Yup.

Compassion for those poor unfortunate souls who are introduced to linux with arch, eat their system, find it too hard, and throw the entire Free Software / Open Source baby out with the one-bad-experience bathwater, thinking it’s all like that, not realising freedom has availed a variety, to suit nearly all needs, preferences, skill levels.

But yeah, [windows to arch,] it’s impressive [levels of patient diligent learning].

A few years back, I think I caught glimpse of a gentoo-started windows-refugee in the wild once, in passing. Add that to the rumours these mythical beings may actually exist.

I know there are actually several who started with LFS! Never underestimate the power of suggestion [… the title said Linux From Scratch… so of course that makes sense to start there! LOL].

Fair query.

I was torn for which one distro I liked the least.

Considered something rpm based, but then realised all rpm based distros (bar two), I dislike to similar levels, and have thus not used them sufficiently to really say… and they also get lost amidst similar levels of dislike of distros I tried only ever so briefly in my distro-surfings.

Then I realised, the answer was obvious… my “liked the least”'ness has all systemd-imposing distros in a constellation, orders of distance further into “liked the least”, more than any other criteria, and all so far out there, they’re all as good as the same to my view. Rotten poison. Under an Embrace-Extend-Extinguish op. Centralising, homogenising, imposing, “the one true way” dogma. Beyond just a single point of failure, already compromised from within, agnogenic, dependency-generating, disempowering. and many more reasons.

So that’s how I arrived at [any distro imposing] systemd as my least liked distro.

This should be a stance that makes sense when considering in context that my fave/current and longest used, are bedrock & gentoo. I like choice. And so, any distro that’s striven to not facilitate user’s freedom to choose, and even striven to make the ability to choose harder, has fallen into that same homogenising “one true way”-dogma gestalt. Obediant copy-pasta distrod can Foxtrot Oscar.

… Could have done a wayland logo there too [or GNOME3, lol]. XD But I have less experience with that. Perhaps (as in the third link of reasons^), I could have used the term “FLOS”, but then that would have been more obscure and misleading. … And [even if interpreted correctly] perhaps a mite more broad than best depicts my “liked the least”, throwing a few which I like more, under the bus.

Anyhoo…

Reasoning elaboration [for my latteral-thinking lazy-cheat cop-out gestalt criteria choice] aside,

The distro I want to use in the future’s far more interesting…

i’m a big ol’ 5

Some windows refugees do start with arch, btw.

When I first saw “Distros i’ve used:”, I thought there’s no way I could list that, after my prolific distro-surfing phase between 2004 to about 2014… I don’t know how many tall spools of CDs and DVDs I filled with distros, before I switched to usb, trying even more, with even less footprint to gauge it by.

… But, by just simply following the outline provided, I arrive at:

:)

That was fun.

Probably aware of half a dozen other operating systems to try, if something catches fire in the thousand distributions of linux.

When/how would the only way out be windows?

This sounds like a level of implausibility/dystopia it’d anger pingu to shout “SHBHLBRHBR AWOOO! AWOOO!”

That scared me for a while, making me think it wasn’t safe unless that was there. XD Insidious implicit lie. Lots of other times are safe too.

Upgrading Gentoos that had not been upgraded for a really long while used to be one of my favourite things to do.

It works well enough for now. Some things were surprisingly simpler than I expected them to be (e.g. gaming thanks to Heroic Launcher and Steam).

I was thinking more with regards to the multiple recent AUR malware attacks. I hope you’re staying safe, staying on top of the situation, not letting Arch bite you.

Note for the Linux-curious potentially reading this: I had sufficient experience with Linux Mint and Ubuntu as well as test runs of Arch before committing to it. DO NOT SWITCH DIRECTLY TO ARCH LINUX FROM WINDOWS. Try Mint first (or Bazzite, I hear that one is great for gaming but have yet to try it myself), and preferably using VirtualBox before committing to a switch.

Note for the linux-curious potentially reading this: You’re Linux curious, that means you have what it takes to try any distribution of Linux. Curiosity. YOU CAN SWITCH DIRECTLY TO ARCH LINUX FROM WINDOWS. It’s rare, but it does happen. Some now famous linux youtubers did just that. It will take a bit more reading to be able to get up and running, but you’ll be running all the more fast and sure-footed from the education the experience gave you.

;)

Oh heck, Arch isn’t even that hard and involved to install any more. Go for Gentoo. :) Come, windows refugees, all! Skip the Ubuntus, Mints, Suses, Fedoras, PopOSes, AntiXes, Zorins, elementaryOSes, LinuxLites, PCLinuxOSes, Soluses and whatever windows refugees flock to these days, and shoot for the moon! Heck, even try LFS! (Okay, don’t. I’ve gone too far now. LOL).

Thankyou for your response. However you’re responding to a comment encouraging curiosity and questions, without any curiosity and questions, about which, I have much curiosity and many questions.

