14
Which distro should I use on my Framework 16"? GNOME is a must, but each has trade-offs...
(rollenspiel.forum)
Fedora
this post was submitted on 19 Jul 2026
14 points (76.9% liked)
Linux
66717 readers
351 users here now
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
Rules
- Posts must be relevant to operating systems running the Linux kernel. GNU/Linux or otherwise.
- No misinformation
- No NSFW content
- No hate speech, bigotry, etc
Related Communities
Community icon by Alpár-Etele Méder, licensed under CC BY 3.0
founded 7 years ago
MODERATORS
Not sure why you felt like you had to have LLM write your post, but each to their own...
Ubuntu and Fedora are the officially supported distros. So go with either of them. https://frame.work/linux
Seems Bazzite, Arch, Nix and Mint are top of the "community supported" distros. https://frame.work/laptop16?tab=linux
I know all those guides, I don't like Ubuntu with their messed-up Gnome. With Fedora, I only find the Atomic setups interesting, but that also makes customizations difficult.
Yeah, I know, I'm not making it easy for myself either xD
Ok, well - there's the community support section as well. I've been on Debian since 1997 so I'm probably not the best person to give detailed advice on this.
Good luck!
Thanks, I'd already considered Debian too, but it just never really ran smoothly.
u could take a look at vanillaos. its an immutable distro based on debian.
Just plain old Fedora is probably what you want. Run it on two Framework laptops with Zero issues.
Use one of the officially supported distros, and if it doesn't work, ask FW for help.
Fedora. Literally just Fedora. Not a spin. Not Silverblue.
Yeah, I know, I'm not making it easy for myself either xD
A gnome user for sure!
Jokes aside when you say productive what do you mean?
Fedora is what you want. Just plain Fedora.
What is the immutable part bringing to the table for you? It's always extra steps and for what?
Many fedora packages are also flatpaks if you want to pick and choose which ones work that way.
Leverage btrfs snapshots at updates if you want to be able to get some of the benefits of a immutable system without the hassle.
NixOS Genuinely impressive for reproducible system configs. The catch? Local update management is a nightmare. Hard to understand what's coming in with updates and when. Terrible visibility.
Try nh, which gives you a very readable diff of what derivations were added / modified / removed after building your system config.
I'm familiar with that, but even then it's not quite that great; I have changes in the flake.lock without it showing which program it was.
If you feel at home with Arch, but the installation is the problem, why do you care? You only install once. I’ve been on the same Arch install for like 4 years
Why hew so closely to the "immutable paradigm" as if it's a rule? I have a few packages layered on my system to achieve results that flatpak + toolbox cannot. Never had a problem with updates.
EndeavourOs can't recommend it enough. Its arch but easy. Comes with gnome seems to install with 0 issues on every machine I've owned. If arch feels like home this is a great option
Secure Boot is unfortunately always a bit of a hack on Arch.
I like EndeavourOS a lot, that was my start in Arch.
CachyOS might be, at worst, as difficult to use as Arch, and at best, a really convenient way to get Arch Linux's benefits.
Maybe try aquamarine Linux? Fedora based distro and it is great.