I've long used Debian as it tends to be relatively simple and long-lived. I've tried Ubuntu but I often found it unstable and contained unnecessary elements.
The only issue with Debian is that their upgrade posts are full of caveats and warnings which is very offputting. Which is why I'm still on Buster.
I run my home automation live server on an old Lenovo laptop with power settings set to minimum to keep the power usage down and the fans off. No desktop of course (well I do actually have a Docker vm with a Linux desktop though I virtually never use it),
I keep node.js current using the nodesource repo's. Similarly, I use the dedicated OEM repos to keep things like InfluxDB, Telegraf and Grafana current.
As usual, Python is the odd-man-out as it doesn't have a reliable Debian repo so has to be manually updated if you want a reasonably current version.