You never stopped to ask if those who tell you these conspiracy theories about Tesla & Co. have their own agenda.

1. What led you to this determination that I had never done that?
2. Is that to imply that having their own agenda means their accusations are false or something?
3. Maybe you missed it earlier, but the term “conspiracy theories” has already been ousted as having the effect of dissuading scrutiny [e.g. of the guilty]. Is this your intention? Or is this satire? Or is this simply the first time you’ve encountered the idea and had not yet entertained the possibility?
4. What “conspiracy theories” about “Tesla & Co”? Is that referring to the Tesla company owned by Musk? Or about Nikola Tesla?
5. Your opening assertion that could have been a question, is a mite muddied and confounding. Did it seem straight forward to you when you asked it? Upon re-read, have you noticed these issues I’ve raised? And that seems fair?

For example selling books or some useless “apparatus”.

1. Is this mere speculative conjecture? [Presumably] Not knowing who “tell you these conspiracy theories”, you therefor also know not what else they’re doing.
2. I know this is just an example, but, does it have to be so heavily weighted, leaning to confirm your conjecture, in how they’re “useless”? Aware and intended that was a poison seed? (~ A fallacy I succumb to making often too.).
3. Again, wondering if you think this is of relevance… like a refutation hinges on this side criteria. This is intended merely as a invite to consider the circumstantial, right? And not as if this refutes the possibilities beyond all valid and sound consideration?
4. Would be nice if we could get access to the suppressed technologies. Or even if those who write books on such topics could even make their print fees back. Most who speak on this topic are not selling anything. books, useless apparatus, nor let alone the emancipatory technologies themselves. Those most likely to first encounter, I imagine would be the loudest, and thus also, the most likely to be managed opposition shills. The quiet empathic sort, tend not want the limelight, merely want the benefit to the world, and that’s an easy loud contrast to look out for… who are the fevered narcissistic egos who want the attention, who loudly peddle the bombast and future-fake their way to get all the hopium hopped up in your minds. In a sea of misinformation, everybody’s a shill, for sure. But that does not mean one can then evade that problematic situation by proclaiming to have found the one true truth. Experience teaches that’s much much more likely a sign you’ve been duped, rather than have genuinely found the one true truth. Like the old saying goes “listen to those who seek the truth, run from those who claim to have found it.”. Well, I’m not going to do just quite that. That’d leave those who claim to have found the truth, both in their curated echo chamber, and, risk spreading that arrogant presumption and epistemological fail to others. Like the scene in Akira: “It must be a trap.” “Then why are you still going!?” “I want to find out what kind of a trap it is”. All that to go the long way around to asking… Would you not want to scrutinise books on that topic, and test apparatus, rather than just dismiss it off hand in presumption to know they’re bunk because presumably they’re up to no good, just in it for the money or fame or whatever thing besides honest interest? [~ and not use that presumptive dismissiveness to extend to a non-sequitur adhominem character assassination and transitively dismissing whole fields of research?]

And no, citing some fallacies or abusing the thesaurus doesn’t make the things you say sound any smarter.

1. That’s fun. It’s also irrelevant. IDGAF how it makes the things I say sound. I renounced that manipulative crap 24 years ago, when I renounced my career in advertising. Much more interested in the epistemology these days, and the search for truth, and pegagogy. So, fun as that gaslighting is, in attempting to dissuade having fallacies pointed out, I’ll carry on pointing out fallacies. If it stings, that’s your ego, been deceiving you, keeping you from truth, preferring it’s own delusional comfort. If ignorance is bliss, give me agony.
2. Fallacies… some noted, even in that brief 3 sentences… Ad hominem, genetic fallacy, appeal to motive, strawman, dismissal, poisoning the well, appeal to cynicism, false dilemma, and likely more yet. Any fallacies you can spot I’ve made? Very eager to have what’s in my shadow shown to me. Would not want to be ignorantly going around as one of those messers mucking up society, deluded, thinking my thinking’s sound when it’s not even valid.
3. Was this even a concern? Like, was it implied anywhere that citing fallacies or “abusing the thesaurus” were making the things I say sound any smarter? Just wondering: why even bother with that ad-hominem arguing tone with apparent implied accusation?
4. When I was 14, after learning my verbal iq’s only 90 (~ annoying small apperture for my 180 visual iq, trying say the pictures that say a thousand words), I made the foolish error of thinking that if I expanded my vocabulary, I’d be able to communicate my ideas better. Alas, much like how the Socratic method fails in the face of the stubbornly ignorant who refuse to even entertain and answer questions, this notion of an extended vocabulary helping communication fails in the face of those who not only do not share your vocabulary, but have no interest in expanding theirs with curiosity. Not that you were owed an explanation there, but, I thought that might help expand conception of the possibilities beyond the reactive judgemental. We’ve each highs and lows in our aptitude profile. Many aptitudes can be tested. Not just the three that comprise iq. Also emotional inteligence, wisdom, spiritual aptitude, interpersonal aptitude, intrapersonal aptitude, philosophical aptitude, and on and on it extends for dozens.

