Why Do We Hop?

[@TheLinuxCast]

Check out our merch! shop.thelinuxcast.org 0:00 Intro 2:35 Our Week in FOSS 2:44 Tyler's Week 5:25 Matt's Week 15:07 Why Do We Distro Hop? 32:10 A Rant About AppImages 47:11 You Should Distro Hop 50:50 Nuggies of the Week 51:19 Tyler's Nuggie 52:43 Matt's Nuggie 57:16 Contact Info and Goodbyes

[@wyfyj]

I have still been enjoying my time with Nix.

[@wyfyj]

The Gentoo community is still here! We are very very small tho

[@sotecluxan4221]

Phps pretty appalling, I assume...

[@FilthyPitDog]

Gentoo user checking in here

[@jamesyoung151]

Gentoo user also checking in.

[@redrush-hp9li]

Ye using gentoo sometimes

[@loftypancake]

Debian bookworm with kde plasma finally seems to have put an end to my hopping tendencies

[@chrisMuc1966]

I am missing the golden times, when this podcast had 4 participants. Especially the huge knowledge of Josh is a priceless treasure.

[@MartinKuhlen]

I totally agree. It was more interesting and much more fun to watch.

[@k.b.tidwell]

I think that "NUKE AND PAVE!" is my life's mantra. Why do I distro hop? Literally every point you made, Matt. It's a fun, satisfying hobby to me that feels productive even though it's not because I'm learning and experiencing new facets. I do really enjoy that feeling of creating something out of nothing. Taking the blank slate and making a nice system out of it. I also enjoy distro hopping because even though it's all Linux, every dev team has a different philosophy on life and different ways to be productive, and I like to experience those nuances. If only there was a build-your-own distro site somewhere, where I could pick all of the neat features from all of the neat distros and mash them all up into a megadistro! I go back to those distros that gave me problems because I always figure that the bug hunters have eventually fixed all the problems and THIS time it will be perfect! I tell ya, if you run enough distros long enough you'll begin to pick up on the tiniest differences that really make a difference in usability, efficiency, and enjoyment.

[@k.b.tidwell]

@@lain9719 that's one I haven't tried...but I will. 😁 Thanks!

[@user-oz9tn2td3q]

I use NixOS btw. NixOS makes switching configurations so easy that it safely contains my hopping impulse in one Distro. I have my system set up so that switching DEs is a single command, so whenever the new GNOME or KDE or whatever comes out I can try and switch back like it never happened. Not to mention the repositories! Nixpkgs is the largest of any Distro and if it isn't in there, there's probably a flake...and if there isn't, it is surprisingly simple to make your own.

[@vinnyfromvenus8188]

LOVE IT OR LIST IT MENTIONED!! MY LIFE IS NOW COMPLETE

[@glebglub]

love how in your rant about app images, you're basically talking about how Mac handles : generally for mac has you mount a .dmg then open the thing inside it which opens a window which is just a drag n drop into the Applications folder and then it appears in your dock/applications thing (or you can just open the .dmg and drag it to the applications folder yourself IF YOU CAN FECKIN FIND IT). if it's cross-platform with windows THEN you get a wizard lol

[@ElHua]

I used to distro hop for the sole reason that there are distros that I have not used yet. I have 5 computers in my house. Two gaming PCs, two laptops, and a dedicated Jellyfin server. The gaming desktops run Garuda and Mint respectively, the laptops have Windows11(for the wife) and Endeavor, and the Jellyfin server is running on Ubuntu. I have tried Manjaro, Kali, Fedora, Nobara, Pop!, Lubuntu, OpenSUSE, Gecko, and Zorin. After trying everything I found that I don't particularly care about the distribution, but I enjoy KDE Plasma and Cinnamon much more than any other desktop environment. So I have settled on Mint, Garuda, Endeavor, and Ubuntu.

[@nomadic_shadow]

I've never related to you more, Matt. I'm the exact same way. I love the install process. When I used to be a windows user (ew) I would reinstall it all the time if it was ever running slowly or something. When I learned about linux many years ago I did the exact same thing x1000 because of all the distros. That process alone was how I learned how to use Linux.

[@rjawiygvozd]

I think it makes sense to use nixos as a normal distro if you just want an immutable distro with more flexibility, it's kind of like Silverblue for arch users if you look at it like this. Also you don't need flakes and home manager at all to use it so you don't have to "get" any of that weird stuff, it's just a distro.

[@pasukon2]

the easiest way to think of flakes is simply package management for *nix code*

[@htx80nerd]

We like to 'tech tinker' and distro hop is part of that. Changing themes, trying new editors, etc. All tech tinkering.

