On the “unstable” branch the repositories are pretty much in sync with Arch’s. So there are updates as often as there are in Arch.
I think rolling release does not imply necessarily updating everyday, but rather not the necessity to upgrade from release to release like from ubuntu 18.04 to 19.04 etc.
Rolling release just update continuously without the need to upgrade from version to version. Fedora is also an example of rolling release model.
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From the perspective of “installing Linux on a super slow laptop”, rolling vs. fixed release distro makes no difference. It’s an entirely different question.
Also, on most distributions of GNU/Linux, whether they be rolling or fixed release, it is the user who chooses when to update.
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I think that makes sense. Although, the user of the computer may not know linux or want to tinker too much as I understand from the post.
Some distros may be more appropriate, more easy with app stores and update managers installed by default. Ubuntu is pretty safe and difficult to break. Arch based including manjaro are ok but once you have aur packages you must know what you do.
Edit: of course eos is the best!
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If it’s for a complete newbie, Linux Mint is a safe choice, which is always recommended. I’m not sure how Cinnamon desktop performs on such low-end hardware, though.
However, Fedora is also great for utter newbies (and it has a KDE flavour 
).
EndeavorOS is fantastic, of course. It’s Arch that is accessible for newbies because of our excellent forum. But it does require an inquisitive, tinkering mindset, because it’s still Arch.
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They could use Mint Xfce also.
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I also have no idea how Xfce performs on such low-end hardware, but certainly worth a try.
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No, it is not.
Fedora Rawhide. Look it up.
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Point taken,
I may have been mistaken but fedora prides itself by allowing continued updates from one release to the other, and have a model different from ubuntu normal release cycle.
2 weeks? Holy cats! That’s more often than I tend to update Arch!
You were not mistaken, Fedora is both fixed release and rolling, depending on the branch.
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Ok good to know. I am actually coming from debian/ubuntu based distro and switched recently, about a year ago to manjaro then tried fedora for few weeks.
I don’t know fedora that well but I listened to many interviews from the fedora project manager on linux unplugged or read articles and thats why I came to conclude it must be rolling release.
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Just for completeness of this thread… I do not know how nice those distros are but low resources distros include bodhi linux, peppermint and puppy linux.
I tried LXQT in lubuntu as @joekamprad mentions above. I really liked it but ran into troubles with high dpi screen and qt vs gtk apps. Although lightweight lxqt is esthetically pleasing which is also important.
+1. Mint is very good for new linux users.
Just installed Mint Xfce on a pc with i3 3rd gen + 4gb ram, for a friend. Runs smooth. Again, you’d be limited by the RAM, so you cannot have many applications open simultaneously. But otherwise, there were no visible lags.
HUH ? What else is better than xfce on a low spec machine if you think xfce is still not suitable ? oh boy!
Those troubles that you faced are those troubles that i would avoid for a newbie such me. It will takes my life time to figure out and to tinker with a new linux…
Oh boy, this thread is like a roller coaster. Too much input.
Just for the completeness of my linux basic concept and idea…
What’s is the actual difference between endeavouros linux xfce vs mint xfce ?
I chose these 2 distro to ask because i tried both before.
I meant, what’s the different ? if i choose a fix DE, for example, plasma… what’s the difference between mint plasma and endea plasma ?
Is it the way it is driven differently ? one is with car steering and the other with joy stick ?
Why should we choose this distro and that distro ? don’t include fedora and debian… which i have never touch yet*
Why not just choose a DE and all other distro become are all the same ? just some have wall paper that is bombastic, the other have some different packages installed… but i can always install that packages that i want in any linux isn’t it? what’s the big idea ? \
This is something i don’t get it.
When ppl say this distro is goood or that is suitable for low spec machine…
i mean isn’t all distro the same ? i just disable some features that i don’t need (those low spec distro isn’t also has less feature and less services ? or using less resource consumptious services that does the same job ? ) and even endeavorous with selective packages and service installed and uninstalled will beat peppermint os… isn’t it ?
Am i totally way over my head or i am in the wrong path, instead to the valley of death ?
Hi! @andrew_ysk
Yes this usually happens on forums. Everyone has their experiences that want to share it so that other users have a “better” experience. This is one of the things I like about this forum. 
The DE/WM is related to the usage of system resources. On a low spec laptop or PC (like mine), you cannot run heavy desktop effects (like blur, high animation)1 Xfce is a low resource DE since it has very less in-built effects. So people will suggest that. Cinnamon DE is also beginner friendly, but in my experience takes a bit more RAM with the default settings on Linux Mint.2
The distro dictates what package manager you run and the update cycles you follow. EnOS Xfce will get frequent updates. Linux Mint gets less updates and are supported for a long time (current version is supported until 2025 if I remember it right). To some extent, it can also mean how much bloatware you keep. EnOS/Arch doesn’t have any bloat imo. Ubuntu has this obsession with Snap packages which I don’t like. (not trying to distro bash. Other may like it.). Since you said that your friend has been a GUI user, I don’t assume that they will be very comfortable devoting time fiddling/configuring the system. So choose a distro that has decent defaults. EnOS good, but some people are not comfortable updating regularly. Ubuntu is very popular with newbies. It got me started too, but I’m personally not very satisfied with the current state of the distro, and would suggest Linux Mint over Ubuntu by a huge margin.
Both use a steering wheel. The car dashboard is a bit different and it can take some minutes finding where the relevant buttons are.
I wrote it earlier. Linux distros aren’t very different from each other. The buttons are placed at some different locations, and depending on the goals of the distro, the “buttons” may not be placed at a very accessible location.
Eg: EnOS doesn’t come with a GUI package manager by default. A user will either need to learn pacman commands or install a frontend manually. None of these two options are difficult, but I can confirm that both these jobs can be a big task for a total newbie. They may want to have a GUI application installer by default. Linux Mint comes with that.
(Not promoting Mint or GUI package mangers. Just gave a point of difference, and requesting you to choose whichever suits the user.)
I once installed POP OS just so that I could get the wallpapers. I was a total newbie at that time. You can get the wallpapers on the internet. No need to install the distro for that. You can also install the packages. Note that not all packages will be packed for the distro you are using. Arch and Debian have a very large package database so you’ll find almost anything here. But on Solus (another cool beginner-friendly distro), they have lesser packages. For eg, they don’t have Xfce desktop. This doesn’t mean that you cannot install the software. You’ll need to compile the packages from source.
Mint is based on Ubuntu, and EnOS on Arch, so on both these distros you’ll find all the packages you need.
Quite yes. Probably thats why, most posts here discuss the DE/WM instead of the distro. Distros can be de-bloated.
I’m not good with English idioms/phrases, but this is probably called Paradox of Choice. (correct me if I’m wrong)
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Picom blur makes my PC laggy. KDE also has blur, but I wasn’t talking about that simply because I haven’t tried that.
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Probably RAM usage can be lowered in Cinnamon by tweaking/disabling features. I instead chose to use Xfce instead of Cinnamon, because I wanted a very quick installation of my friend’s PC
Although I've been trying out distros since 2016, my "proper" linux journey started this March with EnOS, so I'm quite a newbie. Experienced users may feel free to correct me on what I've written.
hii flyingcakes
Haha nice to meet u.
I also started enos somewhere fr march to may i think, but i hav only started using linux since dec last year…
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