The problem stems from the fact the community is either not reporting the bugs or upstream not applying patches. The flavors have no defieciency of community testers, but participating in the software bug/fix lifecycle is definitely an issue.

Likely so, or Trinity Desktop. We did some testing a while back and found the "small" desktops (Openbox, TDE) used around 300mb RAM, XFCe around 500mb, KDE and Mate around 550mb. But depends what desktop you prefer, and how much Stuff you want preinstalled. Have to say our guy did a nice job on that Openbox setup.

I'm wondering how old that laptop IS, tho. 2GB RAM is kinda unusual unless it's from the x86 era and is already maxed out. Old x64 rarely start off with less than 4GB, and usually max out at 8GB. If it's the latter, even another 2GB stick (used about 5 bucks) would give it a nice performance boost.

LOL, 14 this morning in eastern Montana, positively balmy.

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I am certificated in AIX, and have years of experience in HP_UX, RHEL, SCO (yeah, at one time we took them seriously), and Debian. I currently have running loads of Q4OS, Manjaro, Debian, TinyCore, FreeDOS, ReactOS, and KolibriOS. (Those last three are not Linux, but ARE great fun.) I have administrated SOLARIS, PrimOS, Windows, and several others as needed. I love the fringe stuff like SPARKY Linux, VSIDO, and Fedora, but I would not recommend those for anyone who worries about missing software. The single largest software repository family is Debian, but th e Ubuntu family is also huge. Go for one of the core or parent distributions, because those have the most options and are least likely to be missing things you are looking for.

Ubuntu really struggles with 2GB RAM. Mint might do all right, tho. As you say about tons of software.

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@wpeckham -- "Go for one of the core or parent distributions, because those have the most options and are least likely to be missing things you are looking for."

Not so, I found, with proprietary nVidia drivers. In PCLOS, the 340, 390 and Latest driver versions were available with the Latest being default unless "nomodeset" boot parameter was invoked at boot just prior to install. Which I did. Then, I manually installed mc and synaptic, using synaptic to add sources to repo list, updated and installed the correct driver, which in turn installed pertinent kernel modules and Xorg files. Rebooted (blacklisting nouveau required this for complete removal) and voila it worked with proprietary drivers fully functional.., try that in ubuntu!

Let's see -- Debian is the parent of Ubuntu, Mandriva is the parent of PCLOS but is now defunct, RH is like a painting of Goya where Neptune (or some other god) is devouring his children, and Slackware is Slackware. Am I missing one?

On the other hand, MX and Sparky are easier to install and use than its parent, Debian per se.

I respectfully disagree on some points but concede the general concept to you.

I am even moving away from an old standby in antiX and on to Miyo/Devuan. Things change so fast nowadays sometimes I cannot keep up and am tired of trying but have to keep going . . . so, I'll see you somewhere down the road. Meanwhile, enjoy the journey!



"Rez maniac?"

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LOL, I don't even go to that much trouble. I've got my personal remaster for new installs, but more often I just move the HD from one PC to the next (removable drive bays), and it doesn't care. Try THAT with most linux installs...

Comedy Linux?

LOL, well almost. About a thousand years ago, BlueWave (DOS BBS messaging software) had some interesting bugs. If an email addy had @Letter that was one of its commands, it would do that command instead of quoting it properly. I've been Rez online since forever, and a friend was using tiac.net.... BlueWave would see "name@tiac.net spake unto Rez" (how I had it set to do) and mistake the @t for "quote recipient's name" resulting in "Reziac". Hey, cool! I'll keep it.

And there is a man page.

Had we won the war, it would be one distribution, too. Take that!

Those “why” questions come along, when the process itself, when the memory of the process and the desires which instigated the process in the first place, are forgotten.

Linux is not an object, it is a process. You can call it “movement” or “revolution”. The problem may be, that people who come late are confronted with words rather than the original desires. And in consequence, the revolution should be institutionalized for them to grasp anything.

Well it isn't.

I comment on this thread to liberate me of the pressure, not because I care anymore.

