Alpine Linux.
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stable ✅
technically comparable to Ubuntu ✅
not related to IBM ✅
doesn't feature snaps ✅
KDE plasma ✅
not DIY ✅
WCGW
Regarding your post formatting, you need to put a space between the bullet point and the first character of the line:
- Like this (hit view source/view markdown on my comment to see)
- yet another vote for Debian
- or if you’re going immutable (“atomic” is a better name) then wait for Vanilla OS’s Orchid to be released (currently in Beta) – a little more user-friendly than NixOS (although that will depend on the documentation)
VanillaOS is unstable as hell. Also their atomic model is not image-based but uses a regular package manager underneath. This makes it way less controlled, transparent and resettable than Fedoras model.
I think Opensuses is similar, they also dont use images I think.
What about Pop!_OS? It fits all the criteria. It's an Ubuntu distro by System76 (known for their computers that run Linux) that foregoes Snaps for Flatpaks, so you get Ubuntu's reliability/stability without the Snaps. It does default to its own spin on GNOME, however you can install an alternative desktop environment just fine.
Debian as others are saying is a great choice
But I'll still shill arch, I've literally never encountered a problem with it other than my first time installing manually being a learning experience. Not sure if it counts as a DIY distro bc you can definitely install with a script
If you use arch, you should do the "automatic snapshots" thing with BTRFS, grub and pacman hooks. That is important to have a version to rollback to, as its Arch.
kde neon don't use snaps
Debian stable.
Sorry, the closest i came up aren't good solution but may help in your search.
- Vanilla OS 2 (based on Debian) but it is under Gnome DE and in beta phase. Very begginer friendly. Maybe once it go out from beta it will supports other DE ? So check it around 6th month later or 1 year ?
But the problem is that their community is very small. If you want something stable, it's better to look for bigger community so you can benefit from their support and user's problems
There is fedora kinoite but you don't want anything related to IBM. That was the best compromise i can found.
- NixOS but i don't know it. I'm affraid it will be a DIY distro at the beggining with the config file. But it will probably meet all your criterias.
Or the same OS from my steamdeck :
- Steam OS ? It's an immutable OS based on Arch and support KDE by default. Full support of flatpaks. Only downside, i dunno if it supports other machines than the steamdeck. Nor if it uses the latest linux kernel. Maybe some variants ?
If Debian is too DIY for you, then you could try LMDE with the BTRFS filesystem and Timeshift for maximum safety and far less DIY.
yes Debian, install latest MX Linux (23.2 AHS) and enjoy it, it's a great distro, up to date, well maintained. There is a KDE version where you can install latest kernel from their AHS repo (6.6.11 as time of writing)
disable repositories, updates https://github.com/aarnt/octopi, https://ctlos.github.io/, https://endeavouros.com/.
Debian Stable as base OS, then activate unstable repos in a sandbox/container. Maybe even Distrobox for newer Apps.
Just use Fedora. It's very up to date and it's upgrades are flawless.
My record is 15 upgrades (before getting a new system). It's even been fine through Intel -> AMD CPU swaps.
Linux mint. It's based on Ubuntu but they also snapped out the snaps.