Hiya! My parents have been thinking a little bit about getting a workstation for video editing that would be comprised of free software, and the four distros I've been looking at are CentOS, Debian Stable, Ubuntu LTS, and Manjaro.

On CentOS, Debian Stable, and Ubuntu LTS' side, those distros are centered around stability, CentOS and Debian Stable moreso than LTS, however since they're somewhat outdated compared to other distros, I imagine in would be harder to get a dedicated GPU working in them, and they would have to be reinstalled, CentOS every ten years and LTS every five years.

Meanwhile on Manjaro's side, that distro has more recent software than CentOS and LTS, and is rolling-release, which means it would never have to be reinstalled unless it messes up somehow, and it's based on Arch, which has a rep for being really fast and lightweight.

However the downside to Manjaro as a workstation distro, is because it's based on Arch, IDK if it would make a very good workstation distro compared to more stable distros like CentOS, Debian Stable or Ubuntu LTS.

Anyways, waddya guys think would be a better idea? Go more in the direction of stability and go for CentOS, Debian Stable, or Ubuntu LTS, or go more in the direction of software recency and never having to reinstall and go for Manjaro?

Manjaro of course would be using the Stable branch, and the latest LTS kernel.

My two cents:

I think that if either your parents are comfortable with basic to intermediate Linux troubleshooting or if you're willing to provide possible infrequent support then Manjaro stable would be a fine choice - it still has the perk of accessing the AUR and has reasonably up-to-date software under a rolling release. That said I'm not sure how aggressive their team is when it comes to not pushing package updates with performance regressions even if it's an otherwise stable upgrade - that would probably be my biggest worry.

Otherwise I would probably shoot for Ubuntu LTS because, among the alternatives, it's typically going to make for an easier experience installing and finding support for non-free media codecs and the like. If you wait for Ubuntu 14.04 to come out in just under two months you'll have something that, as you pointed out, will be supported until 2019; upgrading every five years isn't a big deal for a single workstation since it's easy enough to copy over the relevant parts of the home folder and script package restoration.

The other consideration when using long stable periods as a factor is if the entire system is installed on a hard drive then it's probably going to up and die before you reach the end of a support cycle. If you're using an OS SSD / media HDD then that's probably not an issue - just a thought.

Hi there,

it's funny that you mention Ubuntu in a breath with "stability". Ubuntu of all? A distro that keeps inventing new gadgets and pushing them forward, like for instance the Unity desktop? No. Debian, okay. And I've never heard of Manjaro before.

I would go for LMDE (Linux Mint Debian Edition). Focused on multimedia, fairly stable, though based on Debian Testing, quite close to the pulse of new software, and a rolling release that doesn't need a periodical reinstall.

[X] Doc CPU

Who says Unity has to be used with LTS? It's available in LXDE, Xfce, and KDE variants too. And Manjaro's essentially an attempt at making Arch user-friendly.

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Neither the XFCE nor the LXDE variant is a LTS version. In your case I would opt for Debian, it will give you stability and you will have access to newer kernels and graphics drivers using the official backports repository.

Fedora is not being factored in for obvious reasons, meanwhile.

Take a look at SlackerMedia: http://slackermedia.info/ It tells you how to set up Slackware for use as a media studio. Even if you don't use Slackware, it provides a lot of useful information about Linux media applications and how to use them.

Debian Stable with backports enabled, just like Tobi suggested. Choose from a variety of DEs (Gnome, KDE, LXDE, MATE (unofficial), XFCE) then when Jessie comes through as Stable just upgrade to Jessie.

Although I am not fond of Ubuntu because of their corporate backed 'activities', I voted Ubuntu simply because there is a greater range of programs available, DVDStyler for example is not readily available in Debian Wheezy. LinuxGeek2305 stated possibly setting up a system for his/her parents, I would suggest Xubuntu 14.04 LTS, Unity will just freak them out, lol. If I am going to set up a system for a total n00b, I would choose something long-term and n00b friendly, auto updates on.

my retired father bought a new laptop (hated windows-8) so i installed fedora for him. all we use it for is google hangouts/email/web browsing. i find its live-usb installer the least buggy (compared to unetbootin).

i tried to get it to duel boot with win-8 but the win-8 partition now refuses to boot (not a big loss).

i field far fewer tech-support calls now than when he used win-xp.

Having tried and tested Linux "from A-Z" over the past decade, I have found Zorin to be the most polished, user friendly with Mint a short second place. From AriOS to Zorin, some were good, some just OK and some downright horrid. Mint has a very wide user base and runs sweet & smooth. I have version 16 now and it does its job without fuss.

Ubuntu Studio?

I'd just put Arch on it, but I put Arch on everything

You are right, I totally forgot about Mint, but their 14.04 based LTS won't be out for a little while longer. :/

Edited for spelling: *their*, not *there*, doi-yeeeeeeee, lol ;D

You can similarly use Zorin 8.1 32-BIT and easily take it along there next LTS route. Check on their user forums and chat to 'Wolfman" there. You will soon find out how warm and friendly those guys are.

And if I wanted their system to be supported for the full five-year lifecycle?