Like I hear a lot of people trying a lot of different distros till they find the one they stick with.
Is there a point in Distro hopping ? Like assuming im mostly content with my Mint. Have been using it for about 10 days now.
Ofc Im curious about Desktop enviroments for example. Cinnamon is nice if a bit basic. But beyond that am I missing out on some cool stuff :3
Sorry if this a babys first Linux question.
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IMO distrohopping is something n00bs do just to get a feel for the ecosystem and how it all works. Nothing wrong with that. The only way you can learn is by trying it yourself, right?
Ultimately though the goal should be to have a long term, stable, daily driver. It takes some people longer than others to find it, and that’s OK!
If you’re wondering (you’re not) I use Neon. Why, you ask (you didn’t)? It’s the distro produced and maintained by the good folks who make the KDE desktop environment itself!
KDE is love. KDE is life.
Depends on what you need it for and whether it’s working for you.
Some people are really specific about workflows or they need particular functions. If you’re a fairly typical PC user then you probably don’t need either.
My advice would be that if you’re content with your current distro then adhere to the “if it ain’t broke” principle. You can always dual-boot or boot into a live USB to try out a new distro but honestly you’re probably better off getting more familiar with the intricacies of Linux and your current distro and putting time into making it work well for you. Distro hop if you want to or if you have the need to but don’t let others convince you that it’s necessary or that it’s a “higher level” of being a Linux user. It’s a bit like the near-competitive customising of a distro’s appearance (you know what I’m talking about - I’m not going to use the racist shorthand term the Linux community uses to describe this); it’s cool if that’s your thing but it’s entirely optional and you should treat it as such.
Life is short, to-read piles are long, and the list of organising tasks are never ending. Do what makes you happy but you’re probably not missing out on much, aside from needing to learn the ins and outs of a new distro.
Oh, welcome back comrade!!!
Hey comrade. Sorry it’s been so long.
There’s nothing to apologize for. I"m just happy to see you around again. The ML reading list we made got a major revamp, and I plan on giving it another revision sometime down the line.
I hope things are going well for you!
That’s incredible work, you’ve really fleshed it out so much since I last saw it.
Thanks! I’m trying to keep it in the spirit of what we both had, but I’ve tried to make it more complete. My next major revision will trim it down a bit, add sections on class struggle, AES history, propaganda/hegemony, art/culture, and will have a simplified “mini-list” and a more thorough course that expands upon the mini-list. That way, the intro is only ~5 works, and the outright course doesn’t skimp out anywhere important.
2·5 days agoWelcome back ReadFanon!! It’s entirely OK, take the time you need.
ⓘ This user is suspected of being a cat. Please report any suspicious behavior.
Thanks! It’s gonna be a bit of a gradual process. Expect me to dip in and out due to factors.
The biggest difference are defaults and package managers. Linux is a big system, and different distros have different features enabled and exposed in userland.
There are really only a few package managers out there, apt, dnf, pacman, nix are the big ones.
Debian/Ubuntu: apt
Fedora: dnf
Arch: pacman
NixOS: nix (though nix can be used in any distro)
Any distro just has different window managers, default shells, and pre-configured packages. Most are downstream from one of these big ones too.
You can also install almost anything on any distro, but if you’re obsessed with configuration just use Gentoo and spend the next 10 years compiling all your own packages and kernels.
Big reason to distro swap while a newbie is to get a feel for the different configurations that exist without having to go through the installation processes yourself. Which is why just using a VM or live USB is best.
it satisfies The Itch
… You should probably get that checked.
I change distro because I get bored and it also gives me a chance to clean up loose files
You can change desktop environment whenever you like because it isn’t linked to the actual os (I like kde plasma)
Mint is my personal favorite tbh and I swapped back to it like 30 minutes before my pc decided to shit itself and stop working (not a common issue with mint no idea what caused it but it seems to be bios)
If you like mint stick to it unless you dont want to just make sure to back up all your files before you do and leave the files on the drive you backed up to for a couple of boot cycles no matter what
The Atomics are really the only distros that are significantly different from any other, and even then they aren’t that different until you start interacting with the “immutable” root.
Really nice to have a rolling backup every time you do something that could bork your install though. Would recommend for people who want to play around with bleeding edge packages while also being safe.
The point is finding something you vibe with, and exploring options/differences. LiveUSBs make this super easy. Fwiw, I’ve been using Linux for almost 20 years, and Mint (Debian edition, cinnamon desktop) is my go-to for myself and others.
I’m considering distro hopping off PopOS for a while at least, because it’s in kind of a weird place right now. The previous version isn’t getting the latest MESA updates, and the new version, while real neat and all, isn’t 100% ready to go by my standards. I’ve had some game crashes and weird behavior, and Chinese input doesn’t seem to work right yet.
Lots of reasons you might try out other distros:
- Boredom / curiosity
- Your current distro has a problem or doesn’t fit your needs (this is usually why I have distro hopped)
- You want to learn something that a distro focuses on. Atomic updates, reproducible builds, compiling software, etc.
But you can also just sit and be happy with what you’ve got!
If you’re happy with what you’ve settled on then that’s best for ya! i stuck with my first distro for a while, then hopped a bit, then seemed on fedora… but others will never settle on anything
Distro hopping is just finding your groove with different package managers and package types. You’ll eventually find one you like. Also some distros just don’t have the absolute latest package versions outside of the testing repos
As far as desktops go, you can pretty much pick one regardless of your distro unless you pick a distro that is purely made for a single desktop environment. Even then you can still use whatever you want you’ll just have to jump through a few more hoops.
There’s also distros who aren’t using Wayland by default. These are still on xorg but also often offer the option to use Wayland.
I’ve been running fedora universal blue on desktops as a really like the immutable rootfs and latest kernel with the added bonus of using btrfs snapshotting so you can roll back to your last good working setup if you break something
Yeah like what other people said, if the distro doesn’t satisfy your needs. For me, I was at Pop!_OS before I got KDE-brained and switched to Kubuntu, then I got Arch-brained and switched… to shocker: EndeavourOS (i joke sometimes about being an arch user, which is true kinda, but also lying in that I used Endeavour when I installed it the first time)
