This is a community that is only for nerds jk. everyone who doesn't scare when seeing UNIX terminal welcome! rules:
I use NixOS on my pc, laptop, and server, although I dual-boot windows on my pc to play some games.
My phone is android, I have a pinephone but I can't get discord and other things to work well on it so it can't be my daily driver right now. (I know Matrix chat is better than discord, I even host my own instance, but everyone in my school uses discord so there's no way to switch).
Void Linux and NetBSD.
Fedora.
I've also been getting more familiar with CoreOS / SilverBlue recently.
I was using Pop!_OS for a long time, but finally switched to Fedora and I love it because it feels so up to date.
I use whatever is the best fit for the work I need to do. I mainly use macOS, and try to get away with using VM's with macOS as my host system whenever possible.
I used to be on the Arch bandwagon but after migrating to a MacBook for my daily driver computer it's mostly just Debian-based distros when the need arises, Kali for work and headless Debian for homelab stuff. I rarely boot my Windows gaming PC anymore. I do have some Windows VM's for testing exploits and payloads. And emulated Windows 95-98 machines for that OG Oregon Trail fix.
I'll probably have to go with FreeBSD for their minimal base and incredibly clean and well-documented code and utilities.
I'm currently using Nobara a Fedora fork and upgraded today to version 38 it was a bit of a stretch. I had to delete many things in my /etc/ to get GNOME 44 working. Bluetooth and the panel on the top right is a bit buggy but it works.
On my laptop I use arch with hyprland
Run Arch on my main PC. Proxmox on my home server with Ubuntu server as VM and random containers.
Arch. I got it working 3 years ago, it's still working, stable. On my main laptop, though, I'm running windows, and planning to install Fedora when I get the chance.
I'm a grumpy old man when it comes to OSes. I started on Gentoo, used Arch for a while, a few years of Ubuntu, then a bunch of different Ubuntu-based distros, Fedora and all the Fedora spins, even ran the Hannah Montana OS as a meme for a week.
Eventually, got bored of the latest shiny things and fixing the best thing ever, and am using Kubuntu with Wayland. It just works, got no complaints.
even ran the Hannah Montana OS as a meme for a week
We should both commit to exclusively using TempleOS and see who can last the longest.
My work machine is macOS as the company won't let us use Linux. My home machine is Arch Linux (obligatory "BTW") which I migrated to after Ubuntu dropped Unity and started forcing Snaps on everyone.
However, a nice shameless plug for my Terminal file manager: DF-SHOW which is designed to work on all Unix like systems.
Slackware. Though I can make most things work.
Due to computer games, my desktop PC runs Windows 11, but my dissatisfaction with Windows is growing. I use MacOS on my MacBook Pro because it works so nicely with my other Apple devices, but I need a change every now and then and try new things, so I installed Linux Mint Cinnamon on a relatively old laptop and it's a great pleasure to work on it. So at the moment I would say that Linux Mint Cinnamon is my favourite operating system.
I have tried them all. The one wo never let me down was Debian stable. I use it for 8 years now on desktop, gaming rig and server.
The ones that come close are Alpine Linux and Ubuntu LTS.
I've been on Linux Mint (LM) for like 3+ years now. I was dual booting Windows, but after not booting into Win for over a year, I wiped its hard drive and started using it as backup storage. Before that, I did the rounds (Debian, Fedora, openSUSE, Ubuntu, etc.), but mostly stuck between Kubuntu and LM. LM just seems to work the best for me. Never have any difficulties with anything and love how I can customize Cinnamon. It really just works out well for me.
My first foray was with Ubuntu and Mint, and I found the whole experience far too on-rails for me. A few years later, I made the permanent move from Windows to Arch, largely because of how good their documentation on GPU passthrough via OVMF/VFIO was. It was also an excellent opportunity to be forced to learn how my computer works.
Ironically, I almost never open virtual machines for gaming, I have come across very very little that cannot be handled by wine, ge-wine, or proton.
Void Linux is home. Plus, as soon as word got out that Windows 11 had those insane system requirements and the TPM stuff I decided I would abandon Winblows for good once 10 reaches end of life.
macOS at work and Debian on my personal computer.
EndeavourOS. It's Arch but without the faff, it just works and looks gorgeous.
I use windows because that's where I can play overwatch and fortnite. That's literally the only reason. And photoshop, but krita is almost just as good. If I didn't play games not available on Linux I'd probably use Ubuntu instead. Why? Easy to install, very customizable, better for programming, scriptable.
