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What's everybody's favorite distribution on the Frame.Work 13? Getting it next week, and toying around with Arch/Debian/Ubuntu/Suse/NixOS/etc in VMs while waiting for it. I think I'll have to throw a coin (or just take Debian).

Not a Framework but a System76 laptop, I got to a point where I couldn't stand any desktops based on Gnome and wanted something more predictable and better documented than PopOS or even Ubuntu.

I'm enjoying AlmaLinux with KDE and not seeing any reason to switch so far, it's rock solid stable and RHEL docs are better than anything aside from maybe Arch. All the dev tools they tend to not have without fail have an `asdf` plugin, or they're written in Rust and `cargo` can install them from source just as easily. KDE might be bloated but not in a way you'd notice with a modern processor and I love the customization options.

Arch is a great option too if you want all the latest and plan to stay on top of upgrading. I like `paru` as a package manager there. Most important thing you can do on Arch is add a quick search shortcut for the Arch Wiki, it's so good I'll reference it for help on any distro.

Big fan of Silverblue/universal blue Fedora immutable installs. I'm using Aurora, a KDE respin, on my framework 13 AMD. There's a framework specific image and it was one of the most complete out of the box Linux installs I've ever used. I truly think that immutable distros are the way forward for desktop Linux
Fedora has worked flawlessly for me.
After years on Ubuntu, then Arch I also just recently discovered Fedora as a well polished alternative.

I do love the Arch community. But I feel less motivation to tinker nowdays and Fedora was a pretty nice works out of the box experience so far.

I set up Fedora for family but I still use Arch myself, because there is no good alternative to AUR on Fedora and there are more packages that I need for software development.

Sometimes Arch saves so much time, that even the infrequent necessary manual maintenance after updates makes it worth it.

And even when trying to run stuff on distros other than Arch, I frequently look up instruction on Arch Wiki and in AUR PKGBUILDs.

I'm using Nix package manager on Fedora and it's OK.
As I founnd out myself, there is almost no tinkering involved once you get the initial Arch setup done. Just update once a week. Fedora repos have considerably fewer packages than Arch or Debian. For some reason Redhat land has always been off putting for me. SELinux, dropping docker in favor of podman, CentOS debacle are just a few things that make me look elsewhere. I'm glad you found your sweetspot though. Just a friendly banter from a fellow Linux user.
Fedora was almost required on AMD framework for a while, because hardware was brand new and Debians were too old. Now with Mint updated, I'd recommend take Fedora or Mint and Cinnamon.

Beware, I just realized my AMD does not support S3 sleep. Too late to return.

Mint was the worst experience for me. The trackpad acceleration curves are bad and there's no easy configuration for it. I was willing to either toy with sliders or copy an already tuned config into a file. But the best I found was how to go into a config file and disable the acceleration entirely.
If you prefer to understand how your OS work, and want a system simple enough that you can understand what it's doing, go with Arch. If you don't care about that and just want something that mostly works with little hassle, Debian, Ubuntu, Suse, or Fedora are all fine; there's little practical difference, except maybe Debian's software is always a little out of date.

I'd say only go with NixOS if you want to learn the Nix language, specifically need reproducible builds, or really hate mutable state.

I'm running SUSE Tumbleweed. Fast package manager, up-to-date versions of just about every package you could want. Never had any driver issues or issues installing.
After going through Centos, Ubuntu, Arch, and Mint, I’m settling down on OpenSUSE. The rolling updates just work.
I use Arch, but I might be biased
I don't have a Framework machine, but my favorite distribution on any machines has been Arch, because especially if you follow the wiki install, you end up with a lot more knowledge of how modern Linux works, and you get to pick any/all of the the options (desktop env (or tiling window manager), bootloader, display manager, etc) available for modern Linux systems.
I have a Framework 16, but I installed Arch on it a couple months ago as a dual boot to play around with. Process was largely painless but I did end up disabling secure boot. (actually I partially started the process of getting secure boot working, decided 'nah' and just disabled it...)
I'm on a framework 13 AMD edition since early this year, running arch. There were issues early on but seemed to be mostly on the firmware side and would not have been distro specific. After then April(?) firmware updates I have not had any issues.
I've been using Void Linux for the last 1.5 years because I wanted an Arch-like experience but without systemd. I haven't had any unsolvable problems.
"I haven't had any unsolvable problems."

That sentence can have a lot of meanings, when one thinks that everything is possible with enough effort ..

Especially if they’re good at troubleshooting.
I've been using Arch+hyperland on a framework 13, and it's been pretty good. Screen sharing seems to be the only thing that acts up now and then.
Haven't used a Framework, but I'll throw arch-based CachyOS. Super simple setup and optimized binaries for modern machines are a plus.
On the 16 I bounced between a bunch before settling on Manjaro. It seemed to "just work" better than any other distro.
Debian (stable or testing, depending on your taste).

I hope your experience is better than mine, though. I've had mine (12th-gen Intel) for 2 years now with a terrible thermal throttling issue, and support alternates between asking me to do the same things over and over, and ghosting me for months at a time. Judging by the community forums, it's a common-enough problem too.

I assume you're getting either the Core Ultra or whatever the current AMD board is... hopefully they're better.

If they come out with a new mainboard next year, I feel like (after 3 years of owning the 12th-gen) I can justify a mainboard upgrade (though I guess it'll also mean new RAM, ugh), and pray that it's actually a hardware problem (and not a problem with the embedded controller's firmware), and that it's been quietly fixed.

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