I have been running the same distro for years and now im basically forced to wipe the install and start from scratch because they stopped rolling updates. I was using Elementary OS version 5 and as you can see the Ubuntu release it's based on doesn't do updates anymore.
elementary OS Version Released Ubuntu Release Ubuntu Maintenance Updates
0.4 Loki Sep 9, 2016 16.04 LTS April 2021
5 Juno Oct 16, 2018 18.04 LTS April 2023
5.1 Hera Dec 3, 2019 18.04 LTS April 2023
6 Odin Aug 10, 2021 20.04 LTS April 2025
6.1 Jólnir Dec 20, 2021 20.04 LTS April 2025
7.0 Horus Jan 31, 2023 22.04 LTS April 2027
I want to ask what people here are using. I want something that is easy to install that has full disk encryption features during the install on the GUI. And basically something without privacy unfriendly bloatware (like Ubuntu).
I would also like something that doesn't force you to wipe your stuff and start from scratch every 2 or 3 years.
I was looking at n0nce's
guideon OpenSUSE. I have never tried that one. Not sure if meets the criteria but having a guide is really nice and would save a lot of time. But there's not much documentation in regards to Bitcoin, most of it is Ubuntu or Debian based. Someone commented this:
SUSE is rather painful to get in to in some aspects. I did many custom deployments of OS and post install automatic configuration. Suse frustrated me because they put things in different places compared to most of the other distros, and have an extremely capable and complicated installation control file. Unfortunately, it is not easily created and the documentation is partially missing. To allow users/admins to make use of control files; ALL the possible valid options must be listed in the documentation and this documentation needs to be in a well known or easily found location. It is only AFTER investing considerable time that I came to appreciate the odd and different over-engineered aspects of SUSE. It is very powerful.
So I would rather use something more common. I want to be able to search for stuff and find answers.
mocacinno has a
guidefor CentOS, but it hasn't been update in 3 years so probably there's some stuff that changed.
Does anyone maintain any other guides for different distros? Im interested in mostly a Bitcoin Core node to form transaction in a desktop install, and a watch-only wallet to broadcast them and check funds, and do this through Tor with a laptop.
There has to be a simple OS that just works. But I guess im going to need to go with Ubuntu based ones so that will require full updates every 2 or 3 years when LTS versions run out of updates. And since I use full disk encryption im going to need to reinstall the whole think backing up the wallets and resync. I guess I can do that every few years. In that case I would try the new ElementaryOS but I would like to know what people hereare using, please let me know so I decide what to install.