Asklemmy

Linux mint

I generally use Linux (Debian) or MacOS, since I own a couple apple silicon macs. I do try and use HaikuOS as much as possible, since its POSIX implementation is pretty mature and is seeing a good amount of software ported.

I'm back to Windows 10 (now 11) on my main PC since I bought an Xbox and there's hassle-free Cloud gaming, crossplay etc.

When I exclusively played on PC and built the new Machine, I was too cheap to buy a Windows licence. I tried Pop!OS because I like their gaming-focussed apporach. All games that were relevant to me (via Steam, mostly) worked fine.

I've since bought a Steam Deck, so I'm running SteamOS as well.

Manjaro KDE for years. I've tried ubuntu, Fedora, Mint, Debian, Antergos and plain ol' Arch. I've stuck with Manjaro for simplicity sake, going through the motions of installing and setting up Arch was great from a learning perspective. It gave me a much better understanding of what's under the hood. In the end though, I wanted a simpler process of getting an OS going.

Pop_OS. It's the most polished Linux distro I've found and has nice keyboard workflows in the GUI.

Chromebook because I just dont fucking care anymore.

MacOS on laptop and workstation (Mac Mini M1), windows in gaming PC, Proxmox on server.

I'm using Linux Mint rn on my laptop. I am using it because I have used other Debians for 15 years and they are easy to use, and easy to tweak. And same commands!

I use Gentoo on my desktop/file server. I like the freedom to set up things EXACTLY how I want them. Compile times are no worry with a Ryzen 5700x and I do major updates overnight.

I use FreeBSD on my laptop. It is super stable, resource efficient and soooo much more neat and organized than Linux. Core software does not change every other year and everything feels right at home. I highly recommended giving it a shot if you haven't already.

I use Windows 10 LTSC 21H2. It's the most up-to-date LTSC version.

LTSC = Long Term Servicing Channel, which is a special verson of Windows Enterprise that doesn't receive feature updates, doesn't come with all the extra bloat (onedrive, store, xbox game bar, candycrush, office trials, etc).. It's meant for special support enterprise systems like MRI scanners, industrial use, etc..

The reason that I (legally, but for the wrong usecase) use it is that I don't want to switch to Windows 11 or be nagged about it, nor do I want all the extra bloat on top of my OS. But I do want to stay secure, and I get security updates without trouble.

I would rather run a Linux distribution, sadly I do play a few games that are still not working on Linux, even with Proton and lots ot manual trickery. And I play them for about 40 hours a week.

I use Windows 10 because I'm lazy and like to game.

Pirated version of Windows 10 LTSC (v2021) because FUCK Microsoft.

NixOS unstable in my workstation and my laptop. Using sway on Wayland on top of all-AMD hardware. I play games with this setup and I write Rust and TypeScript for living. I love the customizability and the reproducibility of NixOS: I just clone my config and I have exactly the desktop I've always had, every little tool and customization included. If my hard drive fails, I just plug a new one and I am productive in about 15 minutes.

My sway desktop has been looking and working similarly for years, and before that I used i3 on Xorg for almost a decade. I like how the UI doesn't really change that much.

Fedora! Have been super not a fan of Windows for years now so I avoid it hardcore when I can.

Linux in general is a lot easier to set up programming environments on, and also just generally it's a lot more flexible when it comes to customization, which is definitely important when you're a big picky bitchbaby like I am.

Fedora specifically I like because there's something I just really like about RHEL-related distros (to the point that i use Rocky Linux on my server also). They feel really polished and dnf is probably my favourite package manager of all the ones I've tried so far. I do have a few issues with it, and I miss having access to the AUR when I used various Arch-baseds over the years, but all in all I'm very happy with it and I don't see myself switching distros for desktop use any time soon.

Fedora Linux! <3

I really enjoyed the simpleness of PopOS. Got that familiar Ubuntu feel but looks better and runs great on my poor hobby laptop.

Dual boot with Windows 10 and Manjaro Limux. Windows is for games and adobe and linux for work

You must get a completely different view than "normal people" here. I use Alma Linux 9 (RHEL9 clone) because it's what we use at work, and I've known RedHat since 1999. I use it because it generally is exceptionally stable, and can easily go 6 months without forcing a reboot. It also is much less likely to spy on me, and does most everything I need a computer to do.

Also, using XFCE for my DE means I don't have to relearn something every release version (XFCE has stayed the same all through v4 more or less, which is like at least since 2012. Some new icons here or there.

No forced cloud integration, my account is local, the way I like it. I also am much less concerned about malware (maybe this is unjustified in 2023, I guess IDK).

I got fed up with Microsoft with the rollout of Win10, and switched to Scientific Linux 7 at that time (RHEL7) and just migrated this year to Alma 9 and a new PC. I actually ran the same workstation for 12 years before that. Somehow, even with updates Linux doesn't seem to bloat the way Windows did / would. I.e. I haven't had a Linux install get slower over time for no reason like every Windows install.

I have a MacBook Pro which is stock macOS.

Doing software development for nearly a decade, macOS combines that ease of using widely used software tools with the stability of macOS that seems quite rare with Linux (especially in the long term, when upgrading across new OS versions). Also, things like being able to consistently sleep and wake up and my m1’s battery life keeps me on macOS.

With that said, I also have a thinkpad with pop! OS on it. It’s nice, but I have this issue that I can’t alt-tab like I can on windows thanks to gnome. It only alt-tabs the window group, rather than individual windows, and it drives me up the bend.

MacOS

Debian on desktop pcs, Ubuntu on laptop pcs. I know, I know, we aren't supposed to use Ubuntu because it's bad but it's infinitly easier to get laptop drivers working on Ubuntu for some reason.

One of these days I'll try out arch but I've been using apt for so many years and don't want to learn pacman because I'm lazy.

I use mainly arch and windows 11 for games that are borked on linux.

Artix. Windows free since around 2001-2002

Windows 10 because I play games. Ubuntu on my laptop where I don't, since its old and Ubuntu runs way better than Windows on it.

Ubuntu 20.04. My laptop is from 2013 and windows broke itself with an update in 2018 that rendered the computer useless and at 100% disk usage all the time. I already had some experience with dual booting and running Linux on old PC's so I just wiped it and never went back. I really don't miss it aside from excel.

I used to use Linux, but Windows just has better support for most apps and drivers so currently Windows 10. I doubt I'll ever switch to Windows 11. It seems pretty iffy with the lack of customization and ads appearing in the folder menus.

Windows 11

Win 10, explicitly because I run CAD software (Autodesk Inventor specifically at home) and the linux compatibility workarounds like wine have not worked properly the last few times I have tried them. I could dual boot but I just don't feel like putting the time in to set it up and use it anymore.

I'm a programmer and what you'd probably call a computer nerd. I used Windows XP, Vista and 7 until 2016, when I then decided to give Linux (Mint+Cinnamon) a try. Loved it so much, my dual boot days were short and I quickly started using the penguin OS as my sole daily driver. After some very traditional distro hopping, I landed on Manjaro KDE, and have been a happy user for some years.
From an end-user PoV, Manjaro is great because of the frequent rolling-release package updates, nice community support and kernel and driver tools (the mhwd ones), while KDE Plasma is by far my favourite desktop environment, being simple by default but very powerful when needed. GNOME has a more Apple-y look to it, which I know is quite attractive as well, but since I'm more of a power user, KDE stuff is a no-brainer. Other DEs and tilling WMs are also nice, but I'm so happy with KDE I'm not going to switch anytime soon.