this post was submitted on 04 Feb 2026
126 points (96.3% liked)
Linux
62353 readers
2880 users here now
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
Rules
- Posts must be relevant to operating systems running the Linux kernel. GNU/Linux or otherwise.
- No misinformation
- No NSFW content
- No hate speech, bigotry, etc
Related Communities
Community icon by Alpár-Etele Méder, licensed under CC BY 3.0
founded 6 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
People asking for distro recommendations usually ask for their desktop.
Debian is great, but it's hardly ever the best choice for a desktop, at least not for the kind of people who ask for distro recommendations.
I've used it for a few years. What issue does it have for a desktop? I've had everything "just work".
Debian might work but it will always be behind and if any performance upgrades are done at a kernel level or a DE then you won't get them until those fixes are potentially already obsolete.
Debian is not behind. Changed enter the repos pretty quickly and every 25 months you get a release. Which is perfect, as it means I don't have to maintenance for my mother that often.
Still there are security patches.
If you want the newest shiny stuff, use Testing or Unstable. I've done that for years, for that is not the right choice for everyone, as things change on the time. And I don't get paid for the tech support I do for my family, so I'd rather see them have larger changes less often. Family would agree, as they find it difficult to learn how to deal with the changes.
Even Debian unstable can be months behind a lot of fixes for gaming related things.
VR for example is a fucking nightmare in general but God FUCK you wait months behind fedora or arch for a lot of fixes on Debian.
then why do people suggest Mint so often? especially to gamers who often have new hardware
Because till recently gaming on Linux was a f****** joke and meant being really easy to install and basically a derivative of Ubuntu without having to deal with canonical made it a popular choice for all of the long-time Linux uses. So it's just what they suggested.
In reality meant is no better than just telling people to install Ubuntu or Debian if they want to game. If you just play older games then it's whatever and it doesn't really matter. But if you're trying to do some niche gaming like VR or something, basically anything that uses apt is a massive pain in the f****** ass
Sure it works but you almost always end up waiting months longer than everyone else for fixes and considering some things can get updated multiple times a week for major fixes. Having to wait months for a big cumulative thing is just not okay.
Definitely! So if you're using specialized hardware or software or third-party apps. A lot of stuff has actually gone to the point where they don't even support Debian and Ubuntu or other activate systems. They only support Fedora or Arch
Since those are the only ones that really ever have a up-to-date libraries to actually be usable for purpose without having to do a bunch of funky s***.
Debian like normal is your best option if it works for you, it is the most reliable that you can really get. But the moment something is outside of scope of it. You're almost always better off just using literally anything f****** else.
Mint is Debian based but isn't Debian.
Same with Ubuntu.
The reason people recommend mint is it's easy to install and has a familiar DE.
I was talking about the update timing, Mint isn't very up to date which can have downsides