Linux

Windows (up until windows 8 came out) -> Ubuntu for about a year -> Manjaro for about 6 years -> Arch so far for 2 years.

1. (Some years, Childhood), Windows XP laptop with games on it, Windows 7 on some Minecraft PC lol. (3 years) Windows 10 on a Thinkpad T430, really nice laptop, but the OS was boring and kinda bad
2. (3 days) Linux Mint, secondary drive. Had random blackout crashes that were not hardware related (still use that SSD today). Also wasnt impressed by the UI, but a very interesting experience of "the Linux"
3. (Few weeks) Manjaro, awesome KDE experience and theme, really really nice. But had a bad reputation, so went looking for other KDE Distros
4. (Few months) MX Linux, damn Distrowatch rankings. Got an error and my University IT people told me my Nextcloud client was too old, but the conky manager was awesome.
5. (Half a year) Kubuntu, with Backports, then switched to KDE Neon. Began nice, then went more and more unstable and broke
6. (Few weeks) Fedora KDE, finally dared the move to a "less known OS", but it broke too. I guess that Plasma 5.2x phase was just messy
7. (Over a year) Fedora Kinoite, uBlue, secureblue, Aurora. Tried the Kinoite prerelease for Plasma 6 and now for 6.1, finding some bugs.

Now happy part of the Fedora Community, rpm-ostree is just so good and makes Linux usable for me.

Also experimenting with GNOME, COSMIC, Kinoite-prerelease and CentOS-Stream in VMs or external drives. Also experimenting with minimal, bloat-free KDE Plasma, as it is actually really light and simply the best supported modular desktop environment.

Linux: 1995, Sco (At work), then got a copy of Slackware on a Cover-CD around 2000. Shortly after found Debian and have been using that at home exclusively for over two decades, now onto desktops and laptops as well as a couple of home servers. (I use EL distros, Ubuntu and OpenSuse at work nowadays)

Longer history: 1981: ZX81. 1985, Dragon 32. 1988 Amstrad CPC. 1991 an XT. 1992 A 386 sx25 with 1mb ram, and so on.

Desktop: Windows Vista Home -> Windows 7 Home -> CentOS 7 -> Debian 8 -> Arch Linux -> OpenSUSE Leap 15 -> Debian 10 -> Slackware

Slackware is probably where i'll be for the rest of my time on Linux, as unlike other distros, I have no major complaints.

I've always hosted stuff at home, even as a kid, so for my homeserver:

Server: Windows XP Pro -> Windows 7 Pro -> CentOS 7 -> CentOS 8 -> Artix Linux -> NetBSD -> OpenBSD -> SmartOS

I don't miss the days of using WAMP on windows lol

For me it is like this: Window-->ubuntu(a month)-->kubuntu(a week)-->Opensuse tumbleweed

I also tried Nobara, zorinos, arch and bazzite but never actually use them

Mine was Windows XP -> Ubuntu -> Xubuntu -> Windows 10 -> Kubuntu -> KDE Neon -> back to Kubuntu -> Manjaro -> Endeavour OS -> Fedora -> Debian -> NixOS

I also have a separate Laptop for financial things running Alma Linux and a Gaming PC running bazzite

Risc_os>win95-xp>Ubuntu>mint>Ubuntu>win8.1-10>manjaro>mint>popOs>fedora>fedora silverblue>bazzite/aurora

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

I started with an openSUSE dual boot with KDE. I didn't use Linux a lot at that point. Later, I switched to Ubuntu on a laptop for about a year and used that until I bought a MacBook. Eventually, I returned to Linux by running Pop!_OS on my desktop, but games were a bit choppy, and I really wanted to just run Wayland. I also started to use RHEL at work for our servers. So now I'm trying to switch to Fedora. I still have some issues with the Jagex Launcher, but aside from that, everything seems to work great now.

At home, I have also had an Ubuntu Server for many years, and I also run Ubuntu Server on my VPS.

Windows ->

Fedora Kinoite: A relatively mature atomic/immutable distro combined with excellent security standards and that resembles Windows' workflow. Unfortunately, it broke almost immediately. Though, to be fair, it was a known issue with the ISO back then. As a newb, however, I couldn't be bothered with it. ->

Fedora Silverblue: Well..., I didn't have much of a choice 😜. Or I had to forego Fedora Atomic altogether. However, I actually really enjoyed GNOME's workflow. I used this as my main system for about year. Until I found a related project... ->

Arch: The memes got me 😅. In all honesty, though, it was mostly curiosity. Still, I didn't intend to throw away my working Silverblue installation for the sake of quenching my thirst for experiencing Arch. So, as dual boot, I tried to install it. This was pre archinstall, so it took a couple of tries before I booted into GNOME. However, I guess I did mess up something as I don't recall ever booting back into that system 😅. So, what if I want Arch, but don't want to spend more time with the installation... ->

