Pop_OS! – Hip Or Hype? Review From A Debian Guy

Alibis, n. pl. al·i·bis:

It’s no secret that I’m a Debian guy. I prefer Debian Testing as a Desktop system and I very rarely choose anything other than Stable for my server needs. I think it would benefit the Debian project to rename Testing to “Desktop” and Stable to “Server”, but that’s another story.

So why am I using Pop_OS!?

I purchased a Darter Pro from System76, a company that we all know by now that produces “as open as possible” high-end Linux computers. I decided to try the entire S76 experience including using their Pop_OS! system and here is what I’ve learned:

Pop_OS! is an operating system that is built off of Ubuntu, which itself is based off of Debian UNSTABLE. This means that they’ve built their brand on a system that is quite literally designed to be unstable. Ask yourself, is Pop more stable than Ubuntu? Is Pop/Ubuntu more stable than Debian Unstable/Testing/Stable? Fedora? If Pop_OS! is stable then what is Debian Stable, stable-er? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

So Pop_OS! isn’t “stable”, what does that mean; and what can we do about it?

• It means you are using a system that will eventually break at the cost of having updated packages and a more fluid Desktop experience.
• You can’t do much. Report bugs as you find them, participate in the distributions community, what you HAVE to do irregardless of which OS you choose is keep backups of your systems. There is no longer an excuse for you not to be able to recover from catastrophic failure.

So how do I qualify the statement “it’s not stable”? Experience and practicality. My experience with Pop_OS! involved two catastrophic failures and since it’s based off of a system that is unstable -by design-, it’s practical to expect an occasional problem. I’ve decided this is my last chance I’m giving any Ubuntu based distro before I go back to Testing. I’m not going to go on a crusade against Ubuntu or any other system, I’ll just go quietly back to my preferred system.

It has great Gnome 3 integration

Their own tools such as their power manager, firmware updater, tiling window extension et al are nicely integrate in to the application tray and Gnome Settings. It’s obvious that they’ve taken a lot of time and effort to integrate their tools in Gnome.

It just looks great

Need I say more? With all of my experience using Linux systems, this is among the most aesthetically pleasing of them all. Even their wallpapers are great although I’ll never use the wacky robot ones, which I’ll attribute to their “branding” efforts.

Pre-configured commonly used frameworks and drivers

While I don’t have an Nvidia GPU, I can appreciate it being pre-configured for those that do. The integration of Steam, Flatpak etc., are convenient and a really nice touch. But they got lucky, I’ll admit. I don’t like when systems bundle unneeded tools and applications. It just so happens that I would install Steam and Flatpak support on any desktop system, even though I don’t game often.

Pop-OS! relies almost entirely on Ubuntu

I’m not saying that is a bad thing, it is what it is. It may however come as a surprise to some of you that Pop_OS! reaches out to Ubuntu’s servers every 34 minutes and 8 seconds, for example (raise your hand if you knew that):

Perhaps as the Pop_OS! project evolves, they will develop more in-house solutions. Perhaps -just perhaps-, S76 may even base Pop_OS! on Debian. One can only hope.

Great installer

It has a unique installer that may be the best one I’d ever used (for a desktop installation).

Verdict

I really like where S76 is going with this. I will support their efforts when able, but I can’t give a pass to people that keep calling it “stable”. I’d love to discuss this further, so please drop a comment down below. I made my mind up long ago that I prefer stability over the most bleeding-edge packages. That’s me. I don’t expect anyone to feel like me, but I’ve been configuring Linux and BSD systems for most of my adult life and I’m honestly tired of troubleshooting the most basic of shit. The first time I installed Debian, I had no X, no sound, no WiFi, and for the next 5 years rinse & repeat. I appreciate Pop_OS!’s efforts and will continue to use it until “something happens”.

Hip-