First of all, I’d like to apologize for contributing to the constant stream/flow of posts in which the main theme/idea/motive is to find a suitable distro for the OPoster. I wish we’d have a dedicated community that’s active/large to the extent we’d be able to delegate/contain these convos to their designated places, but alas…

With that out of the way, we can get to the actual meat. So, for two weeks, I’ve been reading a ton about different distros. And while I’m still primarily overwhelmed by the amount of choice, I think I’ve finally got somewhat of an idea.

Requirements:

  • Software-wise, the only thing I’m worried about is Davinci Resolve. It should work, but it seems to be hit or miss. The distro I wish to use should handle this gracefully.
  • I’m a huge snob for security and privacy. As I’m kinda worried that desktop Linux’ security isn’t on par with M$ or macOS, I wish to use as secure of a system as possible to (somewhat) compensate for that.

I like to follow ‘authorities’ whenever I’m overwhelmed. As I’ve known them since their PrivacyTools-days, it was easy for me to designate Privacy Guides as such. Hence, I’ve come to appreciate its recommendations. But, I believe the tailor-made consensus by this communities’ experts is at least equally important.

That’s where I’m coming from, let’s head over to the questions:

  • Are PrivacyGuides’ recommendations actually good in the first place?

  • From what I can tell, the subset of security-focused distros are (at least potentially) my end-game. But, from what I could gather, they’re not sensible picks for a newb. Is this correct?

  • As for what remains, I got the following assumptions (please correct me if I’m wrong*):

    • The anonymity-focused distros don’t seem well-suited for general use.
    • Hardening Arch or NixOS to the extent we find within the offerings of Fedora or openSUSE isn’t trivial.
    • Fedora’s Atomic Desktops offer something tangibly superior security-wise over what we find for traditional Fedora and openSUSE at the expense of convenience.

    As such, am I correct to assume that Fedora Atomic Desktops are best for me? Would you happen to know if it plays nicely with Davinci Resolve?

  • Are there any other distros worth mentioning within the context? If so, which ones and why?

  • Any gotchas or otherwise I should be aware of?

Thanks in advance for your input!

  • siha@feddit.uk
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    5
    ·
    23 hours ago

    None of the popular distros will spy on you the way Windows or MacOS do, so privacy shouldn’t be a concern.

    As for security, is it malware you fear? Without more specific context, the only thing that can be said for sure is that you should encrypt your drive (most distros will have the option to set that up during installation), and don’t sudo random commands you see on the internet without understanding what they do.

    • 734Y4ch_7M3_7r0@programming.devOP
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      8 hours ago

      I believe I heard that there was some scandal involving Ubuntu, but perhaps I’m wrong. Please feel free to correct me. Are there any (other) distros that I should be weary of for privacy-sake?

      For security, I want to be well-protected against any and all untargeted attacks. So protection against malware is included.

      Thank you for the general notes/recommendations/advice about safe practices on Linux! Regarding sudo (and the terminal in general), I’ve just accepted that it will be part of my workflow going forward, even if the amount of times I had used it on Windows can probably be counted on one hand. Regardless, beyond not sudoing random commands, are there like rigid guidelines (or something) one should adhere to for safe/secure computing?