r/DistroHopping

So, I am currently planning a computer build and plan to use a Linux distro as the OS, as I am tired of Windows lack of customization and AI slop. Originally I was going for Nobara, however I found out the distro is mainly maintained by one guy for his dad and himself, which is great, but I want to use a distro that has a little more backing (indie is fine, just more than one person).

This led me to considering Kubuntu, which is just a KDE desktop running Ubuntu. Canonical is a big company, so its backing is substantial compared to Nobara. That was until I learned of Canonical's plans to implement AI into the OS. From what I understand, they plan to implement AI by having it installed by default, just letting you uninstall it post install, which I do not like (I don't want to have AI slop on my computer in the first place). I already was a bit hesitant on Kubuntu because of Snaps, which sound pretty much like a worse version of flatpack with a propitiatory app center, so this made me rule it out.

This led me to do some more researching and asking around, where I found a few other distros to consider. Bazzite was the first recommended distro I came across and though it sounds great, I don't like the atomic system, so I ruled that out.

The next one I came across was CachyOS, but I am hesitant as from what I've read it is pretty much an Arch Linux distro with a GUI installer and presets. The updating and maintenance seemed too difficult to manage, so I ruled it out.

Finally, I have come to Fedora. From what I've heard, the main issue with Fedora is that it requires downloading proprietary firmware and repositories as well as a few other minor things to do after installation. This doesn't sound too difficult and I've found a guide to help get it set up post install to help (I'd link to it but I'm not sure if that's allowed here so I'll just say its called Fedora Noble Setup on Github).

I am aware that Fedora is looking into AI too, however my understanding is that they are planning for it to be a separate thing (opt-in instead of opt-out), where you can choose whether you want to install AI features after install of the OS. This would mean I don't have to have it installed without my consent and have to remove it manually.

The computer will be used for gaming, editing video via Blender, art stuff (all software is Linux compatible) and web browsing. I believe Fedora should be able to fulfill all of my needs, however I thought I'd ask here in case there is something I don't know.

Is Fedora a good choice for me? If not, what else should I look into? Any insight is appreciated! Thanks!

When you set up a new Linux distro, how do you bring over your personal configuration? The apps you need, the screen layout and look, etc?

It the old Unix days it was easy: you copy over a few dot files and you're set. I've got Chez Moi set up doing that fine. But the problem I've run into is a lot of modern Linux desktop apps are unruly and create lots of files, some of which can't be successfully copied over. It's not like you can just bring all of ~/.config over and call it a day. I'm particularly having trouble with KDE Plasma apps that way.

The other thing I've run into trying out distros is that everything's just a little different. Like the way you install Chrome or 1Password or even Steam is different from stock Fedora to Bazzite to Nobara. I feel like with every new distro I end up having to spend several hours getting it set up the way I like.

I switched from Bazzite to Fedora because my graphics card (AMD bought specifically so I could smoothly switch to Linux) died while running Bazzite. The card was replaced under warranty and it was almost definitely nothing to do with the OS but I’m the anxious type so it took me many months to return to Linux at all and I was too nervous to go back to Bazzite.

However with the range of attacks on Linux recently, I’m wondering whether an Atomic distro like Bazzite would offers extra security protection that seems increasingly important.

Interested in others’ take on this.

I'mma start distro testing in linux till I find perfect one and put on main laptop. Today is linux mint and it was a 5.5/10 cuz it's ez and looks like windows. So byeeee and see ya on next distro: Debian. After Debian I'll go for Fedora and so on

Hi everyone,

I currently have a Lenovo IdeaPad 5 2-in-1 powered by an AMD Ryzen AI 7 350 with integrated graphics. I’ve already installed Fedora on it, but the battery life and general performance haven't been great out of the box, so I’m looking to try another distribution.

I’m open to any suggestions, but I have a few specific requirements for my workflow:

*Stylus/Pen Support:** Since it's a 2-in-1, reliable touchscreen and pen input (for note-taking and sketching) is a must.

*MATLAB Compatibility:** I need MATLAB for my studies. I know it's officially supported on RHEL/Fedora and Ubuntu, but it can be a pain on rolling releases. If you recommend an Arch-based distro, please let me know how to make MATLAB stable there without using a VM.

*Battery Life & Performance:** I need a distro that plays nice with modern AMD Ryzen AI and power management without draining the battery.

What distros would you recommend for this specific hardware?

Thanks in advance!

I'm new to Linux and installed CachyOS about a month ago and i'm loving the experience. I love exploring all the tools and customization options that Linux offers. But I also have a serious problem with organization and feel like my system is getting a bit messy with all the packages I install for fun and their configurations. I've heard that NixOS's configuration system is amazing, centralized, and secure (I'm particularly interested in the packages file). Therefore, I'm thinking of migrating to it, but I'm a bit worried about performance and would like to know if there's a significant difference between CachyOS and NixOS. I chose CachyOS mainly because of the kernel and package optimizations I've heard it has, but I don't know if that makes a really noticeable difference compared to other Linux distributions.

I’m running Fedora on my desktop and openSUSE Tumbleweed on my laptop, both with GNOME, mainly for development work.

I’m curious if others do this intentionally:

• Fedora for reproducibility and stability
• Tumbleweed for newer toolchains and packages

Do you run into issues with version drift in tooling (Python, Node, Rust, etc.) across distros, or do you containerize everything anyway (Docker/Podman)?

Hi r/distrohopping, I need some advice.

