How long I will use Elementary OS?

May 5th, 2020

Note: this is not a paid or sponsored post for Elementary OS.

Honestly I don't know what to write this day, and it's 6 p.m. here, so I just have a few thoughts about my Linux obsession and my distro hopping habits.

In short, I have been using Linux since the October 2006 as the sole operating system on my computer (before that I used it for few months on and off with Windows, dual-boot). And quickly fallen to the virus named, distro-hopping. This is a dangerous thing because it makes you check out Linux distros in a very short time. And it's easy to do, if you have separate Home partition. You just delete format your root partition, while you keep everything intact.

In the last couple of years I primarily used Manjaro Linux, because it worked with everything I had. I could install the proprietary nVidia drivers with the rest of the system, and most of the games worked very well. Never mention the AUR repo, which has the biggest software offering of any operating system at your fingertips. Any time I found something new on the internet, it was right there in AUR. It also came with Xfce, KDE, everything I liked, but I mostly used it with i3.

But of course once a distro-hopper, is always be a distro-hopper. Last year towards the end I went with a handful of distros in a quick tryout mode (1-3 days maximum), because something just didn't work with them. At the time I was more like an Ubuntu Mate guy, which I still like because it's a solid distro and clearly the devs care about wishes and problems of the community.

However there was another distro I liked to go back to, and that was Elementary OS. There was a time when I didn't like it, more importantly the devs. They made a point about paying for the distro itself, it was a PR mess, they modified the post without mentioning the old stuff, it was a nightmare. However it was a long time ago and people change. Namely, I have changed.

Here's my cheap reason for trying Elementary again: I like the theme, and sadly the whole pantheon stuff and file manager, etc. only works really well with Elementary. I was also curious how the project is going, I haven't used it for a long time.

So I am now using Elementary for almost a half year now. I changed my workflow to suit the system better. I am learning shortcuts and everything, and I am happy that the devs are making the system more keyboard friendly. I love the monthly updates. I like some of the simple stuff, while I know that this distro will never be a power user's dream, the one that I can have with Manjaro + i3. I like Night Light which is the first of its kind that worked for me 98% of the time. I like the desktop effects. It's minimal, responsive. As it should be.

I like the AppCenter and the Elementary specific software. I like the simple pantheon desktop environment, with the panel and the dock. I don't like the login screen, because it's a big grey blob, and the old one with the full screen nice looking background was so much better. I may look for a different display manager, but now I just use my system without login (I am the only user on this computer and I know that it is not safe to use it this way, however there is 0% chance for local intrusion).

While not everything is rosey, I am already preparing myself for a completely fresh install of Elementary OS 6 in the future. There is no release date for it, but I hope around August/September we will get the new version.

Currently I am very happy with Elementary OS, and at least this year I won't change to another distro. I don't recommend it for people who needs the latest software, since it depends on Ubuntu LTS, and I don't recommend it to very newbie Linux people, because the system can be too restrictive, if you go outside of bounds (but honestly this two point pretty much related). However if you want a solid distro with a simple setup, where you just want to work and not want to change anything for a while, then check Elementary OS out.

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This is day 9 of #100DayToOffload, and I missed the opportunity to write about my favorite streamer, called Day9. Well maybe in another timeline, I guess. Until then check out the site for some reading content, and if you like, join us for this glorious journey of writing.