which OS do you like the most?

I want to like macOS but Apple, IMO, is doing scummier and scummier things with it. For instance, I haven't signed in to iCloud. Once a day it seems, I'll get a little notice telling me that not all functionality will work until I've signed in. Ok.. So I click the little 'X' on the notification. It opens the settings to the iCloud setup screen. That's not what 'X' is supposed to do!

My work machine is macOS as the company won't let us use Linux. My home machine is Arch Linux (obligatory "BTW") which I migrated to after Ubuntu dropped Unity and started forcing Snaps on everyone.

However, a nice shameless plug for my Terminal file manager: DF-SHOW which is designed to work on all Unix like systems.

Same exact story for me (mac and manjaro (btw)). Nice project!
this advertisement is ok, I'll check it and see if I can use it with tdsr. if not, I'll report back with issues that I found.

Arch. I got it working 3 years ago, it's still working, stable. On my main laptop, though, I'm running windows, and planning to install Fedora when I get the chance.

I use NixOS on my pc, laptop, and server, although I dual-boot windows on my pc to play some games.

My phone is android, I have a pinephone but I can't get discord and other things to work well on it so it can't be my daily driver right now. (I know Matrix chat is better than discord, I even host my own instance, but everyone in my school uses discord so there's no way to switch).

Arch because my installs keep working, and I'm really used to it at this point. In the future I'd be interested in trying something like NixOS/Guix, Silverblue, or Qubes.

The mobile landscape is just a privacy clusterfuck. I flip flop back and forth between Android and iOS a lot. Maybe one day I'll take the Graphene plunge, not sure.

Linux Mint Xfce here - just right for me - not too splashy, not too hard core :-)

Linux Mint has always been my recommended for beginners to Linux and if I just want something stable and quick to set up.

Arch (usually EndeavourOS) when I want to do fun stuff.

linux mint is not good if you are trying to have new software.
- Not true? Obviously rolling releases have newest software but they have their own drawbacks. Debian distros still get normal updates

Arch Linux. It's too convenient. The AUR hosts a massive amount of packages, wiki is super detailed and covers solutions for all sorts of edge cases. Needs a bit of tinkering to get started but once things are set up it's very stable, and still gives you a lot of freedom to tinker with your system however you want. The only other option I've considered is NixOS which has some pretty interesting features

I wonder if we could feed the AUR Wiki into a GPT and get a useful support desk for all Linux distros.

It used to be MacOS, but I jumped ship as soon as iOS stuff started creeping in years ago. Because I had already jumped ship from iPhones for the exact same stuff. Arch is my *nix of choice these days, or Linux Mint if I'm recommending it to someone else who doesn't want to learn Arch.

But with that said, my daily driver is a Windows machine these days. I'm getting lazy as I get older, so (relatively) effortless compatibility is king.

I've been using Fedora for a while now. I love it

I have tried them all. The one wo never let me down was Debian stable. I use it for 8 years now on desktop, gaming rig and server.
The ones that come close are Alpine Linux and Ubuntu LTS.

Gentoo Linux here. I used Kubuntu for the longest time, but once they started forcing snapd down my throat, I jumped ship.

Run Arch on my main PC. Proxmox on my home server with Ubuntu server as VM and random containers.

Arch for my main, Debian for my servers and family. I bounced around for a while over the years. At some point in the past I decided I didn't want to use derivatives and these two fit my needs prefectly.

Arch Linux. Once you get past the intimidating reputation it's really nice, and the documentation is best in class.

Fedora.

I've also been getting more familiar with CoreOS / SilverBlue recently.

Spiral Linux, I wanted something close to just Debian that was fast and ran xfce so that's what I went with.

Kubuntu. I like KDE and been using Ubuntu-like OSs since 2007.

I was using Pop!_OS for a long time, but finally switched to Fedora and I love it because it feels so up to date.

Arch. I kinda hate it but love it too.

Manjaro because I fell for the meme, will be rectifying that mistake soonish.

Void Linux is home. Plus, as soon as word got out that Windows 11 had those insane system requirements and the TPM stuff I decided I would abandon Winblows for good once 10 reaches end of life.

Slackware - it’s very utilitarian for me.

Due to computer games, my desktop PC runs Windows 11, but my dissatisfaction with Windows is growing. I use MacOS on my MacBook Pro because it works so nicely with my other Apple devices, but I need a change every now and then and try new things, so I installed Linux Mint Cinnamon on a relatively old laptop and it's a great pleasure to work on it. So at the moment I would say that Linux Mint Cinnamon is my favourite operating system.