EndeavourOS: Yup. I actually enjoyed it. I also took the opportunity to install another DE; KDE. Tried out the hardened kernel. Was able to make Davinci Resolve work, which just caused a lot of trouble on Silverblue. Access to AUR. It was cool, really. And, for some time, I was actually pondering to dismiss Silverblue altogether in favor of EndeavourOS. But, I started to miss the 'stability' that I was used to from Silverblue. Though, I don't exactly recall if it was the fault of being based on Arch, or rather linked/attributed to KDE instead. Regardless, I noticed that (over time) I spend more and more time on Silverblue. At some point, booting into EndeavourOS didn't work any more. It had broken. I did engage in some troubleshooting efforts, but to no avail... ->

Zorin OS lite: On backup laptop; the poor thing couldn't run Windows but (even today) it's still kicking on Linux ->

Nobara: So, I guess I did miss some of the functionality provided by EndeavourOS; running Davinci Resolve being the primary one. But, I didn't want to pass out of the opportunity to try something else. Back then, Nobara was released relatively recently and was received very positively by the community. And had even a special guide/tutorial to make Davinci Resolve work on AMD devices. Nobara was cool. But, it didn't feel very special. I actually enjoyed EndeavourOS a lot more. It was mostly utilized for Davinci Resolve and for gaming if Silverblue wasn't fit for the job (for whatever reason). Unfortunately, even this one broke at some point 😅. I could still boot into it. But, the system just didn't do what it's supposed to do. I tried troubleshooting. But, once again, to no avail. ->

uBlue; Silverblue image: Through all that was previously mentioned, I had stability in Fedora Silverblue. It was reliable. I could trust it. Well..., most of the time 😅. Decisions related to mesa or video acceleration in browsers definitely felt more like misses rather than hits. I can't blame Fedora as they're legally restricted. But, shouldn't we be able to do better? Enter uBlue. It seemed like some black magic shenanigans. The earlier issues would have never occurred (nor did they occur) on uBlue. This 'managed' aspect of uBlue was clearly, at least for me, the reason to consider it over regular Silverblue. And so, I parted with regular Silverblue and started using the Silverblue image provided by uBlue. Not long after, I even had my own (hardened) custom image. But, eventually (to be more precise; about half a year after switching to uBlue), keeping up with hardening took up too much effort for me to bear. But, thankfully, I had already found the perfect solution... ->

secureblue (based on the Silverblue image): This was Silverblue hardened by someone that actually knows their shit. And, thankfully, I didn't have to maintain this myself. I used this for a couple of months until the next best thing... ->

secureblue (based on the Bluefin image): Currently on this for I think half a year now. It has just been a lovely experience through and through. Everything I could have asked is provided.

• Windows (family PC)
• a BUNCH of Ubuntu-based distros (Ubuntu, Lubuntu, Xubuntu, Ubuntu Studio (which was awesome btw), Mint,... ) on my first own PC
• Arch for years and years and years
• NixOS

I wouldn't count the last switch as distro hopping though. It was a calculated decision after months of deliberation and trying things out. And now that everything is set up, I am very certain that I'll never switch to another distro again, Nix is just too good.

Vic20 😆 -> C64 -> AmigaOS -> MacOS -> Slackware (much frustration!) -> MacOS -> Ubuntu -> EndeavourOS

Ubuntu (university) -> MX Linux -> Opensuse TW

Ubuntu -> OpenSuse -> Arch -> OpenSuse

I used ubuntu from when I got my first computer until like 2021 and then I realized I had no idea why I was using it because I didn't like it

My full journey was Ubuntu, Manjaro, Debian, Arch. I would still consider myself a noob but know I don't break stuff as often.

The “+” indicates a dualboot

MacOS (for a while) → MacOS + Windows (for a year) → Ubuntu + Windows (for a year) → Linux Mint + Windows (for 6 months)→ Linux Mint (for 1.5 years)→ SteamOS (for 9 months) → SteamOS + openSUSE Tumbleweed (for 3 months, then tumbleweed got glitchy with display output) → SteamOS (Current) → Fedora Linux (when I get my new laptop)

I think mine went something like this: Windows (for a long time) -> Zorin Os -> Linux Mint -> Ubuntu -> Fedora (I don't remember how long I used any of them) -> Manjaro.

Here I got myself into a hole, distrohopping aimlessly, like, I kept switching from distro to distro literally every day. I was checking my emails, and discovered that I have 156 confirmation emails from the ecosia search engine, so I guess that represents the many times I distrohopped during this time (about 5 or 6 months).

I never really understood what happened there, maybe it was anxiety.

And then I finally stopped at linux mint, I've been here for about a month (more time, i made many clean installs, but always returning to mint), I don't intend to change.

Maybe I've beaten distrohopping? well, I hope so.

