I have Fedora on my work laptop and vanilla Arch on my tinkering laptop.

I think instead of thinking about “set it and forget it”, you might want to think about “if shit happens, how fast can I fix it?”. That is because stuff break or there are bugs . If you use a very old and LTS distro, you might be comfortable but there might be bugs that do not get fixed until much later. Eg: Debian’s kernel used to be able to suspend-then-hibernate, then they jump to one that cannot. So if you want that feature back, you need to wait… until Debian catches up with mainline’s fixes.

So if you only use your computer for web, email, movie. Then any distro will work.

Now, imo there are 2 types of problems in Linux:

1. Boot/GRUB/partition problems: this can happen if you’re dual boot, or a config goes wrong. To fix, usually you need to boot a live cd.

Pop OS would be #1 choice just because it has a “Recovery Partition” with live environment. You can reinstall the entire OS while you’re on the plane, without wifi or any USB.

Arch would be #2 here, just because the arch iso is so good. It is minimal and has all the tools you need to fix stuff: partitions, wifi…etc. Plus, it boots in tty so it is faster for fixing.

2. Problems with library mismatch: for this you want one with good snapshots built in. So OpenSUSE or if you know how to configure btrfs, maybe Fedora. I would still go Pop OS here, so you can configure btrfs AND get the recovery from point 1) above. Linux Mint would be #2 choice because they have timeshift built in.

So the TLDR for you is: pick Pop OS for the recovery partition. Also, use btrfs. Lastly, configure your disk nicely, i.e. dont do any crazy LVM encryption, just use standard layout so when comes the time to fix, it is easier.

hmm thanks i’m gonna try that script you linked in artix wiki. Havent seen that one before so its worth a shot. What I usually see is some systemd Unit scripts. Gtlock looks neat as well, does swaylock give you problems too?

The only robust and no BS lock combo so far, imo, is Regolith i3wm.

For some reasons and whatever black magic eas used, this Frankenstein combo of i3 and GNOME work every single time. The downside is their configs are soooo messy. It is very hard to use whatever you have in vanilla i3 for Regolith.

try Vivaldi.

interesting, so you just back up your ~/.password-store directory? You use the same thing on Android or something else?/

I am using KeePass, it generates password and also TOTP. Works fine but I want to switch to something more Linuxy. Keepass is great but you really depend on a 3rd party.

the GNU pass encrypt using gpg? How do you transfer between devices, using cloud?

Do you script it so when it is an Ebay/Amazon link, Libre Wolf is opened? Or you just remember to do so?/

funny how with sooooo many updates, Windows are still very vulnerable. You buy a Windows PC, you better equip Antivirus software too; it is like bread and butter. On Linux and also Mac, you never need to worry about these things.

IMO:

• want to show off? i3wm with gaps and rofi for menu launcher. Add it some transparency effects too.

• want the MacOS style? Gnome. Default on a lot of distros.

• want something stable? XFCE. Install and forget.