linuxmemes

Two extremes here. Debian is slow to update while arch is bleeding edge.

I avoid containerized desktop apps (snap, flatpak) so I couldn't run Debian as a daily driver. You'd want to use the latest FireFox and their repo's release is old. You you can get it from flatpak, but I don't want to do that. Running on recent (<1y) hardware will also be problematic. I guess you could keep on adding 3rd party repos to your install, though some post from debian forums always stuck with me: "Debian is only what is released + whats in the official repo. Install anything else and you're not running debian anymore.". Its a whacky OS and I love it, but daily drive it only on my server.

Arch puts everything on their repo straight away. And if its not there, you're downloading code from AUR and building it yourself. I actually appreciate this since it complies with the philosophy that you can't really trust your applications unless you read the source and build it yourself. Awesome, but the general public shouldn't be doing this... I don't mind applications being distributed in binary form. I am able to trust linux community maintained repositories. Arch is for the geeks imo.

I found Fedora to be a good middle ground, since it gets package updates straight away while still maintaining fixed OS releases. No need for snap or flatpaks since their repo has everything and is updated. Its also widely supported by software vendors (just like debian). Id go with it as a recommendation, but still note that its philosophy is free software only and this can potentially mean tinkering with additional stuff from RPM fusion, especially if you dance with nvidia and watch videos encoded with non free codecs.

It takes a bit of time to find the right distro and that is the biggest obstacle to linux imo.

As any fule no, the true answer to this is Haiku. Particularly as it's now officially* supported on M-series Macs.

_

*maybe

Teach good debugging practices early

I've been a Debian guy for a long time for one reason, stability. I don't game a lot, but haven't had an issue in years, my son uses arch and games way more than I do, but he also has to fix a lot more stuff that updates seem to break.

If you are under 30 I almost want to encourage Arch as you'll be forced to learn a bit more over time and learning is never a bad thing. If you might game some, but value a rock solid system, go Debian.

Much depends on what you want out of life. Your choices are about as far apart in philosophy as you can get.

Do you wear tweed or have a sport coat with elbow patches? If so, then Debian is as staid and stable as you are. Slowly evolving and the mother of many other distros. Or do you have dyed hair and piercings? Do you live in your mother's basement? Arch might be a great fit for you. Arch is often wild and barely house broken and will pee on your floor as soon as it can. It can be tamed if kept under tight control. But it's a wild ride on the edge if you let it.

There is a middle ground that can draw from both worlds. Ubuntu and Fedora and SuSe are that middle ground. If this is your first time sailing the Sea of Distros, then somewhere in this middle is perhaps the best place to start.

If you want your system to be reliable, stable and in essence boring: Debian.

If you want to be hands-on, on the bleeding edge and updating daily: Arch.

Debian user that reccomends it. I don't game or need latest gizmos. I want and have a computer that is very reliable and maintenance free.

Debian Unstable, if you like to live dangerously and have to reboot every couple of years.

/s

I feel like there are other options here. Fedora? OpenSUSE?

Debian is chosen for Satellites because it is "stable", that is it doesn't do major changes like changing the Kernel.

Arch isn't for beginners, but it's a rolling release distro that's nice and simple but powerful.

In my experience, Debian has been way simpler, more intuitive, more stable, and cleaner. Start there. If you need the absolute latest bleeding edge drivers or software, consider arch, then probably just run it on Debian because the software is still available, just not preinstalled.

If you have to ask, you definitely don't want Arch

Debian is rock solid, there are even more user-friendly distros though. In a few edge-cases it will expect you to know your way around things, however there are a lot of guides for it. Going with this will cause the growth of a mighty white beard!

Arch Linux will make you cry. If you want to learn how to fix and configure things it's great (and their wiki arguably is the greatest of all), but their lack of QA and expectation to do that yourself often causes issues. You'll probably cut your fingers on its bleeding edge. If you want to learn with less bleeding I'd recommend CachyOS these days. I'm certainly not saying this because my computer didn't boot after updates multiple times. /s

HOWEVER if you have an Nvidia GPU, first off: I'm so sorry. Secondly, you absolutely (!) should use a distro that takes care of their driver for you. Their drivers are hot steaming garbage that you do not want to meddle with (many distros try their best to do it for you, but often enough it won't work for some people). See below, Nvidia distros marked with recycling symbol.

