Linux

Linux can be a hobby, not just a tool. If you want to have fun with a new hobby, distro hopping will have plenty to keep you busy. But if you just want something to run your computer and your current distro does it for you just fine, then you're not missing out on anything but a headache.

It's funny, I'm in an opposite situation. I don't want to distro hop, but my current one has some issues that I'm getting a little fed up with (issues that are a result of my hardware and use case) so I am working up to swapping distros to find something with fewer issues. For me, I just want my OS to be transparent. I don't want a hobby. That's why it took me so long to swap to linux in the first place.

Anyways, IMHO, unless you're really into the idea of playing with your OS as a hobby, don't let FOMO trick you into making the mistake of throwing out what works in the hopes of greener grass.

If it works for you, stick with it.

Works is a feature, not a bug.

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If you don't have any issue with mint, don't bother changing distros. Distro hopping is not necessary to enjoy linux.

"move on to something else" once I got comfortable with the OS.

I would suggest moving on to another distro if you're not comfortable with Mint. The whole purpose of distro hopping is to find which distro is comfortable for you.

You're not missing anything really. For some reason some people like to say that Mint is a good distro for beginners and imply that you should change away from it when you're more "advanced". This is really nonsense. Mint is a good distro. I switched to Tumbleweed because I found one or two things I couldn't do so easily in Mint, but if you're not having trouble there's really no reason to switch. And with tools like Flatpak and Distrobox available these days there's even less reason to distro hop.

Distro hoping is done yo find a ditro that you are comfortsble with if mint already works well for you, you should probably just stay on mint

If your use cases (a.k.a. requirements) are met by your current distro, never switch.

If you are satisfied with stability, availability of support, quick availability of security patches, never switch.

This is particularly important when you are using your Linux desktop as your daily driver.

Most you can do is to check what additional features other distros are offering (rolling release, hardened/zen kernel, x86-64-v2/3 support, file system type, user base, availability of packages, package formats, overall documentation etc.), validate if you really need those features.

If you are interested or just curious to test those features, install that distro on a VM (QEMU/KVM) to try it out first safely. Use it on VM for a while, make yourself comfortable with it. Once you are satisfied with it, only then switch.

You can always distro hop inside a virtual machine if you have the time and nothing to do.

Distro Hopping seems to be such a big part of the “Linux experience.”

It's not, it's just a way to find the distro that suits you best.

If you're already satisfied with what you have, there's no reason to change and you're not missing out on anything. If you're ever curious about other distros, install Virtualbox and try them in a VM.

I stopped distro hopping years ago when I started using Linux MX (Debian based), I'm so happy with it that I have no intention to change ever again.

The only other distro I really like is LMDE (Mint based on Debian instead of Ubuntu), so I put that one on my laptop (MX on my gaming desktop).

The goal is for it to work. If it works, you're doing it right. For some people, Mint isn't enough. For many, it absolutely is.

You’re missing out on watching a lot of progress bars while you reinstall all the time. If you like what you have, keep using it. All you get from switching is a different package manager, a few slightly different package names, maybe faster updates and a new default desktop background. You’ll still be using all the same apps, probably similar versions, probably systemd. It’s a bigger difference logging into a new desktop environment than a new distro.

You're not missing out on anything. Mint lets you install various desktop environments, they are all very well-configured and stable by default. You can just install the appropriate desktop environment meta-package using Apt:

• apt install 'task-gnome-desktop'
• apt install 'kde-plasma-desktop'
• apt install 'cinnamon-desktop-environment'
• apt install 'task-xfce-desktop'

Then you can "hop" from one GUI experience to another by just logging out and logging in with a different session. You might have to add some additional Ubuntu repositories to your Apt config to get all of these meta-packages though.

Besides the desktop environment, the only other big difference between distros is how you use their package managers, which all do the same thing anyways, just with different CLI commands.

Probably the most important thing to consider in a distro is which versions of the latest stable releases of the big Linux apps are available in their distros. Arch-based distros (Garuda, Manjaro, ArcoLinux, EndeavorOS) are the most bleeding-edge but these operating systems tend to break after a software update if you fail to update often enough. Ubuntu and Fedora are the most bleeding-edge non-rolling release distros that I know of, and in my experience they never break after a software update.

Distro-hopping might be a sign of perfectionism tbh. I think I'm a perfectionist, and I find that Arch doesn't feel right. But when I try other distros, they have weird and odd issues that Arch just doesn't have.

If you do have that itch, give whatever distro you're looking at a try in a virtual machine. Linux has virt-manager which generally works well with Linux guests, but if you use VMware for a Windows VM, that's also a good option too.

You should only hop if you know what you're missing out on, if you don't and don't have any distro-specific problems, it's just unnecessary. But if you really feel like it and have enough disk space, you can try dual-booting another distro and see which you like better.

