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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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Help me choose linux's best option for public school lab (distro, desktop, etc.) (lemmy.ml)

submitted 6 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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I apologize if my english isn't perfect in how you would say it daily, but I hope it'll help with Linux popularity and as a reference for future days.

For this post specifically I want opinions regarding what would be best for school lab of tech vocational high school (for both computer networking and software engineering).

Package update frequency:

A. Years per update (Debian, OpenSuse Leap)
B. Every 6 month (Ubuntu/Fedora)
C. Rolling Release (Debian Sid or Arch but update whenever (every week/month/semester/year))

Desktop environment:

A. Gnome
B. KDE Plasma
C. Cinnamon
D. Lightweight DE (XFCE, LXQT, etc.)
E. Other DE (Mate, Budgie, etc.)
F. Stacking Window Manager (Fluxbox, IceWM, Openbox, etc)
G. TIling or Dynamic WM

Community or Company Distro?

A. Community Distro
B. Company Distro

Display server protocol:

A. Xorg
B. Wayland

File System:

A. EXT4
B. BTRFS
C. Other

Immutable?

A. Not Immutable
B. Immutable

Functionality

A. General Purpose (Debian, Arch, OpenSuse)
B. Specific Purpose (Debian Edu, Parrot Linux, AV linux, etc.)

Let me know your opinion, perhaps I missed some critical question or maybe some question above isn't that important to consider.

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[–] [email protected] 40 points 6 months ago (1 children)

I think you are missing the most critical features, stability and support. You need whatever distro you pick to be solid. No one cares about the file system or whether it is immutable or not, your users need the computer to work when they use it, and nothing else matters.

You also need to be confident you can update and upgrade safely and easily, any risk of a broken update will make your life a misery when that happens.

Kickstart support, or some form of automated deployment will also be extremely valuable so that you can easily redeploy broken boxes with minimal effort. And some form of remote config/admin will also be extremely valuable. You dont want to have to do updates manually one at a time.

I would pick a general purpose commercially backed OS, so that if you need it later, you can pay for support if there is a problem. And you need to write some basic usage guides, because no matter which distro you pick, if its not Windows, your users will complain when they cant do X the same way it works on Windows.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago

This 100%. Even if you don't like canonical, you can get Ubuntu for free and then later pay for support if you need. They have experience managing fleets of systems.

There's a post on Reddit where a Brazilian state government org is testing out Ubuntu at scale.