Something I wanted to post, and is hopefully allowed. Please let me know if otherwise.
I have switched to Linux from Mac about 3 years ago. Since then, I have tried many distributions and have been excited to learn Linux. I am interested in technology and it was cool to have an ecosystem that is completely new to me, free to explore and learn.
Since the beginning of this year (January), I have been on openSUSE Tumbleweed many times (probably switched back 3 or 4 times). I’ve also been on Ubuntu flavours, NixOS, Cachy, and Void this year but I haven’t really stuck around longer than a month or so on each of them. I keep coming back to Tumbleweed.
I know in my head that Tumbleweed is the distro for me. I even knew in February that Tumbleweed is the distro for me but curiosity got the better of me. The BTRFS snapshots, configuration with YaST, and the rolling release model that is more stable (for me) than Arch or Arch-based distro, it is sort of a nice in-between Arch and the stability of something like Ubuntu LTS (at least for me). KDE Plasma 6.7 is also awesome and it is nice to get the latest KDE on my system.
My question, to anyone who has overcome distro-hopping, is basically “How to silence the thought in your head saying that this distro is better, or that distro is better, or I need to try this person’s recommendation” when I know it will end up with me back on Tumbleweed.
Anyway, thanks for listening to me ramble. I welcome any advice on the matter.
Once you know your criteria for a distro, everything else looks like a waste of time.
My criteria are similar to yours, so some Arch-based distros, Void, Siduction, MX Linux, Ubuntu Studio, and of course, Tumbleweed/Slowroll are the only distros I consider.
Click here to see my opinion on/use case for the distros I mentioned
Though MX Linux is a stable release distro, the maintainers do a great job of backporting newer packages so that users can get a stable distro paired with up-to-date apps. And, I don’t think anyone thinks of MX without thinking about how safe it feels in terms of backups and snapshots. Of course, pebcak is always possible.
Ubuntu Studio, even though it’s Ubuntu, is the best multimedia creative suite-style distro on Linux. Though, AV Linux, which is based on MX Linux, is highly praised as well.
Siduction is a Debian rolling release distro that’s been around for a while.
And both Void and Tumbleweed are like using Arch, but you feel a lot safer when updating since you know it’s not bleeding edge, but rather leading edge.
As for Arch, it’s looking like both Omarchy and DankMaterialShell are gonna make it so that truly anyone can use Arch. EndeavourOS did a great job, but these two have taken it to a next level. DMS alone is good enough to be honest.
In essence, I distro hop in a mostly limited sense, and I currently have 3 distros installed, which I use for different reasons. Archcraft, Tumbleweed, MX Linux.
Archcraft is my current daily driver, but I will switch from this to probably Omarchy or something else when I get my new device.
@nrickert I got Virtualbox installed and ready to go just for this purpose. Thank you for the advice! Then I can mess around without wiping or risking harm to my host installation.
I just have multiple computers running Tumbleweed, Leap 16.0 and MicroOS… I can just hop over and power them up… then just press the kvm switch remote to hop into a release…
IMO, it’s a form of distraction. A source of dopamine rush to try something new and get it going. So, IMO, it’s not really about Linux and distro-hopping is it? It’s just a manifestation of a deeper challenge.
@levolet That’s a fair assessment. It is fun to check out new things; however, I have checked out probably every “popular” Linux distribution and desktop environment. Tumbleweed is what works best for me.
Now I find I’m getting into some configurable programs (neovim right now).
Learning new things is generally fun for me.
I have had a couple of tough personal incidents this year (won’t go into details for personal reasons) and I noticed my distro hopping increased following these tough times, and I didn’t really distro hop much during “normal” times.
Yeah… deep diving into a particular distro may be the next source of fun, distraction and reward. I struggle with purpose though. What I mean is, I experimented with distro’s to find one that I wished to commit to. Now that I’ve found one, fiddling with neovim or whatever would be without genuine purpose. I did, but heck, I don’t really need it, so I’m back to using stock vim which has been useful learning though not essential since I don’t code.
Do it the hard way always. Dedicate main PC or laptop in the summer vacation.
Text install, no desktop. Always a base distro, never a fork.
Install each thing manually afterwards.
Some of the largest base distros have excellent guides - if you can partition a machine you can install it.
Everyone I’ve convinced about this learned Linux in a month and is still working high paying jobs.
This way you will also learn to solve your own issues. It also makes you appreciate the best parts of linux; the configurable, flexible aspects… not use it like a tablet.
I can just hop over and power them up… then just press the kvm switch remote to hop into a release…