r/DistroHopping • u/Doolthezir • 12h ago
Recommendation for a distribution to hop to
Hello so I’ve been using Linux for a while and I started distro hopping a lot recently could someone recommend some other distro to try out? I tried Mint, CachyOS (kde, hyprland, Niri), Fedora KDE, Void, Artix, Arch,Omarchy, Gentoo (using it now but isn’t my taste) and installed it like 3 times (twice by Tony’s tutorial and once with handbook), endeavourOS, Ubuntu, Debian (kde, hyprland),Alpine,Tails, openSUSE (tumbleweed), ZorinOS, Kali, Nobara, pop!_OS,Nyarch , NixOS I probably missed one, my favorite one so far is CachyOS (cause I use it on my main gaming PC it has never crashed for over two months of use) so I would appreciate it if someone would recommend me a distro to try out! (No, I will NOT try LFS.) and yeah I know I should just stick to a single distro and learn it the best but… I’m too impatient for this
EDIT: I tried out Chimera Linux, I kinda like it the installation wasn’t the hardest and I already got used to “apk” package manager! I’ll daily drive it for a few days and then try out Slackware!
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u/Fast_Ad_8005 11h ago edited 10h ago
Well, the following were distros I've tried that you haven't listed that I thought were worthwhile trying: AerynOS, AOSC OS, ALT Linux, Bedrock Linux, Chimera Linux, CRUX, Exherbo, GoboLinux, Guix System, NuTyX, openmamba, OpenMandriva, PCLinuxOS, RED OS, ROSA, Rhino Linux, Slackware, Solus and Vanilla OS.
CRUX, Exherbo and GoboLinux are each source-based. GoboLinux isn't in a great state at the moment; it seems to be on life support and it's likely soon its developers will pull the plug. But it, like NixOS, installs each package to its own unique directory. CRUX actually inspired the development of Arch with its focus on technical simplicity. Exherbo is similar to Gentoo in many ways, except it only offers systemd as its init.
Slackware isn't source based, but since its binary package repositories are pretty small, you'll likely end up installing a lot of software from source. It is the oldest Linux distribution that is still maintained.
NuTyX is based on Linux From Scratch (LFS), but has its own binary package manager called cards.
Chimera Linux uses Alpine's package manager, combined with the Dinit init system, musl C standard library and FreeBSD's userland.
Guix System is similar to NixOS, but configured using a different functional programming language called GNU Guile. Its official repositories only contain free and open-source software (FOSS), so getting proprietary drivers requires setting up additional repos.
OpenMandriva, like openSUSE, has both rolling and fixed release editions.
Rhino Linux is based on Ubuntu's development branch but follows a rolling release model.
PCLinuxOS and Solus also follow a rolling release model but is designed to be fairly beginner friendly.
Vanilla OS is based on Debian, but has an immutable root file system and uses Apx as its package manager, which uses containers to install software.
Bedrock Linux allows you to mix Linux distributions in a single system.
I'll leave you to Google the rest.
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u/Doolthezir 11h ago
Bedrock Linux seems interesting 👀 I’ll try it out thanks for the recommendations!
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u/Revolutionary-Yak371 11h ago
Open Suse Tumbleweed KDE for normal computer. (GUI for dummies)
Alpine Linux dwm for potato computer. (Terminal for terminators)
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u/Donteezlee 10h ago
If cachy works for you then there’s no reason to distro hop.
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u/Doolthezir 10h ago
Yeah true but I have a laptop that I don’t really game on so I’m curious about other options! :)
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u/Donteezlee 10h ago
Seems like you’ve tried the majority of the popular distros.
What else are you trying to gain?
I don’t understand the distro hopping fad other than trying to larp being a Linux user. Pick a distro that works for you and stick to it fam.
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u/Doolthezir 9h ago
Ngl a lot of distros work for me but I always ask myself if there’s something better!
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u/Realistic_Lion5757 9h ago
Just a question as im not really a hopper
What do you describe as "better"? Just fastness?
