So now what distro are we running for LTS desktops?

Ubuntu has too many problems for me to want to run it. However, it has occurred to me that there aren’t a lot of distros that are like the Ubuntu LTS.

Basic requirements for a LTS:

  • at least 2 years of support
  • semi recent versions of applications like Chrome and Firefox (might consider flatpak)
  • a stable experience that isn’t buggy
  • fast security updates

Distros considered:

  • Debian (stable)
  • Rocky Linux
  • openSUSE
  • Cent OS stream
  • Fedora

As far as I can tell none of the options listed are quite suitable. They are either to unstable or way to out of date. I like Rocky Linux but it doesn’t seem to be desktop focused as far as I can tell. I would use Debian but Debian doesn’t have the greatest security defaults. (No selinux profiles out of the box)

pathief,
@pathief@lemmy.world avatar

What problems do you have on Ubuntu? What software is too out of date? Why do you need LTS for a workstation?

avidamoeba,
@avidamoeba@lemmy.ca avatar

If I didn’t use Ubuntu LTS, I’d be using Debian.

PanaX,

I’ve found a nice home with Mint Debian edition. It has the right balance between stable and current that I prefer.

Shareni, (edited )

They are either to unstable or way to out of date.

Just use flatpak/appimage/distrobox/nix. Half of my packages are Debian stable (MX), the other half are nix unstable.

Debian doesn’t have the greatest security defaults. (No selinux profiles out of the box)

It does have apparmor though. If you need selinux specifically, then that’s going to limit your choices to like RH and Suse distros.

Bitrot,

Mint is built on Ubuntu LTS but removes some of the problematic bits, it has a recent Firefox and Chrome is of course available, Fletpak support is also integrated.

I’ve run Alma and RHEL as a desktop and it was fine, my main use case was “like Fedora but stable” (more than a year of support). However the repositories are very limited, even with EPEL and third parties, so it eventually irked me enough to switch away. Also no btrfs support without replacing the kernel and adding support from third party places.

possiblylinux127,

This is the response I was expecting

umbrella,
@umbrella@lemmy.ml avatar

is there gnome mint?

embed_me, (edited )
@embed_me@programming.dev avatar

Not officially, you can install it separately but you’ll probably have to tie up some loose ends (haven’t tried)

You can look into Fedora if you want a good gnome experience or Debian if you prefer. The latter will have an old gnome version.

acockworkorange,

Not as a spin but both vanilla and Ubuntu versions of Gnome are available in the repositories.

MigratingtoLemmy,

Debian or Alma

GnomeComedy,

Rocky Linux would meet all of your needs easily and give you 10 years of support.

thejml,

Honestly, we (a large Fortune 500 company hosting sites serving between 250m and 500m unique monthly visitors) have standardized on Ubuntu LTS and Rocky Linux. Both have been rock solid. Kubernetes and other things that need regular updates and patches (aka things that directly power forward facing apis/sites) tend to be Ubuntu and the rest Rocky. We do NOT however run any ui’s or browsers or the like on them. I highly recommend against doing so on any server.

If you mean desktop, we tend to not use Linux for desktop apps, instead going with MacOS and Windows with group policies and forced updates. Definitely prefer the stability of MacOS over Windows, but both have their place in the enterprise. When I was running a Linux desktop there, it was Fedora Silverblue. Snaps are not my friend.

Sickday, (edited )
@Sickday@kbin.run avatar

Hey just to ptich in my two cents. Our shop is running a very similar setup (Enterprise FinTech, MAU is around 100-200m across all sites), with Ubuntu and Rocky on k8s with all workstations running MacOS and Windows since compliance policies are easy to apply to both. I can vouch for Ubuntu LTS given other options. Doesn't require a support contract, really solid security patch cycles and everything runs without issues.

Also unsure of using Linux as a workstation solution since at the time of setup, all the viable distos required you to either manually roll a compliance solution, or use their specific sometimes built-in solutions (see RHEL). That may have changed in the passed few years though.

Toine,

Rocky linux is definitely for desktop too. It was designed as a successor of Centos, which was widely used in medium and big companies. We currently use Rocky 8 where I work. It works fine.

fogzot,

For a desktop I’d use Debian + Gnome (you won’t get cutting edge on stable but it is not that important) and flatpack for most of the apps. Sincerely I don’t see why selinux is so important on a workstation.

tsonfeir,
@tsonfeir@lemm.ee avatar

IT director probably requires it.

lemmyvore,

I find it interesting that people think things like selinux aren’t important, but at the same time appreciate(?) the isolation in flatpak or wayland.

ReversalHatchery,

The reason I don’t like selinux is that it’s quite complicated.
I don’t like flatpak, prefer wayland, but also apparmor, even if I haven’t used that much yet.

satanmat,

What issues does Ubuntu LTS have that you need to overcome?

What use case ? - desktops for office work, music production, a student lab?

FWIW. Kubuntu is my favorite, generally used for research and reading, light web mail.

ritchie,
@ritchie@lemmy.world avatar

I have been using Xubuntu for about 2 years now, I love that it doesn’t get in the way of doing stuff. It just works, it is stable and I can focus on things I want to use my PC for instead of focusing on keeping it usable.

possiblylinux127,

This is more of a general discussion post as I’ve scene many reviews complain about Ubuntu

JubilantJaguar,

In contrast to those “many reviews”, this reviewer says that Ubuntu is fine and always has been.

Seriously, Ubuntu hate is mostly just Snap hate. The Snap problem is overstated and easily worked around if necessary. Ubuntu remains a very solid choice on desktop.

barbara,

Tbo, that’s a little bit to little research you provided considering you want to use it for work.

E.g. why do you need more than 2 years of support for a workstation?

Stating that debian isn’t secure enough really confuses me as it is one of the most solid distros out there.

Coolcoder360,

Agree, also confused because Debian seemed to get security updates rather frequently when I’ve used it.

That’s like their whole thing, stable and security updates. I would be curious if there are examples of exploits that weren’t patched quickly on Debian stable.

possiblylinux127,

Debian makes it a little tricky to meet security standards. It isn’t insecure from lack of updates but it doesn’t ship with selinux out of the box.

ReversalHatchery,

As I see on debian and derivatives apparmor is the way, but not sure if that’s preinstalled.

LeFantome,

Not “out-of-the-box” but adding selinux to Debian is pretty simple.

reintech.io/blog/securing-debian-12-with-selinux

JWBananas,
@JWBananas@lemmy.world avatar

E.g. why do you need more than 2 years of support for a workstation?

Enterprise isn’t rolling out the new release on release day.

Enterprise is waiting until the “.1” release so that the most glaring bugs can be identified and resolved. And enterprise is doing gradual rollouts after that, with validation, training, hardware refreshes, etc.

For a release with only two years of security updates, it would not be surprising for a given enterprise to only have the chance to take advantage of, at most, one year of them.

A two-year LTS release cadence with a five-year tail of support and security updates is much more practical. That leaves enough overlap in support for enterprises to maintain their own two-year refresh cadence without having to go through periods without security updates and support.

Stating that debian isn’t secure enough really confuses me as it is one of the most solid distros out there.

Where is the toggle to enable NIST-certified FIPS compliance in Debian? On Ubuntu you just enable it using the pro client and reboot.

breadsmasher,
@breadsmasher@lemmy.world avatar

Enterprise environment in what sense, desktop or server deployment?

I ask because I wouldn’t want a “semi recent … Chrome or Firefox” installed on a production server

taladar,

I wouldn’t want any GUI installed on a production server.

possiblylinux127,

Enterprise was probably the wrong word choice. I updated my post to be more clear.

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