This is kind of the anti-distro hopping thread. How long have you stayed on a single Linux distribution for your main PC? What about servers?

I’ve been on Debian on and off since 2021, but finally committed to the platform since April of this year.

Before that I was on OpenBSD from 2011 - 2021 for my desktop.

Prior to that, FreeBSD for many years, followed by a few years of distro-hopping various Linux distros (Slackware, Arch, Fedora, simplyMEPIS, and ZenWalk from memory).

How long have you been on your distribution? Do we have anybody here who has been on their current distro for more than a decade?

  • KelsonV@lemmy.world
    4·
    1 year ago

    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.

    • unix_joe@lemmy.sdf.orgOP
      1·
      1 year ago

      Wow, probably the winner. 25 years is really cool, such a long time for one distro.

      In 1998 I tried Red Hat 5.2, but then switched to Slackware, and ended up on FreeBSD since it was like a better Slackware. I must have been all of 12-13 years old.

      I admit I never even tried Debian until Lenny, and then went back to OpenBSD.

  • PanaX@lemmy.ml
    2·
    1 year ago

    When Mint had a KDE version I used that for almost four years. Then went to KDE neon and found that to be unstable. Hopped hither and thither, finally made it back to mint.

    Having used Linux for 15 years, I just want stable now. Even user cinnamon mint was getting glitchy and updating too frequently. So I’ve been using the mint Debian edition for more than a few months and love it. IF I had to switch now, I’d just go to Debian.

  • Uno@monyet.cc
    2·
    1 year ago

    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 :/

  • Kaiser Of None@mesita.link
    2·
    1 year ago

    My main desktop computer had been running Ubuntu for 7 years until I had to do a full wipe and decided to move to arch to check it out. I never got the point of distro hopping myself really.

  • Justaregulardude2001@sopuli.xyz
    2·
    1 year ago

    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.

  • s_s@lemmy.one
    2·
    1 year ago

    My one desktop is 5 years on Manjaro now.

    Before that I had Ubuntu for 8 years across several installs, although I also dual-booted Windows back then.

    But I’ve had a freeBSD file server for at least 20.

  • tristramr@lemm.ee
    2·
    1 year ago

    I stopped having time (or inclination) to mess around with multiple distributions after getting out of college and into real life. So… Since at least about 2002, with Debian.

    • ILurkAndIKnowThings@lemmy.ml
      1·
      1 year ago

      Once I fully embraced the DontBreakDebian way of doing things, I haven’t looked back. I have 3 desktops and 3 laptops on cycles of testing, stable, and testing again depending on the current state of the testing distro. Debian + Flatpak meets most of my needs. Also, not having the latest, shiniest version isn’t always a bad thing. I have only had one major item break in testing and it was fixed within 3 days.

    • unix_joe@lemmy.sdf.orgOP
      1·
      1 year ago

      Wow, more than 20 years on the same OS.

      I would have stayed with FreeBSD or OpenBSD but eventually my requirements outgrew what they could provide.

      Now I’m on Debian. You chose … wisely.

  • tsl@lemmy.sdf.org
    2·
    1 year ago

    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.

  • pascal@lemm.ee
    2·
    1 year ago

    I distro hopped a lot since installing a retail red hat box bought at the store in 199something.

    It’s now more than 10 years that I basically only run Debian (on all my servers) and Gentoo/funtoo (on my workstations). For my partner and relatives, I install only Mint because it lacks all the cool gadgets, but it’s stable as a rock, especially on notebooks, and still reminds them of Windows.

    I tried Arch, btw. Nice wiki, horrible package management.

    I tried Pop_OS, it’s fun, it’s fine, it’s fresh, but tends to self-destruct if I push it too much.

    I loved Elementary OS, it’s really promising but always gave me the feeling to run a beta OS.

    • unix_joe@lemmy.sdf.orgOP
      1·
      1 year ago

      Sams Teach Yourself Linux in 24 hours. Christmas 1998. Red Hat Linux 5.2.

      I upgraded a struggling 486 from Windows 95 OSR2.1 to Red Hat and Afterstep, and never really looked back.