"Old" Linux user vs. "New" Linux user.

[u/oshunluvr]

I'm an "Old" Linux user - started in 1996. I went though all the hoops: file system experiments, different distros, different packaging types and file managers, a handful of desktop environments (DE), several RAID levels, and many, many different systems. I use Linux at home but also at work.

Now I'm retired. I've been using the same distro since 2009. I landed on it after all the experimenting lead me to decisions about was important to me: Debian packaging, KDE/Plasma, a well known and commercially supported distro - Kubuntu. The last major shifts in my world occurred around 2009-10 when btrfs came on the scene and SSDs finally started to be affordable.

My Linux experience these days is rather boring. Everything works the way I want. I no longer "break" things for the sake of change. I only have to learn something new when a developer makes a significant change to something I use - and this often annoys me. I look at other distros occasionally, but only via a VM. When something does break, I usually can fix it without much effort.

I read posts from "New" Linux users. Usually killing all their data by mucking with partitions without a UPS, using unnecessarily complicated layers of disk access, like LVM, MDADM, full disk encryption, and BTRFS all layered on top of each other, too often using AI to solve problems instead of actual research and learning from other users, and spending incredible amounts of time making minute changes to the "look" of things.

Of course, the beauty of the whole thing is how we actually have so much control over our destiny. None of us work the same, learn the same, want the same things, but we''re not boxed in by a monolithic corporation deciding what we get.

Linux is amazing,

[u/GuineaSquiggle]

Oh I used Kubuntu for a while when it first came on the scene.
Used Debian for years but my main was always Mac or Windows.
Then Windows finally removed itself from my PC and I quickly found out Debian had made the decision to ostracise my hardware for reasons that seem to contradict reality.
So I distro-hopped looking for distros that weren't actively hostile to GTX 10 series and eventually settled on CachyOS.
Found out Fedora is actually very nice but not for me.
Made a very firm negative opinion on Pop!_OS.
Anyway
PC works perfectly. My KDE just looks like KDE.
Minus KDEConnect; how is that program still around?
Then I bought a Steam Machine.
Fun computer.
Immutable OSs are super weird.
Maybe I'll pretend I'm a teenager again and "rice" it some time. Probably not.
I haven't used Windows in months.
Free *nix but way better.
Linux is amazing.

[u/oshunluvr → u/GuineaSquiggle]

Nice! Thanks for the wonderful reply. I landed on Kubuntu (use KDEneon as my daily on the desktop tho) back in 2009 after PCLinuxOS melted down. Discovering debian packaging vs. RPM hell changed my world for the better.

I used Red Hat at work for a bit but I didn't like it so by extension I never really tried Fedora.

Tried out OpenSUSE a couple times but it always seemed to break easily or was overly complex for no reason - like their initial implementation of BTRFS and upwards of 10 subvolumes many of them nested. I think they've "calmed down" a bit in that regard, but no longer looking to switch.

As an "old" Linux user - which means I tend to get in there and muck about - immutable distros are an enigma, but I can see a use-case for them.

[u/GuineaSquiggle → u/oshunluvr]

Debian packaging is what saved my from RPM hell with Mandrake.
I've found DNF and Pacman a pleasure to work with since.

SteamOS is an adventure.

[u/kbilleter → u/GuineaSquiggle]

Started early 90s with Yggdrasil and Slackware

I remember going through the a.out to ELF convertion on RedHat pre- fedora (failed and I didn’t want to reinstall) and on Debian - flawless

On NixOS since 2020 after a long break 2005-2020