I was like you. Now I am on the immutable train. I really do think that is the future. I was on opensuse from 10.0, but and recently ended up on aeon which I find probably the most excitingly boring distro I have ever used apart from Debian.
I am not looking elsewhere since I realized can't stand gnome, but the idea of aeon is probably the most solid I have ever used, at least for desktop use.
I haven't really decided where to go now except for away from gnome, but Bazzite looks promising, and maybe the new KDE Linux ("project banana") in some time.
I feel like that just means you run very old software. If that's fine with you then that's a good solution. But I rather actually get software updates in a reasonable time.
Debian is not just Debian stable. There is testing and unstable that have much more recent packages. And even on stable you can get by with Flatpak for a lot of things.
CachyOS has a decent kernel with ZFS integrated. So for everyone using Arch - you can also use ONLY the kernel without the other changes, which makes the general experience a bit quicker, battery lasting a bit longer and if you're using zfs-dkms, you can remove it, if you're experienced enough.
I like Arch-based distros that make setting it up a bit less of a chore, so on my most recent setup I gave CachyOS a try.
It wasn't for me. Too many pre-written config files that make tools work quite differently from their default state. It had a bit of a "script-kiddy" feel to it IMO.
I'll go with EndeavourOS again next time - that one strikes a good balance between not making you work too hard for a running system and preconfiguring everything in a way you might not agree with.
It's funny you say that, because I'm trying out CachyOS with Niri right now, and the config they provide was almost exactly what I would have setup myself, so I only had to make a few tweaks.
In twenty years, I'll just be sitting here running Debian, watching distros come and go.
(Twenty years ago, I was actually running Debian, watching distros come and go, although I had a dalliance with Gentoo, don't tell Deb or Ian.)
That said, just use flatpak
I am not looking elsewhere since I realized can't stand gnome, but the idea of aeon is probably the most solid I have ever used, at least for desktop use.
I haven't really decided where to go now except for away from gnome, but Bazzite looks promising, and maybe the new KDE Linux ("project banana") in some time.
it should be like Aeon but with KDE
That's pretty much what you see in the chart in the article. Debian share remains untouched over time. Not affected by trends.
I do remember many attempts since Mandrake came to be, and many others that I lost track of.
It wasn't for me. Too many pre-written config files that make tools work quite differently from their default state. It had a bit of a "script-kiddy" feel to it IMO.
I'll go with EndeavourOS again next time - that one strikes a good balance between not making you work too hard for a running system and preconfiguring everything in a way you might not agree with.