Fortnite will probably never work on Linux. (And to me that's a good thing lmao) But I know Overwatch works perfectly fine at least.
Following my message I tried to dual boot. Turns out my laptop is incompatible with default Nvidia drivers and my screen stopped working with it so after days of research and trying again, I had to go back to Windows, just to get the big monitor to have display.
Arch Linux. It's too convenient. The AUR hosts a massive amount of packages, wiki is super detailed and covers solutions for all sorts of edge cases. Needs a bit of tinkering to get started but once things are set up it's very stable, and still gives you a lot of freedom to tinker with your system however you want. The only other option I've considered is NixOS which has some pretty interesting features
I wonder if we could feed the AUR Wiki into a GPT and get a useful support desk for all Linux distros.
I've always just used ubuntu with i3 because I honestly dont really know what I am potentially missing out on. What is a reason to use something else?
I prefer Debian since Ubuntu is basically just a more bloated version of it.
I'm mainly using Fedora these days, but for some games I still have to dualboot Windows, which I can't say I'm enjoying. Just over an hour ago the Nvidia drivers crashed. On Windows. Repeatetly.
Anyway, I'm quite happy with Fedora but I haven't tried many OS to be honest. I prefer stability over the slight advantages other OS might have
Sometimes I wonder how people think Linux is harder than windows. It feels like every time I use windows I'm constantly fighting my computer to do anything.
I guess most non-technical people are always fighting their computer. It is really hard to watch my grandma do anything on any device, but she's managing windows pretty well compared to her android phone (with accessibility settings), because she has used it the longest. Even the tech-savvy Windows users are probably used to some windows quirks and work around them, just like GNU/Linux users open a terminal as a reflex. And if anything is different, it will always feel like fighting your OS. I think the problem is the change, not the OS
The issues I have with windows are caused by restrictions in what I am allowed to do for the most part, and that simply doesn't exist for me with Linux. Getting used to a new os is definitely difficult though. When I first switched to linux, the only reason I didn't give up was because I couldn't figure out how to burn windows onto a flash drive from a Linux machine.
When I first switched to linux, the only reason I didn’t give up was because I couldn’t figure out how to burn windows onto a flash drive from a Linux machine.
Okay, that is hilarious
Arch because my installs keep working, and I'm really used to it at this point. In the future I'd be interested in trying something like NixOS/Guix, Silverblue, or Qubes.
The mobile landscape is just a privacy clusterfuck. I flip flop back and forth between Android and iOS a lot. Maybe one day I'll take the Graphene plunge, not sure.
MacOS for work (very simple wireless packet captures, full m$ office suite with little effort). Servers are Debian, used to be Arch but I didn't upgrade enough / I upgraded too much / you get the idea and things went boom too often (Nextcloud in particular). Does SteamOS count too? I think it's pretty rad.
Do you run SteamOS on a Steam Deck, or are you just running it on a PC? Actually has Volvo even released an install ISO for SteamOS?
Aye just on the Steam Deck, but it could be interesting to run it on a beefy desktop. I spent about 6 months running only Fedora on my gaming rig and things worked pretty well. I got back into World of Warcraft and it worked awesome until they released a patch and it didn’t work for days…I was too cracked out on wow so limped back to wintendo. I’ve been wow free for 6 months now so it might be time to give it a go again.
Also lol @ Volvo releasing a SteamOS ISO, had to read that twice
Gentoo when I want to do Linux at an enthusiast level and out of technical interest, and PopOS when I just want everything to work.
Fedora… and MacOS
Linux Mint has always been my recommended for beginners to Linux and if I just want something stable and quick to set up.
Arch (usually EndeavourOS) when I want to do fun stuff.
linux mint is not good if you are trying to have new software.
Not true? Obviously rolling releases have newest software but they have their own drawbacks. Debian distros still get normal updates
I want to like macOS but Apple, IMO, is doing scummier and scummier things with it. For instance, I haven't signed in to iCloud. Once a day it seems, I'll get a little notice telling me that not all functionality will work until I've signed in. Ok.. So I click the little 'X' on the notification. It opens the settings to the iCloud setup screen. That's not what 'X' is supposed to do!
MacOS for work and most things, Windows for gaming. After years of distro hopping I am now enlightened, free stuff is free for a reason.
SteamOS on my Steam Deck is great though, and gives me hope for the future of Linux gaming, but it's not here just yet.