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What is/was your distrohopping journey?

For me it was:

Windows (for many years) -> Ubuntu (for a year) -> Arch Linux (for half a year) -> Void Linux (literally 2 days) -> Artix Linux with runit (a month) -> Gentoo Linux (another month) -> Debian (finally, I don’t plan on changing it).

Also, when trying to switch from Gentoo to Debian, I fucked up all my data with no backup.

What was your journey?

EDIT: Added Windows

lord_ryvan ,

Windows 2000

Windows Vista Windows 8

Trying every Linux distro under the sun for a little while in VirtualBox

Linux Mint + Windows 8 later 10 dual boot due to software required by school

Trying some Arch based systems in VirtualBox

My owm minimal Arch i3 setup + Windows 10 dual boot due to software required by school

Issues with my own setup, Manjaro + W10

Manjaro is weird, EndeavourOS + W10 (only for a short while)

Linux Mint just works (+W10, until I could fully use my own software, now it’s just Mint for several years)

I’m tinkering around with NixOS in QEMU from time to time, not everything “just works” but it’s okay

SeikoAlpinist ,
  • MS-DOS 6.22 / Windows for Workgroups 3.11
  • Red Hat Linux 5.2
  • Slackware Linux 3.5
  • FreeBSD 3.2 -> FreeBSD 6.0
  • Kubuntu 6.06
  • Linux Mint Darnya
  • Arch Linux with KDEmod and oss4, later with awesome window manager
  • Fedora Leonidas, Constantine
  • Microsoft Windows 7
  • Fedora Goddard, Lovelock (this time with KDE)
  • OpenBSD 4.9 -> OpenBSD 7.0
  • Debian stable (buster, then bullseye, now bookworm)

I left OpenBSD reluctantly when I found that it wasn’t meeting my needs anymore. I needed an iPad Pro and an iPhone to fill in the missing functionality and they don’t play nice with OpenBSD for things like transferring files, photos, etc.

I’ve since converted the family to Debian stable. Backports and flatpak make it incredibly reliable. We can do everything from here and its well documented for every use case. Video chats, zoom conference calls, file sync/sharing, bluetooth music through Spotify, etc. Started with buster when it was the stable distro; jumped early to bullseye during the freeze; and now holding onto bookworm.

DeltaWingDragon ,
@DeltaWingDragon@sh.itjust.works avatar
  • Started on a Windows Vista machine, but I dual-booted Mint on it when it started to run slow.
  • The software broke or got corrupted, so I installed Lubuntu.
  • Lubuntu started to freeze, so I installed Mint again.

The hardware was really outdated at this point, so I got a new machine. Windows 8.1.

Got a different new computer with Windows 10. Started trying out lots of distros of VMs.

  • Switched out the drive and installed… OpenSUSE, I think?
  • Catastrophic system error during an update, left the system corrupted. I installed Debian.
  • Another system error (which may have been caused by me) led me to install FreeBSD.
  • FreeBSD was usable, but not super usable. I installed OpenSUSE Tumbleweed.
  • Catastrophic system error during an update, left the system corrupted. I installed Debian (again).

tldr: Windows Vista -> Mint -> Lubuntu -> Mint again -> Windows 8.1 (new computer) -> Windows 10 (new computer) -> OpenSUSE Leap -> Debian -> FreeBSD -> OpenSUSE Tumbleweed -> Debian again

callyral , (edited )
@callyral@pawb.social avatar

Here’s my distrohopping journey (including non-Linux OS)

  • Windows 7 →
  • Windows 10 →

Mid 2021, I tried Fedora Linux in a VM and was unable to install it, but I liked it regardless.

So, a while later I decided to try this “Linux” thing on my computer.

  • Linux Mint (late 2021) →
  • Arco Linux (arch felt too intimidating) →
  • Debian (stability = good?) →
  • Debian Sid (stability = boring) →
  • Artix Linux OpenRC (omg i hate systemd so much!1!!) →
  • Void Linux →
  • Artix Linux runit (it didn’t work) →
  • Arch Linux (how do i use systemctl wtf) →
  • Void Linux again (ah, ln -s /etc/sv/something /run/service/)→
  • NixOS unstable (since January 2024)

Honestly, I’m just glad I found something I liked, as NixOS is perfect for tinkering.

During all that distrohopping, I “DE-hopped” even more. Currently I run SwayFX, but I’ve used Cinnamon, XFCE, Plasma, GNOME, AwesomeWM, i3, bspwm, dwm, swaywm and Hyprland.

edit 1: add Artix Linux runit

edit 2: remove NixOS stable from the list

XenBad ,

Windows 7, 8, 8.1, 10 -> Fedora Workstation -> Fedora Silverblue -> NixOS

pukeko ,

Apple IIc > Windows 3.1 > Windows 95 > Windows 98 > Windows XP > Brief experiment with Ubuntu in the REALLY purple and brown era > OS X > Elementary > Fedora > Endeavour > Fedora > Silverblue > ublue > NixOS

(not counting numerous VMs with everything from Debian to Linux From Scratch)

wasabi ,

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

Marty_TF ,

kubuntu 2 years windows 10 2 years Ubuntu 1 month kubuntu 2 years fedora 2 years everything for about a month fedora for a year arch since february

AusatKeyboardPremi ,
  • Windows 95, 98, 2000, XP, 7 spanning a decade and a half.
  • Ubuntu 10.04 going up to the release where Unity became the default DE (11.04, I think). Came back to 10.04, as it was an LTS release.
  • Linux Mint Maya because of Cinnamon, and it was terrible.
  • Fedora 16 to 25 or 26.
  • Linux Mint 19

Been with Linux Mint ever since. It just works. LM19 was also around the time when I stepped into Apple’s walled garden with iOS and macOS.

Shimitar ,

I started with an ancient redhat, moved to Linux From Scratches, landed in Gentoo 25+ years ago and never hopped anywere else since…

shotgun_crab ,

Windows -> Ubuntu -> Kubuntu -> Arch -> KDE Neon -> Fedora -> Arch -> openSUSE Tumbleweed

choroalp ,

Windows -> PopOS -> EndevourOS -> Fedora(for literally 2 days) -> NixOS 22.11 -> NetBSD -> NixOS Unstable

Kalcifer ,
@Kalcifer@sh.itjust.works avatar

Windows -> Ubuntu -> Arch Linux

dizzy ,
@dizzy@lemmy.ml avatar

Samesies

ZombiFrancis ,

Pirated Windows 95. Pirated Windows 98. Pirated Windows XP. A usb stick with Red Hat I never installed. Pirated Windows 7. A usb stick with Fedora I never installed. Pirated Windows 10. Raspbian for a retropie unit. Legit copy of Windows 10. A usb stick with ChimeraOS and a rig on the dining room table that maybe, just maybe, I will install.

I’ll get there.

captain_aggravated ,
@captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works avatar

Was a Windows user up through Win 7.

I started to play with Raspberry Pis and mostly Raspbian on the side largely related to my amateur radio hobby.

My laptop died, I bought a new one. Windows 8.1. Figured I’d rather use that slow-ass single core Pi 1 running Debian Wheezy than this.

First I tried Ubuntu Unity. I thought “Okay this could work, let’s keep shopping.”

Next I tried Mint Cinnamon. “Here we go.”

I’ve taken a look at Manjaro a couple times over the years. I have stopped this.

I briefly tried to run Pop!_OS when I first built my desktop, that lasted 3 weeks.

My desktop and laptop run Mint Cinnamon, I’ve got a tablet running Fedora Gnome. I kinda found my home fairly quickly and I’m not really interested in moving out.

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