Linux is the family, you’re just meeting different people at the different spots of the buffet
I switched from Pop_OS! to KDE Neon because I wanted to try out the latest Plasma features. I was tired of GNOME’s bloat and needing an extension/Tweaks for basic functionality.
Then KDE broke screen sharing, bricked my install once by breaking LUKS disk encryption, and then it booted to a black screen on updating to the latest LTS…
So now I’m on Mint and all of my servers are on Debian because I want something that just works. Lol. No more distro hopping.
How did KDE break your LUKS…? I find that hard to imagine
Also KDE Neon is a test distro (they don’t call it that from what I remember) for those who want to try out newest KDE lol
No idea. It could no longer unlock the LUKS encryption after rebooting from an upgrade. I had to work and just nuked it and started fresh. It happened on both my laptop and desktop after updating, so seems like a bad update.
im a mint user too and every few months i start distrohopping but always land back in mint. all other distros always have something that doesn’t work or is just irritating. but mint feels like home.
If Mint ever supported KDE plasma 6.2 I’d consider switching back to Mint. I just can’t stand how Cinnamon doesn’t give a crap about multi display users and gives them a “There. Good enough. Fuck you.” solution.
i read that mint used to have a kde option too but they discontinued that to reduce workload. didn’t know multi monitor setups were a problem for cinnamon though. does it work at all or lacks controls or something? are xfce and mate equally bad?
It’s good enough to work, but that’s pretty much all you’ll get. In many aspects each monitor isn’t treated separately by the DE. For example you only have one task bar and each screen gets an exact copy of it. Any minimized window will appear on all the task bars on all your screens no matter what screen that window was from. Right there it’s a big turnoff for me. I don’t remember the details but just getting a different desktop background for each screen needed a workaround solution as well. They clearly didn’t allocate any resources for the multiple display user experience. And now that I’ve gotten a taste of the insane customizability of KDE Plasma I don’t think I’ll be able to go back. 6.2 added a layer of polish to the experience that made it perfect for my uses. Which is a shame because Mint was pretty solid otherwise.
I haven’t tried xfce and mate on a multi display setup so I don’t know. But these seemed to be simpler, being made to be lightweight for less powerful setups so I wouldn’t expect them to be as advanced as Plasma for that.
Exactly why I won’t be on a distro if it doesn’t support kde.
I’ve been all over I’m on arch currently for the first time. It was nice using my PC and having to install the thing I wanted.
It was a good change.
I came from kde neon because I enjoy apt… but yay and pacman work currently so I’ll stick with it for a bit.
I can’t be bothered to learn how to build and maintain a kernel though, hence why I stay away from Arch. My “dummy-friendly” distro of choice for KDE Plasma is OpenSuse Tumbleweed. It has been rock solid for a year now except for that one time a few weeks ago when NVidia dropped the ball and fucked up their driver update. It was fixed a few days later. My only other complaint is that I wish they didn’t wait for NVidia to put the new 560 drivers in the production branch to trickle it down to us because for some reason that’s what gets supported in tumbleweed. EVERYONE who needs those drivers are impatiently waiting for just that because pre-555 drivers don’t play well with Wayland.
Fedora Plasma Spin is probably another solid choice but for some reason on my computer it just instantly bricked itself upon first update.
I use Debian as the daily and Mint on my server haha
That’s… something.
Why do you need a DE for your server?
I question your life choices.
KDE bricked my install on my main desktop after updating to the latest LTS too. No idea how that happens. I’m on opensuse leap now.
Yeah I tried Tumbleweed, but I really don’t like RPM-based distros. Mostly because I’ve been a Debian-based boi most of my life.
That’s about once every 10 days. Are you okay, op?
Sticking to Endavour OS I think, but I said the same thing about Archlinux and Mint and Neon and Debian so who knows!
Ah those days when I was all fired up and re-installed Linux at the drop of a CD-R.
This is my distrohopping log for anyone interested
Linux Mint 20.1 Xfce February 21, 2021 Zorin OS 16 Beta April 21, 2021 KDE neon May 12, 2021 Solus 4.3 Budgie August 13, 2021 Debian 11+ KDE August 18, 2021 Started Gentoo Experimentation April 27, 2024
I’m still using Debian (now Debian 12) with the exception of Gentoo on my desktop PC that I rarely use
Me:
Mint -> was too outdated
Majaro -> died
Manjaro again -> died again
OpenSuse TW
Arch (new machine)
EndeavourOS (had to reinstall after HW change and was too lazy for Arch again 😂)
No Arch? Strange…
Mind sharing your reasoning?
