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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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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.
OpenSUSE Tumbleweed. It's surprisingly stable for a rolling release distro.
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.
Probably like half a year on Mint. Don't know for certain.
I'm currently on Tumbleweed which is pretty good, though I do have some minor issues which make me want to just switch to Debian. I do work on this machine, so even minor issues are pretty damn annoying for me.
Yeah, I gave openSUSE Tumbleweed an honest try. Even put the sticker on my daily laptop. But it was annoying enough at just the most inconvenient times to get work done. Things like codec repos not being in sync, or the times that my wifi stopped working after an update (turned out to be a problem with KDEWallet).
When Debian bookworm updated to the latest KDE Plasma, I decided to go there and stay, because it was KDE that I was after, not the rolling release or anything tumbleweed specific. So now I am locked in to a stable system for the next two years, and the flatpaks let me have newer Firefox and Thunderbirds.
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.
KDE 4 really, really set the Linux desktop back for years, at a time where we could have made a strong push into the mainstream market.
Yeah, it looked really modern and was great when it worked, which wasn't too often.
I'm pretty new to Linux, committed to it 2021 and last changed to EndeavorOS (basically an arch installer + a few quality of life packages) around one and a half years ago. It recently broke on my desktop (btrfs disk full, though it didn't show as full, during update. And my snapshots were setup incorrectly). Looking into trying out NixOS on it now, my Laptop will stay EndeavorOS for the foreseeable future though.
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).
Two years, Arch. Idk why but it feels comfy. Rolling release for the most up to date bugs + the AUR 👌🏼
Pop os, for well over a year, though i wanna switch to arch, just gotta get my nas setup first, so i can move my pirateted movies and roms, and then i just gotta get the arch iso to actually work, plenty of other Linux distribution isos work, just not arch, even most arch based isos work, the reason why I'm only talking about isos is that im just building a big collection of isos but yea pop os it great just looking to change so i can get a lot more experience with Linux
I've been using OpenBSD on my desktop since about 2006ish.
Manjaro ended my distro hopping itch +10 years ago. I occasionally test distros in VM, but nothing has made me want to switch so far.
I've been running crux on my main workstation since 2014 now, and never looked back. Though nowadays, OpenBSD feels pretty appealing to me (I run it exclusively on my ~6 VPS).
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.
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.
I've been hopping between Gentoo and Arch for at least a decade and you can't stop me from doing it again >:P
(Currently using Arch on two systems, bytheway :'D Already thinking of hopping back to Gentoo on the desky one. Maybe try Funtoo. Unless there's a Funthree :thinkyface: ;P )
I have used Mandrake / Mandriva for over 10 years. Since 2010 I use Arch. So also already for more than 10 years.
Personally, I have never understood why some people regularly change the distribution. When I am interested in a distribution, I simply install it in a virtual environment for testing.
First one was SuSe, but I've been with Ubuntu since the early days... Sometimes I'll install another distro to have a peek, but I always revert to Ubuntu after a short while...Only time I felt the urge to change, was when they shipped it with unity as default...
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.
MX and Opensuse
I used Manjaro for 3 years 2018-2021 on my laptop. I think that's the longest yet. Been using EndeavourOS since, almost 2 years now.
are you me? same story
I think a lot of people switched when they started messing up. Something was breaking every couple of months, and that too for very stupid reasons. When they forgot to update their signing keys, that's when I decided that I couldn't trust them anymore.
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 :/
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.
Several years of Linux Mint on desktop and Ubuntu LTS on server.
Initially my Linux journey started with Debian. Then I tried various things for both desktop (Mandrake, SuSE, Gentoo...) and server (like FreeBSD) but ultimately went back to Debian-based things mostly out of lazyness.
It's the most well-supported distribution for end users, by far.
As my personal day-tp-day system, It looks like 8 years of Ubuntu. I have a file server that just will not die that's been running Ubuntu LTS since 2008 though.
Here's my Distro journey:
1996-1997 - Debian (Still dual booting Windows)
1997-2002 - RedHat Desktop 5.0-7.3 (Linux became my main day-to-day OS!)
2002-2003 - Crux
2003-2008 - Gentoo
2008-2012 - Ubuntu / Ubuntu LTS
2012-2014 - Mint
2014-2022 - Ubuntu / Ubuntu LTS / Xubuntu (I switched back to Ubuntu as my personal OS since I had deployed Ubuntu to over 100 systems at work, and I had a little netbook with Xubuntu)
2022-???? - LMDE 5 (Linux Mint - Debian Edition)
Still loving LMDE.
I've been on Yggdrasil Linux since 1993. Now, get off my lawn, you punks!
Many years on Arch but I've been on Fedora since 35 and I'm reasonably content with it.
I was using openbsd for a while but my work required fully functional slack.
Almost there with OpenSUSE, 9 years and counting. A new machine is running Manjaro for 2 years. I don't think I'd spend a decade with Manjaro.
I've only really used Gentoo, Debian and Ubuntu (in that order!), each for years at a time over the past two decades. I suppose it shows how progessively fewer fucks I give about the inner workings of the system.
I also tried to install a copy of... TurboLinux 6, I think? that I got from a Ham Radio swap meet as a kid sometime in the '90s, but I never got it to work.
Workstation: Ubuntu approximately 18 years. (2004)
Servers: Debian approximately 25 years. (1998)
I was on the same distro for ~10 years, roughly 2010-2020, before I got pulled into the "Apple ecosystem". (Still use Linux on all my servers, though!)
I use(d) Arch, btw 😛
I've settled on Ubuntu in 2008, but jumped between Gnome, KDE, Unity and LXDE. Then I got a Steam Deck last year and it became my main machine, so now I am not only with its Arch based OS, but I a secondary Arch SD card that I occasionally boot, if I need something not immediately available in SteamOS.
Servers? Debian Since 2019.
I think I started using Linux a bit over 4 years ago. I've been using Bedrock Linux for almost that entire time, around 3 and a half years.