. It was idling at around 675mb with the graphical DE and htop running on our desktop, so resource light, and it's based on Debian.

          Brucehankins I'm a huge fan of Lubuntu. It works wonderfully and it's very light on resources.

          I think so, too, although the desktop is a different motif and is taking some time for me to work with comfortably. As I understand it, 20.04 is LXDE, 21.10 transitional, and full LXQT implementation coming with 22.04. I think that I'll focus on Lubuntu 21.10, building several instances in Gnome Boxes with different adds/removes, testing and probing until I get it right. That way I'll be ready to cut over to 20.04 in May with minimal fuss.

          Brucehankins It can get a bit heavier if you start adding Plasma bits and bobs, or switch to a wm like kwin, but out of the box it's not bad so those are more for aesthetics.

          I'll be using the laptop 3-4 hours a week, and only at the railroad, so I'm going to add Microsoft Edge, remove Firefox/Trojita, LibreOffice Draw/Impress, and other unneeded items, but otherwise run out-of-the-box. I want to stay as light as reasonably possible, given the laptop's specs and I'm content with basic.

            tomscharbach I'll be using the laptop 3-4 hours a week, and only at the railroad ...

            I started up the laptop today after using it at the railroad yesterday, and POP! I'm pretty sure that the MB died. The laptop was a "get 'em in the door" Best Buy special that I bought for $129 in 2017, and wasn't worth repairing, so I took it apart for recycling. THAT will teach me to fret about operating systems. I'll use a newer 3180 with better specs at the railroad, running Win10, until it drops dead. Now all I have to do is get the greenboards to the recycling center at Best Buy.

              tomscharbach The laptop was a "get 'em in the door" Best Buy special that I bought for $129 in 2017

              Dunno if it will help you, but I've had great luck with the "refurbished" computers I've bought on Amazon. Those include my Dell Precision and my wife's Dell Latitude. Nothing (worthwhile) available for $129, I'm afraid, but a Latitude for $2-something isn't a bad deal.

                WetGeek I've had great luck with the "refurbished" computers I've bought on Amazon.

                I use Optiplex and Latitude, and, like you, I buy refurbished and have had good experience.

                In my case, I buy then-current 7000-series models sold by Dell as "certified refurbished". The computers come with a standard Dell business Optiplex/Latitude 3-year next-day on-site repair warranty. All are computers were returned by enterprise customers, some needing component repair and others just returned for whatever reason.

                When I decide is it time for a refresh, I pick out the model I want from the Dell retail site, and then keep my eyes open at the Dell Outlet until the exact model I want comes along. Usually that happens within a month. I typically pay about half what Dell is selling them for retail. The reason I buy refurbished is that I can get a decent new business computer without busting the bank, and because I got the computer at about half price I don't feel guilty refreshing every 2-3 processor generations.

                The $129 Inspiron 3180's (I bought two) were "throwaways", bought specifically for use at the railroad. The first died when the keyboard got sprayed with hydraulic fluid, and the other one died with a pop this morning, presumably of natural causes.

                I bought a slightly better A9/R5/4GB/64GB Inspiron 3180 about a year after I bought the "throwaways". It was 2018's "get 'em in the door" special and I picked it up for $149. I bought it to play Red Alert 2 The Aftermath. It is the only computer I have at this point that will handle Red Alert 2's oddball graphics (I've never gotten Red Alert 2 running on Intel graphics), so I'll be careful with it if I take it to the railroad. I might use the Latitude 7390 (2018) I just replaced with a Latitude 7520 up there instead. The 7390 was more expensive than the 3180 by a factor of ten, but the 3180 is priceless.

                I think that it is fun to learn about each other's buying habits and preferences. The more I learn, the more I discover that we are all a bit, uh, odd.

                Staudey holy moly, they have a 1144 page comic to explain the concept

                It was probably written by a lawyer, LOL.

                Staudey In these times where society has lost the importance of its principles and rights, privacy must be taken into account. Especially in GNU / Linux. At Solus I have several study methods, but I can't get away from Google or for as long as I want to.

                And Vivaldi, but that's another story. 🤣

                16 days later

                Not going to lie. As I wait for the new Kernel so I can boot with the ISO, my desktop is running pretty smoothly with Fedora 35. Actually surprised how much I like it. I have Solus on my other machines but current ISO does not work with my Radeon RX6600.

                I switched to Fedora 35, and then to Mint. I do miss Solus, but the last update gave me just a black screen. I just want simplicity at this point. Mint does that for me.

                2 months later

                I think I will test MassOS. Do you know it ?

                  olivir First I've heard of it. They say they are a completely independent distro (not based on Debian/Arch/etc.), and if I understand correctly they achieve this, among other things, by relying on flatpak and AppImages for packages, instead of a native format. At least that's the impression I get from this:

                  https://github.com/MassOS-Linux/MassOS/wiki/Post-Installation