Distro hoppers, what's always on your install list when you've finished setup and logged in for the first time?

tourist@lemmy.world to Linux@lemmy.ml – 127 points –

I wouldn't really call myself a distro hopper, but in the last few months I've had to do some fresh installs on a couple of machines and VMs for work

If these aren't included by default, I'll make sure to get em:

GUI:

  • Firefox & Chromium
  • Gimp & Krita
  • VSCode/VSCodium
  • Okular
  • Libre office

CLI*:

  • git
  • wget&curl
  • neovim
  • zsh/ohmyzsh + plugins
  • glow
  • neofetch
  • figlet/toilet
  • zellij
  • python
  • nodejs/npm/nvm + nodemon globally
  • ranger/rifle

Also, how do you go about migrating your old config and rc files? Start fresh or just copy em over and make adjustments where necessary?

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Apart from what you mentioned:

  • Steam
  • Darktable
  • cmatrix (very important)
  • pfetch
  • vim
  • Hugo
  • clipboard manager

I think that’s about it!

I understand disto hopping when you’re first getting into Linux. But are there really people who do it regularly? What’s the point?

I was using Ubuntu LTS for a while, then it dropped or of support, so I decided to upgrade. It totally shit that bed, and I wasn't really happy with Ubuntu at that point so I hopped.

I tried a rolling release (one extreme to another!) and found it problematic with Nvidia drivers. So eventually I hopped again.

Now I'm back in ol' reliable (Debian) and I've decided that the grass was never really greener anywhere else. If I need newer things I'll backport them, or use Flatpak or Distrobox or something like that.

I'm happy with Debian now, but we'll see what the situation is with Plasma 6 after its final release. If it's too much trouble to backport I might hop again.

Well, I’ve only changed distros a handful of times. But, I’ve broken my system more than a few times, as well. Back when I had more time I tinkered a lot more than I do now haha

I know some who do it as a spare time relaxation exercise, install something new (to them) configure, boot, reconfigure, explore. But they have a steady system they use daily.

@NegativeLookBehind @tourist @chris

There is absolutely an element of that.

There's something about using a fresh OS that fills me with a mild sense of excitement. Like a child getting a new toy.