this post was submitted on 17 Apr 2025
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Title is quite self-explanatory, reason I wonder is because every now and then I think to myself "maybe distro X is good, maybe I should try it at some point", but then I think a bit more and realise it kind of doesn't make a difference - the only thing I feel kinda matters is rolling vs non-rolling release patterns.

My guiding principles when choosing distro are that I run arch on my desktop because it's what I'm used to (and AUR is nice to have), and Debian on servers because some people said it's good and I the non-rolling release gives me peace of mind that I don't have to update very often. But I could switch both of these out and I really don't think it would make a difference at all.

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[–] squid_slime@lemm.ee 3 points 1 month ago

I was running only arch on my surface pro 7 and my amd desktop, then last week after an update it seemed gnome and Linux surface kernel weren't playing nice and had bricked the install. I have switch the laptop to Debian but I tend to stick with arch, like op as I am used to it, I now run Debian as it is known to be stable.

I would love to find a new distro but for me its the sunk cost fallacy, I have put so much time into learning arch and to repeat all that - this new distro would need to offer something wildly different.

[–] 0xf@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 month ago

Cachyos, since I like archlinux and the things it comes with I would install on arch. There's even a few things that would have to be compiled from aur that's in their repository pre-compiled.

[–] accideath@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago

Nobara: Has all the gaming features I want on my gaming pc (like gamescope) and is htpc capable. Also, it’s based on Fedora, which I’m familiar with.

Fedora: I like gnome and it’s always fairly up to date and rock solid. Great on my laptop.

Have considered switching to openSUSE though. It’s German (as am I), it’s the first Linux distro I ever used (on my granddad’s PC, more than a decade ago) and I’ve heard a lot of good about tumbleweed.

[–] mintiefresh@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 month ago

I have been using Tuxedo OS for the past few months.

I just wanted to use something that was Ubuntu based with KDE.

KDE Neon sounded a bit too bleeding edge to be used safely as a daily driver. And Kubuntu is maybe a bit too conservative for me.

Tuxedo OS seems nicely balanced between that and so far it's been great.

[–] 737@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 1 month ago

Arch and Fedora; package managers and repositories.

[–] WQMan@lemm.ee 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

EndeavorOS;

Gives the benefit of having latest up-to-date packages for gaming, while negating the downsides of having to configure the OS or graphics driver upon installation.

Honestly, if think EndeavorOS comes with full UI support to download stuff from AUR and Flathub, I think it would become a pretty solid OS for any casual user looking to get into Linux. (Well, unless they are religiously against Arch. Then again your casual user probably don't even know what 'Arch' is or care enough to be religious about it.)


Also yea, usually you run Ubuntu LTS or Debian Stable on servers unless your company paid for some licensing.

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[–] davidagain@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago

Why do you use the distro you use?

People said Ubuntu is easy, but I prefer green to orange so I went with Mint.

[–] brax@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 month ago

I jumped from Ubuntu over to Arch because I was getting fed up with all the things I wanted to do being unavailable in Ubuntu, but all in the Arch repo or AUR.

I've been using Debian-based distros for like 25 years, so it was definitely a bit of a change, but it didn't take long to adjust. I'm glad I made the change.

[–] nullpotential@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 1 month ago

Arch has a combination of great documentation and great packaging. I use Debian on a server but for daily use, everything I need is on Arch.

[–] Mwa@lemm.ee 3 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

PC: Cachyos love the aur and the compiler optimizations + they compile or put aur packages in their repos which saves time by not making you compile anything

Laptop: Linux mint easy to use and stable

Phone: Android (does it count??)

[–] monovergent@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 month ago

Debian stable:

  • Works on all of my devices, none of which are newer than 2019
  • Compatibility with all of the software that I use day to day
  • I like my system set up in a very particular way and the stability makes upkeep simple
  • I was a holdout on older Windows versions before I moved to Linux, so getting new features at all is already exciting
[–] anomoly_@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago

I installed Manjaro about six months ago because I'd never tried it. I like it so far and it has yet to get in my way enough to make me want to change.

[–] crmsnbleyd@sopuli.xyz 2 points 1 month ago

It's Debian. It's well-supported by software and super stable and open.

[–] analoghobbyist@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago

I'm relatively new to Linux, so I'm testing a few distros via VMs right now. My main desktop runs OpenSUSE Leap with KDE Plasma and I love it so far. I'm also trying Fedora 42 with GNOME, but I'm realizing I don't like GNOME. I'm running Linux Mint Cinnamon on a 2016 MacBook Pro, which is pretty nice too. I also ran Debian stable for a bit. OpenSUSE is my favorite of the ones I've tried.

[–] liliumstar@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 1 month ago

Arch on desktop/laptop because I'm very comfortable with it, and I can set it up the way I like.

Debian on servers because it's stable and nearly everything has a package available, or at least instructions for building.

Same as OP, but I'm not likely to change them out. I've tried a lot of distros over the years and this is what works best for me.

[–] Shanmugha@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago

Arch, moved here from Ubuntu when I realized I have a good idea of what I want installed and have no need for a bunch of things to get bundled into the OS

[–] ProtonBadger@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 month ago

I agree, only release schedule really matters, package managers are easy to learn.. I don't think the AUR is that special either, I've always found everything I needed no matter the distro, but maybe I don't have exotic requirements.

I'm fine with most distros, though I don't bother with the fast rolling ones anymore, I did for a few years but I don't see the point for me. I'm happy with Fedora or an Ubuntu derivative and major updates are one command which is trouble free unless you've changed something in a non-standard way.

Now using Pop 24.04 as it's on a stable base and I code COSMIC stuff, oh and they update kernel/nvidia/mesa on a regular basis (I use hybrid Gfx, Intel iGPU and NV offload). I'll probably stick with PopOS or Fedora COSMIC spin/copr moving forward.

Use case for me is coding and gaming.

[–] randomcruft@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 1 month ago

Fedora… it took way to long to figure out how to remove all the software I didn’t need / want and still have a functional system. I will not subject myself to that pain again 🙂

[–] CaptainBasculin@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 month ago

Pop OS. Don't use much of its custom features since I have installed sway on top of it and did some custom edits, was thinking of switching to another distro but they announced COSMIC, which looks very cool. Why not stick with the distro that could have the best experience with it?

[–] UntouchedWagons@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 month ago

Debian because it just works. I am interested in trying NixOS though.

[–] savvywolf@pawb.social 2 points 1 month ago

For my main desktop I use Mint because it just works, widely supported and Cinnamon is good (sadly no Wayland yet. ;_;). I also use Home-manager for my configuration because it allows me to easily just specify my config as a set of files I can check into git.

For my server, I use NixOS, because having all my configuration in a few text files is very nice to get an overview of what my server is doing.

[–] haque@lemm.ee 2 points 1 month ago

I started off with ubuntu in 2009, switched to mint some years later, because of the cinnamon desktop environment which I liked better than the new ubuntu unity flavour.

This year I switched to manjaro with kde plasma. Just for fun honestly.

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