I hopped because I wanted immediate updates and easy compiling (AUR) so I picked an Arch-based OS.

Distro hopping is pretty similar to changing instances on Lemmy. If you don't have a reason, just keep using your current account.

I used to "virtual distro hop" because I tried a lot of distros in VMs before dualbooting. I installed Tumbleweed and haven't changed ever since.

I don't regret keeping my distro, I've been curious, of course, but I think i already have it all:

• Stability
• The newest updates
• I know my system very well
• By knowing my system, I can fix most problems and I know where to go if I can't.

I sometimes try distros in VMs, but with that and Distrobox I think I already have everything I could need to learn and try them in case I need to work with them in the future :)

The time I spent "distro hopping" back in high school was because I didn't have the balls to commit to a single distro. Even then the only time I actually switched was when I made a config change that blew up in my face so badly I needed to reinstall anyway.

If you've found a setup you're happy with, by all means, stick with it. You're not missing out on much by not voluntarily erasing your boot drive and installing an entirely new OS every week or so for no reason other than it looked cool.

(If you're about to suggest dual booting multiple Linux distros, no. Just stop. I tried that once. You would not believe how many issues are caused by sharing a ~/.config between two systems with slightly different versions of the same software.)

I used to be in a similar position as you. I ditched Windows about 1.5 years ago, and I hopped around several distros for a while before settling on Linux Mint. About 2 months ago, i decided that I wanted to try out something new, not because Linux Mint wasn't working for me, but just to see if there was something else that would be fun to learn about Linux. Today, I use Arch, and my DE is basically the Linux Mint Cinnamon DE.

It's good to get familiar with a wide variety of softwares. Often, being exposed to the strengths and weaknesses of something new is a good way to broaden your experience level.

But that said, there's not a lot of point in changing things just for the sake of change. I've been running Debian since around 1998. It's fine. I like it and I'm happy with it. I tried a bunch of things over the years but haven't found anything that suits me as well, so I keep running it. The only distro that really has caught my attention as something with enough of a new thing that might be checking out was NixOS. But, if you're happy with what you're doing I wouldn't say there's anything wrong with being happy with what you're doing.

If you're comfortable with Mint and don't see a reason to switch, I don't see anything wrong with staying with Mint. If you do want to try new distros, just use a VM.

What would the benefits be of jumping to something else?

None if you want to do it just because

What am I missing?

Again, nothing if you are not needing some very specific feature that only other distro offer or something that is easier on another distro.

Can somebody ELI5 what the difference between Linux distros is? I’m ashamed to admit I don’t truly understand, aside from different package managers and DEs but even then there are only a handful of those.

If you are happy with the way things are no need to change, want to try something out ? Live CD or VM. Dual boot if you want to keep 2 systems. Mint is pretty good. I like peppermint myself. A halfway stop between mint and arch. Shit works out of the box but runs on 1 GB ram. Worth checking out if you want to get some extra out of you computer

Well if you are doing work on you computer you find rewarding and it functions I would quit while you are ahead. Getting into distro hopping and caring about Linux internals is a bit like being a car enthusiast. You can either have a car to drive it or have a car that you fart around all the time tweaking bits, replacing it, breaking it, developing strong opionons about things almost no one cares about.

So to you want to be a driver or an enthusiast? By using Linux at all you can essentially consider yourself part of the "car club", but there is a whole heck of a lot else to learn.

nah mint is a good distro, dintro hooping is to find what suit you, you found it, congrats, mayme a dual boot to tosh other distros out of curiosity

Your operating system is a tool. If the tool is doing what you need and well then you aren’t missing out on anything. If you want to try another distro, then have a project in mind that it’s is a better suited for. Otherwise, you’re just changing it up to change it up. Which is fine, but it’s better to be realistic/honest with yourself with what you’re doing. Otherwise you’ll just be chasing some nebulous concept.

You are. Reformat and install the first hardware compatible distro you find on https://distro.moe/ right now. Don't think too much about it, just do it! /s, probably?

If checking out a different distro sounds interesting and/or fun then you should. If not, then don't. Whatever way you Linux is the correct way for you.

I’ve been daily driving boring Debian since RedHat Linux 8 came out 20 years ago now. I tried switching to openSUSE and just didn’t see the point after a bit, so I switched back. The only time I’m not on Debian is when I’m playing with FreeBSD or NetBSD.

Same for DE, I’ve been using XFCE for so long that I don’t get the fuss about pretty environments.

Not hopping does not mean you’re missing out, boring can be good. Things are stable and stay out of the way of you doing actual work.

There is a quote out there somewhere about how customizing FVWM can become an obsession.

There is nothing wrong about hopping, as long as you are doing it for hobbyist reasons, at the end of day the only difference is the package manager and the DE.

