Debian gets feature updates significantly slower than other distros, instead it focuses on insuring stability and security. It's rock solid.

Linux Mint is actually based on Ubuntu (which itself is derived from Debian), so for the most part the two are fairly similar. There are a few key differences but for someone learning Linux you don't need to worry about them. Pick one of them, get your feet wet, and then google the differences to see if you want to switch.

After all, endless Distro hopping is a right of passage for all fledgling Linux users! :)

I want to learn a Distro for fun.

Are you just using this laptop to dip your toes into Linux and see if you like it? I would recommend Debian + XFCE. It's lightweight, it prioritizes stability over new features, and it's a fairly easy UI for a newbie to understand. Alternatively Linux Mint MATE Edition might be worth a try. It's also lightweight but is a bit more "up to date" than Debian feature wise.

Oh they finally fixed the bloody dock. I used it ages ago when it was still oval and those square icons looked terrible on it. This is much better.

Have they given any updates on HDR support? I remember them mentioning years back that they planned it for the final release but I've not heard anything since.

I actually restarted halfway through because I leveled up so much that every enemy (even animals) were miserable to fight.

I realized you only leveled up when you slept so I just never slept. Game was way easier.

They also don't have to sign it.

Maybe I've just used MacOS so long that I'm out of touch, but installing unsigned applications is effectively a mild annoyance.

I never got to run BeOS (well...when it was modern), but it's really depressing just how insanely better it was than the competition. Ditto Amiga.

I like how they show a thin sliver of something that looks like a standard terminal output instead of a screenshot of what this actually looks like on your desktop.

I ran Arch for years, but I eventually realized I only really enjoyed Arch from a conceptual point of view.

The big plus for me is stability. I had a few major problems pop up after an update, and while I was able to fix them easily enough, It was still annoying that I had to do it. Fedora is nice and stable while not being too far behind.

The loss of the AUR wasn't that annoying because Fedora has the advantage of being one of the main OS's. A lot of developers treat it as a default

I gotcha fam

SteamOS-like distributions probably aren't for you right now. nvidia has massively improved over the year but it's still not on par with AMD.

Using an immutable distro (which Steam OS and its kind are) is just going to complicate things. Your easiest bet is using a distro that will install the correct drivers at install, like pop_os or mint.

If you want SteamOS there are plenty of options that are effectively the exact same thing but with a different name.

It's about reducing variable costs.

You build phones, watches, tvs, washers, dryers, fridges? Why use separate hardware and software? That's just expensive. Just build a common platform that can be easily modified for everything and take advantage of production scale to reduce costs everywhere.

Slap in all those smart phone features too because why the fuck not. It's cheap, someone might be convinced to buy it because of it, and few people will avoid it because you can use your phone. Bonus points! We can collect use information.

Everyone wins! Except the customer. Because fuck them.

As long as you're cool being a bit more restricted in multiplayer games (a lot work great! But some developers are blocking linux), and you're okay with AMD (nvidia is improving though), gaming is basically on par with Windows at this point.

In some cases it's even better. I have a few games that require weird tricks to get it to work under Windows, but work fine in proton. Even Elden Ring at launch ran better on linux because it didn't have the micro-stutter issue.

I say "easily" because it wouldn't require a major effort on the scale of coreutils. It could just be a series of fancy automation scripts. It'll take effort, but not the most intense of exercises.

I made a handful of them at an old job because we had a few specific tasks that we would regularly do, but not enough to commit it to memory. I just spent an afternoon here and there slapping together python scripts with just the options we would need and tossed it into /bin

Oh Rust is great, and it's on my learning to do list...but its evangelists are annoying as shit.

The great thing about the core philosophy of unix is that you could easily do what you suggest and maintain compatibility with applications that rely on the traditional coreutils (Which is the major reason why no one will really suggest changing the traditional syntax. It'll break way too much.).

Just build a series of applications that actively translates your "less ambiguous" commands into traditional syntax. I've done it for a number of things where the syntax is long and hard to remember.

In fact I think a "nuutilus" would actually be fairly well received for distributions that are more new user focused and a pretty worthwhile endeavor.

It's definitely more intuitive but It would drive me insane having to type that all out.