I've been on CachyOS as my first linux distro and my dip into linux for a few months now, and I think I generally like it. Pacman and the AUR seem pretty useful, and I like the customization I can get in KDE. However, I'm having some frustrations with the rolling release schedule (and I think it's Arch not CachyOS but correct me if I'm wrong)

I've switched from Windows and I really like how much I can customize my desktop environment, and I like how easy CachyOS was to spin up despite all the fearmongering about Arch. I know Cachy is per-configured Arch so I skipped a lot of the Arch pain, that's fine with me as a newcomer.

My frustration point is that my desktop customization skins and settings I have setup seem to break about 50% of the time when I run a system update, and it is kind of annoying to fix it every time. I just have a simple skin on, and something that has stopped me from going deeper down the customization rabbit hole has been this fairly consistent breakage that happens when I run an update. There are updates to run seemingly every day, sometimes multiple times a day, and I don't love it.

Coming here then to ask a question: Should I switch to a fixed release distro? Maybe some version of Debian or Fedora like Zorin or Bazzite? I think I like Arch, but open to trying other things. Or is there a way I can harden some of my customization settings to make them less likely to break when I run an update?

On a ThinkPad T14 Gen 5 if that matters. Thanks!

I want to try out Linux but don't know anything about it.

I don't plan on using it it on my main rig for now.

The maschine I have for it is a Lenovo ThinkPad 15 Edge.

My only Linux experience so far is making and using a truenas server.

tried a bunch of distros over the years. ubuntu, debian, manjaro, even tried arch twice and gave up. third time stuck

heres why it finally clicked

why arch this time: wanted a window manager setup and arch was the only one with good hyprland documentation. everywhere else felt like piecing together stuff from 2019 forum posts. the arch wiki actually has current information and that matters more than people admit. also liked that it ships bare bones. you build exactly what you need nothing more

what i actually use daily:

• hyprland for the wm
• waybar for the status bar
• fuzzel for launching apps
• ghostty terminal
• neovim for coding
• obsidian for notes
• zen browser because firefox was getting bloated

when im feeling lazy with frontend work ill open cursor for a bit. comes back to neovim eventually though

what almost made me leave: nvidia. if you have an nvidia card and you want wayland good luck. ive heard 2026 has improved compatibility but amd is still the smoother path for linux wayland

the part nobody talks about: people definitely do talk about the first few weeks being hell but nobody talks about the why. the arch install guide is thorough but it assumes you know what you dont know yet. thats the trap. you dont know what you dont know so you dont know what to google. everyone focuses on the brutal install but the real adjustment is the week after when you realize you have no idea how anything works

the second week is when it starts making sense. by month two you realize you actually understand your system for once instead of just hoping the update doesnt break it

would i recommend it: only if you actually want to know how your computer works. if you just want a computer that works get mint. if you want a computer that works the way you want it to work and youre willing to put in the time arch is worth it

for me the tradeoff was worth it. been 1.5 years now and nothing has broken that i didnt break myself

As a long term (non-technical) windows user I want to switch to Linux. And would like some advice on a distro. I have tried many and have found some things that I like and dislike. Also, NVIDIA drivers are not an issue, I have an AMD card.

Things I know I want:

- KDE Plasma, hands down my favorite DE

- Ability to play steam games (Ik this is most distros)

- Support for containers (I will need to run Siemens NX in a windows vm, it has to be this CAD program as it’s the one my school pays for)

- Something that I mostly don’t have to tinker with to get working everyday. Thinking comes with Linux, but I’m not a coder, (AKA no arch btw)

Things that would be nice:

-Debian based, this isn’t necessary art but I would prefer to move away from red hat. However, if fedora is the way then fedora is the way.

- no or opt-in telemetry

- online community that can provide support if asked nicely enough (or better yet has docs I can read)

From these criteria I think I am left with three options, Zorin OS, Debian, or Fedora. I have tried all but zorin. Debian was good, but it felt constraining in its philosophy of stability over usability. Debian has incredible community support and documentation. However, I am not knowledgeable enough to understand all of its documentation (though this is probably my fault.) as for fedora I really liked it, up to date with lots of support. I don’t love red hat and I did have some issues getting containers and some steam games to work on it. Zorin seems like a good option but I know little about it.

If you all can provide some feedback, suggestions and help it would be much appreciated. I will try to answer any questions as they arise. May the war in the comments not be too bad :)

TLDR: want system with KDE for beginners that runs containers for CAD programs with relative ease.

I have a Toshiba Satellite L500 with an Intel i3 M330 (gen 1), 8gb ram, 1gb ram (ati radeon 4650), and a 240gb ssd (wd green 2.5 sata II). I installed Linux Mint xfce on it and the poor machine suffered. It ran fast it just couldn't run many things at the same time. Giving it a 7gb swapfile doubled performance, but although it was faster than the bootleg windows 10 (a barebones version, you could say) I had on it, mint still could not run as many things at the same time as windows 10.

Everything was up to date on xfce (drivers, updates and whatnot). Considering this, what Linux distribution could I get that allows me to have 20+ tabs open on chromium/Firefox/etc.; have libreoffice running, and Spotify playing (ideally also have google drive synched through a tool similar to that one mint has)?

For a better idea of the struggles I faced with mint xfce, refer to my 2 previous posts.

It can be said that I have some ease with most distros. The furthest I went was to get to Void Linux, it's a bit complicated, but I managed to make it work.

I need something to cure this disease of distrohopping. I don't feel comfortable with old packages that neither Debian nor Mint have. I know that all distros would work fine once I installed the nvidia drivers, but I wanted to hear the opinion of those of you who have or have had old hardware, where did you feel at home?

I basically play some games, study, surf the internet and watch movies and series.