Enterprise Linux on desktop?
Anyone using enterprise Linux on their desktop such as RHEL, Alma, Rocky, CentOS etc.?
I’m curious if it’s easy to use for this purpose or if the older packages are a pain.
It can be done, but I wouldn’t recommend it. Containers and VMs running a stable distro on top of something like Fedora, Tumbleweed, or whatever else is my preferred setup.
Something like Fedora also has a more mature in-place upgrade ability than the EL distros have.
Containers and VMs running a stable distro on top of something like Fedora, Tumbleweed, or whatever else is my preferred setup.
Just why?
Something like Fedora also has a more mature in-place upgrade ability than the EL distros have.
RHEL gets a new version every 5 years, not every 6 months. It’s not really relevant since OP has 3 more years before maintenance support starts. By that time a full format is definitely in order.
Just why? RHEL gets a new version every 5 years.
You answered your own question. Maintaining software will eat up lots of time. It’s fine when there is a team to maintain software for installs, but not really something a single person running a desktop/laptop probably wants to deal with.
The 5yr release cycle is a pain starting about year 3 even for people who get paid to deal with it. 😆
VMs and containers on top of something more up to date is the best of both. Up to date distro with features, and all the distros one could want!
In-place upgrades are very relevant. Who wants to destroy their setup and reinstall everything when a new OS is released?
There is leapp for EL in-place upgrades, but it’s new and rather rough, from my testing.
Flatpak has made software support better, but I’d still recommend something else without a concrete reason, like proprietary CFD software or something which only supports EL.
Maintaining software will eat up lots of time.
But you have to do more maintenance the more your system is up to date. I’ve never had to fix a faulty grub update on a stable distro, but I did on arch.
The 5yr release cycle is a pain starting about year 3 even for people who get paid to deal with it.
It really depends on the user. Think of the vast majority of people who use their personal machine only to browse, play media, and occasionally edit text files or spreadsheets. Just having to press a button to update the system and a few flatpaks for a decade is pretty appealing.
I wouldn’t try it though…
VMs and containers on top of something more up to date is the best of both. Up to date distro with features, and all the distros one could want!
I’m currently on mx + nix unstable. It will always boot, and half of all of my installed packages are near the edge. That’s what I consider the best of both worlds. No need to take the VM penalty if you don’t need to.
Who wants to destroy their setup and reinstall everything when a new OS is released?
It’s good for cleanup, and I got used to it in on windows. Even when I did everything manually, the longest I’ve spent between full reinstalls was 2 years. I literally did it the other day because I was switching back to xfce from kde.
The biggest issue was reinstalling all of the packages I need, but with
home-managerI’ve made a list. A single command installs all of the packages on it, no matter the distro.Keep your dotfiles in a repo, for safety if nothing else. Then you can resurrect your setup pretty easily.
I did on arch.
Arch. There’s the problem. 😆
Fedora and Tumbleweed keep up with Arch while being easier to maintain. Fedora is a semi-rolling release, and Tumbleweed is rolling release. Both are much more stable than Arch is.
Arch is great for people who want to tinker with their desktop/laptop install. I do not, so I run Fedora.
It depends on the user.
Run Fedora or Tumbleweed. They will be continuously updated, and an install will last years.
It will always boot…
Your basis for comparison is Arch which is known to be highly unstable and a handful to maintain. 😆
For my work, I need different OSes and distros for testing. If someone needs a stable distro for something, a VM or container will work. There are ways around the needing a stable.
Also, containers aren’t a penalty.
It’s good for clean up, and I got used to it on Windows.
You can break the cycle. Just because some you suffered doesn’t mean others have to. 🙂
Everyone says they’re going to clean up their profiles, but no one does. 😆
Keep your dot files in a repo…
I have that because I run through so many test servers and temp installs.
Then there are Ansible playbooks to setup my systems.
Fedora and Tumbleweed keep up with Arch while being easier to maintain
They can only dream about keeping up, TW especially from what I’ve seen, and that just proves my point: arch is harder to maintain because it’s more up to date.