Good luck

I used to think that I wanted to distro hop. Turns out that what I wanted was a bare bones OS that gave me the freedom to rice in strange and unnatural ways.

After 25(!) years of battling X11, dependency hells, and the early days of desktop compositing, I finally realized that what I wanted was Arch, and a few window managers to play with. SwayWM, and now Hyprland.

Unless you have some niche needs (real-time audio encoding) or want to play with more esoteric experiments (Nix, OSTree, etc), distro hopping is overkill.

But most distros have homogenized to the point to where all you need is knowledge about systemd to go from one to the other.

Just pick your favorite, non-snap distro and hack on it.

Hopping isn't a had thing. Find what fits ur needs. Dual boot other distros. Each offer something. Hopping only leads to having to learn other systems. If it fits, u have what u need. Everything else is noise.

Honestly, if Mint has been working fine then I see no reason that you'd need to switch. If you're curious about trying out other distros, it could be worth using a program like Boxes to try out some VM's. Otherwise, I say you keep doing whatever works well for you.

No harm enjoying a distro and being stable.

I’m a fan of Arch and derivatives but I need better odds of shit just working. Been running Mankato on desktop for some time to get both stable ish packages and also AUR as/where needed.

For servers, it’s Debian all the way for me. Ubuntu does some things I don’t personally love - no offense to the distro, it’s well constructed - and the recent ish changes in the RPM world didn’t sit well with me - strictly personal opinion.

Anything in a container generally runs on whatever the image was built with. It’s only a minimal pain to port simple dockerfiles, but when you get into multiple linked containers, that risks edge case bugs down the road.

Honestly, between the lot of it, I use a pretty representative sample - I think alpine on desktop would be kind of pointless to say the least, doesn’t mean I’m going to forego any container built on it.

Use case is a huge factor here, as is ability to grok multiple distros concurrently. I find that easy, but plenty of people don’t. For them, maybe rebuilding that image makes more sense.

Linux is all about doing what works for you and your use case.

FWIW, pacman doesn’t resonate nearly as well as pamac does with me. Probably because I haven’t had to dive deep into it. All about what works for an individual. If that’s stability on an Ubuntu derivative, great - Linux is Linux, in that context.

Don't. Arch, Ubuntu, Debian, OpenSUSE, and Fedora are used in the exact same way. Pick one of them and then trf different desktop environments, if you want you can download the configurations for distro from their source code

It sounds like you need distrobox and KVM.

If it aint broke, don't fix it.

I have used arch on this same install since 2019, before that, 2016. (Just because I wanted to get my old system back ASAP and was comfortable with the process)

If I had to do it over, I would test out openSUSE tumbleweeb or endeavor, but if you have your system that works and you like it, there is absolutely nothing to gain by switching.

If you just want to explore or do it as a hobby, use an old SSD and test out different configs on a seperate drive (you can pick up a 128 or 240GB SSD for like $25) but the only differences are package managers and DE.

Like some have mentioned, if you want to try different distros setup a VM (I would recommend KVM for better performance, but virtualbox is easier for beginners in VMing) with the iso of the distro you want to test out.

Like this you can keep a functional system without the hassle of having to setup on baremetal just for testing and having to go back again if doesn't pay-out.

Also would suggest messing around with more tech-savy setups like debian and fedora (specially minimal ones) if you want to delve deeper into the Linux nerdiness.

I switched from mint because I didn't like cinnamon and wanted to try kde without going through the process of replacing a de. It was worth it because it like using my computer a lot more when I can make the de pretty

I've only felt the need to change distros once, from Linux Mint to EndeavourOS, because I wanted Wayland support. I realize there were ways to get Wayland working on Mint in the past, but I've already made the switch and have already gotten used to my current setup. I personally don't feel like I'm missing out by sticking to one distro, tbh. If you're enjoying Mint, I'd suggest to stick with it, unless another distro fulfills a specific need you can't get on Mint.

Mint is basically Debian on easy mode so figure out if you're ready to change the difficulty

What I tend to do that scratches the distro-hopping itch is I keep an external drive with a bunch of virtual machines on it that I can spin up and tinker around with as needed, like little specimen jars lol. I think I have about 5-6 on the go at the moment. So like my actual computer runs Arch (btw), but I have VMs for NixOS, OpenSUSE, Mint and so on, as well as another one that's as close to my main system as possible so if I want to try a weird experiment I can try it on there first to see what breaks. Just today I tried upgrading it to Plasma 6 to see what broke and the answer was everything lol.

I used to keep ones for Mac and Windows on the go too, but they tend to eat up a lot of drive space.

I guess this is to figure out what is also possible on Linux, and getting to know that not all problems or missing features apply to other distros.

Sometimes you can lwarn amazing stuff, like a KDE distro can be customized to your liking while a Gnome desktop is a nearly forced workflow and design but can be slightly changed with buggy extensions.