This is kind of the anti-distro hopping thread. How long have you stayed on a single Linux distribution for your main PC? What about servers?

I’ve been on Debian on and off since 2021, but finally committed to the platform since April of this year.

Before that I was on OpenBSD from 2011 - 2021 for my desktop.

Prior to that, FreeBSD for many years, followed by a few years of distro-hopping various Linux distros (Slackware, Arch, Fedora, simplyMEPIS, and ZenWalk from memory).

How long have you been on your distribution? Do we have anybody here who has been on their current distro for more than a decade?

  • oldfart@lemm.ee
    3·
    2 years ago

    I used Kububtu between 2008 and around 2013, then got so fed up with KDE4 bugs I switched to Xubuntu, and am using that ever since.

    So that’s 10 or 15 years depending how you count.

    When I want to play, I start a VM, base OS needs to be rock solid.

  • KelsonV@lemmy.world
    3·
    2 years ago

    My main desktop has been upgraded continuously from RHL5 (no E) in ~1999 to Fedora 38 today.

    Well, almost continuously. I’ve done at least one fresh install, when I switched from 32-bit to 64-bit hardware.

    Edit: I have used a lot of other distros on other boxes, both physical and virtual - I’ve just stuck with Fedora on that one.

  • s_s@lemmy.one
    2·
    2 years ago

    My one desktop is 5 years on Manjaro now.

    Before that I had Ubuntu for 8 years across several installs, although I also dual-booted Windows back then.

    But I’ve had a freeBSD file server for at least 20.

  • Efwis@lemmy.ml
    2·
    2 years ago

    I originally started with Knoppix in 1998 used that unitl i9 switched to ubuntu warty warthog and following versions until unity came out in then I switched to mint as unity constantly crashed my machine. stayed with mint for like 5 years, then moved to fedora for a year, switched to tumbleweed because I got tired of the SELinux in fedora causing issues.

    Been on endeavourOS for a year now, and if i do decide to migrate a gain I will be going full vanilla arch.

    • unix_joe@lemmy.sdf.orgOP
      1·
      2 years ago

      What would be the difference between endeavor OS and vanilla arch?

      Just the setup, or is there more to it?

  • Uno@monyet.cc
    2·
    2 years ago

    I’ve been on Ubuntu ever since I switched to Linux 7 months ago, tbh I don’t understand distro-hopping. I’m not any tech wizard, and Ubuntu fulfills all my criteria: worked out of the box, worked faster than Windows, hasn’t broken yet 👍

    All I do is run Firefox and Steam on my laptop anyways :/

  • Justaregulardude2001@sopuli.xyz
    2·
    2 years ago

    I’ve been on Fedora Linux for almost a year now. Considering that I started using Linux when the pandemic started, you can figure out that it’s my distro of choice now. Also, I like that Fedora is, for the most part, quite developer friendly and had great packages and software installed when I first started using it.

  • Numpty@lemmy.ca
    2·
    2 years ago

    I’ve been using openSUSE since it’s early days when it was S.u.S.E. I started using it in the spring of 1998… so what, 25 years? I’ve used other distros on a second machine, but my main machine has always been SuSE in some form or another. Today it’s openSUSE Tumbleweed.

  • RadicalEcologist@mander.xyz
    2·
    2 years ago

    Thanks to this post i just realized I’ve been using arch for 9 years. I did hop DEs a bunch up till about 3 years ago when i settled for plasma on Wayland (on? with? Idk), but the arch ecosystem has proven the perfect balance of flexibility and stability (yes i find arch very stable). Before arch i distro hopped almost annually since about 2006.

  • pinchcramp@lemmy.dbzer0.com
    2·
    2 years ago

    I started with Linux like many, I guess, by distro hopping. My first experience was with Knoppix in the late 2000s (because I didn’t know what a live CD was), then I tried OpenSuse, went on to Fedora (is SELinux still such a pain in the ass as it was back then?) and then to Kubuntu.

    If I remember correctly I switched to Arch some time after Plasma 4 came out. About 11 years ago. It was, back then, one of the only distributions that shipped the newest stock KDE that “just worked”. Actually that might be wrong, but I didn’t know what I was doing with Linux anyways and somehow I liked Arch enough to stay. I used it at home, for work (software development) and at college. And it serves me well in all those areas (minus some minor hiccups).

    It’s still fulfilling my needs but lately I’ve been flirting with NixOS. I might change my daily driver once I get a new laptop (still rocking a Thinkpad T430 from 2012 but it’s starting to show its age).

  • theshatterstone54@feddit.uk
    2·
    2 years ago

    Honestly, about 4 months, and it was Arch. I’ve been using Linux for over a year now. Currently I’m on NixOS trying to make things work the way I want them to, but there’s still some minor issues that are difficult to deal with.

    • michael@kbin.social
      3·
      2 years ago

      Yes, I was a distro hopper up until I tried Tumbleweed for the first time. Been using it for two years now, hopped around for a year prior.

  • stormio@lemmy.caEnglish
    2·
    2 years ago

    I used Linux Mint for about a decade on all my desktops and laptops. When I upgraded my gaming desktop to version 21, I started having some strange visual issues which I spent a lot of time troubleshooting unsuccessfully. I took that opportunity to try something new. I started with Nobara, a gaming-focused distro based on Fedora, and enjoyed the experience. I then started to embrace upstream distributions, so I replaced Nobara with Fedora and my remaining Linux Mint systems with Debian. Had I not encountered the strange issue with Linux Mint 21 on my gaming desktop, I’d probably still be using it exclusively today.