I hate cinnamon, but everyone has different tastes: I when I use linux, if I need to have gui installed mate, or else system will go rm -rf / I saw gnome, desktop doesn't work with orca, menu start stopped working after some updates, so mate all the way, I tried kde, but i gave up on it, it just didn't clicked out, desktop was not accessible, menu start too. everything is bork. mate is not, for some reason, so I have it on my debian vm on utm. I'm forced to use debian, as I can't find fedora mate arm64, or fedora with old gnome 40.0

Gentoo when I want to do Linux at an enthusiast level and out of technical interest, and PopOS when I just want everything to work.

Fedora… and MacOS

NixOS for several years now. It's a big up-front cost but you can't go back from atomic upgrades and rollbacks.

What makes it a big up front cost? I run Arch and I'm a big fan since I get a lot of control over it and I really like having the rolling release type of distro.
- Rather than installing packages from the command line you need to write a configuration file in nix language. This can be as simple as services.nginx.enable = true; but for complicated, multi-purpose machines (like end-user devices) the configuration can get complicated and you need to learn the language at the same time.

I'm using macOS also but I'm a arch/Debian guy. i know both of them. I'm not an expert but before macOS i was using Linux. I came to macOS cause of school just wanted something solid. I still help people though if I can with Linux problem when I can

my debian vm box is solid too, installed it yesterday, only audio issues with muting, for some idiotic reason, but I made a simple modification to the system, high hopes it will help with this.

My progression was: Mandrake, OpenSUSE, Ubuntu, Gentoo, Arch, NixOS. At work I use Nix flakes on Debian machines, so one month back I figured out I could install NixOS at home to get familiar with Nix. NixOS is really something different and it brings me back to the old times when Linux was new for me. It’s again an adventure!

My daily driver is macOS on my personal Mac mini and the MacBook provided by my work. I also run Opensuse tumbleweed on an older dell Inspiron.

My server rack consists of a dell r730 running VMware and most of the vms are various versions of Ubuntu.

I’ve also ran arch and mandrake in the past and cut my teeth on Slackware back in 97 or so. It’s been a journey.

I'm using Qubes OS on my laptop, HardenedBSD on my desktop and OpenBSD on my server. I use both BSD and Linux depends on the use case. For the phone, I prefer GrapheneOS all the way!

I'm gonna be that guy: Windows. If I need something UNIX-y, I use WSL.

Use what works for you!

I'm using Nobara KDE, but that only due to the fact that it works better with my hardware than Fedora. Otherwise, I would be using the KDE spin of Fedora.

I'm also waiting for a KDE version of Vanilla OS. I really dig the all design of Vanilla OS. I think when they will have it, I will be switching.

I use FreeBSD on my home server, and LineageOS without any Google services on my phone.

I'm a grumpy old man when it comes to OSes. I started on Gentoo, used Arch for a while, a few years of Ubuntu, then a bunch of different Ubuntu-based distros, Fedora and all the Fedora spins, even ran the Hannah Montana OS as a meme for a week.

Eventually, got bored of the latest shiny things and fixing the best thing ever, and am using Kubuntu with Wayland. It just works, got no complaints.

even ran the Hannah Montana OS as a meme for a week
We should both commit to exclusively using TempleOS and see who can last the longest.
I use Ubuntu on my laptop, but Arch of the desktop. Having the rolling release for gaming is nice. Just easier that way for me at least.

Currently EndeavourOS, it fits my usage pretty well, is Arch-based, and even has a Sway version!

I've been a linux user since 1996. I've used a lot of distros over the years slackware/gentoo/debian/arch/redhat/ubuntu.These days I've been running Fedora and find it pretty great. I've gotten a bit too lazy for distros like Arch and prefer something that just works without too much tinkering.

The new Arch Installer makes it pretty darn streamlined. If you can get your box onto the internet, it'll work almost like any other installer. Just all text based.
Fedora/Ubuntu is what I tell casual users to use though.

Void Linux and NetBSD.

ok, net BSD probably for server stuff: void linux sounds so evil. lol. btw let's discuss why we are using the systems we use I'm using macOS, because apple's ecosystem, and voiceover is more reliable than orca on linux, and all bsd's don't have a screenreader.

I've always just used ubuntu with i3 because I honestly dont really know what I am potentially missing out on. What is a reason to use something else?

I prefer Debian since Ubuntu is basically just a more bloated version of it.
- Oh okay so it is like a performance thing?

I have used several other distros on and off, but I feel Pop!_OS is the macOS of Linux. Long time macOS user turned macOS(client)+Ubuntu(server) user by profession, turned Pop!_OS(client)+RHEL8(server) user (new job! Loving it).

MacOS for work and most things, Windows for gaming. After years of distro hopping I am now enlightened, free stuff is free for a reason.

SteamOS on my Steam Deck is great though, and gives me hope for the future of Linux gaming, but it's not here just yet.

I don't use derived OS. Either Debian or Arch.

