Ask Linux

For the most part it is more fun to talk about changing between things and comparing them than just picking something and using it for awhile. I know this is a silly point but you are basically seeing people who enjoy that kind of thing (all the more power to them) naturally dominating the conversation.

Think about it like internet car forums, if you search up virtually any brand of car you can find online communities that dominate discussion about said cars but paradoxically the vast majority of people who drive those cars will never interface with that community once or necesssarily care what they talk about. They just drive their cars.

It can't be generalized into a single reason but distro hoppers have been around for as long as there has been more than one distro.

For some, it's that the grass always seems greener. For others, they follow a flavor that touts something that they resonate with(no non-free elements, media -centric, gaming, a certain desktop) . For a lot, it's exciting to see new stuff and it's free to try.

In the 90s and early 00s, I had a habit of moving a lot but for the last two decades, I've hated moving and my desktop looks the same. I just want it to work and I'm ok with not rolling a new distro every time one pops up.

Mint will treat you well(I run it on mine). It's very friendly to those new to Linux and the community is active and helpful.

Lots of long-winded answers here. I started with Ubuntu almost 20 years ago. I bounced through a bunch of distros and stuck with Xubuntu until I switched to Mint 10 years ago. I only moved to Fedora this year because I wanted to play games with my new video card and didn't want to wait the couple of months for the newest kernel.

Just pick one and roll with it for a while. You will eventually decide what you like and need and either modify it to your needs or move to a different distro.

Basically just nitpicking and opinions. Pick whichever one you feel is the most appealing and see what happens. You can hop to another if you think the grass might be greener elsewhere.

I started off with Slackware. It was the only distribution back then.

I switched to RedHat, as it offered better comfort. Then, when RH turned their eyes on commercialization, I moved to SuSE. I switched computers and learned that Nvidia and SuSE was a bad combo, and switched to Kubuntu. Kubuntu is my current distro because it uses Plasma/KDE, but i seriously dislike that snap shit. Maybe I move on to other pastures.

I really don't want to waste time using Mint if I'm just going to have to reinstall something else because it turns out it is bad for gaming or doesn't support many devices or something.

I suspect that the distro hopping crew that debate the merits of distros here are a vocal minority.

There's two popular distros: Bazzite, and "Mint because I already bought a SteamDeck."

You sound like one of us. We can go a long time without switching distros. I think you will be happy on Linux Mint, if you buy a SteamDeck.

Joking aside, Steam runs fine on Mint, for me, because I don't have an Nvidia graohics card.

Last time I tried, more of my game collection was equally fine on Steam as on Windows. The hassle to get a poorly made game working was about the same between Windows and Linux.

I mostly game on my SteamDeck now. SteamDeck is a console and feels like one. "SteamDeck Verified" games generally just load and play great.

I have had more and more serious issues with Official Nintendo Switch cartridges on my Switch than with SteamDeck Verified games. (And very few of either.)

Unlike a console, sometimes games that didn't work well on SteamDeck get a patch that makes them play amazing (which never happened for me on consoles.) I think this is because game developers pursue the "Verified" badge for better sales.

Edit: Have you considered the "Steam Machine"? We (SteamDeck players) think it is going to be a popular choice for folks who just want a PC that can game, out of the box. Usual disclaimer: no one seems to know what it will cost, yet.

Edit 2: To be clear, the vast majority of my game library runs nicely on my Linux Mint PC.

More of my games than run nicely on my Linux Mint PC than on my SteamDeck. The most common reasons a game gets ranked "SteamDeck Playable" (below "Vetified") are small fonts and needing a mouse - which are not issues on my Linux Mint PC.

I would still play all of my games on my Linux Mint PC, except that now I have a SteamDeck.

Did Linux Mint cause me to buy a SteamDeck?

I guess so. "This, but portable" was a pretty good sales pitch, to me.

In some distros you get more choices but have to put in more work or time. This is also influenced by some packages you need/want.

I used Ubuntu for a long time but wanted to try out KDE and looked around. I picked Garuda Dr460onized because I like how colourful it is by default.

I think your example of Mint as someone coming from Windows is a good example how distros differ and why people switch because Mint isn’t necessarily the best for everyone coming from Windows in every case. ZorinOS looks and feels more like Windows 10. So for someone who wants that same feel but maybe they don’t want the Microsoft telemetry, ZorinOS is a good fit for them. Whereas Mint is better for someone who doesn’t want any of it and wants a new OS but wants the simplicity of a UI. Then you have AuduinOS made by a former Microsoft dev that looks even more like Windows 11, like almost an exact copy in a lot of ways. With ZorinOS being more like Windows 10.

And then you have the others like Pop_OS!, Bazzite, SteamOS, CachyOS, and Nobara that are gaming focused and include things like Steam installed or given the option to install Steam when you install your OS.

And then you have others like Arch that give more choices but can feel intimidating. Some people want their hand held during installation whereas others want to be given X Y and Z as options they get to set up all on their own.

And then you have some like immutable distros like Bazzite and SteamOS that give you the freedom of Linux but with a more stable experience. You can’t change too too much, but you can change more than Windows.

Some people want GNOME, some want KDE Plasma, some want Cinnamon, some want X11 and some want Wayland, some want GRUB and some want…so many layers of options to choose from and different distros offer different combinations to choose from. I’ve hopped around on distros and gotten used to these just by checking them out. In some cases, I hopped to a distro just to see what the fuss was about like with VanillaOS which had tons of features, but ultimately wasn’t my thing since it didn’t come with something I wanted out of the box and I didn’t feel like configuring it on my own.