From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
Community icon by Alpár-Etele Méder, licensed under CC BY 3.0
its pretty much ubuntu since i started using linux, with some peppering of other distros i tried out over the years for a few months at a time.
i'm on this perpetual state of kind of wanting to hop because of the usual canonical shenanigans, but like, its working.
I played with linux a bunch between 2014-2019 but I was not ready for the commitment of learning a new operating system. In 2020, I started to get annoyed at how bad windows 10 was getting, and at some point I saw the insider previews of windows 11 and put my foot down.
I fully switched to linux in 2021, I started with a brief spell of manjaro. I hated it.
2022 I had alot going on in my life and didnt use a computer very much at all because I did not have internet access.
Towards the very end of 2022 I moved and got a laptop which I put Fedora on. I used this daily until the first half of 2023
Sometime mid 2023 I switched to opensuse and I used that for a few months before finally switching over to Debian which I still use now.
I've come to the conclusion that I prefer LTS distros. I very rarely need new software besides for maybe WINE, but I can get that from the winehq website easily enough so its not a big deal. If I could get drivers to play nice out of the box, I would unironically put alma linux on my laptop and run it the full 10yrs.
Windows for until 8 => various Ubuntu Flavours for a while => Manjaro for a couple Weeks maybe => Arch for 5+ Yeats => fedora since maybe 2 months
Debian from woody until systemd, gentoo since.
Windows 98 -> Slackware dual boot (with big ol' red grub screen) -> windows up to win 10 -> debian(laptop) win10 (pc)
Gonna try getting a new m.2 drive and dual booting soon to test playing the games I like on Linux. If all goes well, I'll be moving away from windows
Windows 95 -> Windows 98 -> Windows XP -> Windows Vista -> Windows 7 -> Dual Boot Ubuntu -> Windows 7 -> Dual Boot Ubuntu -> Windows 7 -> Windows 10 -> Ubuntu (VM) -> Pop_OS! -> Windows 10 -> Manjaro -> Fedora -> Manjaro -> Open Suse -> Linux Mint -> Linux Mint DE -> Fedora -> Debain -> Linux Mint
Windows 7 -> Windows 10 -> Mint -> Kubuntu -> Arch -> Fedora -> Mint -> Fedora.
I don’t even remember all of them, let alone the correct sequence. I’ve also had multiple computers at one time (still do), and usually they have different distributions (still true).
First experiment: Mandrake
First serious use: Ubuntu edgy eft or something
Spiraling out of control: kubuntu, xubuntu, lubuntu, debian, kaos, mint, easypeasy, fedora, korora, rox, manjaro, openmediavault, rockstor, + many niche distributions
Current: arch and debian
Before you ask, no, I’m not a diagnosed psychopath.
I'm not the biggest distrohopper but I have tried a few, both on my laptop and desktop. I still keep windows around on a dual-boot but I'm basically only using it for the odd game or two and also onenote (obsidian + excalidraw comes close but nothing really has a seamless transition between pen and typing text like OneNote)
Early 2018 and before:
Windows only
2018-19:
2019-2022:
2022-2023:
2024:
Future?
Maybe if I can get my NixOS config to a point where I'm happy with it I'll switch my desktop setup to that as well, in theory it should be pretty painless since i'm already using a flake setup split across multiple modules. I do really like that I can experiment with my setup without the risk of actually breaking anything since NixOS is semi-immutable.
If I don't stick with NixOS I've also been thinking about trying fedora, opensuse, or an immutable distro, or otherwise just moving my laptop back to either Arch or EndeavourOS since that's what I'm familiar with.
Windows 8.1 (~10 years) -> Xubuntu (a few months) -> Arch linux (present).
DOS -> Windows (3.1 through to XP) -> Slackware -> Red Hat -> Fedora -> OpenSUSE -> Ubuntu -> Mint -> Ubuntu -> Arch
It’s been quite the journey.
Windows 95 -> 98 -> XP -> 7 -> 8 -> OSX -> Arch (1 month) -> Gentoo (1 year) -> VOID (3 years) -> NixOS (4 years) (transitioning to Guix System now)
For reference, this was my editor hopping journey which started during my OSX days since I learned to program during this time: Sublimetext -> vim -> neovim -> emacs
Windows -> OpenSUSE Tumbleweed -> Ubuntu -> Debian GNU/Linux -> EndeavourOS
Currently using Debian and EndeavourOS in parallel as the distributions I have settled on.
Didn't really hop much, started with Windows, went on to OSX, got annoyed at it and ran Arch in a VM until I was comfortable with it, then went bare-metal with it.
Happy Arch user for some years now, though recently I'm using Fedora for work and I really like it. It's not a good fit for some machines I'm running which need a lot of customisations to run properly.
Windows Vista → Debian (pre-systemD) → Devuan → Void Linux.
I don't like systemD.
I still have Windows installed as a dual boot setup for Adobe CC.
Windows -> Ubuntu and Arch on some other computers -> Windows -> Arch -> Nixos
Windows into I went to college for development and decided to check out this Linux thing. At the time, I wanted something as different from Windows as possible, so I went with Ubuntu with Gnome 3 (I know) for about a year. Tried out Fedora, couldn't get my sound to work and accidentally uninstalled the desktop environment trying to fix it, slunk back to Ubuntu, tried out a Debian briefly, and eventually ended up on Linux Mint with Cinnamon and KDE.
At one time I really wanted to try a bunch of stuff and probably would've hopped a lot more if Fedora didn't shatter my confidence, but nowadays I want as little disruption between machines as possible. I have to use Windows for work, so I keep my Linux setup pretty vanilla so I don't miss features between the two very much. I'll probably still play with other distros every now and then on old laptops, but I've fallen into a "if it ain't broke" mindset with my daily machines.
Fedora → Ultramarine → Arch Linux → NixOS → dual booting NixOS + EndeavourOS → dual booting EndeavourOS + something I don't remember the name of → something I don't remember the name of → NixOS → SolydXK → NixOS → CROWZ → NixOS → Ultramarine Linux → FreeBSD → Devuan → FreeBSD → Arch Linux → Parabola GNU/Libre → Ultramarine Linux
All of that happened around September of the last year and this year! I also did not count how much I stayed in those!
Fedora was my first, it being recommended on somewhere made me install it on a USB stick, After doing so, I did the installer without knowing what it was for and ended up purging my hard drive. I did not think too much of it, and continued using it until I found about Ultramarine Linux; I was tired of the Fedora login loop that I had, so I decided to just install Ultramarine, and guess what? It happened again! I was annoyed (angry), so I installed Arch Linux instead. As expected, I had to fix stuff from time to time, which was tedious. Er, I decided to install NixOS and — Okay, I'll end it here. My hands already hurt from all the typing and I didn't think it would take this long just to write this thing. Feel free to ask anything, but be aware, I do not remember a lot about this!