Linux

Ubuntu, Pop!_os, KDE... Currently on fedora. It's been solid. I honestly think I like pop the most but I was having weird gpu issues which haven't showed up over on fedora.

Windows XP -> Windows 7 -> Windows 10 -> Linux Mint -> Manjaro -> ArcoLinux -> Arch -> Arco -> Arch -> Arco -> NixOS -> Arch -> Ubuntu (beginning of 2023) -> NixOS -> Arch -> NixOS (summer 2023) -> Debian (for a month when beginning University), -> NixOS -> Arch -> NixOS -> Fedora (in Jan/Feb 2024, seems like it could be the one) -> Void (wanted to love it but I hated my few days in it) -> Arch (temporarily, waiting for the COPR repos on Fedora to update its packages for F40) -> Fedora 40 (where I still am)

Going from Windows XP to Linux Mint took over a decade. Going from Mint to Fedora 40 took about 2 years.

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.

Windows -> Ubuntu 10.04 ... 11.10, -> Kubuntu 12.04 -> Debian 7 (stable)... 8 (testing... stable) ... 12

Windows 8.1 (~10 years) -> Xubuntu (a few months) -> Arch linux (present).

Windows -> Ubuntu and Arch on some other computers -> Windows -> Arch -> Nixos

Windows for a long time before I knew what OSes were. I never liked how locked down MacOS is so I've never used that. Then I tried Ubuntu in college, mostly to play with. Then tried Arch, fucked up my system a couple times and reinstalled, then tried Manjaro because I'd heard it was more stable and less fuss. And now I'm back on Arch. I think I've finally mostly figured it out over the last decade lol, I haven't had a problem with my install in years.

ZorinOS > Ubuntu > Debian and then Arch. I even tried Alpine linux recently but got "filtered" by the lack of gpu packages. Looks like I need to get my "googling" improved a bit.

Windows 7 -> Windows 10 -> Mint -> Kubuntu -> Arch -> Fedora -> Mint -> Fedora.

Windows into I went to college for development and decided to check out this Linux thing. At the time, I wanted something as different from Windows as possible, so I went with Ubuntu with Gnome 3 (I know) for about a year. Tried out Fedora, couldn't get my sound to work and accidentally uninstalled the desktop environment trying to fix it, slunk back to Ubuntu, tried out a Debian briefly, and eventually ended up on Linux Mint with Cinnamon and KDE.

At one time I really wanted to try a bunch of stuff and probably would've hopped a lot more if Fedora didn't shatter my confidence, but nowadays I want as little disruption between machines as possible. I have to use Windows for work, so I keep my Linux setup pretty vanilla so I don't miss features between the two very much. I'll probably still play with other distros every now and then on old laptops, but I've fallen into a "if it ain't broke" mindset with my daily machines.

Windows 95 - Windows Vista - Windows 7 - Ubuntu - Fedora - back to Ubuntu Think that's it, can't recall the years exactly The switch to Ubuntu was like in 2014 or something

DOS -> Windows (3.1 through to XP) -> Slackware -> Red Hat -> Fedora -> OpenSUSE -> Ubuntu -> Mint -> Ubuntu -> Arch

It’s been quite the journey.

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.

Windows 95 -> 98 -> XP -> 7 -> 8 -> OSX -> Arch (1 month) -> Gentoo (1 year) -> VOID (3 years) -> NixOS (4 years) (transitioning to Guix System now)

For reference, this was my editor hopping journey which started during my OSX days since I learned to program during this time: Sublimetext -> vim -> neovim -> emacs

I'm not the biggest distrohopper but I have tried a few, both on my laptop and desktop. I still keep windows around on a dual-boot but I'm basically only using it for the odd game or two and also onenote (obsidian + excalidraw comes close but nothing really has a seamless transition between pen and typing text like OneNote)

Early 2018 and before:

Windows only

2018-19:

• Ubuntu 18.04 (desktop),
• Ubuntu 18.04/18.10/19.04 (laptop)

2019-2022:

• Manjaro w/ KDE (desktop),
• Arch Linux w/ GNOME (laptop)

2022-2023:

• NixOS (laptop, for literally a day because it didn't have a package I needed to make my laptop work correctly)
• EndeavourOS (kde on laptop, qtile on desktop)

2024:

• No changes to the desktop setup,
• NixOS w/ KDE and also a half-functioning hyprland setup on the laptop now that the package got added.

Future?

Maybe if I can get my NixOS config to a point where I'm happy with it I'll switch my desktop setup to that as well, in theory it should be pretty painless since i'm already using a flake setup split across multiple modules. I do really like that I can experiment with my setup without the risk of actually breaking anything since NixOS is semi-immutable.

If I don't stick with NixOS I've also been thinking about trying fedora, opensuse, or an immutable distro, or otherwise just moving my laptop back to either Arch or EndeavourOS since that's what I'm familiar with.

Windows 95 -> Windows 98 -> Windows XP -> Windows Vista -> Windows 7 -> Dual Boot Ubuntu -> Windows 7 -> Dual Boot Ubuntu -> Windows 7 -> Windows 10 -> Ubuntu (VM) -> Pop_OS! -> Windows 10 -> Manjaro -> Fedora -> Manjaro -> Open Suse -> Linux Mint -> Linux Mint DE -> Fedora -> Debain -> Linux Mint

Fedora → Ultramarine → Arch Linux → NixOS → dual booting NixOS + EndeavourOS → dual booting EndeavourOS + something I don't remember the name of → something I don't remember the name of → NixOS → SolydXK → NixOS → CROWZ → NixOS → Ultramarine Linux → FreeBSD → Devuan → FreeBSD → Arch Linux → Parabola GNU/Libre → Ultramarine Linux

All of that happened around September of the last year and this year! I also did not count how much I stayed in those!

Fedora was my first, it being recommended on somewhere made me install it on a USB stick, After doing so, I did the installer without knowing what it was for and ended up purging my hard drive. I did not think too much of it, and continued using it until I found about Ultramarine Linux; I was tired of the Fedora login loop that I had, so I decided to just install Ultramarine, and guess what? It happened again! I was annoyed (angry), so I installed Arch Linux instead. As expected, I had to fix stuff from time to time, which was tedious. Er, I decided to install NixOS and — Okay, I'll end it here. My hands already hurt from all the typing and I didn't think it would take this long just to write this thing. Feel free to ask anything, but be aware, I do not remember a lot about this!