Linux Images (ROCK64)

[Trash_Can_Man]

I'm evaluating any desktop images that I can find and yes, bionic-lxde-rock64-0.6.44-239-arm64, works quite well except that LibreOffice crashes when editing large files (25mb). I tried a new install and got the same problem.

I then tried Armbian (Armbian_5.42_Rock64_Debian_stretch_default_4.4.124_desktop) which overcame the LibreOffice problem but I couldn't install my Canon printer through Cups, plus some other issues.

DietPi (DietPi_Rock64-ARMv8-Stretch), on my third attempt to get it running, seems the best so far, except that I foolishly ran apt-get upgrade and could then no longer load Xorg (Fatal Server error (EE) no screens found). I had hit this issue with two other uSD cards but assumed that this was a card problem. Now I understand why the automatic update during the DietPi install holds back an updated rock-image.

I'm learning a lot, and have nearly achieved a useable desktop computer. I need Nextcloud, LibreOffice, mail, a printer and a browser to work well. If anyone else has such basic requirements and has succeeded I'd love to hear.

IMO you should stay with either Armbian or any ayufan build with desktop, while dietpi is not a bad distro its based on armbian afaik but with extra scripts to trim it out a bit and automate, the problem is that dietpi is not properly documented by far and the "support" is slim at best...personally i had very VERY good results with the armbian builds in regards to desktop environments, while ayufan make his headless images super stable imo...so...going back to the begining id suggest to try again with Armbian and solve the CUPS problem, maybe ask for help on their forum? there are very smart and capable people over there (tho some are a bit harsh with newbies like me)
MAybe someone here can help with that printer problem too, what did you try? what errors did you get?