Those who don’t have the time or appetite to tweak/modify/troubleshoot their computers: What is your setup for a reliable and low-maintenance system?

Context:

I switched to Linux a couple of years ago (Debian 11/12). It took me a little while to learn new software and get things set up how I wanted, which I did and was fine.

I’ve had to replace my laptop though and install a distro (Fedora 41) with a newer kernel to make it work but even so, have had to fix a number of issues. This has also coincided with me having a lot less free time and being less interested in crafting my system and more interested in using it efficiently for tasks and creativity. I believe Debian 13 will have a new enough kernel to support my hardware out of the box and although it will still be a hassle for me to reinstall my OS again, I like the idea of getting it over with, starting again with something thoroughly tested and then not having to really touch anything for a couple of years. I don’t need the latest software at all times.

I know there are others here who have similar priorities, whether due to time constraints, age etc.

Do you have any other recommendations?

  • JustEnoughDucks@feddit.nl
    81·
    2 days ago

    Doesn’t ucore also have to restart to apply updates?

    Not super ideal for a server as far as maintenance and uptime to have unexpected, frequent restarts as opposed to in-place updates, unless one’s startup is completely automated and drives are on-device keyfile decrypted, but that probably fits some threat models for security.

    The desktop versions are great!

    • Axum@lemmy.blahaj.zone
      154·
      2 days ago

      Not super ideal for a server as far as maintenance and uptime to have unexpected, frequent restarts

      This is such a weird take given that 99.9% of people here are just running this on their home servers which aren’t dictated by a SLA, so it’s not like people need to worry about reboots. Just reboot once a month unless there’s some odd CVE you need to hit sooner than later.

      • dino@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
        2·
        1 day ago

        So why would somebody run that on their homeserver compared to tried and true staples with tons of documentation? 🍿

        • asap@lemmy.worldEnglish
          21·
          1 day ago

          It’s just Fedora CoreOS with some small quality-of-life packages added to the build.

          There’s tons of documentation for CoreOS and it’s been around for more than a decade.

          If you’re running a container workload, it can’t be beat in my opinion. All the security and configuration issues are handled for you, which is especially ideal for a home user who is generally not a security expert.

      • JustEnoughDucks@feddit.nl
        4·
        2 days ago

        That is very fair!!

        But on the other hand, 99.9% of users don’t read all of the change notes for their packages and don’t have notifications for CVEs. In that case, in my opinion just doing updates as they come would be easier and safer.

    • asap@lemmy.worldEnglish
      71·
      2 days ago

      They won’t apply unexpectedly, so you can reboot at a time that suits. Unless there’s a specific security risk there’s no need to apply them frequently. Total downtime is the length of a restart, which is also nice and easy.

      It won’t fit every use-case, but if you’re looking for a zero-maintenance containerized-workload option, it can’t be beat.

    • notfromhere@lemmy.one
      11·
      2 days ago

      Run k3s on top and run your stateless services on a lightweight kubernetes, then you won’t care you have to reboot your hosts to apply updates?