Ubuntu Server (for school) -> Fedora (daily driver for a month) -> Arch (same as fedora) -> NixOS (it's almost a year and I think that I'll stay with NixOS)

I tried various linux distros like ubuntu as a kid, but because of gaming I didn't switch at that time, then around 2010 I got a home server and installed Arch on it. When Arch switched to systemd I switched to gentoo because I did not want systemd. In 2014 I switched to gentoo Linux on my desktop, but still had dual boot for gaming on windows. I tried various init systems on gentoo and then ended up using systemd anyways. Because I got sick of waiting for packages to compile I switched back to arch on my desktop. On my home server and laptop I used alpine linux for a while. I switched back to arch shortly after because I had too many issues with alpine on desktop. I still use alpine in VMs on the server, but others that I don't touch as much like the print server run rocky linux. I also tried GPU-passthrough to game in a windows VM, but I never managed to resolve all the issues. Since nowadays most games run on wine and proton I never bothered reinstalling/fixing windows when it stopped booting a few years ago, so now I use linux only.

Mandrake (2004) -> Gentoo -> Ubuntu (I think?) -> Arch -> Ubuntu -> NixOS -> Pop!_OS

I liked fiddling with the base system more when I was younger, but now I want at least the base system to just work. It gets old hunting through wikis to get basic functionality fixed.

For me it was:

Windows (for many years) -> Dual Boot with Arch Linux KDE (for a year) -> Arch Linux KDE

CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Windows -> Manjaro.

Never looked back. Debian works on a laptop, amazing too!

I’ve distro-hopped across at least 20-30 varying distros between 1999, when I began my Linux journey, and now.

From Big Box Redhat 5 to Debian to Mandrake to Ubuntu to Fedora to Mandriva (what Mandrake and Conectiva became) to Arch to Cent to insert-flavor-here and a mix of many of those over the years.

I’ve settled on Garuda Arch for the time being, and may eventually give Nobara a try once GE has v40 out and has made more progress on umu.

The one distro I’ve never tried: Gentoo. I suppose I’m okay with binaries built by someone else.

Ubuntu, Manjaro, Endeavour, Arch, Arch/Debian

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

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

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

My journey went Ubuntu (2012) -> Kubuntu (2018) -> Manjaro (2020) -> Fedora KDE (2022)

Most computers I had were used and low-end so Linux was always my preferred OS, but I always dualbooted with the version of Windows or MacOS the machine came with when I could.

My current computers have been Linux only for a couple years now, thanks to Windows being a headache and MacOS being inflexible.

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

Mine was/is/will be:

• Windows

• Some ancient version of Corel Linux that came on a CD that was free with a magazine that I could never get to work properly

• Some version of SUSE that I bought from a computer store impulsively, that also never worked properly

• Ubuntu 6.something that finally worked!

• Several more years of Ubuntu, gradually drifting over to Kubuntu/KDE Neon as I realised I liked KDE more than GNOME/Unity

• Manjaro as an awkward transitional phase to becoming an Arch person

• A split between full Arch (btw) for my laptop which is the tinkering machine that I'm allowed to break, and Pop!OS on the desktop, which is the one other people use that has to actually work all the time

• The distant call of NixOS, which I'm currently fiddling with in a VM and is trying to tempt me into nuking my laptop once again.

Win XP > vista > win7 > win 10 then

Linux Mint xfce > KDE neon > aurora

Tried many distros in between like ubuntu, mint cinnamon, mint mate, debian, and a few others I only vaguely recall

Starting with Ubuntu I've tried a lot of distro, here the ones I used the more: Mageia -> Chakra -> Manjaro -> Void -> Arch

Windows->Mac->Ubuntu->Fedora->Arch->openSUSE->and finally Debian when bookworm released and I’ve been very happy with it, plan on staying for the foreseeable future.

Still dual boot windows (with no Microsoft account connected) for gaming. But I don’t game nearly as much as I used to and when I do I don’t want to worry about anything working, I just want to ply with friends. Though from what I hear gaming on Linux is getting better all the time.

For some reason I memory holed the first distro I used. There's only vague recollection. I think it was SUSE or something. When Ubuntu came around I tried Linux again. That's when I started to get the hang of things.

Classic Mac OS 7.5.3 -> 8.5 -> 9.2 -> Windows 2000 -> XP -> Vista -> 7 -> 8.1 -> 10 -> Pop!_OS (for a few years but eventually wanted a KDE based distro) -> Garuda Linux (for a few years but wanted to try out nobara for gaming) -> Nobara (for now, great for gaming, frustrating for programming because of package differences) and other unknown reasons)

For my personal devices:

• Microsoft products from MS DOS 6.x or so through Windows Vista
• Ubuntu 6.06 through maybe 9.04 or so
• Arch Linux from 2009 through 2015
• MacOS from 2011 through current
• Arch Linux from 2022 through current

I've worked with work systems that used RedHat and Ubuntu back in the late 2000's, plus decades of work computers with Windows. But I'm no longer in a technical career field so I haven't kept on top of the latest and greatest.

I played around with Mandrake and Debian around the turn of the century. A bit of a break, but then I started dual-booting Ubuntu in the Windows Vista/X86 OSX era. I jumped to Xubuntu and started running Linux by itself on several machines around 2012.

I largely shifted to Arch around the time that snaps came out because they weren't playing nice with some of my low-end machines. Nowadays, mainly Arch. Exceptions: Fedora on my M1, Debian Bookworm on an old x86 tablet and any time I set up WSL on a Windows machine.