I generally use the OS which fits what I am trying to do. For my desktop PC, I run Arch Linux as it lets me game, run VMs and have a high level of control over what the system is doing. The VMs are mostly Windows for testing stuff and one running Ubuntu as a host for PolarProxy. My server runs Ubuntu, though really just as a platform to host docker containers. That was a decision I made years ago when I knew a lot less about Linux and was looking for something which was more turnkey. My work laptop is Windows, because my work is mostly a Microsoft shop. But, I have WSL running both Ubuntu (for the SANS Sift framework) and Kali.

An Operating System is a tool. Don’t get wedded to any one OS.

On desktop: Linux since late 1996. It is the only operating system that I can perfectly tune to adhere to my - often weird - ideas, and can run all the software I need. I’m a developer, mostly working on free and open source software, so Linux is right there to assist me with that. When I play games, I play them through Wine/Proton, have been since I started gaming on Linux some two decades ago. If a game does not work under Wine/Proton, that’s simply not a game I will be playing.

For portable gaming, I have a Steam Deck. Surprisingly, that also runs Linux.

My phone is running stock Android, and I hate it, because the way I function, and how Android imagines I would are not compatible, and the system does not let me bend it to my will, there isn’t enough flexibility built in. Like… I can’t uninstall a bunch of applications I’m never going to use, because my phone came preinstalled with it, and they’re not removable, unless I jailbreak it. Unfortunately, I can’t jailbreak it, because then my bank’s application would stop working. Which would be fine, since I don’t do banking on the phone. Except the application is required for mandatory 2FA. FML.

Thankfully, I can go days without touching my phone, so I can live with it being a piece of crap.

(The rest of my family is also on Linux: both parents, wife, and eventually the kids too.)

Overall, ignoring the kind of device, it’s my preferred linux distro, followed by android, followed by other distros, followed by windows 7.

I wish Linux mobile was ready for what I need, but there just isn’t app parity currently.

The learning curve switching from win7 to whichever version Mint Linux was on at the time was acceptable. No harder or easier than picking up android for the first time once installation was finished. Easier than when I’ve had to dick around on iOS. I can’t say what the switch would be like now since only my laptop is running dual boot with 10 right now, and I never open it at all. I kept the windows partition for some of the crap with self publishing that isn’t as easy on Linux, but I find there’s no motivation to boot to Windows lol.

I really like excels android overall, and I used to run custom roms on everything, and had a ton of fun playing around like that. But Google has made android suckier, if not sucky enough to switch to iOS or put up with the flaws of mobile Linux (though it has been a while since I tested anything in that regard). So, as long as android is essentially controlled by a for profit company, I don’t know that it could be my favorite os.

Linux wise, Mint is the tits. Yeah, there’s distros that do some things better. But damn, I’ve thrown mint on all kinds of boxes and then just got to using it for what i want to do, not fiddling around with things. The bullshit canonical pulls isn’t an issue, and that’s nice. Popos is pretty similar in that regard tbh, but I prefer the default looks of mint better. That’s a niggling little thing, but such is life.

Arch.

you rebel/rapscallion

It’s simpler than that. Arch is dead simple. Everything is documented. If you want to know how to do anything, they tell you how. Where’s the config file? Right here, per the wiki.

People pump it up to be this impossible thing but it really is just the most blunt, to the point Linux distro and that’s what I enjoy about it. You never have to look two places for anything.

Trisquel GNU/Linux

https://trisquel.info/en

Because it is a fully free distro, which is important to me.

I use Trisquel because it is the most user friendly I’ve found in the free distros.

Some hardware drivers are unavailable, but that’s fine, just transferred away from non-free hardware.

For compatibility, usually export to PDF.

–//–

Also GrapheneOS on phones and tablet. Has less nags and bloat. Privacy centric mobile OS.

Desktops: Linux (Mint)
Laptops: Linux (Mint)
Phones: Linux (Android)
Servers: Linux (Debian)
SBC: Linux (Armbian / Raspberry Pi OS)
ESP32/ESP8266: Arduino (I’ve never really taken to MicroPython)
ATMega 328P/etc : Arduino

My setup is:

• Arch (BTW) & KDE on my laptop, that’s the tinkering machine that only I use.
• Dual boot Pop!_OS & Windows on the desktop, that’s the one that other people use too so I’m not allowed to break it.
• I also have a bunch of other OS’s in VMs that I mess around with like little specimen jars lol

NixOS is a bear to set up, but it is easy to keep it running for ages since the config is declarative & irons out configuration differences better than other OS since you config will refuse to evaluate.

I am thinking of moving to SailfishOS next year if my LineageOS phone keeps acting up.

Desktop = Fedora

Home server = AlmaLinux

Mobile = GrapheneOS

Router = OpenWrt

Windows 70. Percent of the time and mint linux 30 percent of the time.

But that ratio is moving in mint linux favor.

Mobile is iphone and ipad

I tried MacOS on my work machine for a couple of years, because everyone says how easy is. It never clicked for me. It felt like the short cuts all needed another key. It was also unintuitive for me. Of course that could be because I grew up on Windows. Either way, I did not like it.

Linux is crazy easy to install and really cool that you can run a live USB so easily. It’s also secure, stable, can run on garbage hardware, and has a thousand cool flavors. Intuitive and easy for (Mint, Ubuntu, etc.) common stuff. An absolute minefield to install soooo many things- if they even can work. I just want to double click shit and then run it. Much of that is on Microsoft for making things a challenge on purpose.

Windows gets more intrusive and obnoxious every year, but it runs almost everything I need.

Never really tried iOS. I don’t like the idea of being locked down.

Android can do a lot of cool stuff, but gets more intrusive every year too. So I run that for now.

Some day I’ll probably try some other OS on my phone, but I have less patience and time every day.

At home, I run Linux on one machine, Windows on another, hoping to cut ties with Windows entirely, but probably won’t ever get there.

I use MacOS at home as I have to support the fam.

Work is windows despite my best efforts to move to Linux, any flavor…

My laptop has macOS and Ubuntu and fedora and win11 (I have a vm problem and I enjoy it)

I wish I could use Fedora full time. I’m really open to whatever gets the work done. I just prefer software were open.

for Mobile OS’s

for mobile OSs*

In order:

Android (home)
Windows 11 (work)
Playstation
Xbox
Windows 11 (home)
Steamdeck
iOS (work)
Switch

linux