Document repository of… breadcrumbs?
Overall, spinning up a new linux system has gotten remarkably easier over the years, to the point where a significant amount of the how-to/configuration documentation that I have captured is no longer needed.
Much of the archived info is only retained because I still own hardware that could possibly benefit from the legacy methods.
The increased ease is a direct result of two main things:
I have been daily-driving linux since 2016, and am well settled on the kind of interface and experience that I prefer, so now spend my computing time actually using the PC and not distro-hopping, tweaking & re-configuring, babysitting updates or troubleshooting upgrades.
From whatever distro/spin (immutable is a must these days), I add whatever apps/services that are needed via quadlets, flatpaks, and/or distrobox.
There is definitely a learning curve to gettting the non-native/containerized methods to play-well with the OS, but once established, the declaritive configuration approach is infinitely repeatable and eliminates fiddling with distro-specific patterns or package-groups.
| Spin/Pattern/Distro | Base/DE | Benefits | Drawbacks |
|---|---|---|---|
| U-Blue/Dakota!! :) 2026/06 (testdriving) | GnomeOS/Gnome | immutable,rollback,rolling,auto-update,current | Container-life, for better and for worse |
| U-Blue/Bazzite/Bluefin 2026/06 (current,serverus) | Fedora-Silverblue/Gnome | immutable,rollback,rolling,auto-update,current | Container-life, for better and for worse |
| MicroOS/Aeon 2024/07 (current,laptop) | tumbleweed/Gnome | immutable,snapper,rolling,auto-update,current | Container-life uncomplicates the base installation at the cost of complicating app installation/operation |
| tumbleweed 2019/02 | Gnome | zypper,yast,snapper,rolling,Nvidia repo,current | yast/SUSE approach inherently introduces: 1) SUSE’s own way of doing things 2) a duplication of existing DE tools 3) less DE intregration |
| Fedora 2016/11 | Gnome | dnf,DE-transparent,Nvidia repo,current | short support life, but not rolling. Consistent trouble upgrading versions |
| Manjaro 2016/08 | Arch | Out-of-the-box brilliance, insane package/DE availability, DE-transparent, Nvidia easiest, current | feels a little unbridled for me. I like the (perceived) protections of the enterprise-backed distros. |
| Gnome | beautiful, minimalist approach, centralized settings, gtk4/csd | resource hog (functions, but not as graphically snappy on older hardware) | |
| elementary 2016/09 | Ubuntu/Pantheon | beautiful, minimalist approach, centralized settings, gtk4/csd | OS: Ubuntu-based DE: settings/options are too limited, forcing command-line hackery for petty customization |
| Mint 2016/03 | Debian | Well supported, batteries included | Ubuntu-based |
| xfce | light on resources, graphically snappy, runs csd apps | not as cohesive as gnome | |
| budgie | GNOME-like but snappier, more cohesive than XFCE | less cohesive than GNOME, less snappy than XFCE, less mature/complete than both | |
| cinnamon | familiar, centralized settings | feels dated, anti-csd | |
| Ubuntu 2014/09 | Debian/Unity | Baseline. Good enough, batteries included. VERY well supported b/c gateway distro | Ubuntu uses a different filesystem-framework than other gnu/linux standards. I Never truly settled into the unity way-of-things. |
| Method/Config | Reason Archived |
|---|---|
| docker/docker-compose | I prefer the more native feel of Quadlets |
| Kodi | Flatpak is good-enough, no longer need to build from source |
| nvidia | Switched to linux-friendly Radeon where discrete card is used |
| Open CASCADE JT Assistant | IDEK (haven’t used in a while) |
| Transmission (server) | Configured via Quadlet |
| Transmission (docker) | Configured via Quadlet |
| Tvheadend (docker) | Configured via Quadlet |
| OS/DE | Reason Archived |
| microOS | Obsoleted by immutable workflow |
| Fedora | Obsoleted by immutable workflow |
| OpenSUSE | Obsoleted by immutable workflow |
| PantheNOT | Un-used, not worth the trouble |
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