A few other options to consider with noticeable features:

• Bazzite (♻️): If you mainly play games. User-friendly, most compatible with handhelds next to CachyOS. Takes care of a lot of small things related to gaming.
• Fedora: If you want modern features on a very stable system. Very good ecosystem. Basically the other stable workhorse next to Debian. Will spawn a nice hat on your head, m'lady.
• OpenSuse: Also very stable, best distro for those concerned about US influence (it's strongly EU-based). Tumbleweed arguably most stable rolling-release distro (newest system software) with a great graphical settings' tool YaST (future unknown, unfortunately). Leap is rock-solid but slow, meant more for Office PCs and Enterprise users. After installing this you'll suddenly start talking german.
• Linux Mint: If you want things to just work with the flattest learning curve possible for former Windows victims. Helpful tips for Ubuntu usually apply and that weird software offering you a manual download for Ubuntu will just work.
• ElementaryOS: Very good for users used to MacOS, probably flattest learning curve for them. Great accessibility! Not as feature rich as others (their whole desktop is made in-house, so it's very cohesive but a lot of work for them), but what they have is very well tested.
• ZorinOS (Core): Also very good. Most likely the one with the biggest software selection from the start (comes with both Snap and Flatpak pre-configured). Probably the one you'd eventually find on some school computer.

And three others interesting if you might buy new hardware soon (damn, you rich):

• TuxedoOS (♻️): Default OS on devices from Tuxedo Computers (EU). Works on any machine and is a really nice distro in general.
• SlimbookOS (♻️): Default OS for Slimbook (EU) devices. Also nice.
• Pop_OS! (♻️): Default OS for System76 (US) devices. They're currently developing a whole new desktop environment (Cosmic), so their normal release hangs a little bit behind. It's okay though. Be aware it's from a US company (not just maintainers, but commercial entity). Fucked up Linus Tech Tips once.

For those warning you away from Arch, it doesn't have to be like that anymore.

I installed Garuda as a Linux noob and it has been petty straightforward and problem free. You don't have to build Arch by yourself in a cave from scraps anymore.

Just make sure you have pamac installed, it's the one thing my build didn't do and it made software installation and updates way easier.

If you know vaguely what you're doing or are willing to learn, you can go with whatever and it'll be fine.

Personally not a big fan of debian because they tend to be slower and more conservative on updates. Arch is a bit more technical, but very customizable.

I'm personally a big fan of Fedora. Software updated quickly enough to have all the bells and whistles, slow enough to not get cut by bleeding edge software.

I use both, debian on servers and old machines, arch on my desktop. Arch being rough is way overblown in my experience, the install script makes it straightforward to setup and it's been pretty much painless since I switched to it two years ago, I had experience with debian before that. Both arch and debian have fantastic documentation available.

Debian and derivatives, in my experience, are really well supported so that's a plus. Age of packages has never really bothered me and cases where I want bleeding edge there's options for that.

Both are solid options and I don't think you'll be upset either way, if you can I'd try both.

Why have you forsaken God? You should be praying in TempleOS.

EndeavourOS (Arch based)

The fact that you're asking this suggests you might be new to linux so go Mint but if it has to be one of those two then Debian

I know its tough to see through all the noise. Everyone tells you what you should do and to not listen to the others. But what I want you to focus on is that they are all nobodies. Randos you don't know and never will. But I'm Magnum PI, you know me, so listen to me and forget what everyone else has said.

Go with Debian.

Fedora is a middle ground between the two.

NixOS ;)

If you are interested in maintaining your OS as an ongoing and constant project, go with Arch. You will learn a lot about Linux, and about system administration in general. You will also have entire days where you are unable to do anything productive with your computer because the last update broke userspace again and you can either spend a lot of time troubleshooting your specific problem, or spend a lot of time reinstalling and reconfiguring your system.

If your computer is more than just a hobby platform and you need to use it regularly for any kind of productivity, go with Debian. Set it and forget it.

Either way, off-system file backups are recommended.