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  • Mark Dingemansedingemansemark@scholar.social
    Oct 28, 2026, 6:36 PM

    Okay linux distro geeks, here is a request for advice. Suppose I am in the market for a Thinkpad that runs Linux. I'm told well-supported distros are Ubuntu, Fedora and possibly Mint.

    I want to run Zotero, RStudio, Python, LibreOffice (or equivalent) and NextCloud. Some MS stuff for work (sigh) via progressive web apps.

    Picture me as a 2-3 on the 1 'just works solidly' vs 7 'requires major fiddling frequently' Likert scale

    Contentful comments welcome!

    #thinkpad #linux #distro #FediQuestion

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Replies

  • Mark Dingemansedingemansemark@scholar.social
    Oct 30, 2026, 9:47 PM

    Followup question: desktop environment & shell shenanigans

    Look & feel are important, but also ease of use: what works pleasantly with i) USB-C docking stations with multiple screens of different orientations (eg 1 portrait, 1 landscape) and ii) across changing setups (e.g. home vs office)?

    So I hear Gnome, KDE, Cinnamon, Xfce. I get the sense that this is hard to disentangle from the choice for main distro (so much so that some say e.g. pick Mint because Cinnamon).

    Advice welcome!

    🙏

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  • Karl Higleykarlhigley@recsys.social
    Oct 28, 2026, 6:40 PM

    @dingemansemark I fall at a similar place on that scale and use most of that same stuff on a Thinkpad running Ubuntu. It’s generally been a good experience without a ton of manual fiddling.

    (I hear good things about Mint too, but haven’t used it.)

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  • Spooky Simonsonthedansimonson@lingo.lol
    Oct 28, 2026, 6:42 PM

    @dingemansemark in general, I've been using Xubuntu for like 10 years and it's been pretty good -- XFCE is a relatively lightweight and customizable window manager, and it has the Ubuntu back end and widely supports most anything.

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  • Marián Kyralmkyral@mamutovo.cz
    Oct 28, 2026, 6:54 PM

    @dingemansemark With linux, you can have more distributions installed together and use the same /home folder. So you can test them all.

    Depends on available disk space of course 😉

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  • nousersmanualnousersmanual@vivaldi.net
    Oct 28, 2026, 7:01 PM

    @dingemansemark ok there is not a simple answer to this but with the apps you want to run, any of these distros will do just fine! I voted Fedora because out of the box it works well on most of the laptops I have tried. The one thing to be aware of is if you have a laptop with a dedicated GPU installed, the linux drivers (both proprietary and free) don't work well, i recommend using the integrated GPU instead. The next one is WiFi drivers, sometimes you have to dig for one that works. I recommend taking a week and trying all three distros and a couple of different DEs (gnome, KDE, Cinnamon, Mate, and cosmic) to see what you like and to see what distro works best. The only hard requirement I add to this is that you take your time and have fun with it, be open to change, and figure out why you like each variation. I am posting this using a ThinkPad using debian and gnome.

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  • Adrianthgie@post.lurk.org
    Oct 28, 2026, 7:04 PM

    @dingemansemark Will you get a brand new Thinkpad or an older one? I have a Thinkpad X1 Yoga from 2022 and even some fringe Linux distros run without any hardware issues.

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  • Adrianthgie@post.lurk.org
    Oct 29, 2026, 6:08 AM

    @dingemansemark Regarding MS: I use Thunderbird with the Owl plugin [1]. Costs a small yearly fee, but allows me to have mails, calendar and a team integration in Thunderbird for several different university accounts. Makes that part a bit easier.

    The rclone command line tool [2] theoretically would work great for dealing with OneDrive, to sync locally, but my uni blocks access through that tool. Worth a try tho.

    [1] beonex.com/owl/
    [2] rclone.org/

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  • Adrianthgie@post.lurk.org
    Oct 29, 2026, 9:32 AM

    I had no problems with the integrated camera, running the Debian, Arch, and now Void Linux distros. Worked out of the box for locally installed software like Signal or webapps like Zoom or, if it must be, MS Teams.

    @valentyn @dingemansemark

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  • William Dentonwdenton@cosocial.ca
    Oct 28, 2026, 6:59 PM

    @dingemansemark I voted Ubuntu because I've been running it on Thinkpads for years and it's always worked without trouble. I'm moving to Debian and so far it also works without trouble, and with Flatpaks I can easily have more current versions of the key packages I want. The stuff you list will work fine on either. Both low fiddly.

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  • poetasterpoetaster@mastodon.gamedev.place
    Oct 28, 2026, 7:18 PM

    @dingemansemark I also used xubuntu for years on thinkpads. I'm split these days between really bare devuan / debian. I voted mint since it's what I've been doing for the neighbors who have yet to ask for support. My GF has Tuxedo debian which is still experimental but on custom hardware. She's happy. I also run NetBSD but that's a labour of love in really old hardware.

