Linux

Tuxedo OS. Same idea as smth like mint or PopOs but (imo) done much better. It also has rolling release for some stuff (like the DE) and non-rolling for other stuff (not even sure what bc I don't really look in detail). It also uses KDE plasma my favorite (and imo the best) DE. It's got pretty good app availability in terms of official packages because it is based on Ubuntu LTS (now 24.04). There are a couple things that are vestigial on most computers bc it was made for tuxedo computers but these have no negative effect on other devices in my experience.

NixOS because all the other ones differ about as much as Windows 10 from Windows 11. Guix doesn't count.

Linux Mint, because I don't like to tinker with the system, I like good defaults (and Mints has them).

from the comments, there's a split between

• linux as a tool: debian, mint, fedora, opensuse, etc.
• linux as a toy: arch, gentoo, nixos, etc.

i wish this split was made more explicit, because more often than not someone comes looking for recommendations for linux as a tool, but someone else responds expecting they want linux as a toy. then the person will try out linux and will leave because it's not what they want, not knowing that there is a kind of linux that is what they want

Alpine:

• Rolling release (Alpine Edge) yet stable
• Extremely lightweight
• Very customizable
• After setting it up I find that it works very well
• Decently sized repo
• OpenRC rather then SystemD (I prefer the way it handles services)

Different distros for different uses:

• Debian with KDE for my casual servers and Docker boxes.
• Nobara for my main gaming PC.
• Linux Mint with Cinnamon for my general purpose PCs and my #JustWorks uses.
• Arch for my pimp mobile test machines.

I use Ubuntu because it's the most popular and well-supported.

I'm going to be switching to Mint at some point because it's basically a community-run fork of Ubuntu and I don't trust Canonical anymore, but it's hard to justify installing my OS from scratch considering I've been using Ubuntu since 2017.

I recently ordered a Thinkpad T14 Gen1 with an R7 4750U, 16GB of RAM, and a 512GB SSD and you better believe I'm going to be putting Mint on that as soon as I get it.

Fedora Silverblue

• I like Gnome
• I like that Fedora adopts new technology quickly
• I like how it makes updates more reliable
• I like flatpak

Mint. I used to distro hop so much and just got tired of having to reload everything. That was the last one I had done prior to having no more time to switch. 😅 Plus, it just works and it's easy.

I use Debian. The current release has pretty up to date software. It's super easy to install ( I don't have as much time to fuck around with my OS as I used to). And it's stable as fuck.

EndeavorOS. Because I wanted to have a rolling release distribution that is always up to date, and one that is good supported by maintainers and community. Good documentation is very important to me. And I trust the team behind EndeavorOS and Archlinux.

Also the manual approach of many things and the package manager based on Archlinux is very nice. I also like the building of custom packages that is then installed with the package manager (basically my own AUR package). The focus on terminal stuff without too much bloat by default is also a huge plus.

Arch because it helped me understand the os better and i like tinkering. Also pacman and the aur

Fedora with GNOME.

I've been using it for over than 10 years in my main computer.

It simply works, it's nice, fresh packages, stable, GNOME is productivity champion (at least I know all the shortcuts, and how to tweak it to my daily use). I also know how to build and manipulate RPM packages, so it's pretty convenient.

Debian. Because it's the best about "Just Works" (yes, even moreso than Ubuntu, which I tried). It has broken once on me, and that was fixed by rolling back the kernel, then patched within the week.

BUT I'm also not a "numbers go up" geek. I don't give a shit about maxing out the benchmarks, and eking every last drop of performance out of the hardware; to me, that's just a marketing gimmick so people associate dopamine with marginally improved spec numbers (that say nothing about longevity nor reliability).

If you wanna waste something watching numbers go up, waste time playing cookie clicker, not money creating more e-waste so your Nvidia 4090 can burn through half a kilowatt of power to watch youtube in 8k.

(/soapbox)

My gpu is an nvidia 970 and my cpu is a 4th or 5th generation core i7. I just don't play the latest games anyway, I'm a PatientGamer, and I don't do multimedia stuff beyond simple meme edits in GIMP.

It has plenty of power to run VMs, which I do use for my job and hobby, and I do coding as another hobby in NVIM (so I don't have to deal with the performance penalty of MS Code or other big GUI IDEs).

It all works fine, but one day I'll upgrade (still a generation or two behind to get the best deals on used parts) and still not waste a ton of money on AAA games nor bleeding-edge DAWs

Fedora.

I've tried them all but found it's the most reliable. It's upgrades are even more reliable than Macos and Windows.

Packages are very up to date but also well tested. Sometimes even newer than Arch for short periods.

