recommendation: something simple like fedora
favourite: either NixOS or gentoo
this post was submitted on 10 Jun 2023
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Fedora Budgie spin. Budgie has been my fav on my old Lenovo T510 and my Acer Ryzen 3 laptop, to the point I'm thinking of converting all my stuff to it.
Clean and light bout 600 - 640 MB RAM at boot.
Is there actually a big difference in lightweightness between distros, that does not go back to the Desktop Environment and used Software?
TL;DR: I'd say EndeavourOS.
Note that as a general rule, the more lightweight a distro is at "run-time", the heavier it is at "configure-time", because you'll have to make choices depending on your needs to get better performance. As an example, probably the lightest weight distro is Gentoo, thanks to compiler optimization and USE flags. But it's a distro with an incredibly steep learning curve. On the other side of the spectrum, there's Ubuntu, which is one of the distros that requires least user configuration, but is also a resource hog. In my opinion EndeavourOS strikes a good balance between the two factors (Disclaimer: I don't daily drive it. I've used it enough to know I can recommend it)
Definitely try Ubuntu as a easy starter. Supports a lot of hardware, is a good first step.
OP said lightweight. Ubuntu is many things, but lightweight isn't one of them.
Install the Ubuntu server. Do not install any (suggested) programs and DEs. After reboot manually install xorg, xinit and some lightweight WM (for example sudo apt install xmonad xmobar). Open terminal and write echo >> ~/xinitrc exec xmonad (for example). Reboot. At the tty prompt type startx /usr/bin/xmonad. You get an empty and fast ubuntu-based distro.
It's more of a hassle than just installing Debian with your preferred WM. Plus doing the latter, you don't have to scratch your head at snaps
undefined> It’s more of a hassle than just installing Debian with your preferred WM. Plus doing the latter, you don’t have to scratch your head at snaps
I think setting up wifi in Debian netinstall will be just as troublesome as fighting the dreaded and horrible snap.
Depends if you're using the non-free firmware iso or not
There is a wifi/bluetooth module, the rtl8821. It comes with cheap or old Windows laptops, try to find an open source driver for it.
I happen to have this exact chipset in my laptop (RTL8821CE to be exact), and it has driver modules directly in the mainline kernel (rtw_8821ce). The only possible issue would be firmware, but I honestly had absolutely no issue installing Arch, Gentoo, or Debian (with the non-free firmware iso) on it multiple times.
undefined> I happen to have this exact chipset in my laptop (RTL8821CE to be exact), and it has driver modules directly in the mainline kernel (rtw_8821ce). The only possible issue would be firmware, but I honestly had absolutely no issue installing Arch, Gentoo, or Debian (with the non-free firmware iso) on it multiple times.
We talked about using only free firmware, drivers, etc. I gave an example. For example, I am much more comfortable using OpenBSD than Arch/Gentoo/Debian. But I can't do that because the elements of the firmware are in the kernel, but not enough to make it work properly. With any Linux distribution this is not a problem.
You can Try Fedora Workstation. its good for beginners and advanced users alike. It has brought hardware support and comes with flatpak - a large repository of software.
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