Hopped Distros

[John Swisher]

Well after 5 days, switched from Ubuntu Mate to LM Cinnamon (Tina). There seems to be a wealth of helpful information on LM, not so much with Mate. How often does everyone switch? Or should it be stick with one until you learn it. It’s supported through 2023, hopefully I can learn it by then.

[p-murphy]

Personally I rarely switch.
I've stuck with Linux Mint Cinnamon for the most part, although I am using Pop_os right now.

[cliffcoggin]

I have never switched since adopting Linux two years ago. My computer is a tool, and as long as it continues to perform its job competently I have no intention of switching.

[leon.p]

Excessive distro hopping serves no real purpose, in my opinion. If you are new to Linux, just try out a few to see what you like and what is comfortable for you, but then stay with it. Do not chose a distributions based on something like the default theme or preinstalled applications.

I recommend you use either Ubuntu or Mint. The two work, have a large following and are reasonably well documented.

There are other distributions which claim to be good for new / inexperienced users, but they rarely live up to their promises. Especially these millions of small distributions based on Ubuntu, which spawn and die all the time, are not worth your time. There are some good projects like Solus, but last time I checked their repositories were lacking. Also stay away from Manjaro: The distribution is an unstable mess and many of the things done by the developers are bad practice.

[Mattsorens]

I used to switch quite a bit when I first found out about the Linux desktop. Now I've settled into Pop OS 18.04 from Linux Mint (the Gnome desktop is growing on me). I've come to realize it's all Linux under the hood and I just need something that is stable and works. I'm not into bleeding edge or the next latest and greatest release anymore.

[TarsolyGer]

Well, I really like the flexibility of Arch, and although I still haven't installed it on my main machine but only in VMs and a bootable USB stick, my plan is to get it on my PC next weekend (long weekend due to holidays), and I just hope that any kind of desktop or theme will be available for Arch I want to try.
But the fact that me, who considers myself a quite computer savy guy, is so cautious that I've been playing around with Arch since May on the VM and since July on the USB stick just shows that well, it's not the distro that you just jump right into it and expect it to work well

[John Swisher]

Yes, I agree with all of the sentiments here. I have settled on LM 19.2. There were just too many little quirks about Mate, that did not agree with me. There is just so much more information on the web about LM, that just makes it easier, to start the transition from Win7-10. I do have it loaded on a secondary pc until I get very familiar with it. The wife's PC has 7 on it and that won't change anytime soon. I am hoping by the end of the year to decide to be full-time Linux, except the wife's PC. Happy Wife, Happy Life. I really appreciate the feedback.

[spudnuts]

For most people if you like it stay with it, and if you like to play or just are not happy with your distro use vbox to look around until you find something you like better.

[John Swisher]

I haven’t got the vbox down yet, but I am really happy with LM 19.2. I am concentrating on learning Linux now. Thanks for the reply.

[bob777]

I've also done this but you soon find the one for you and one for me is Linux Mint Cinnamon from 17.2 to 19.1 at the moment. 

I've found Mint...easy to install and use...stable...doesn't brake and has all the tools you need...of cause customisable too.