What is your "primary use" of this brilliant OS?

Everyone chooses a Distro based on what they are gonna use it for.

Some are gamers and require top-notch hardware support. Others are programmers who need the latest & greatest software releases. And some are simply trying to get away from the proprietary grasps of MS and Apple.

How about you? :slight_smile:

I’m a front end web developer. Mostly static work (html,css,js) and learning Vue + Nuxt. Currently enrolled in a Udemy bootcamp to further my knowledge and skillset :wink:

1 Like

I always have several Linux distributions on multiple computers. I am a retired software engineer but testing Linux distributions and also using them for everything has been something I’ve been doing for at least 25 years.

Even though software was a professional thing for me, using Linux on my own terms has always been a relaxing thing in contrast to work.

4 Likes

I guess I am a casual user who wants to

and would like to live a private and secure digital life as much as possible.

I like the KISS philosophy of Arch and the fact that I can build up a system from scratch.
(well almost :wink:)

In some (distant) future, I really would like to try LFS to deepen my understanding of how a Linux system is build up.

8 Likes

My usage is fairly ordinary, it did start out as the common “wanting to get away from micro$oft”
but has soon afterwards developed into liking what linux does much more than windows.
Switching back and worth turned into distrohopping until i found the one, the only, the appreciated, the friendly community driven, endeavouros.

Anyway, from “getting away” i am doing all of my free time computing here(gaming, internet surfing, occasional tinkering with software) , whatever i might have missed from windows, i adapted to it here, whatever doesnt work properly on linux (but does on windows) is something i now no longer have a need for.

6 Likes

Testing and emergency backup.

I use it a lot to test to help make sure you all continue to think this is an excellent distro.

I always have it on a USB when I travel in case for some crazy odd chance I have a critical issue with my laptop, I can very quickly and easily get myself up and going in 10 min and be back in business until I get home and fix Arch. . .

2 Likes

That’s been on my ToDo List for years.
I have an old Thinkpad T400 with my first ever minimal Arch install from a few years ago, but the battery is shot and needs a replacement. Unfortunately the few I have received from eBay sellers never seem to last. So it’s collecting dust :frowning:

2 Likes

I’ve got also a spare laptop I would like to dedicate to LFS.
It’s a Dell Vosstro 5471 (Intel i5-8250U 16 GB RAM). I have no clue if it is adequate for LFS but for the moment it is living the same fate as your T 400.

2 Likes

This distribution chose me and she seems to like it :wink:

11 Likes

Primary use:

  • Chatting across various networks like IRC/Discord/etc [Hexchat]
  • Creating mainly Word/Excel documents for personal use [LibreOffice]
  • Maintaining and organizing my increasing music collection [Tauon-music-box, Ex Falso, Kid3]
  • Creating and editing photography/video projects [Gimp, Inkscape, DarkTable]
  • Browsing the web [Vivaldi, Firefox]
  • Listening to various podcasts [Gnome Podcasts]
  • Using the terminal [Tilix] (this is my favorite one!)
  • Creating and maintaining system backups [Pika Backup, Timeshift]
  • Testing various distros in a VM [Gnome Boxes]
  • Submitting bug reports across various projects [Github, Gitlab]

You could say I can do any of these across other distros/operating systems, and technically you’d be right! But using an Arch-based distro like EndeavourOS allows me a DIY approach, with a keep it simple stupid mentality, which helps give me a better understanding of Linux (I wouldn’t learn nearly close to what I’ve learned here so far if I was on a distro like elementaryOS for example), and it helps to have rolling kernels and software, as well as access to the AUR to be current and up to date. I’m getting a bit off the topic now, but by not having to do a fresh install every release, EndeavourOS allows me to spend more time using my system exactly how I want to use it :slight_smile:

4 Likes

Had no idea it was a she.
No wonder it feels nice to have it on my lap …top :sweat_smile:

5 Likes

in German, it is “Die Distribution” :heart_eyes:

9 Likes

I’m a college professor in a humanities field and I have various distros on all my systems, but eos on my main workstation at home and my machine at the office. My main uses are:

  • I do all my writing in neovim, including books/articles and lecture notes for class, and then use pandoc to convert files to docx or whatnot as needed. I’m starting to get into LaTeX too. Keeping everything in text files during the writing process makes it super easy to search through everything I’ve written, back everything up, etc. Hell, if I realize I mispelled someone’s name in several things I’ve written (which happens sometimes with medieval authors) I can use sed or whatnot to fix those errors across numerous texts.

  • I have thousands of PDFs and images to keep track of for research and teaching, so I use tmsu to tag all those files for multiple projects. The combination of ranger, zathura, and feh also makes it incredibly easy to access and preview all those files.

  • I administer two academic websites using jekyll or hugo, git, etc. I also use gimp to edit or resize images for those sites, and neovim, of course, for any coding associated with those sites.

  • Like most people, I was teaching online all last year and did it all from linux systems. I found using a tiling wm (herbstluftwm in my case) incredibly helpful during that process, when I had to be switching back and forth constantly between a browser, my lecture notes, etc.

  • I do all this on computers that are 5-10 yrs old, which is good, cuz you don’t exactly make a lot of money in the humanities to be buying/building new systems all the time.

  • On general principle, I’d also much rather use community-supported software than feed money to M$ and company, and I love the fact that my computers don’t spy on me or try to sell me shit.

11 Likes

Am in AWE of your workflow.

How many years did it take to achieve this rhythm?

1 Like

I’ve only been at it a couple years actually. I’d installed linux for the first time (ubuntu, of course) not too long before the pandemic hit, and I guess I really threw myself into it during the lockdowns, etc. I’m just coming up on a year with eos.

3 Likes

Opening a browser and reading in this great forum.

4 Likes

I’m just a housewife, retired Windows user support and I use various Archy systems (Manjo, EOS) as … ta-daaa … computer operating system! I know, quite a shocker, right? But really, I mostly do mom n pop computing on my machines. Stealing movies and music, blogging, media consumption, photos, video …

I’m on Linux since late 2013, first 2 weeks on Mint, then switched to Manjaro, was blown away by its greatness, and stayed on Arch-y distros ever since. Microsoft and Apple products are banned in our household.

Oh, and I’m probably the only Linux user who didn’t start on Ubuntu proper!

2 Likes

I do pretty much everything on this computer.

2 Likes
1 Like

I’m a coach/PT so my work doesn’t really require anything other than Google Drive and those google office utilities, so I’m free to dabble in Linux as much as I want. So I ended up choosing Linux. After some distrohopping I ended choosing Arch and Endeavour was the easy pick. I’m actually currently running Garuda cause it had more GUI tools, but I get most of the help from here so I stay on the forums. :slight_smile:

I use LibreOffice or forementioned Google services for my work, but I also use my PC as a media server for my household and play games on it.

Used to do all this on Macs and Hackintoshes, but Apple ended NVidia support and has only gone down hill after that, so no going back.

1 Like