Which distro do you recommend?

[fredvs]

Which ISO distro that incorporates XLibre would you recommend installing? A distro with a live preview, that allows multi-boot with automatic detection of installed OS (GRUB), that has all the packages available like "Debian or Arch", that doesn't use systemd or utilities rewritten in Rust, preferably with a choice of window manager (xfce, JWM, ...), that includes audio drivers for the latest sound cards and is compatible with the latest processors and graphics cards.
And of course, one that installs out-of-the-box, without tears and sleepless nights.

I know, it's subjective.

[kohnish]

Gentoo.
Since it's source-based, you can apply the patch locally. At the moment, I think the repo defaults to installing master, so you have to explicitly try the latest master which can break. You can stay on v25. I often pull the master because I don't have life and sometimes try to fix the breakage.

Also I could be wrong but I think Stefan1111 uses it whom I think makes really cool commits here. He's super fast too.

[fredvs]

@kohnish : Thanks for the info. I will try Gentoo but I did not find a ISO live CD ready to use out-of-the-box.

[Lexie-LXDE]

Can't find live distro either - so should this post be here?
Think OP is trying to wave a magic wand - too many constraints at this point in time IMHO

[xgui4]

@fredvs artix and devuan have live iso

[artist4xlibre]

Artix Linux (Arch based) features multiple non-systemd init systems and has XLibre up to date in the standard repos.

[fredvs]

@artist4xlibre : Thanks for the info. Artix offers ISO files, great! Are they updated with the latest versions of XLibre?
Is the ISO artix-xfce-s6-xlibre-20251007-x86_64.iso a Live CD image with a graphical interface that can detect other operating systems and format the disk (like Debian/Ubuntu)?
And after installation, do I need to install anything specific for XLibre?

And there is this:

Additional packages

These packages are still evolving but can still be useful:

12to11: Tool for running Wayland applications on XLibre. This can be tested with eg the Wayland terminal package 'foot'.
For more information see https://git.linuxping.win/12to11/12to11/src/branch/master/README 

Wow, so 12to11 is working with Artix?
Will you be creating a 12to11 package for Artix?

[Lexie-LXDE]

Am I mistaken? Link returns 500 error. So I went here - https://github.com/icecmach/artix_installation_guide
Please clarify exactly where to find live iso - thanks.
Do you then have to go through so many procedures to get up and running as per guide?

[artist4xlibre]

All ISO's can be found here: https://artixlinux.org/download.php

Plse note https://github.com/icecmach/artix_installation_guide is an independent repo; not provided nor supported by Artix. Which does not mean it will/can not work. :-)

[xgui4]

i use the arch package on EOS and they work well, you also have the aur package, but aur only support arch officialy

[artist4xlibre]

12to11 has already been in Artix's Omniverse repo for a several months as can be seen here https://omniverse.artixlinux.org/x86_64/0-omniverse-package-overview.html
For more information on how to enable the omniverse repo check https://wiki.artixlinux.org/Main/Repositories#Omniverse

[fredvs]

@artist4xlibre : I did try the last https://iso.artixlinux.org/testing-iso/artix-xfce-s6-xlibre-20251113-x86_64.iso but get error while running the install. I noted that the ISO is only 600 MB, it is great (if it works).

[artist4xlibre]

Our ISO builder reports this issue as fixed now.

[Lexie-LXDE]

I managed to install Artix LXDE on my old 2011 Dell Latitude but could not figure how to install all CAD apps.
So you think 600MiB RAM is good - what would you think about less than half that?

[xgui4]

Arch-based distro are easy and Artix support XLibre officialy, Debian and Ubunu based distro is easy, but Devuan might be easier as they directly support XLibre. NixOS have a tier party "overlay", Fedora have a copr repo but don't work on NVIDIA so I can't recommend that distro for XLibre for that specific technical reason. GhostBSD have a beta version with XLibre pre-installed :). and there is way more probably but their are more niche so not recommended for new users and that will depend of your use cases !

but for your use case (espcially without systemd), i think Devuan and Artix are you best bet.

[Lexie-LXDE]

Debian based Loc-OS LXDE - the People's Distro is way better than Debian Trixie, Devuan and Artix IMHO see 'Liberated Screens 4'
Lightening fast due to Incredible resource efficiency and you can hit the ground running without doing zilch 🥇
Boot to working desktop in 9 seconds and shutdown completed in 3 seconds on 2011 Dell E6420 - World Record? Loves XLibre :)
Tested across 3 disparate laptops of 2008, 2011 & 2024 manufacture - runs three CAD CAM apps plus Gimp and four video editing apps without any graphical issues whatsoever - Caution! Achtung! Will get you banned from most forums as all Moderators and admin hate it with a vengeance as it highlights the dire inefficiency of their favorite Distro+DE :(

[xgui4]

What is a Loc-OS LXDE ? It is a modified ISO of Debian with less software and a modified kernel (for better performance on old hardware) ?

[xgui4]

i look at the site, but i do not speak spanish

[Lexie-LXDE]

Your web browser should be able to translate it for you :) Failing that swipe and copy some text and drop it into DeepL.
There are quite a few versions now but the LXDE version is the main version with extra features.
There is also an AHS version Advanced Hardware Support for newer laptops
They are all systemd free except for elogind.
The standard very easy installer will guide you through in your preferred language 👍
Please just ask if you need any assistance - I'm only too happy to help anyone