I want to have a dedicated machine mostly for personal use: reading, writing programs, creative software and offline media consumption. What is the fullest Linux distro I could possible install just one time on a machine and never ever care about the software at this point? I was considering between Debian Blue Ray iso and full Slackware. Also, I don't care about updoots, network and etc., this is gonna be an air gapped computer used only in my house. Anything else other than Debian and Slackware at this point? I've also heard about Endless OS, but it seems to be seems to be too castrated, and lacking key programs I would love to have on my machine, like programming toolchain.
how do you plan on getting media onto this airgapped system
>>107498216Create on my own, rip discs and bring it on the thumb drive/hdd with prehoarded data. I know this is not the most ergonomic way to access data, but the one I am choosing consciously
>>107498193best answer is probably the latest version of the latest debian oldstable with xfce or something
It doesn't matter
>>107498329Agree, but I don't want to choose which software will be on that machine, without falling into mirroring the entire repository. And I am pretty sure that this problem has been already solved multiple times
>>107498355In seriousness, I run slackware and it would probably fit the feeling you seem to be going for but if you're not experienced with it directly it does tend to have odd problems once in a while with random shit being outdated, and if you did run into something like that and, I'm assuming, never intend to connect the computer to the internet fixing something that would normally be trivial could be more annoying. The maximalist default install could be fun in this context though, there's lots of weird old shit on the iso you could poke around with when you get bored. As long as you have the programs you need for whatever media you intend to mainly use this for figured out it probably is a decent choice
>>107498193OpenBSD big install medium + download a list of ports you like. OpenBSD is king of cohesive, documented FOSS systems.
Why use Linux for this purpose?
>>107498193Debian
>>107498601Thanks anon. You're right, I haven't used Slackware yet, but like the idea behind it. Definitely want to try it someday>>107498702I like OpenBSD, but as I explained earlier, I just want an ISO I could bring on a machine and forget about installing/updating at all, besides maybe for 1-2 programs, but OpenBSD seems a little too minimalist for me. Ideally I want to have access to tools like graphical editors, 3D editors, etc>>107498712Honestly, no reason. I thought that this is the best fit for me, as I do enjoy UNIX-like operating systems, and Linux also offers a vast collection of software, and there is a higher chance that I might find a good distro for my goals. Also I think that other systems like Mac OS or Windows don't offer such a concept of a full installation media, where you have the whole workstation ready right after install. Certainly, I can prepare an archive with portable apps for Windows or Mac OS, but that sounds like a hassle. Speaking of other UNIX-like OSes, I just find them quite niche. Not a negative point, but the software availability problem.>>107498724Debian is great, have you had any experience in offline work? Did you install DVD or Blu Ray ISO? There is also double sided Blu Ray, but I think this is less relevant for my case
>>107498970>but OpenBSD seems a little too minimalist for me>seemsWhat matters is whether your preferred "extra" tools are in the ports tree.Here's an easy way to browse it:https://openports.eu/https://openports.eu/ports/graphicshttps://openports.eu/ports/graphics/blenderThere's no way to put every Debian package on a DVD, let alone every package in Ubuntu or Arch or Fedora, so you'll need to validate ahead of time that you have "enough" softwares or you'll be wasting a lot of storage space and still risking not having The One Software that is important to you but you forgot to check if it's in the repo.Personally I use Devuan because it has 95% of what Debian has but it streamlines making a system without systemd, and I've found that to be more lightweight and reliable.
(But my setup is for heavy online use, the only odd package-thing I do is combine stable with backports and experimental packages, and pull my packages over Tor.)
>>107499019Thanks for the links! Looks very promising. But my issue is not related to "I want every program on the planet" and is also not "I want to build a tailored offline distro for myself". I have a gut feeling that the moment I am gonna start such an ambitious project of making an off-grid desktop bundle, I will fail from the decision fatigue and immediate FOMO after installing the OS. This is the reason why I am looking for a sane, but rich prepackaged distro, which I won't have control over too much. If there is enough of base packages for most of the tasks with some niche programs for my own interests, I will be much more happier in the long run rather then trying to stack an ideal combination of utilities I will search on my own, basically rebuilding the shittier version of Debian Blu Ray iso
>>107499111If you flash an install ISO to a USB and then add a folder with your chosen extra packages, that's 99% as neat as just picking The One Best ISO and will probably take less time.>such an ambitious project of making an off-grid desktop bundleThe whole work is defining what "off-grid" means to begin with, like what your usecase is.Only then can you pick an ISO accurately, and at that point it may be faster to just pick a "good-enough" ISO and validate specific packages will be on it or add them manually.But OpenBSD documentation is really just that good, it's designed to be easy to edit your current system's source code and recompile it while it is running, including the kernel. I've done it once to change the system console font.All offline docs for the base system are included by default, that's why I recommend it. Good offline docs are important if you want to stay offline a lot.
>>107498193Debian has tools for easily (well relatively easy) creating offline repository cd roms and all in one installer images. But you should probably test that you have what you want first on a vm.
>>107499208Let me clarify the terms I used earlier. By "airgapped" and "off-grid" I mean a normal home computer with no network card, used entirely offline forever. While I agree that cohesive, well-written documentation is a very good thing for offline UX, I also do not have intentions to recompile kernel. Ideally I want to use a computer for tasks like creating art in krita/gimp/blender, reading books in okular, emulating old games, programming scripts for fun and personal projects (again, maybe I will be missing some tool so badly, so I will make a shitty DIY program tailored for me).What I am looking for is a batteries-included install with all the general tools already there, so I will never have to deal with the package manager. This is why for me even when Debian and Slackware don't provide this cohesive structure of the operating system, they provide me a collection of every possible tool I can think of out of the box, so I could live my 2005 dream life
>>107499436You'll have to figure out what's in the install ISOs and make a survey of them, no distro you didn't make yourself will ever be tailored to "what you can think of".
>>107499111Not trying to evangelize but slackware might be a decent option for what you're describing, it comes with a ton of software by default, and the unofficial repository has plenty of emulators that you can just transfer with your other media and build offline. Gimp is included but blender is also in the official repository, I recommend using sqg to automate preparing blender to be installed, not sure about krita. Be warned it will not be a cohesive experience however, I get the impression the devs all kind of just work on what they feel like and leave the rest up to the users.Nothing is going to be perfect or effortless for what you're asking but if you want to screw around with a computer offline like it's the 90s slackware definitely has that vibe, in spades lol
>>107499610*unofficial, slackware has no official repository lol
