Main desktop runs Arch but everything else runs Debian. It’s the perfect “install and forget” system so long as you don’t need the absolute bleeding edge packages.

Did the absynth goblins visit you yet?

This has always been my concern with relying on Flatpak. It is only as simple as your requirements are it seems.

I mean, I use maybe 3-4gb at any given time, without limiting myself. I personally don’t need heaps of RAM, 6gb is enough to have some overhead for me.

I haven’t looked at too many prices recently, I’ve had the same phone for a while, but this doesn’t seem to unreasonable imo, especially considering this is the first product from a small, new company.

These specs actually seem really solid for the price point, I’m glad to see decent alternative smartphones popping up that actually have some power.

What’s bugging me is the lack of information about the software. Apparently this is Android with a layer like Hallium to run a Debian userspace on top? And yet they don’t advertise that fact. It’s just a little off putting that this product seems to be aimed at Linux/general tech enthusiasts, yet the company seemed to miss the fact that those customers tend to really like knowing what they’re running under the hood.

(Not incredibly educated on Flatpaks, please educate me if I’m wrong) My main issue with Flatpak is the bundled dependancies. I really prefer packages to come bundled with the absolute bare minimum, as part of the main appeal of Linux for me is the shared system wide dependancies. Flatpak sort of seems to throw that ideology out the window.

Let me ask this (genuinely asking, I’m not a software developer and I’m curious why this isn’t a common practice), why aren’t “portable” builds of software more common? Ie, just a folder with the executable that you can run from anywhere? Would these in theory also need to come bundled with any needed dependancies? Or could they simply be told to seek out the ones already installed on the system? Or would this just depend on the software?

I ask this because in my mind, a portable build of a piece of software seems like the perfect middle ground between a native, distro specific build and a specialized universal packaging method like Flatpak.

I’d argue that searching around a slew of webpages to find a download button (without clicking an ad that imitates a download button), then running the .exe while making sure to uncheck the 4 or 5 pieces of adware they try to slip in without you noticing, then having to remember to update it manually now and then, is much more of a sketchy pain in the ass than running a single command to install everything from your kernel, to your web browser, all of which is tightly vetted and comes from a monitored set of servers.

Also, if you really want a “click to install” most DE’s have a software store that either acts as a frontend for your package manager, or just uses flatpaks.

I’d argue this is just what people are used to, and Windows has taught people that terminal=scary/hacky.

Ran LineageOS on a OnePlus 6T for a couple months. Overall, it was perfectly usable, but also lacked some of the polish of my daily (Galaxy S23), which was totally to be expected.

I get it, my tinfoil hat is showing. But, am I wrong? If people said “wait, this is creepy, don’t let this slide” when data collection first became a thing, I really do believe recall wouldn’t have happened.

That’s not why it was made. Data collection is a titanically large industry. Why just collect data from specific programs when you can literally just set up a screen recorder to collect all data?

This is what happens when people are flippant about data collection. First, data collection isn’t even there. Next, it’s there, but is off by default, then it’s on by default but you can opt out, then only certain aspects are opt out, flash forward 10 years and here we are.

This stuff isn’t coming out of nowhere, it’s a slow build because consumers consistently allow more and more egregious privacy violations to slip past because they “don’t care, the big corporations already have the data”

Sounds like something an AI would post. Quick, what color are your eyes?

I’ve had issues with Ventoy on multiple computers with multiple isos. +1 for convenience, -1 for not working 3/4 of the time (for me, I’m sure there are numerous factors).

I’ve been meaning to fiddle with OpenIndiana and Illumos for a while, which both trace their roots back to Sun Microsystem’s Solaris. It’d be really cool to poke around in a system that didn’t grow off of BSD or Linux.

Do you have examples of issues? The only hardware incompatibilities I’ve ever experienced were with my VR headset.

Sound check (although a little quiet).

I have a Lenovo IdeaPad 3 and this was an issue on every Linux install I’ve had (Endeavour, Arch, and now Debian). I know it isn’t a hardware issue because when I first installed Endeavour, I was dual booting with Win11 and it was, no joke, capable of easily twice the volume as Endeavour, and that was even after maxing everything out in Alsamixer. Really not sure what’s going on there. I’ve been incredibly lucky with audio on Linux the entire time I’ve used it, this is the one black spot on my record.

Signal has been subpoena’d multiple times by the US government to hand over all user data. Signal complied. The only data that Signal gave, because it’s the only data they themselves have access to, is the username, the unix timestamp of when the account was created, and the unix timestamp of when they last signed on.

Performance issues/bloated disk usage and their forced use within Ubuntu.

The performance issues come from the fact that they run via virtualization. Similar to running a game on an emulator. This helps with compatibility, ie being able to run a Snap on an ARM computer when the native version isn’t available, but again, performance can take a hit.

Bloated disk usage is a result of each Snap including all dependancies with the base package. For example, if two Snaps rely on the same font, you get two copies of that font. If two native packages rely on the same font, you get one copy, and they share.

The forced usage literally boils down to this; on Ubuntu, typing “apt install example-package” actually runs the command “snap install example-package” (Edit: I should note this isn’t the case with all packages, but there are some pretty high profile ones on the list, ie Thunderbird). Canonical A; isn’t up front about this, therefor leading users into believing they are getting native packages when this isn’t the case, and B; make it frustratingly difficult to disable this behaviour and get only native packages

IMO if a company creates a product and then feels the need to force and trick their users into adopting it, that alone is enough to discourage me from ever choosing it over the alternatives.

Ubuntu, Manjaro, Endeavour, Arch, Arch/Debian

Any distro can do what you need. Others have suggested Pop, Mint, Debian, Endeavour, and more. I’d agree with basically all of them. Really it comes down to what you prefer most.

Personally I’d lean more toward Debian as it’s a basic distro with very little extra bloat, loads of documentation, incredibly stable, etc. I always prefer a spartan, basic system I can add pieces to as I please, rather than a bunch of preloaded defaults that may or may not be to my taste. Again though, that’s just me.

Endeavour is great, but if you aren’t used to Arch, and how to maintain it, things can get sort of messy after a while (definitely need to make a good habbit of cleaning your package managers cache, as well as read up on what’s called a “pacdiff”. In general, Arch and its derivatives require research). It’s worth trying if you’re interested in rolling distros though.

Another might be OpenSUSE Tumbleweed. From what I hear, it’s a bit more stable and curated than Arch so it may be a better option if you’re inexperience with a rolling release. I’ve never personally tried it, but have heard lots of good things from causal and power users alike.

Yknow I really thought I would want to look into that at first, but I find I really like the default config once I took an hour to get used to it. It’s different compared to what I’m used to, but it’s really smooth and fast.