[@tommynaugle3572]

emacs/vim analogy for nix is a good way to think about it

[@CluelessGeek]

16:28 to 18:36 was the best part

[@htx80nerd]

Sometimes I distro-hop instead of trouble shooting because some linux issues you can trouble shoot for 3 days and get no where because no one on google has the answer. Better use of time to just use a distro that works.

[@leeh.1900]

It's not stupid Matt...that's why I hop. Or actually, I'm on the wagon now....haven't hopped for about 9mos. For some weird reason, I too enjoy installing the different OS'es and getting them setup...and then in 2 weeks abandoning that distro :)

[@deultima]

I think it's my ADD too. I just love building a fresh install and look for any excuse to start fresh with something new. Every one of my computers is running a different distro on it. I honestly change my laptop distro at least every month or two.

[@ericodionneviglione9426]

This "hopping" reminds me of Night of the Lepus (1972)--best sci-fi film of all time. Heehee :)

[@phonewithoutquestion80]

I hop back and forth from Debian to Fedora. Nice to live on either side tbh.

[@Saturn-OS]

I distro hop a lot but I always come back to pop os. It has a few things that bug me and annoys me but doesn’t do it that often. I still can’t wait for the new version and new desktop.

[@danmac_au]

The thing I like about nix and all immutables desktops is I install a lot of shit using random guides on the internet and I develop stuff using different versions of python and go, so the ability to install a whole bunch of shit and then reboot and it's clean again. On my ubuntu box now I use distrobox for a similar thing, I can spin up a debian bullseye with go and write my code, then destroy if I need to.

[@Tn5421Me]

the grass is obviously greener on the other side, don't you know?

[@ordinaryhuman5645]

That's only because the other guy takes care of his grass.

[@donkey7921]

@@ordinaryhuman5645 they could just be painting it green, and you only notice after getting close.

[@gregcampwriter]

I want my primary computer to be boring. Interesting means that it's not working, and not working means that I'm not getting things done with it.

[@gregcampwriter]

I did some reading and installed Cinnamon Mint on my PC. I tried Manjaro for my laptop, but that didn't seem to work with the hardware, so I put Cinnamon Mint on that machine, too. When I get a new PC, I'll probably try other distros on my current computer, but Cinnamon Mint is my lasting choice for a primary OS.

[@ringo8410]

Feeling comfortable with your OS is a good thing that we should encourage. A lot of people feel perfectly comfortable with Windows, which is a big reason why people don't switch to Linux. I totally get the arguments for hopping, but I just see it as one tool or OS not necessarily being any "better" than another as long as I'm comfortable with it.

[@jimmym8741]

because we can

[@warthunder1969]

Interestingly I have to use the flatpak of Kdenlive to maintain compatability with the Mac system I have kdenlive on

[@Kneedragon1962]

Q: "Why do you Distro hop?" A: I kinda do and I kinda don't. I run Mint + Mate and have done for about a decade, but I also run VirtualBox, and have roughly a dozen guests. One is a copy of Window$ (just need to keep an eye on them) and the others are all fairly popular Linux distributions. Like Arch and Endeavour and Ubuntu and so on. Why? Sorta like Windows ~ I like to keep an eye on them. I don't need to disto-hop, that's a little bit like too much hard work, but if you have one in a VBox .... You do get some idea what it's like to use, and over time, you get a very good idea how well maintained & stable it is.Linux Mint + Mate ~ I'm happy here. It is stable, it's easy to use, I know it well, and it does what I want my daily driver to do. And it usually doesn't give me rude shocks. The few times it has, it's always been the nVidia driver thingie. Or something stupid that I've done. Arch based distros fall over sometimes, but they don't have that all to themselves. Good solid dependable Debian based things, they can have an off day or a week too. Debian stable is stable, but Debian testing (sid) can go very pear shaped too. It's rare, but it can & does happen.

[@SirSomnolent]

I maintain 3-4 different desktops and laptop env and constantly sync up home dir for configs, nvim and such. Nix probably would be a good fit and alternative to some bash scripts for packages and tars but... I don't really want to learn something so distro specific

[@conjurermast]

I really dislike the idea to install appimages by clicking on them, I'm the kind of boomer that preferred to just run .exe files in the dos/early Windows days. The whole idea of installing on Windows is just disgusting to me. Put useless garbage into the registry for no reason & then make your user read the EULA & agree to it, fantastic.. (well okay, in the olden days it made sense to decompress files during install, but now most apps decompress their data during runtime anyway) However what Tyler said is a very good idea. Just have an appimage folder in the home directory that gets automatically parsed by a demon for system-wide app integration, if that's what the users want. edit: TIL appimaged exists, facepalm. :-D

[@htx80nerd]

Linux Mint 'just works' out of the box.

