Hey folks! I'm about to start my PhD in geosciences, and my supervisor asked me what OS I plan to use for my work PC. I have the freedom to choose any OS and hardware within a price range. Currently, I mainly use Windows and MacOS, but a few colleagues use Ubuntu, which has piqued my interest in switching to a Linux distribution.
Since I've noticed a lot of bloatware on Windows, I'm looking for a clean, minimalist OS for my work environment. I prefer the GUI of MacOS over Windows, and I'll primarily be using tools like PyCharm, VSCode, QGIS, and RStudio. I'm also open to exploring alternatives to PowerPoint and would love any photo editing software recommendations (only familiar with GIMP so far).
I've got some basic command line experience, mainly from working on servers. I'm eager to hear your thoughts and suggestions for both an appropriate Linux distro and hardware suited for geoinformatics. Thanks in advance for your help!
1 Answer
There isn't really a specific "Linux distro for geosciences." All distros run the same Linux kernel, but they differ in pre-installed software and update schedules.
You should consider what works best for you:
1. Do you prefer a Long Term Release (LTR) distro that’s stable but has older software?
2. Would you rather have a traditional distro with major updates every 6 months?
3. Or are you open to a rolling release that updates continuously but could sometimes cause issues?
Educate yourself about each option, and that will guide your decision on what’s right for your needs!
Thanks for the clarification! I'm really focused on software functionality like PyCharm and RStudio. How do stable and unstable distros compare in that regard?