By age 40, a Linux user stops trying to install Arch on a toaster just to prove they can.

nixCraft 🐧

By age 40, a Linux user stops trying to install Arch on a toaster just to prove they can. They finally settle on Debian Stable or Mint because they realize they no longer have the "mental bandwidth" to spend 6 hours configuring stuff or fix broken systems just to check their email or watch Netflix.

Paulo

@nixCraft I'm 39, looking forward to that

stfn

@nixCraft ha, I reached that point at ~35!

nixCraft 🐧

i used to live on the edge. now i just want a desktop environment that doesn't explode when i need it the most

Wayne Dixon

@nixCraft this is why I only install betas on devices that I can tolerate bugs and possible issues. The number of devices that I’m willing to do that on seems to keep going down.

Susan Calvin

@nixCraft in their 50s they move back to Debian Testing because they have the experience to report bugs

GoatsLive

@nixCraft Yup, me too. Mint for ages here...

Veviser

@nixCraft Surely the literal toaster (that they're still installing some distro on once they hit 40, and not specifically Arch as I choose to read this 🤭) doesn't have enough RAM or a fast enough processor to support a full desktop distro

René Fouquet

@nixCraft Happy 45 year old Ubuntu user here

Daniel Quinn

@nixCraft I really don't get this joke. Arch isn't Gentoo. You install it, and it just works. You never need to do a system upgrade 'cause it's on a rolling release, and its packages are always modern with the features you want.

Meanwhile Debian is perpetually antiquated, forcing creative hacks to get recent versions, and requires a tricky system upgrade every year or so just to remain relevant.

Odd

@nixCraft I switched to a macbook as my main driver for these reasons. But now I really want Linux back on desktop. Don’t trust anything anymore, but at least with Linux on my laptop, I won’t suddenly wake up with some forced AI having taken over my whole OS without my consent. 3 years until 50 now. Hope I’ll have the bandwidth to put Linux on my macbook by then

Baixa Auto Meia-lua-estima

@nixCraft any thoughts on Fedora?

Tipiak75 :kirby:🍜

@nixCraft Right. Especially just to watch netflix on the toaster.

Dustin

@nixCraft

FOSStastic

@nixCraft Funny, I already reached that point when I was 15 (or so) and had been using Arch for 9 months.

Since then, I've only used distributions that I can also recommend to non tech-savvy people.

I like tools that hide the bloat from me, like metapackages, Flatpak, Podman or rpm-ostree.

debgl

@nixCraft I can never deviate from debian+gnome for my main home laptop. I cannot say enough good things about its stability and reliability. paired with a good browser it has turned out to be the best combo for me. I can print, attend zoom calls, browse and do all office work with libre office. Stared with a older macbook pro and now use older surface laptop. Even the dell docking station works allowing me to have dual monitors.
Switching to Linux has never been easier for home!

Michele Adduci

@nixCraft as an over 40, I have Arch (CachyOS) only on my personal laptop. On all other PCs from family, it's just Debian 13 - zero stress with upgrades, especially for those who never run them

sola

@nixCraft 48 here. Two years without anything breaking. Afraid It'll come at any moment now. But I doubt it would take more than half an hour.

John Quentin Heywood

@nixCraft So very true

Mark

@nixCraft Honesty, you don't have to be 40 for that to be the case. I switched to Linux to avoid the headaches of Windows, why add headaches to Linux?