What will you be using on your desktop in the near future instead of Vector?

[Colonel Panic]

Hi everyone. I've seen some of the experts here saying that it's unwise to continue using Vector because it hasn't been updated for some time and it's likely to be insecure. As it's looking doubtful that Vector will be continuing as a distro, at least in its current form, I'd like to ask what people who have been using Vector will now be using instead?

I assume that we'll all be sticking with Linux, but will you be using either Slackware (or a distro based on it) or something else instead such as MX, Mint or Manjaro?

Thanks in advance,

CP .

P.S. I'd also be interested in hearing from people who are going to continue to be using Vector.

[M0E-lnx]

Sounds like to this 'expert' updates is the same thing as security, as if there were no bugs in new software.  The truth is that thinking of software security in those terms is a mistake.  Software security is a game of cat and mouse, from the simplest program to the most complex enterprise platforms, the same principle applies.  You patch one hole, but there is always the risk of opening a new one, or you have others that you dont know about yet.

That being said + all the recent intel hardware bugs that have been revealed recently (which have been present in hardware for decades), it's tough to qualify anything as truly secure.

With that in mid... I myself have become inclined towards debian... because it runs on pretty much anything... The one (significant) drawback, is that the community sucks, so if you're not self-sufficient in a debian environment, good luck.  But then again, I dont use a 'desktop', but rather just a bare install with a command line to install servers and deploy services, so there is not much interaction with a 'desktop'.

I do hope to be able to build one from scratch at some point if given the opportunity.

[bigpaws]

Slackware. All my servers and desktops use it. My clients also use Slackware.

I also like openBSD and freeBSD. 

Bigpaws

[nightflier]

On strong enough computers, I have used KDE since Corel Linux. Still do, on some Debian base. One machine runs the bleeding edge Neon release, so I can see what is coming next. Kubuntu is easy to use and maintain. Q4OS is lean and great for less powerful machines.

Security is one concern, but so is keeping up with new technologies. Firefox is my daily driver, but like it or not, some things just work better on a current version of Google Chrome. I find myself using meet.jit.si for video conferencing with my family a lot these days.

That said, I still keep VL Light on an old laptop. Just because.

[Colonel Panic]

Thanks to everyone who's replied.

Slackware. All my servers and desktops use it. My clients also use Slackware.

That's interesting. I like Slackware too but I've never yet been tempted to use it as a sole distro. There are some good distros based on Slackware, such as Absolute (which I use now), Slackel and Zenwalk.

The one concern I have with it is that updates are issued very infrequently, unlike Debian which issues frequent updates.

I also like openBSD and freeBSD.

Bigpaws

I've never had much luck with the BSDs on my machine, apart from an earlier version of GhostBSD.

[Colonel Panic]

Sounds like to this 'expert' updates is the same thing as security, as if there were no bugs in new software.  The truth is that thinking of software security in those terms is a mistake.  Software security is a game of cat and mouse, from the simplest program to the most complex enterprise platforms, the same principle applies.  You patch one hole, but there is always the risk of opening a new one, or you have others that you dont know about yet.

That being said + all the recent intel hardware bugs that have been revealed recently (which have been present in hardware for decades), it's tough to qualify anything as truly secure.

With that in mid... I myself have become inclined towards debian... because it runs on pretty much anything... The one (significant) drawback, is that the community sucks, so if you're not self-sufficient in a debian environment, good luck.  But then again, I dont use a 'desktop', but rather just a bare install with a command line to install servers and deploy services, so there is not much interaction with a 'desktop'.

I do hope to be able to build one from scratch at some point if given the opportunity.

(and Nightflier too) I agree about Debian though I like distros based on Debian better than Debian itself (I'm posting this from SolydX). Debian is in many ways a fantastic distro but the video drivers for NVidia cards aren't very reliable; I've no experience of the community but you're probably right. Devuan (which doesn't use systemd) is worth a look too.

I tend to be a bit blase about security, thinking that if I don't log in as root I'm pretty safe.

[nightflier]

I tend to be a bit blase about security, thinking that if I don't log in as root I'm pretty safe.

My main concern is not that someone/thing gains root access and breaks my desktop system. I'm more worried about what happens in my browser. Today's browsers are more complex and capable than many older operating systems. Surveillance, keyloggers, miners, malware distribution, all will run in user space.

I normally stick to known sites and run script blockers. If I want to go "exploring", I fire up a discardable virtual machine. For the really paranoid, run a live distro in a VM. 

[retired1af]

My daily driver has been Mint for quite some time now, using the Cinnamon desktop.

[Colonel Panic]

My daily driver has been Mint for quite some time now, using the Cinnamon desktop.

Thanks for replying. I've had mixed results with recent versions of Mint but haven't tried the latest one. I've been impressed with MX and some of the respins I've seen of it, one of which (Exton MX) I'm posting from now.

[Colonel Panic]

I tend to be a bit blase about security, thinking that if I don't log in as root I'm pretty safe.

My main concern is not that someone/thing gains root access and breaks my desktop system. I'm more worried about what happens in my browser. Today's browsers are more complex and capable than many older operating systems. Surveillance, keyloggers, miners, malware distribution, all will run in user space.

I normally stick to known sites and run script blockers. If I want to go "exploring", I fire up a discardable virtual machine. For the really paranoid, run a live distro in a VM. 

Thanks for replying, I'll certainly look into those options. My default is a simple Javascript on/off button in the address window which turns JS off when it's not needed (it's surprising how many pages don't need JS to run). I've also been advised to use the "private window" facility in Firefox, which doesn't save cookies to the hard drive, whenever I'm in GMail or similar.

[StrayBit]

I recently found Peppermint 10 which is based on ubuntu 18.04 LTS which makes it good through at least 2023.

One of my biggest issues with it is that it did not automatically mount removable drives.  I was, however, able to install thunar volman which does.

Bruce

[Colonel Panic]

I recently found Peppermint 10 which is based on ubuntu 18.04 LTS which makes it good through at least 2023.

One of my biggest issues with it is that it did not automatically mount removable drives.  I was, however, able to install thunar volman which does.

Bruce

Hi there StrayBit, thanks for the tip re mounting removable drives (which I often find myself having to do manually). Here's a good review of Peppermint, which I've tried in the past; it uses Microsoft Office 365, which is an interesting alternative to the usual LibreOffice

https://cubiclenate.com/2019/01/05/peppermintos-review-from-an-opensuse-user/

One reservation I do have about it is that, like an increasing number of distros now, it's rather dark (both the default theme and wallpaper) which won't suit everybody though I'm sure it can be changed.

PS. Another good distro if you like Ubuntu 18 is LXLE. Again it has an unconventional software choice, though this time it's the browser that's unusual (Seamonkey) rather than the office suite.

https://www.lxle.net/

.

[caitlyn]

I've been using CentOS and Ubuntu LTS.  As I just started a new job in a SUSE shop those may have to yield to SLED and/or OpenSUSE on at least some of my machines.

[Lyn]

I use a mix, Mint on my main machine, Sparkylinux on a netbook and Trisquel on a laptop....

[Colonel Panic]

I think Arch-based distros also deserve a mention. I'm posting this from Manjaro, which works very well and is easy to manage and update; I've also been impressed by Arch Labs, which is inspired by the Bunsen Linux distro (based on Debian, and which I've also had a good experience using).

Gentoo is very stable but IMO harder to manage than Arch; however there's a good spin called ExGent which I use sometimes and works as a live disk although it doesn't always pick up my soundcard. I don't know a lot about Gentoo but as far as I can tell it has a smaller package repository than Arch, Debian or Ubuntu.