The primary reason there are so many Linux distributions is easily explained at the Linux Foundation site below, to quote part of it:

Note the words "free, perpetual".

https://www.linuxfoundation.org/the-linux-mark/

Originally, there was a "nominal" fee to use the trademark and I expect that an end could be put to all these distributions by requiring something larger than nominal. Doubt that will happen.

That is not a reason but a way to achieve what is wanted.

If you want to have progress you need comparisons. To have comparisons you must have diversity. Frontiers are quite useful, as long as they can be traversed from time to time. You can impose changes without having something to compare, but this is roulette, not progress.

“Where there is an open mind, there will always be a frontier.” (Charles F. Kettering or Henry Thoreau.., with anarchists and tycoons sharing so many ideals these days, I tend to mix them up. Choose one).

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And that would be a very expensive RedHat for commercial, and Ubuntu for everyone else. Cuz that's who has the resources for winning at There Can Be Only One.

And I'd be going... ya know, Win10 might not be so bad after all (I loathe Ubuntu) and a great many of us wouldn't be here. I'd agree the ecosystem is too fractured for the minor distros to really be viable, and a lot of nice distros fall by the wayside for lack of interest by developers or users (one-man-bands may satisfy but tend not to last). But the alternative is not better; if we want lack of choice, or worse a very expensive lack of choice, yonder are Windows and (ugh) MacOS.

So while I'd like to see more related distros working with one another so each branch stays broadly viable, and I'd prefer less fracturing into hundreds of competing one-thing-changed distros... I won't complain too loudly about the wealth of choices. Testing 'em is free, and now that we have live versions that run from USB, finding one you can love does nothing but use a little of your time.

[Or a lot of time if you're me, and go through 150 or so before finding one you can love. But it was worth the effort.]

Or, like me, you can go through 224 before finding 60 that you love and wanting to run ALL of them! ;-) It is less the goal than the journey. I have loved every minute of it so far, and intend to enjoy it for years to come. I hope you all do as well.

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Yeah, I've got almost 600 distros stashed away and have looked at most of 'em (a few wouldn't run), tho didn't take that long to find the one that suits me best. The stash keeps growing because every so often I have a Downloading Fit and try some more. I'm always really looking for one to run for everyday, so for me it's the destination, but the road there is interesting, despite the bumps and potholes and stretches of "under construction".

I have installed mx linux and will give it a go. My idea is to eventually install docker and run opencanary and pihole.Once I do this successfully I might get a rasberri pi 4 and run this selection as dns/honeypot connected to the main router.
It should be a good project. I am also great full for all the other responders to this threat which was not intended to offend but merely encourage good dialog and indicate how new comers to many linux distros may experience this. There are also some wise old owls that came out of the woodwork here and I think they grasp what I was trying to say.

It does not matter if there are 3 or 600 distros but if you have to advise a business or your grandma which linux system to install that is stable with very little interaction needed which handful of them would be recommended.

Thanks all.

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No, it is the reason there are so many different distributions of Linux. The Linux trademark is owned and controlled by Torvalds and it is too late now to take back what has been done but he certainly has the legal right in most countries to stop the creation of additional distributions using and labelled "Linux" by charging a substantial fee for using the Trademark "Linux". The purpose of my earlier post was obviously to point out to the OP that his thread was was posted in the wrong place. A group of volunteers who spend time trying to help others with computer problems has no control over the number of distributions of Linux that exist or will exist and if the OP wanted to try to get a change, the proper place to go would be the Linux Foundation. Good luck with that.

Reading this post and similar ones it seems that some have a difficult time making choices, or don't want the responsibility of making choices.

Your second paragraph wanders off on a tangent about the need for comparisons and diversity which is all well and good but doesn't speak to who has control over Linux software.

@yancek: I deem it possible that the OP's intentions or questions were not clear to me. But I can currently not see a need to downright “correct” my statements or reactions. Pardon me, if there is a lack of understanding on my side, but for the time being, I cannot but stick to what I have written.
All the same, I can accept your contributions as valuable background and even a potential, conclusive response as the original motivations of the OP may be others.