@linux I just switched from windows 10 to Ubuntu Studio last Saturday, just wrapped up the transition yesterday. I love Linux. It is how a computer should be. I lost access to my audio interface, Keyscape VST and Valorant, but I have gained so much more. The Terminal is so much better than Windows neutered offering
I don’t like a lot of the stuff Ubuntu comes with. The thing I liked about OpenSUSE is the advanced options of being able to select exactly what you want to install on there. Debian is also attractive to me because it comes with a more proper minimal install. I like having a higher control over my install, and don’t want to have a desktop environment anyway.
Honestly, there wasn’t a single piece of software in Ubuntu Studio that I wanted except for Gimp, Carla and maybe Pure Data. I don’t even like the preconfigured sound server, since I just use PipeWire instead of Jack. It’s easier and faster to install what I do want from a minimal install of Debian than it is to uninstall everything in ubuntu studio. I also didn’t like snaps, and any flavour of Ubuntu was just really slow. If you already like most of the stuff it comes with, then hey that’s awesome!
Had almost the exact same experience with Ubuntu studio when setting it up for my son. Fantastically easy to install but ended up with just an overwhelming amount of ‘stuff’ there we really didn’t need.
Carla, Cadence, Audacity, Ardour, Guitarix, Hydrogen, Couple of VST synths to get you started and you have a basic studio that can be installed and ran on almost any Linux Distro.