Anyone got advice for a Linux distro that will run good with 2 in 1 laptop (the touchscreen tablet ones) I tried an os and the keyboard was meh. Or alternatively, how I can set up an is to work best on a laptop of that kind.
I have Linux mint on my 2 in 1 laptop with touch screen, it’s been good.
I literally was up until 5a this morning helping a friend try to search and distrohop because Mint, Ubuntu, and Fedora all had issues with returning to desktop mode after being put in tablet/slate mode. Keyboard and touchpad just never reenabled. It goes into tablet mode just fine, but refuses to come out. Tons of threads about disabling the keyboard and touchpad because they don’t disable for users, almost none for enabling when put back into laptop form.
It’s their first experience with Linux and I’m super frustrated.
same here!
X380 Yoga with Mint works like a charm
How’s the keyboard?
It has one built in, but I always prefer an actual keyboard on all my devices. The touch screen one works and it’s fine.
I run EndeavourOS on a Lenovo Yoga and it works great for the most part. Only thing really missing for me is programming thr buttons on the stylus, but it’s too minor of an inconvenience to deal with IMO. Keyboard, track pad, and touch screen all work as intended.
The screen didn’t rotate for me and the keyboard was very awkward on EndeavourOS
I don’t know which distro is best, but you might want GNOME desktop for tablet. Its desktop control is ideally suited for touch and gesture methods on a tablet
Gnome devs are UX design geniuses. They made a desktop environment that is highly suitable for both touch and desktop usage (Windows wasn’t successful with that goal). It’s also beginner-friendly without being cartoonish like Windows XP.
I first realized this when I tilted my HP laptop sideways to read something on the back and the GNOME DE flipped 90 degrees to match the new up orientation. flip it other side it redid orientation, tilt thev whole laptop back resets to normal Horizontal layout. Amazing planning.
I mean, Windows does that. The Windows that came installed on the Lenovo Flex I got has really good adaptive UI. If it’s in tablet mode, the UI smoothly adjusts to be touch friendly and flipping works in any direction. That’s why I’m trying to find Linux that can be this good.
Personally i am using pop os with Wayland enabled on my surface pro 3
I’ve been using Pop Os on my Thinkpad X1 Yoga 3rd for about 2 month now. It’s great but i have touchscreen problem with touchscreen not working after i left the laptop to sleep/standby
I can’t wait to get my new laptop in November. I’m going to make my old one a Linux-only machine for all non-gaming purposes, and 100% going back to Mint.
You can get a cheap Chromebook too, I got one in front of me! 140€, corebooted with MrChromebox coreboot, runs LUKS encrypted Fedora Kinoite just fine!
Battery lasts 8h, but that thing has no storage and a pretty damn slow CPU
Thanks for the tip.
Real
Been using arch with DWM for a decade, why would I want to try anything else?
Just use Windows.
(uno reverse on ya’ll)95 it is then
[ nostalgia intensifies ]
98!
Distro hopping is for noobs.
In general you should change distro only if current one fails to meet your needs
You forgot the /S.
You should only change distros because you friggin feel like it. Don’t gatekeep man, it’s fun to try new things, especially when they are neato free and useful. Be supportive of exploration, that’s how new things get discovered.
You forgot the /S.
This isn’t sarcasm - operating system isn’t a toy. Most people aren’t using OS just for the sake of it. It’s a tool to run stuff you need for work/entertainment
Its my toy and you can’t change my mind.
You don’t represent the majority of users
I’m changing distros just to spite you.
Based
Neither do you, yet more people agree with his point of view.
And you don’t either
Thank God you don’t either.
your on a community of linux users, we aren’t the majority.
He never said he did lol
My needs are for my os to be my toy
My OS is a toy. I need to have fun with it.
Booooooo. Mr. Seriously over here.
Lighten up Francis.
People should do whatever the hell they like.
There’s no harm in trying out a lot of different distros for the fun of it if that’s what you find entertaining, and it’s educational to see the state of what’s out there.
Not needing to stay locked to a specific distro is part of why Linux is great, and very unlike Mac or Windows.
If you like being loyal then be loyal, that’s a fine choice too, and freedom of choice is what this is all about.
My need is to distro-hop.
Gatekeeping in the open source community is kinda ironic
You drive a gold '93 Corolla in base configuration, don’t you?