With both Mint and Pop!OS I worry about the consequences of essentially being downstream versions of Ubuntu. I'll see if the Mint maintainers have a view on this; it does seem like a candidate.
Pop!OS seems nice, but I never really got the impression that System76 is doing much more than just reskinning Ubuntu. It just doesn't feel like something that will last.
Going back upstream is an option of course, i.e., Debian. It seems to have modernized quite a bit since the olden days.
The Mint maintainers have Linux Mint Debian Edition (LMDE), which is based on Debian and pretty similar in functionality to the Ubuntu version though you do miss some nice features (for example I don't believe the driver manager is present in this version). They seem to be hedging their bets for if they ever need to jump ship away from Ubuntu.
> Pop!OS seems nice, but I never really got the impression that System76 is doing much more than just reskinning Ubuntu. It just doesn't feel like something that will last.
I think this undersells Pop!_OS a fair bit. They have a FAQ that actually has a heading "Isn’t it just a re-skinned Ubuntu?"[0]:
> To call it a re-skinned Ubuntu brushes over all of the features and quality-of-life improvements that Pop! developers work diligently to create. For an in-depth look at the effort and manpower that goes into updating and maintaining Pop!_OS, take a look at our Roadmap documentation and the This Week in Pop! series on Pop!_Planet. Below, you will find a general list of improvements that make Pop!_OS stand out.
I think roadmap doc they mention[1] tells the story pretty well.
> I worry about the consequences of essentially being downstream versions of Ubuntu
FOr now it doesn't worry me much. Ubuntu is fine if you just remove the bad parts. If it becomes a problem, I see both Mint and Pop easily switching to Debian.
I feel like its much more just reskinning Gnome though, or at least all that is the part I like about it. I haven't tried it myself, but there is no reason I think you couldn't run their DE, tiling, and Launcher ontop of Arch or Nixos.
