this post was submitted on 04 Feb 2026
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Should I be using Debian? (lemmy.blahaj.zone)
submitted 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) by Marshezezz@lemmy.blahaj.zone to c/selfhosted@lemmy.world
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I’ve been getting more into self hosting lately, grabbed an optiplex 3050 for everything and I’m running Mint currently. Looking more into things though, I saw Debian come up as a more barebones distro and now I’m wondering if there is a lot of benefit to going more barebones. I’m not having any issues with my current setup but now I can’t stop thinking about it. I am newer to Linux but having to learn new things doesn’t wig me out much if there is a lot more involvement with Debian

Edit: I appreciate the responses. I do see where I could just end up creating problems that don’t exist by experimenting with it more. Debian does sound enticing so it’s definitely something I’ll mess about with virtually for now and see how I like it in comparison. But I definitely have to agree on the “don’t mess with a good thing” if it’s working for me. All your answers have definitely given me something to play with now as well, I want the problems to solve but doing it in a separate environment would suit me better to learn a few things. This community rocks.

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[–] yardratianSoma@lemmy.ca 3 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I honestly only use debian headless, and manage the server via ssh and manage docker containers via portainer's web ui.

I'm not new to linux though, so 100% stay with a desktop environment like the one that comes with Mint, because that makes things much much simpler. It's all debian under the hood at the end of the day, and 95% of services provide install guides for debian-based systems anyways. Is this optiplex 3050 your first homelabbing system?

[–] Marshezezz@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 5 months ago

Yeah just from everything I’ve read from everyone, I definitely will stick with keeping my server on mint and then do the experimenting I want on a totally separate machine.

I have done some stuff with old laptops solely for media servers but now that I have a bit more computing power, my mind is getting curious. I’ve noticed the differences in performance having the better cpu and more ram so now I’m starting to get more into a rabbit hole with my curiosity. Just all the responses on here have given me a lot of good starting points to try out. Docker and and VM stuff sound really interesting, I absolutely love Linux and glad windows finally got me to switch with all their bs