If you have been using Linux for +10 years, what are you using now?
Been using Linux for over a decade, and last few years Ubuntu (on desktops/laptops), plus Debian on servers, but been looking to switch to something less “Canonical”-y for a long time (since the Amazon search fiasco, pretty much).
Appreciate recommendations or just an interesting discussion about people’s experiences, there are no wrong answers.
Edit: Thanks for the lots of interesting answers and discussions. I will try a few of the suggestions in a VM.
debian on my server. it’s rock solid. I run a LOT of shit on it, and it rarely cracks about 4-5 GB RAM out of 32GB.
Personal gaming PC - Nobara (Fedora base with lots of gaming-specifc kernel optimizations baked in.)
Personal laptop - Linux Mint
Business laptop - Linux Mint Debian Edition
Junk/Test laptops - Void
Home lab main hypervisor - XCP-ng (Highly customized Fedora under the hood.)
NAS - TrueNAS (Debian under the hood.)
Virtual servers - Mostly Debian, but a few Alma Linux VMs to get that RHEL experience. Ubuntu Server for my self-hosted gaming servers.
Steam Deck - SteamOS (Valve’s immutable spin of Arch.)
Arch on my desktop and laptop. Debian, Gentoo, OpenBSD on servers
Arch on my personal machines, Debian on my servers.
This is also my setup. I’ve tried nix a few times on desktop and servers, but didn’t stick. Keep going back to arch and debian
Debian on everything (well except the router is on OpenWrt).
First installed Debian more than 25 years ago. Tried some other stuff, Debian is still best for me.
Ive swapped around but for now im good on Arch, I like the AUR too much and tbh it does what I need (other distros are great and I installed Debian on my families computers but for me I use Arch).
I started using Linux in 2016, I stopped distro hopping with arch and I’m using it since 2019. But I’m looking forward to try nix like OSes like guix. I see the value of it, it’s just too much hassle right now. Meanwhile I’m using aconfmgr for tracking my modifications in my system.
Debian.
voidlinux now exclusively. previously: fedora, redhat, gentoo, ubuntu (briefly when it first released), yggdrasil, SLS
Arch, diving slowly in NixOS
I started using Linux in '98 with Red Hat 5.2. I have swapped between many, many different distros. But for the last 10 years or so, I’ve mostly stuck with Fedora. It generally just works, is up to date, and I’ve never had issues upgrading on their 6 month release cycle. My desktop probably started on Fedora 20-something and has been upgraded to the latest (43) without ever doing a reinstall!
My primary computer is my Frame.work laptop running Fedora 43.
Debian stable, it works fine for a workstation and for the few games I play
If you have been using Linux for +10 years, what are you using now?
I distro-hopped every few years until about 2015. Since then I’ve been trending toward Debian for everything.
Debian on the streets (servers), Arch on the sheets (laptop).
Recently switched to Arch, the archinstall script is amazing and gets you all set up. much better onboarding nowadays and is great to use.
Idk maybe I’m bad luck but that’s always broken my computer