And further, beyond that, in general… Are you now (or even, were you, at the time) aware of the fallacies here?

And how it wasn’t really on topic, dealing with the substance, and instead was derailing from the substance, on to talk about me?

Insidiously, these ad-hominem reflexes sneak up on us, pulling us down Graham’s Hierarchy of Disagreement. As does mere arguing tone. Or even mere contradiction, without substantive reasoning. Just escalates the combative fear that impedes access to our more considerate, critical, creative forebrains, keeping us in “fight or flight”. That dumb may work for running away from a sabre tooth tiger, but it does not help us navigate nuanced social intricacies and technological complexities. Alas, I’ve yet to find reliable ways in text that helps encourage and invite people to that considerate exploratory headspace, out of the induced certainties that keep us stuck making a mess obliviously, not learning. “What an opportunity to learn, once I learned to learn” – The Man From Earth. What more am I still behind that cruel horizon, where the key that opens the box, is locked in the box? What more ways out there to help people sublimate out of the induced ignorance prison? The exploration continues on, at least for those who’ve begun.

And of course, merely pointing out a fallacy, or accusing of some personal trait, is no refutation, no confirmation either has the truth. We’re all blind men with another piece of the elephant. Naysaying’s cheap, but sharing your interpretation of the whole from your part, while almost certainly wrong, does help us get closer to the truth.

The point remains… I welcome the questions. Heh.

It’s a very different feel… when starting to question again… after long time induced to arrogance and not realising it had atrophied curiosity and the questioning muscles. Shifting back from the closed “I get it”, to the open “what more is there to get?”. And the more new stuff learned, the easier it is to accidentally climb back up on Dunning-Kruger’s certainty peak. Vigilance, the price we must eternally pay. Keep learning more yet, and it’s almost inevitable to fall into impostor syndrome, as becoming aware how much more there is to learn, and starting to doubt your abilities, especially as others bring their piece of the picture, a piece you didn’t have. Why didn’t you have? Must be because you’re of inferior capability. So goes the subconscious sabotage. At least, in those who’re not so arrogant and ignorant that they can even entertain the new information. This gets much easier to do once no longer in naive realism (the cognitive condition of believing your beliefs; of believing your perceptions are true reality itself).

“Leave no stone un-turned in the search for truth.” … did I miss any?

[PS, sorry this got long, but that’s very often how brandolini’s law [multiplied by cunningham’s law] goes, especially with a visual thinker; especially with an autistic intp on their “special interest”].

systemd.

I do not want any component imposed. Init-freedom.

(Artix, btw).

I was just thinking lets have the date expand infinitely.

For your curiosity,

There’s also decibellinux. (Formerly known as Gentoo Studio) [Edit: aw. https://downforeveryoneorjustme.com/decibellinux.org?proto=https is currently down. … It’ll be back again.]

It’s not a full studio, just audio production focused (… so install GIMP, MyPaint, Blender, Inkscape, KDENLive, freecad, etc etc etc as needed).

Install as a stage4 gentoo install, following its instructions. It’s a little more fiddly and involved than Ubuntu Studio, offering all the gentoo advantages, like useflags, better availing more fine grain choice, and a little more opportunity to learn more about the system.

… As well as being great for [audio] creative tool discovery, and convenience of having [nearly] all the tools out of the box, just like Ubuntu Studio.

(And there’s obarun, joborun, nemesis, shebang… er, and others out in the wild too that I forget… )

(I use an Artix stratum btw.)

How’s that working out for you? :)

Ah, so you think your distro’s not the best. (jk).

As a recovering/relapsing distroholic, I feel like these threads are great for discovery. (And whimsical fun. Because you’re right, that it’s not a contest. So knowing this, can engage with the question playfully.)

Was going to look upon this with a hard critical eye… but found myself softening into nostalgia, thinking about where I started… On suse, just before suse offered gnome as equal player; just before xfce4 became a thing… and I remember the XFCE devs did not like me reporting bloat as a bug, even though it had gone from snappy fast to a clunky crawl. n_n

And IRIX there too… I was on IRIX before GNU+Linux. Long time ago. Still very fondly remembered, wishing for an IRIX revival, more than just Nekoware and Mogrix and pirix. But, it’s HP that are sat on the IRIX IP, right? Good luck.

Anyway, distractions aside… cool chart, though, my faves are not there, by the criteria they’ve used to choose which to show. It’s a mite odd… Not just DEs, not just distros, but an odd filter of distros by DE importance… I suppose it’s laudable to attempt depict.

Yup. Was about to say, I think I saw dozens of forks on the day.

Och. This post could have been so much more.

Not breaking things.