Thanks for all the replies on Debian install. From your comments, I think I will stick to the distros that are built on Debian, but which avoid the complication of “100% open source”. I do need some non-OSS for music management, and there might be more. Plus, I must admit, I enjoy some of the bells and whistles. But – kudos to Debian for being at the heart of so many distributions.
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Have you tried MX. It makes things very easy, and is Debian based.
I just went to the Debian website / download / and selected “small installation image” I didn’t know anything about “non-free”.
@jimofadel
It is there, you just have too look very closely. Your Debian system can be
fixed, just might take a little time, @nevj is the expert on Debian. If you are looking for stability, with Linux, then Debian is the one.
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Thanks 
however I would not call myself expert, just a power-user of Debian.
I really like it and rely on it.
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I like it also, it is boring at times, but I can leave it for a week or so and come
back and catch up, without a problem!!! I am a Gentoo man at heart and run it on my Desktops, but Debian gets the nod on my two Laptops. You are a big plus too our community!!!
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I tried Linux MX which is closely based on Debian and found it to be an easy install.
I never tried Debian by itself and based on my experience level most likely never will.
I truly enjoy installing a Distro and have it as the saying goes “work right out of the box”.
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Debian is now as easy to install as Linux Mint!!!
You’ve inspired me…
I’m going to have a crack at MX on my Ryzen Thinkpad - the latest bleeding edge “Advanced Hardware Support” with kernel 6.x … I barely even crack the lid on it these days… Ran Steam OS (the arch based 3.0 release) off USB on it for a week… But went back to the Ubuntu 22.10 installed on the SSD…
You will enjoy MX Linux hardware support.
The “ahs” MX fixed my new graphics card problem.
Some minimalists might find it a bit glossy, but if you like a " drop in everything works" distro you will be happy with MX.
I had no problem instaliling vsftpd in MX and it self configured.
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I tried MX yesterday, hoping for “ahs” but alas, I couldn’t get it to talk to my HP LaserJetMFP by network with or without HPLIP. No printing, no scanning. I gave up after about 30 minutes, but maybe I’ll try again one of these days. I have POP and Zorin printing and scanning but they too failed to connect by themselves; I had to mess around with them a little. Debian, on the other hand, connected to the printer over Ethernet all by itself!
Glossy? Okay so it’s not a tiling WM by default (XFCE)… But it looks positively unpolished and primitive compared to MacOS or Gnome 4 on Ubuntu… But there’s plenty of potential, I love how customisable XFCE is and I assume MX XFCE is a reasonably 'later" version than the default that Debian ship…
e.g. I know EXACTLY where to go to move the window controls over to the left… I know exactly how to install themes (nearly identical to installing themes on Ubuntu Gnome).
I’m going to play with it “live” for a few days before I go installing it… Heck maybe I should start dual booting? Hmmm - that’s a bit tricky - I have my 1TB NVME SSD encrypted with LUKS… Yeah - naahh - I don’t need this beast - I reckon I’ll try out MX for a few days live, and install it over the top of Ubuntu 22.10 (instead of waiting for 23.04)… I might see if I can get plank to work on - MacOS and Gnome Dash-2-Dock have spoiled me… I’ve seen demos of people getting an XFCE bottom panel to work like a plank / docky / cairo / macos / dash-2-dock - but it looked like too much heavy lifting and I just install plank…
v: kernel bus-ID: 03:00.0 chip-ID: 1002:743f class-ID: 0300
Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.14 compositor: xfwm4 v: 4.18.0 driver:
loaded: amdgpu,ati unloaded: fbdev,modesetting,radeon,vesa display-ID: :0.0 screens: 1
Screen-1: 0 s-res: 1920x1080 s-dpi: 96 s-size: 508x285mm (20.0x11.2")
s-diag: 582mm (22.9")
Monitor-1: DisplayPort-0 res: 1920x1080 hz: 60 dpi: 92 size: 531x299mm (20.9x11.8")
diag: 609mm (24")
OpenGL: renderer: AMD BEIGE_GOBY (LLVM 14.0.5 DRM 3.46 5.18.0-4mx-amd64)
v: 4.6 Mesa 22.0.5 direct render: Yes
That came from the MX Quick System Info Tool. so its 4.18
Just to confirm it
ii xfce4-session 4.18.0-1~mx21 amd64 Xfce4 Session Manager
Glossy? OK wrong word. It has lots of accessories, compared to say Debian/Xfce, the backgrounds are nice by me, there are help apps.
AHS only comes with Xfce.
My bottom panel has system monitor stuff. I put apps/icons on the left.
Yeah try live first. No point installing if you dislike something.
@jimofadel
Use Windows if you want your printer or any hardware to work the way it should.
Use`Linux to boot and internet use, once it is setup and running, leave it alone, for
a nice running PC. Almost any Linux I know can and will accomplish what you need.
That is not a good look. I had no trouble in MX with my OKI postscript printer , but I had to work hard installing drivers for my Brother printer/scanner. Both are ethernet printers. I cant remember if they autodetected., but I was able to configure them .
Yes, I love Docky. Still working in Mint 21.1 Xfce!
MX AHS x86_64 live-boot finds and adds my Brother MFC - no interaction required from me… by magic (or voodoo)…
I noticed that Docky, and Cairo-Dock were fairly heavy on resource usage (e.g. I’d NEVER use docky on some older legacy hardware with limited resources) - but - plank is fairly light… So if I can’t have a builtin in “dock” (like one the the dash-2-dock gnome extensions) then I opt for plank…
Spoke / wrote too soon…
MX won’t even launch a terminal! This is from the LiveCD image (AHS)…
"Failed to execute child process “xfce4-terminal” (Input/Output error)… This is not a good sign… Going to reboot and try again - if it still fails - then MX is VEHEMENTLY crossed of my “distro list” and onto my “shit list”…