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  • KaiXinkaixin@snac.bsd.cafe
    Oct 28, 2026, 7:46 PM
    I saw your software list overlaps heavily with what I use, and I have been using Debian for more than 10 years. Since it is upstream of both Ubuntu and Mint, I prefer Debian itself.
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  • mhoye but seasonally spookymhoye@cosocial.ca
    Oct 28, 2026, 7:50 PM

    @dingemansemark Ubuntu and Mint are both Debian derivatives, you're really picking "Debian derivative or Fedora". Any of these options will work fine on a recent Thinkpad, and any of their default interfaces will be available on any of the others. Any of the apps you are proposing to use will also work on either choice. What you're really picking here is an update frequency.

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  • Richard de WaardWaardRichard@social.edu.nl
    Oct 28, 2026, 8:14 PM

    @dingemansemark You basically have three options: Debian (based), Fedora, Arch (based). For the latter I would advice Manjaro, which is what I use.
    Mint is moving from Ubuntu based to Debian based, so LMDE is a good option as well. And Fedora is solid and a good choice. Hey, why not try them all with a live usb and see.what you prefer?
    Oh, and then you have the next choice to make, the desktop environment. Just as important. i use KDE but others Gnome or xfce. And LMDE has Cinnamon as default.

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  • Mre. Dartigen [maker mode]dartigen@aus.social
    Oct 28, 2026, 8:20 PM

    @dingemansemark I use Mint on my ThinkPad, but it's also *very* old and probably in desperate need of some upgrades (that I don't know where to start with) or at least a serious physical clean out (that I just haven't gotten to).

    FWIW, the difference between Mint and Ubuntu for me was that the ThinkPad was the first time I'd had Ubuntu run like crap on anything, which was when I realised I needed something geared towards keeping older hardware usable. I'm still having some performance issues on Mint, but I suspect that's partly from me making some less than stellar choices with a few things. (Or maybe there's an even more lightweight distro out there that I haven't tried. It's been a while since I've been in the market for a new distro.)

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  • Mre. Dartigen [maker mode]dartigen@aus.social
    Oct 29, 2026, 12:41 AM

    @dingemansemark Yeah, my Thinkpad is... gosh, circa mid-2010s? It's old, and I don't think it was a high-end model when it was new either.

    Mint is mainly aimed at low-end or older hardware, as I recall. I guess it would be useful if you really, really wanted to make sure that the resource needs of the OS are as minimal as possible, but Linux generally seems to run a lot lighter than Windows (at least, out of the box) so you may not need to worry too much about that. (And, there's more to that than just your choice of distro under Linux as well.)

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  • Baroque Mongoosemongoose@mongoose.me.uk
    Oct 28, 2026, 8:57 PM

    @dingemansemark I use Debian. It's basically like Ubuntu but more stable (some machines don't like Ubuntu for unknown reasons - my last laptop was like that, and got in a proper mess till I had Debian installed on it instead, after which it was fine). I can highly recommend it.

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  • Geoffgeofftc@mas.to
    Oct 28, 2026, 10:17 PM

    @dingemansemark

    I've been using Debian* on my Thinkpad for the past year as my primary computer, it's been great. As close to "stock Linux" as you can get

    * = Testing branch, but you can use stable if you don't mind the slightly older software.

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  • wuerglerwuerglerit@social.tchncs.de
    Oct 29, 2026, 11:19 PM

    @dingemansemark

    Some of the customer feedback I get suggests that people prefer Mint to Ubuntu for various reasons. This is probably due to the already mentioned Snap and other ‘crutches’ in Ubuntu, or the ‘Cinnamon’ desktop environment in Mint, which seems to be well received.

    edit: typos corrected

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  • Chase Haineychasehainey@mastodon.world
    Oct 30, 2026, 5:22 AM

    @dingemansemark Arch is my favorite distro, used with Cinnamon. Second favorite is Debian Sid, also with Cinnamon. But toy around and figure out what actually works for you. Most distros just work these days.

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  • Russell Cokeretbe@mastodon.nzoss.nz
    Oct 30, 2026, 6:23 AM

    @dingemansemark Thinkpads have always been well supported by Linux and you can expect them to work well on most distributions, particularly the second hand Thinkpads. If you get a second hand Thinkpad for $300 instead of spending $2000+ for a new one it will do most things you want it for just as well as a new one but with better driver support.

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  • Least Effort Partizangros@pouet.chapril.org
    Oct 31, 2026, 7:38 PM

    @dingemansemark I already voted but for what it's worth I'd say Ubuntu has a community of devs and so drivers for like Nvidia GPUs, wifi, printers they're all easy to find. Mint too probably though.
    And for the snap thing, I never had problems because I don't use it. I install via terminal and that's it.
    Best,

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