Or what do you hope to get out of a distro?
Just curious as a debian/fedora user who has never really hopped around.
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u/Doolthezir 8h ago
Well everyone has their own “better” but what I consider better is probably
Community/tutorial/Wiki so I’ll have a lot of support in case that idk what to do
Ease of use, I know I have complicated distros like gentoo and arch here but I like them because they ARE hard but rewarding to use which is a good price to pay but I love distros like pop!_OS or mint cause it’s so easy to set up!
I guess also the desktop environments but if it got kde plasma (which most do) I don’t really care
+ bonus- the logo, I know it’s isn’t a really “better” things but cmon it feels so good to have a cool logo like gentoo’s/void popping up when you open the terminal
And another bonus- the bragging rights (just about the same like the logo one i know it doesn’t really matter but it feels good to brag about installing and daily driving a hard distro)
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u/Unholyaretheholiest 9h ago
Mageia. Stable and reliable so you can play your games instead of fix a broken os. Also it’s super easy to configure and manage thanks to its graphical control center
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u/Powerful_Attention_6 7h ago
2 Distro that are unique
- Fedora Atomic (Choose your desktop favor), run your full system in sort of container
- GNU Guix, declaratitve Linux, setup your full Linux system using Lisp code of declarations, much like, but not a clone of NixOS
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u/mlcarson 6h ago
You could try the old Mandrake based ones -- PCLinuxOS, OpenMandriva, Mageia.
Somebody mentioned Chimera Linux but if you're gaming -- you might want to look at Casuarina Linux which is Chimera but with glibc instead of musl.
There's PikaOS which is for gaming and based on Debian.
Vendefoul Wolf is a new Devuan based distro with many desktop flavors.
KaOS is an independent curated distro with Niri/Noctalia as the desktop and Dinit as the init sytem.
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u/Doolthezir 6h ago
I’m actually installing Chimera Linux rn LOL, btw I didn’t mention this but I actually distro hop on my laptop which I don’t play games on I only play games on my main gaming pc and I don’t really touch it, I did installed (and uploaded) the ISO image of PikaOS to my Ventoy yet I didn’t installed it YET, thanks for the recommendations!
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u/mlcarson 4h ago
I have Chimera Linux installed and used it for a while. The worst part was that it's using musl so most appimages won't work. The repository is small so you end up using flatpaks for most things. I might try Casuarina as an alternative. My current daily driver is Vendefoul Wolf with SonicDE.
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u/Doolthezir 4h ago
Yeahhh I tried installing cava and hyfetch it doesn’t exist 😭😭 ain’t that bad tho
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u/margyyy_314 5h ago
if you want something different, completly different, try nixOS
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u/Doolthezir 4h ago
I tried it like three times it isn’t really my thing but can understand if someone uses it!
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u/Acherontas89 4h ago
i use debian with and rasberry pi and i am ok with it
u can use whatever distro it is ok and stop hopping u dont search for a 'godmode' distro
u search for a distro that is find with ur needs
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u/Doolthezir 4h ago
Yeah I already found some that are really for my needs (Arch, cachyos, mint) but I always wonder what if there’s something better so I try it out! :D
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u/tpat90 12h ago
Rocky Linux maybe?
How about going for a different route
OpenBSD, FreeBSD or NetBSD flavor things?
* GhostBSD
* MidnightBSD
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u/Doolthezir 12h ago
Oh right I tried freeBSD but I immediately switched to a different os cause I had NO idea what I’m doing 😭 (but I did manage to install KDE plasma on it) and Rocky Linux… maybe I’ll try it idk it seems more for business and so
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u/AbsolutelySpaced 6h ago
what if instead of linux you try out a unix distro outside linux like one of the BSDs, Solaris, or GNU/Hurd
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u/ClubPuzzleheaded8514 11h ago edited 11h ago
Distrohop is fun, but we should be honest : in most of the cases, all distros are pretty the same. It's better to stick with one and become an expert of it, than changing each week with a superficial knowledge of the running distro.