Back in mid-2017 I wrote about the different Linux distributions I’ve used over the years. At that time I was using Ubuntu 16.04 running the Gnome desktop.
Not long after that I switched over to Fedora running release 25 - also with the Gnome desktop. I can’t recall why I switched because it’s a bit like swapping one SUV for another (they all look the same to me). Perhaps I thought Fedora was a more ‘pure’ form of Linux than that provided by Ubuntu? Speculation. At this time I also loaded Fedora 25 running the Xfce desktop onto a small 32 bit Mini computer I had.
In mid-2018 I moved away from the Fedora brand to Manjaro (no recollection as to why). I first tried their Xfce flavour, then i3WM (documented here) then back to Gnome 3.
In mid-2019 I switched again (common theme, eh?) this time to Debian running a very lean machine with the Openbox Window Manager. The reason being that Manjaro, at that time, dropped official support for 32-bit machines and I still had one 32-bit machine in the stable. My process and steps for installing Openbox under Debian are listed here.
My Debian experience lasted until January 2020 when persistent problems with Nextcloud and my domain firewall caused me to look elsewhere. I’d come across Void Linux somewhere (it may well have been DistroTube) so decided give it a try. I ran Xfce on it and like having a desktop where I can store files I’m working on, and somewhere to display Conky monitors.
Void works well for me in all regards but one. I use Xiphos as my Bible software of choice but Xiphos isn’t packaged for Void. I have tried (unsuccessfully) to compile my own copy of Xiphos but Void seems to lack one of the dependencies to achieve that. I have installed flatpak and the flatpak version of Xiphos, but a new release of Xiphos came out a few weeks ago and the flatpak version hasn’t been updated. As I result I’ve been looking for a distro that is independent (I don’t want it tied to the development or release cycle of another distro), releases software upgrades fairly promptly (I don’t want to wait 6-12 months or more on old software when a new release adds features or bug fixes). I also wanted something that came with Xfce because that is my desktop-of-choice (for the time being, until it isn’t). I’ve opted for Fedora (release 32) to meet that criteria.
I’ve returned to Fedora in 2020 having started there in 2004. The Linux spiral (geometrically and metaphorically more pleasing than a circle) continues.