The community is awesome.

I love Gnome, I've found it's more consistent than even MacOs in its design. And it has perfect keyboard shortcuts.

Ubuntu, because I'm fine with something that "just works"

Fedora. I like the rolling release but with large updates separated into point releases, as well as the ability to perform offline updates. I also like the preinstalled security stuff

Arch.

Because of pacman. Building and writing packages is simple and dependencies are slim. Also packages are recent. And most likely "there is an AUR package for that". Also stack transitions arrive early, like pipewire.

Also let's not forget Arch Wiki, i bet you have read it as a non Arch user.

I administer Arch on 8 machines including gaming rigs, home server, web server, kids laptop, wifes gaming desktop, audio workstation and machine learning rig and a bunch of dev laptops. I also use ArchARM on RPi for some home automation.

Never considered switching since I switched from Ubuntu over 15 years ago.

I do have experience with several other rpm and apt based distros.

Ubuntu because I'm old, uncool, and tired

I use LMDE. I use it because Mint has proved that it is worth using (for example: it provide easy way to install multimedia codec by only click "Install Multimedia Codec" in applications menu) and I want it to success.

Sorry if my english is bad

Fedora because it's stable and effective.

NixOS because it’s easy to understand—I can pop open any .nix file in my config and see exactly what is being set up, so I don’t have to mentally keep track of innumerable imperative changes I would otherwise make to the system, and thus lose track of the entropy over time.

For devices I need to be productive on, I have LMDE 6. It is rock solid being based on stable Debian, but with the niceties you expect from Mint.

For my gaming PC, I've got Bazzite on it and so far so good. Just used it for entertainment and gaming but if I were doing coding or app development I'd either have to adjust how I do that to suit an atomic distro, or I'd just use LMDE as I feel I have easier control of what I'm doing on there

Debian and Linux Mint.

Debian for mission critical stuff like servers or things I don't want to futz with, like HTPCs, work machines, etc.

Mint for my gaming desktop because it's a bit newer on kernels and such.

I'm currently using bazzite due to its really solid out of the box support for gaming hardware and peripherals.

I'm really surprised everyone uses arch. I have three theories as to why:

1. There actually aren't that many arch uses but when arch users have the opportunity they won't hesitate to say "BTW I use arch" were as others don't really bother.
2. There are lots of arch users and everyone uses it because they want to be able to say "BTW I use arch"
3. (Very unlikly) There are lots of arch users and it's because it's actually a good distro that people like.

(This is mostly a joke jsyk I'm sure arch is a great distro)

Debian on most my machines. Can’t trust commercially backed distros any more. I’m tired of chacing cutting edge stuff. Like things to just work.

PCLinuxOS.

Stable and rolling for regular people OS.

EndeavourOS. It's just easy to install and I basically use it like Arch

After quite a bit of agonizing, I eventually landed on openSUSE Tumbleweed. I chose a rolling release distro because on my desktop I want to be up-to-date. Having used Gentoo a long time ago, I didn't want a distro that takes effort to install and set up. openSUSE is somewhat popular with an active community and decent documentation in case I run in to issues. I also considered the fact it's based in Germany, because EU has at least some decent privacy laws. I was put off by the fact its backed by SUSE, but that's a two-edged sword.

Right now I'm content with Tumbleweed, but I'm keeping an eye on OpenMandriva Lx if I feel like switching.

• Debian + Xfce on the desktop, because it (mostly, see below) just works, it's snappy, reliable, and I don't need my apps being constantly updated (I have very simple needs and use cases)
• Mint + Cinnamon on the laptop, because it's still debian-based and because unlike Debian, Mint was able to connect my AirPods out of the box and I use them a lot when on the laptop... I also quickly learned to appreciate Cinnamon, I must say.

edit: typos

Bazzite for personal stuff because it looked neat and just worked after installation with a small learning curve. Due to interia I went with bluefin on the work computer for the same reasons

Mint on my ancient MacBook because I didn’t really know any better and it’s working just nice for me, and Asahi/Fedora on my M1 mini, because it’s the only option.

Ubuntu for my servers, and Linux Mint for my Workstation.

I grew up using Debian-based distros, so it's what I'm comfortable with. I like how Mint seems to "just work" most of the time, especially with samba shares and usb peripherals.

Ubuntu server is primarily because it's incredibly easy to get support when you need it.

No Void here?

Oh well... I surely don't use it because it's popular...

• Runit
• Pkg manager
• KISS
• Up to date / rolling distro
• But stable

Previously arch now NixOS, just love the reproducibility.

LMDE. It really does just work.