Help choosing a server distro with a desktop reddit / selfhosted ---------------------------------------------------------------------- maximus459 · 2023-09-30 14:48 So.. the laptop I've been using to practice/experiment with docker and Linux had a power l failure and will most likely have to be replaced.. (Thanks to the beauty of Linux, my SSD is safe) But I thought this might be a good opportunity to switch things up a little and try a different distro. Any recommendations for a bare bones distro with a desktop? Here are some other facets about the current setup.. - I'm mostly familiar with Ubuntu distros (but I've hoped between Debian and fedora for testing), the current set-up is Ubuntu based KDE Neon (love the desktop, esp the Dolphin file manager). - The laptop is also used at work for some documentation, and media - It'll be a second hand, not so powerful thing, maybe 8gb ram, 6+ gen i5 Tldr: need a very minimal but mostly stable distro with a desktop (preferably plasma) for docker, office and media. Thanks in advance ---------------------------------------------------------------------- thekrautboy · 2023-09-30 14:54 > Tldr: need a very minimal but mostly stable distro with a desktop (preferably plasma) for docker, office and media. Debian Bookworm with KDE Plasma. The end. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ElevenNotes · 2023-09-30 15:47 I could never use any Linux as a desktop OS. What's your appeal? What do you like about it? **Disclaimer:** *95% of my servers are Linux, I use Linux for everything else, except desktop* ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Plane_Resolution7133 · 2023-09-30 16:19 I’m running Debian 12 on a Thinkpad T460s as my daily driver, with zero issues. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- maximus459 · 2023-09-30 16:44 👍 wg was throwing some weird errors on a Debian vps, will have to work on that ---------------------------------------------------------------------- thekrautboy · 2023-09-30 16:50 > some weird errors *shrug* ---------------------------------------------------------------------- maximus459 · 2023-09-30 16:55 Mn.. it just jives with what do? Mostly.. I do have a Windows PC as well, mostly for documentation, Photoshop and some other software which only runs on windows . I don't play much games, so Nvidia isn't really an issue for me either. I use both, and neither is perfect. But I'm leaning towards Linux.. You know that story of the princess and the pea, where the bed was super comfy but that one hard pea was such a pain? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- maximus459 · 2023-09-30 16:57 I'm trying it out on a VPS and wireguard is throwing some weird errors.. in going to have to double down and sort that out ---------------------------------------------------------------------- GoobyFRS · 2023-09-30 17:14 Just use the pivpn package. Best wg wrapper imo ---------------------------------------------------------------------- maximus459 · 2023-09-30 17:22 💪🤓🤞 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ElevenNotes · 2023-09-30 18:56 What does "jives with what do" mean? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- thekrautboy · 2023-09-30 23:33 > Mn.. it just jives with what do? Mostly.. ... what? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- that_one_wierd_guy · 2023-09-30 23:47 debian annoys me by not including sudo by default. running as su makes it too easy to forget you've elevated privilege and bork something ---------------------------------------------------------------------- that_one_wierd_guy · 2023-09-30 23:48 he be vibin on linux mang ---------------------------------------------------------------------- thekrautboy · 2023-10-01 00:21 Debian does include sudo by default, if during the installation you chose to create a standard user. If you dont and you only have root, then you dont have sudo by default. Makes sense. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- that_one_wierd_guy · 2023-10-01 01:51 nope, just tried it again yesterday with a standard user and sudo needs to be installed ---------------------------------------------------------------------- thekrautboy · 2023-10-01 01:55 Tell /r/Debian about it and they will tell you the same as i did... ---------------------------------------------------------------------- BlobbyBlue02 · 2023-10-01 01:58 fr, I was so glad i could keep using pivpn when i switched from my pi to a "real" server with debian ---------------------------------------------------------------------- BlobbyBlue02 · 2023-10-01 02:01 so install sudo, you've got bigger problems if that's what turns you off of debian ---------------------------------------------------------------------- forwardslashroot · 2023-10-01 03:36 I have been installing Debian, and sudo needs to be installed and add your non-root user to the sudo group. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- maximus459 · 2023-10-01 03:48 It's characteristics, features, design and software etc aligns with my requirements.. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- thekrautboy · 2023-10-01 03:52 https://wiki.debian.org/sudo ---------------------------------------------------------------------- player1dk · 2023-10-01 10:19 Besides Debian, consider an arbitrary OS you already know and like, or MacOS or FreeBSD or RHEL, or Windows server. Or Openbsd, coming with GUI by default. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- maximus459 · 2023-10-01 13:35 I'll end up using Debian, But I do want to try out opensuse, fedora voreos and also macos for the hell of it ---------------------------------------------------------------------- phein4242 · 2023-10-01 14:12 The power of Unix comes from the power of the cli (among others). If you want to know more about the OS/distro, using the CLI is the most future proof way of learning, and you would cut yourself short if you missed that opportunity. That said, /allmost/ all distros have a ‘minimum install’ (the basis for ‘server distros’) which is the bare minimum needed to get that distro to work, and you can install whatever selection of software on top of that, including the gui. Doing it that way (starting with a minimum install) is a very useful skill to have if you want to manage servers, since it will give you a clean slate to work with, and you reduce the attack surface to the things you install. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- kmisterk · 2023-10-01 18:02 ## Post Removed Hey, maximus459! Thanks for your submission on selfhosted. Your post has been removed due to a violation of the purpose of the subreddit: **Self Hosting** ## Not Self-Hosted When it comes to posts regarding applications in this subreddit, they must feature a self-hosted tool, or a tool that *can be* self-hosted, or some kind of related information, help request, or otherwise related to a tool that is something that one can self-host. If you believe this post *is in fact* relevant to /r/selfhosted, feel free to [message the mods](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to= /r/selfhosted&subject=Removed For Not Being Self- Hosted&message=[Removed Post](https://www.reddit.com/r/selfhosted/comments/16w8r0x/-/\)) with your concerns.