do you stick with the same distro across your PC, laptop, and server, or do you pick different ones based on the device and what you’re doing?

Definitely the latter.

constantly have to look up flags for different package managers.

FWIW, you don’t have to choose the distro’s package manager. While it makes sense in most cases, it’s definitely not a requirement. And that’s where the nix package manager comes in. Unbeknownst to some, you don’t have to be on NixOS to access it, simply because it’s probably already found in the repository of the distro you’re using. So, frankly, you can even expect that it’s well-supported.

I feel like NixOS might be the only distro that could realistically handle all these use cases

FWIW, containerfiles used in conjuction with bootc to boot your OS from, do allow differentiation within a single containerfile; i.e. specific changes are only applied for the designated target. This is accomplished by virtue of a single containerfile being able to produce many (very) different container images to boot from. So, in short, other avenues exist and bootc happens to be one I know. Note that bootc doesn’t (necessarily) push you towards Fedora(-derivatives). Despite being very new (and perhaps somewhat experimental), Bootcrew does provide container images for other distros; some of which have already spawned multiple derivatives of their own. See e.g. Tartaria and XeniaOS.

but I’m a bit scared of the learning curve and the maintenance work it’d take to migrate everything over.

My 2 cents: if you’re interested in NixOS, just start out with installing nix on any distro. And see where that takes you ;) !

Even if it’s subjective and reliant on the used hardware, if we had enough of these reports, they would become very valuable as patterns would inevitably show up.

But, I’m afraid we’re past the point in which you can reliably and vividly recollect the whole experience 😅.

I tried ~10 distros and then did a prolonged test of about 2 months for each of the 2 distros that were the closest to being perfect out of the box

Oh wow, that’s some serious dedication. Have you ever written out your experience?

Sorry to say, but there’s a lot questionable stuff found within your comment. But I will try to limit the discussion around some of the more egregious ones.

Hate to keep litigating this around here, but the shift alone is enough. Explaining to people WTF an immutable filesystem is, is a sure way to frustrate them into giving up, despite whatever comms finesse you might THINK you have.

I don’t understand what’s so hard to understand about (some) core system files being read-only, i.e. you can’t change/modify it. Can you help me understand why that would cause so much frustration?

Counterpoint: STOP SUGGESTING IMMUTABLE DISTROS TO NEW USERS

Countering the counterpoint with an anecdote: I cold turkey switched from Windows to Fedora Silverblue almost 4 years ago. Beginner-friendly derivatives like Bazzite (or other uBlue images) weren’t even around back then. And, somehow, I managed. And there are many other testimonials that point out something similar, especially with many^[1] newbies appreciating Bazzite. Are you ignoring this empirical evidence? If so, on what basis?

there is ZERO benefit

Come on, you know that’s not true. Perhaps you intended to write: “I suppose there is ZERO benefit to me (and others like me)”. Though, if you genuinely don’t know any, then please consider going over this (lengthy) blog post by Colin Walters, a key figure in the past and current development of Fedora Atomic and Fedora CoreOS. It’s not a very efficient writing for educating oneself on this topic, but it’s the best I know.

I agree with this in general. But, I’d like to add that well-supported hardware (like a ThinkPad) may do equally well on Linux and perhaps even better.

what software do people pirate in linux?

It’s a great piece of software. As such, I wouldn’t want to harm them. Hence, I won’t give you any pointers. Sorry not sorry.

I’m obviously not an expert. But, from what I can tell, the scene seems quite healthy. And I don’t see a reason why it wouldn’t thrive further. Especially as the Linux market share is in the lift. Anti-cheat shenanigans are a lot more concerning. Though, I’m optimistic that Valve is actively making progress on that front.

Btw, just as an FYI: I know people that were more interested in software piracy. But I digress…

Vague statement. Please, fam; either be more explicit from the get-go. Or, engage with the comment section.

I suppose you meant the piracy that involves games and/or software. FWIW, I’d be more than happy to elaborate if you could clarify.

programs

Consider being more explicit about what you want/need. Some programs work great with wine and others have never.

Thanks for the quick rely!

Maybe this is relevant for some

That is very tangible, indeed. And kudos for providing the only browser that aced the ‘test’!

Also, pull requests attempting to improve the documentation are very much welcome. Would be great to get more contributors involved and one doesn’t have to be deeply technical to write good docs.

Hehe 😜. I do admire your work, but don’t get your hopes up 😅.

Anyhow, I will add it to the list of Firefox(-based) browsers worth looking into. To be clear, I’m not a primary consumer of the product category. FWIW, I would install it on my system if I were*.

In the now up-to-date README.md we find the following line:

A couple of privacy-related patches not built elsewhere

Cool. But…, could you name those explicitly?

Mullvad Browser is also based on Firefox ESR and is the product of a joint development involving both Mullvad and the Tor Project. Could you please explain why anyone should consider Konform Browser over it?

It’s Xfce’s default file manager. I guess that means that OP is actually using Zorin OS Lite.

My priorities:

• Secure. Unlike popular belief, the fact that the worlds infrastructure basically runs on Linux does not imply that your average Desktop Linux distro enjoys the same level of scrutiny when it comes to its security. Hence, the security-conscious should carefully pick a distro that can handle their threat model. Or, at least harden it to their liking.
• Stateless. Conventionally, you will be met with a (relatively) minimal system after installation. After which you’re expected to configure it to your liking and go smooth sailing afterwards. Occasionally, you might (un)install stuff and/or modify settings; but nothing out of the ordinary, really. While applying some of these changes might seem trivial, they (kinda) lead your system to accumulate cruft. This cruft might seem innocuous, but it’s exactly why your system seems so fresh after a reinstall. Foregoing this altogether is referred to as going stateless. This is done by declaring a desired state and ‘flushing’ all changes that have not been declared. Many other benefits are associated with this, but I digress…

The above^[1] already dictates the use of NixOS with the impermanence and nix-mineral modules.

Thanks! I wonder who will reach the finish line first between Cinnamon and Xfce.

Does anyone happen to know the state of Wayland on Linux Mint?

I was actually seriously considering to just write “Freedom” and call it a day. Apologies for making it more wordy than it has to be.

They do not have centralized configuration as far as I am aware so they do not go as far as Nix.

Which is why it’s (only) their ambition 😜. But thanks for prompting me to clarify!

Furthermore, their wording would suggest that configuration is not part of what’s declared. Which -at best- would make it relatively light on how declarative it is.

Domain-Specific Language. In the context of NixOS, that would be the Nix language.

Let’s hope places like Lemmy stay relevant, vivid and slop-proof.

Freedom, it’s that simple. Any other reason is a derivative of said freedom.