Trapped in Distro Hopping

If I had to describe my current situation, I would say this: Arch is my endgame, but I don’t feel prepared for it yet, so I’m stuck in distro speed-dating.

Really.

Okay, I admit there are many people who have tried every possible distro, from Ubuntu to Hannah Montana Linux. No wonder. It’s a completely different world when you wave goodbye to Windows and step into the open-source giant which is—let’s not lie to ourselves—better than Windows in many areas.

Personally, I run a dual boot for one simple reason: games.

Of course, professional software for creators often runs only on Windows. Companies rely on SAP systems and various accounting or management applications that also work only on Windows. I get it. I wouldn’t want to delete Windows from every device on Earth.

But I’d rather talk about ordinary users like me.

For me, Linux is very beneficial, but in some way it has also become a bit of a lifestyle. I’m not exaggerating here. At some point I fell into the endless pit of Linux.

So far it’s not critical. I’ve only tried six distros.

To be clear, there’s nothing wrong with that. Yes, you spend a huge amount of time setting up your environment again and again… and then you return to one distro anyway. The important thing is that you start learning to use your computer in a completely different way. Once you get past the initial problems and confusion, everything starts to make sense. There is a solution for almost everything. You are not limited by anything. You can finally build the workspace you always wanted, design your dream UI, and actually enjoy every boot of your machine.

It also opens the door to understanding how everything works and how easily you can simplify workflows or everyday tasks. Yes, this might be possible on other systems as well. But with Linux it feels more like building and tuning your own race car instead of simply driving an automatic car.

I downloaded Ubuntu on my brand-new laptop because I wanted a machine dedicated to coding, Docker, servers, scripts, and development work in general. I considered Ubuntu the most beginner-friendly option, so I installed it. I read reviews and watched videos explaining how to install it properly. It was my first time changing the operating system on any device and essentially my first time reinstalling an OS on a computer. In reality, the process is extremely easy, and you can’t really destroy anything there, I guess.

My first impression was very positive. Everything I needed was already there, no unnecessary bloat, and every process ran incredibly fast. I didn’t have any problems at all. And the RAM usage? Are you kidding?

1.5 GB RAM idle versus 8.5 GB on Windows idle.

My laptop has 16 GB of RAM. Let’s do the math. On Windows, if I open IntelliJ IDEA with autocompletion enabled, run Docker, start both the server and client, open a browser with two or three tabs, and keep Spotify, WhatsApp, and Discord running… I’m left with about 2 GB of RAM.

What about you?

The system feels like a tool rather than a product, and that’s exactly what attracts me to Linux as a developer. Along the way I’ve picked up a few skills and learned what suits me, what annoys me, and which utilities or packages work best for my needs. Even so, almost every day I come across something new that I want to try, even though I’m already satisfied with the setup I have now.

As a second distro, I installed Pop!OS and have been using it to this day. It is also based on Debian, similar to Ubuntu. I chose it for a dual-boot setup on my PC, which I originally used mainly for gaming, but I wanted to turn it into a more universal machine for both productivity and games.

I picked Pop!OS because of its built-in tiling window manager and the newer desktop environment called COSMIC, originally built on GNOME. I’m not a Linux professional—just someone who likes exploring different systems—so my selection process was pretty amateur: read a few reviews, get curious, install it, and hope for the best.

I use it almost a year on PC and I absolutely can't complain. As for the system itself, I haven't encountered a single problem. Seriously. And it's something I really appreciate when a system cooperates with me. But on the other side… more errors and problems mean more things you learn. And that goes for everything and everywhere. I understand that beginners don't want to fix issues all the time, but in some areas it's actually beneficial.

I also tried Ubuntu Server on my local machines (Raspberry Pi 5 & Lenovo ThinkCentre — that will be a separate article), Zorin OS (a lightweight Windows-like distro), and finally Omarchy.

Omarchy is essentially an Arch Linux–based system with the Hyprland tiling window manager preconfigured. It comes with several components already set up, such as Wayland, Hyprland configuration, and basic desktop utilities so you can start using the system immediately without heavy manual setup. Most additional software and features are installed through simple bash scripts provided with the system, which makes the process easier for beginners who want to use Arch without configuring everything from scratch.

At the moment I’m still exploring. Pop!OS works great for my daily workflow, Ubuntu helped me get started, and Omarchy shows me what Arch-based systems can look like without any manual setup. Maybe one day Arch will really become my go-to distro on all my devices. Until then, I’m still somewhere in the middle — learning, experimenting, and occasionally going on another round of distro speed-dating.