Not Arch!

I've been on Linux Mint (LM) for like 3+ years now. I was dual booting Windows, but after not booting into Win for over a year, I wiped its hard drive and started using it as backup storage. Before that, I did the rounds (Debian, Fedora, openSUSE, Ubuntu, etc.), but mostly stuck between Kubuntu and LM. LM just seems to work the best for me. Never have any difficulties with anything and love how I can customize Cinnamon. It really just works out well for me.

My first foray was with Ubuntu and Mint, and I found the whole experience far too on-rails for me. A few years later, I made the permanent move from Windows to Arch, largely because of how good their documentation on GPU passthrough via OVMF/VFIO was. It was also an excellent opportunity to be forced to learn how my computer works.

Ironically, I almost never open virtual machines for gaming, I have come across very very little that cannot be handled by wine, ge-wine, or proton.

macOS at work and Debian on my personal computer.

Slackware. Though I can make most things work.

EndeavourOS. It's Arch but without the faff, it just works and looks gorgeous.

e/OS doesn't have a terminal, probably.
- There is Termux.
What is /e/OS Android fork?

I use whatever is the best fit for the work I need to do. I mainly use macOS, and try to get away with using VM's with macOS as my host system whenever possible.

I used to be on the Arch bandwagon but after migrating to a MacBook for my daily driver computer it's mostly just Debian-based distros when the need arises, Kali for work and headless Debian for homelab stuff. I rarely boot my Windows gaming PC anymore. I do have some Windows VM's for testing exploits and payloads. And emulated Windows 95-98 machines for that OG Oregon Trail fix.

I'll probably have to go with FreeBSD for their minimal base and incredibly clean and well-documented code and utilities.

I'm currently using Nobara a Fedora fork and upgraded today to version 38 it was a bit of a stretch. I had to delete many things in my /etc/ to get GNOME 44 working. Bluetooth and the panel on the top right is a bit buggy but it works.

On my laptop I use arch with hyprland

I use windows because that's where I can play overwatch and fortnite. That's literally the only reason. And photoshop, but krita is almost just as good. If I didn't play games not available on Linux I'd probably use Ubuntu instead. Why? Easy to install, very customizable, better for programming, scriptable.

Fortnite will probably never work on Linux. (And to me that's a good thing lmao) But I know Overwatch works perfectly fine at least.
- Following my message I tried to dual boot. Turns out my laptop is incompatible with default Nvidia drivers and my screen stopped working with it so after days of research and trying again, I had to go back to Windows, just to get the big monitor to have display.
oh no, linux mint doesn't have all the bloat and is more suitable.
- I have used it. I liked it. I don't know why I don't pick it over Ubuntu. It's been over a year since my last formatting spree. Any time windows goes poop I put live distros on like 7 usb drives and start formatting my computer like crazy testing and testing. Some are buggy here, some are buggy there, some are broken out of the box and take some effort to fix it, and ultimately I had for some reason decided that Ubuntu had the best base state and kept maybe xubuntu? Idk. It's been too long. I'll need another spree. But not soon! I'm gaming too much.

MacOS for work (very simple wireless packet captures, full m$ office suite with little effort). Servers are Debian, used to be Arch but I didn't upgrade enough / I upgraded too much / you get the idea and things went boom too often (Nextcloud in particular). Does SteamOS count too? I think it's pretty rad.

Do you run SteamOS on a Steam Deck, or are you just running it on a PC? Actually has Volvo even released an install ISO for SteamOS?
- Aye just on the Steam Deck, but it could be interesting to run it on a beefy desktop. I spent about 6 months running only Fedora on my gaming rig and things worked pretty well. I got back into World of Warcraft and it worked awesome until they released a patch and it didn’t work for days…I was too cracked out on wow so limped back to wintendo. I’ve been wow free for 6 months now so it might be time to give it a go again.
  Also lol @ Volvo releasing a SteamOS ISO, had to read that twice

I'm mainly using Fedora these days, but for some games I still have to dualboot Windows, which I can't say I'm enjoying. Just over an hour ago the Nvidia drivers crashed. On Windows. Repeatetly.

Anyway, I'm quite happy with Fedora but I haven't tried many OS to be honest. I prefer stability over the slight advantages other OS might have

Sometimes I wonder how people think Linux is harder than windows. It feels like every time I use windows I'm constantly fighting my computer to do anything.
- I guess most non-technical people are always fighting their computer. It is really hard to watch my grandma do anything on any device, but she's managing windows pretty well compared to her android phone (with accessibility settings), because she has used it the longest. Even the tech-savvy Windows users are probably used to some windows quirks and work around them, just like GNU/Linux users open a terminal as a reflex. And if anything is different, it will always feel like fighting your OS. I think the problem is the change, not the OS