[@zsytssk5176]

Why Do We Hop? that‘s the energy we can’t put other places.

[@DefCantGame]

the stackoverflow mention made me think. "i wish for ai to eventually put stackoverlfow out of its misery, its been ruined for a long time by elitist" The amount of times I've gone through needing answers for something ans searching the questions and seeing nothing but people flaming the OP for asking a question or just spamming that its a duplicate question when clearly there is no question on the topic..... end of stack rant. Distro hopping is healthy even if you end up on your first distro in the long run. It gives you the ability to see what is missing in your distro or what you really need in your distro that may not be in any other

[@k.b.tidwell]

Funny you say that about ending up on your first distro again. I started with Mint back in 2014 because it was being trumpeted from the housetops as the greatest, and it was nice. Trying to figure out what I really wanted and looking for that perfect distro that did things just the way I like it, I went through well over fifty distros up through last year. I finally found my perfect distro (for now) in Linux Mint lol. I actually moved on past that to LMDE6, but it's a little more rough around the edges, so I'm back to Mint. Cheers!

[@DefCantGame]

@@k.b.tidwell love to hear that. My thing is I work in IT so I have to support windows Mac and mostly Ubuntu servers and some arch stuff in the office. But at the end of the day I love helping people get on Linux cause it gives you an appreciation to be able to learn it. And it’s like the saying if you love it you gotta let it go if it’s meant to be it’ll come back. Happy to hear mint is working great for you

[@sotecluxan4221]

Not at all, I used a distro for some time, faulted, continued w. Win10.

[@magnificoas388]

If you want to understand flakes you should first ask yourself: what are the main benefits of using nixos?

[@ndudman8]

show notes empty... no things of the week links ? what was that tylers yanh helper called.

[@TheLinuxCast]

Nh

[@chairman67]

I absolutely loathe going through the post install process of setting up, theming, ricing, tweaking the settings etc etc, and installing the apps, and doing this that and the other.. and so yes, I do not like distro hopping and will avoid it if at all possible. Just got done with a Mint install on a friend's laptop.. was not enjoyable for me but my friend is very happy with it. I prefer rolling over point release & fresh installs. Arco is my daily OS.

[@sotecluxan4221]

Sure, even just setting up the browser is pretty time consuming!

[@NoLoginIdea]

Because Simon says.

[@MFTAQ]

I love the concept of the Fedora atomics but I settled with Matt's favorite Linux Mint

[@Aoitori365]

what fantasy book were you reading?

[@STONE69_]

Went from Debian to Arch, then for something more stable than Arch, Linux Mint Xfce, fast smooth and stable.

[@ShaneSemler]

Why? I don't. I find a distro that works for me and I stick to it. Until it no longer works, then I find another one that does. Fortunately, it's generally years between distro changes. The OS isnt the end goal, I want it to work for the things I want to do. Unlike Windows or Mac, that's not even an option. So hop away, but it's not for me.

[@tylerdean980]

I try different distros to be exposed to more software, theres plenty of things i never would have found or seen otherwise. Plenty of cool aliases too. Hell ive stolen half my configs from Garuda. Once youve tried all of Linux, time to hop to BSD

[@KatzRool]

imagine hopping ever

[@farqueueman]

I don't hop. I just use one distro.

[@EasyGameEh]

unnecessary distrohoping is ultimately procrastination which is in turn a psychological defense and cope mechanism. normal, healthy happy person won't do this on a regular basis - it's like renovating your office every three months. you either move on or do it to avoid something else. ps: for those cases when you need to just fix something it just shows how true it just works statement really is.

[@LINUXBANDIT]

When you run out of podcast ideas always room for tinycore plus episode. Lol

[@aMartianSpy]

Once you hop You cant stop

[@zeocamo]

WHY all the hate of Distros, now Matt don't like Nix too, Arch, mint, POPOS and now Nix???

[@afroceltduck]

It's not that he hates them (he's said repeatedly the past few episodes that he thinks Arch is a good distro). It's more that they don't work for him and the way he uses a computer and his tolerance for annoyances that pop up.

[@meskes4059]

I’m one of those corporate shills. I really only run Fedora on my workstations and RHEL on my servers. I don’t distro hop any more. I just want to get shit done; distro hopping doesn’t allow for that.

[@k.b.tidwell]

Yeah, I get you completely. It's hard to get writing done when I'm setting up a different flavor every other day. I did it intensely for a couple years, then I just bought a cheap older Thinkpad, several cheap SSD's, and that's one of my cheerful little hobbies when I'm relaxing. My main machine never gets molested any more.

[@chrisnelson414]

We hop because we mess up our current system and don't know how to fix it. So we load up something different as excuse. "I didn't like that distro anyway..." 🫤