Also, I ran fedora for a few weeks after giving up on arch, it failed to boot multiple times after an update, and programs would randomly stop working after a reboot. I somehow had none of those issues on nobara.
Run Fedora or Tumbleweed. They will be continuously updated, and an install will last years.
It will break more often, and if you only use it to browse you’ll still get all the updates you need if you used a stable distro. The only thing you’re missing out on is testing the newest version of the DE. I’ve installed fedora for a friend like that, but I’m pretty sure it was a mistake even though they haven’t had any issues so far.
There are ways around the needing a stable.
I need stable because I want my machine always to work. There’s no going around that if you’re running rhel on top of fedora, if fedora craps out you’re not getting to rhel. Specific compatibility requirements are different story, and I agree with you on that.
Your basis for comparison is Arch which is known to be highly unstable and a handful to maintain. 😆
My basis is that I’ve been using linux for close to 20 years, and have tried every popular distro. In that time, only stable distros like debian never crashed or failed to boot.
Also, containers aren’t a penalty.
But you do take a performance penalty when using them…
You can break the cycle. Just because some you suffered doesn’t mean others have to. 🙂
I literally did it the other day, made a cup of coffee, and finished with both around the same time. The only thing I had to suffer through was waiting for files to transfer to and from an external drive. And I’ll survive that easily if it means I’ll avoid possible bugs and performance impacts.
Then there are Ansible playbooks to setup my systems.
Sweet, makes sense really
I looked at RHEL pricing but damn hell no.
The rest is even more outdated than Debian, so just use Debian.
In general stable Desktops are not enjoyable. You will basically not want to read Linux News anymore as you wont be getting any of that.
Its good for enterprises, where policies dont need to change etc. Also in combination with Flatpak and EPEL it may work somehow, but its just worse than using some normal Distro I heard.
CentOS is just RHEL without the support.
You’re more out of date than RHEL. Centos was killed off in 2020, stream is upstream.
RHEL with the free licence is RHEL without support.
Have. I like btrfs, you only get that with Oracle and they have philosophical issues, but also random brokenness with things like selinux policies.
Old packages aren’t really an issue for me, but missing packages that haven’t been put into EPEL can be a pain. Depends what you want to accomplish or need.
I feel similarly about Fedora’s quick EOL, which was how I got onto an enterprise desktop distro too. The paper cuts are why I ended up switching to Mint.
You can use btrfs with any distro. It’s just easier to install on some than others. Ubuntu and Mint will automatically create subvolumes for root and home if you install on a btrfs partition. With Debian, you have to manually create and mount all of the subvolumes before starting the installation.
Except CentOS/RHEL. RH doesn’t build the kernels with btrfs support.
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I run RHEL on my personal desktop and laptop. Why? Because I use it at work and the more I use it the better I understand it. This benefits me both at home and at work. I’ve even built Ansible roles and playbooks in git to setup my home machines. Overkill? Sure, but I have great peace if mind if I lose a boot drive that I’ll be right back to normal quickly.
You can absolutely use an enterprise distro at home. Ignore the trolls about “It’s all too old” or “it doesn’t have X software”. I don’t care what version vim, GNOME or pretty much anything is, as long as I can open the core tools I need. For “missing” software: I’ve yet to find any software I “need” that I haven’t figured out how to install (again: Ansible-d) including Flatpak for all the normie stuff (spotify, slack, discord, etc) and I’m golden.
My $0.02
Hmm … I’m definitely not going to use RHEL for anything I’m not explicitly ordered to by my employer, but the thought of using Ansible or similar to set up my home system is interesting… I may have to give that a try, and I’ve got a new system I’m building
You can also use Ansible with just about anything, as long as you can connect to it over SSH or with a REST API. You don’t have to use RHEL, specifically. I use it for “”“declarative”“” package management on my Arch system.
Oh yeah, I know that part… Sorry, I can see how that could look like I think that’s a RHEL specific feature
