I need a distro that is stable with a particular need to set up zero input automatic updates. If an update asks for a password or needs user interaction in basically any way it simply won’t get done. All he needs is a reliable platform for browsing the web. I am replacing an Ubuntu system that has apparently just stopped working (I have not had a chance to examine it yet) after years and years of not getting proper updates after he forgot his password.
Something like Bazzite is intriguing because of it’s locked down environment although he is very much not a gamer. Is there something locked down like Bazzite but with long term LTS release cycle?
I installed Fedora Silverblue on my parent’s laptop almost a year ago and I haven’t had any complaints or issues.
They’re really not tech literate or heavy users so Silverblue is the perfect fit. I installed and configured Librewolf and Bitwarden for them and everything has been running fine. Everything else is vanilla Silverblue.
They don’t know or don’t care about updating software. But Silverblue does flatpak updates automatically in the background. OS and firmware updates are integrated and handled via the Gnome Software Center, so I’ll click the install button every so often when I visit. No terminal required! There is a password prompt, but at least it’s a GNOME shell password prompt, not a terminal password prompt.
Additionally, I was able to get LUKS encryption working without my parents noticing: https://discussion.fedoraproject.org/t/encryption-advice-for-silverblue/162810/7
It’s not the most secure LUKS implementation, but I’m also not worried about state actors hacking my parent’s laptop. Originally, I skipped the disk encryption entirely because the extra password prompt made it harder to use the computer.
Update: Actually, maybe there aren’t any password prompts to update the system. Last night when I shutdown my laptop, I saw there was a “critical update” in GNOME Software Center. I left it alone and didn’t click anything. But when I went to shutdown the laptop, the GNOME shutdown dialog had a marked checkbox that said something like “also apply OS updates on shutdown”. I clicked shutdown and (again no password prompt) the computer shutdown. When I rebooted the computer today, I see there are no more pending software updates!
I use Aurora for my wife’s laptop. It, Bluefin, and Bazzite come from Silverblue.
If you want GNOME: Bluefin or Bazzite.
KDE: Aurora or Bazzite.
Like Silverblue, updates happen in the background automatically. You just have to restart the computer to pick up OS updates.
Why Bluefin or Bazzite over just regular Silverblue? I’m running Silverblue on a Thinkpad and all the hardware works fine.