[NTLUG:Discuss] Distribution Alternative to Ubuntu

[Matthew Shrewsbury]

Just FYI, Kubuntu 26.04 LTS became available to download today. I downloaded it but have not had a chance to try it yet. I am hopeful as I have been running 24.04 for some time as my daily driver. Kubuntu 26.04 switches to Wayland and newer KDE as well as 7.0 Linux kernel...all sounds good on paper.

-Matthew

-----Original Message-----
From: Discuss <discuss-bounces at ntlug.org> On Behalf Of Steve Litt
Sent: Thursday, April 23, 2026 2:52 PM
To: discuss at ntlug.org
Subject: Re: [NTLUG:Discuss] Distribution Alternative to Ubuntu


On Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:18:49 +0000 (UTC) Leroy Tennison <leroy.tennison at verizon.net> wrote:

> Part of the last meeting discussed alternatives to Ubuntu.  Right now 
> I'm running Kubuntu 24.04 LTS (Ubuntu with the KDE desktop).  I would 
> like to test something as similar as possible (definitely stay within 
> the Debian realm).  Mint doesn't automatically support KDE (although 
> it can be installed), I'm downloading Devuan right now.  Are there 
> other suggestions based on what I'm looking for?  Thanks for your 
> help.

Devuan is certainly a fine choice. It has a very nice, intelligent and helpful community. With the small amount of information you've given, I recommend Devuan.

Some additional info might refine things:

* Why don't you like Ubuntu anymore?

* Why is it so important to have KDE automatically supported, as
  opposed to installing it after OS installation?

* What level of "user friendliness" (also called "training wheels") do
  you want, and how will that change as you continue using Linux?

* Do you have any weird or linux-hostile hardware, such as Nvidia video
  or Broadcom wifi?

* What's your opinion of systemd? Sysvinit? Runit? S6? OpenRC?

* Do you prefer installing via package manager, or do you prefer things
  like snaps, flatpak, appimage, etc. Did you know that snaps restricts
  you to systems using systemd for init?

* What kinds of things do you do with your Linux machine?

A little bit about myself: I started with Red Hat 5.0 in 1998, then experimented with Caldera and Corel Linux in the remainder of the 20th century. When I switched my business to Linux in 2001 I used Mandrake, which I used until the mid 00's. When Mandrake (renamed Mandriva) became a little too glitchy, I switched to Ubuntu. In 2014 I became exasperated with Ubuntu's user-friendliness (I call it training wheels), which seemed to get in my way at every turn, so I switched to Debian. Six months later Debian decided to change their init system from sysvinit to systemd, so I switched to Void Linux, which inits with runit. I've been with Void Linux since early 2015, and love its lack of training wheels. I can MacGyver Void Linux any way I want.

Today my user interface/workflow is mostly home grown using programs and shellscripts of my own, such that I can easily switch to any non-systemd distro or BSD and effortlessly keep my same workflow. Why not systemd? Because as a practical matter, all the other init systems are easily swapped out for the others, but as a practical matter if your computer uses systemd, you're stuck with it, and it interferes with my ability to modify the way my machine works.

Although I've used Void Linux for 11 years now, I don't necessarily recommend it for you, because it's at the other end of the training wheels spectrum from Ubuntu; bearing more resemblance in that regard to Gentoo, Slackware and Linux From Scratch. I think Void is something you work toward, not something you jump into.

My wife, a 30 year veteran of Windows and MS-DOS before it, has requested that I convert her old, win11 intolerant laptop to Linux because of the mess created by Microsoft's demand for a Microsoft account. She wants to try it out to see if she might like Linux better.
I'm giving her Devuan, with either an LXDE or XFCE desktop environment, and my home-grown UMENU2 menu system, which she really likes because I once made something similar for MS-DOS. I'm also going to make her a program launcher using fzf. With dozens of distros to choose between, I chose Devuan because of their great community, making me confident I can get help. When you've completed your download, I suggest you join the Devuan email list.

HTH,

SteveT

Steve Litt
Featured book: Troubleshooting Techniques of the Successful Technologist http://www.troubleshooters.com/techniques

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