What is the typical size of EndeavourOS (Arch) updates?

[ecr]

This is for someone on a metered Internet. I’d like to know the size of updates downloaded assuming you do ‘pacman -Syu’ every week or so. And how does it compare with a fixed release distro like Mint/Ubuntu?
Is there a big difference between KDE and Gnome?

[dalto]

@ecr

I’d like to know the size of updates downloaded assuming you do ‘pacman -Syu’ every week or so.

It depends on the week in question but typically in the GB’s

@ecr

And how does it compare with a fixed release distro like Mint/Ubuntu?

Assuming the same software installed, it will be materially lower on Mint/Ubuntu. If you use the LTS versions, much lower over time.

@ecr

Is there a big difference between KDE and Gnome?

KDE is probably slightly higher on Arch-based distros but I don’t think it is substantive compared to the total download amount.

Honestly, if minimizing bandwidth is your top priority, a fixed release distro is probably better than a rolling distro.

[ecr]

Thank you.

@dalto

Honestly, if minimizing bandwidth is your top priority, a fixed release distro is probably better than a rolling distro.

That’s what I was thinking too, didn’t know just how big a difference it was. But a few hundred MB seems normal every update from my usage, I just haven’t used any Debian based distro for a long time.

The suggestion of an LTS distro is a good one. Probably minimizes tech support as well - another thing to consider with Arch for someone else. My goal was I’d just ssh into their pc for any fizes/updates but its probably not going to be enough all the time.

[fbodymechanic]

I’d be on a debian based distro if I had metered internet for sure.

Check out:

Debian
Mx Linux
Spiral Linux
Deepin
Solydxk
Sparky

I’d also wait like 2 more weeks since the next Debian stable release should be June 10, so everything will be updated across the board very soon.

[ecr]

I’d never heard of Solydxk or Spiral or Sparky, there are so many distros !!

I’ve been looking at Debian LTS based distros. Peppermint OS also seems like a decent option. And yes, I am waiting for Bookworm, but don’t know how long the downstream distros will take to update?

Spiral - Linux, faster than a snail : that tagline may be enough to sell me

[fbodymechanic]

Spiral is a recent find by me, I’m thinking it’s my next test distro on the Thinkpad for a while.

My buddy @Stagger_Lee has had nothing but good things to say about Solydxk for as long as I’ve known him. I think he’s got a 5+ year install of it going.

[Stagger_Lee]

@fbodymechanic

My buddy @Stagger_Lee has had nothing but good things to say about Solydxk for as long as I’ve known him. I think he’s got a 5+ year install of it going.

Rapidly approaching the 9 year mark, actually. Updated-in-place to each new version of Debian, never reinstalled. Never a problem.

EDIT - correction: it’s rapidly approaching the 10-year mark; it’ll be 10 years old in September.

[pebcak]

@ecr

Sparky

If I am not mistaken, SparkyLinux is built on the testing branch of Debian so you will be looking at a higher rate of updates.

Edit: looks like they have both a Stable and a (semi-) Rolling editions: https://sparkylinux.org/download/