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Cake day: August 5th, 2023

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  • Debian is (rightfully) known for being lightweight and very stable. Particularly with older hardware, while still being quite compatible with newer hardware. Their long-running release cycles tend to not break whenever updates do roll out. Ubuntu is Debian based as well, its focus however is on user friendliness and usability, especially on the GUI front. Ubuntu server is perfectly fine, but it’s heavy handed compared to a minimal Debian installation with just a handful of packages selected purposefully by the user for the task it is intended for. There have also been more vocal complaints about whatever Canonical is trying to do with snaps/snap store.

    Most beginners with Linux I would more encourage to try Debian for its stability and speed because it’s a great platform to learn Linux on as well as experiment with whatever goal they have by way of packages and projects available all over the open source side of the web.



  • The one thing I’ve learned over the years is that the more experience you have with Linux, the less you rely on preconfigured distributions. Find a stable minimal install and build up your own set of base packages, DE, configs, etc.

    Only you know your habits and needs and experience is how you narrow down the field.

    For me personally, I have found my groove in a minimal Debian install with a first run setup script or two that is repeatable and automatable so I can start with a known quantity for any applicable need I have.







  • Bite the bullet, backup everything and start fresh. This time, setup LVM (w/wo encryption, your choice) and make sure to setup /var, /tmp, /home, etc. as separate volumes.

    In another 10 years when you need to fully upgrade, you can preserve specific volumes and just swap out the system volumes with new installs. This also helps in case of issues which require system refreshes. Most importantly, as long as the drive isn’t busted, all you have to worry about backing up are specific configs and your home volume. The rest becomes simple.

    I would recommend running a couple disaster recovery scenarios once setup.