How I stopped OS hopping and I started working
I’m not hiding behind a straw thread: Since when I tried Linux for first time back in 2019 with Debian Stretch, the next years until now were for me a sorta of OS Hopping. I started following CTT (Chris Titus) on Youtube and I was so much into OS hopping, mostly between Windows (10 / 11) and Linux.
I tried so many distributions, the most distributions I remember trying includes:
- Debian
- Linux mint
- POP!os
- Manjaro
- Linux lite
- Fedora
- Arch
On this kind of situation I was formatting the entire PC about once every 1-2 months, changing everything and being so unproductive for couple of days, until I restored all software and restored my workflow in new environment.
You can imagine how I was unproductive, delaying some works or missing some appointments with friends on online games because I was “OS Hopping”..
The fact is I was so undecided about my daily OS, I was getting the best from both, I wanted to have the “best setup ever”, the one feeds all my needing, without any compromise.
I took in consideration also the idea of dual boot, but this way is not the best for me because I want to use Linux and Windows for the same activities, so I was splitting my workflow in more OS, having double directories for cloud syncing and launching some custom python script for align the path for virtual machines shared folders. That’s really crazy. No, I said: that’s so unproductive for me.
So recently I tried asking Chat GPT what he thinks about my profile: I told him my IT degree, my PC specs, my PC needing etc etc. The result was initially he was saying me “You should go with Windows 11”, but after understanding who he was talking with, he immediately suggested me: “no bro, you should go with Linux: Moreover with Fedora or Open suse, Arch or Debian testing”.
That was the first time I asked him.
I still was doubtful, so I asked him second, third and fourth time what he thinks about this specific argument. And for 4 times he said the same exact thing, “For your use case should go with Linux”.
At this point, after I recived the same answer for 4 times I said: I will stop here. I’ll go with Linux as primary OS. Stop. I still have some Windows virtual machines, but I use them just for Windows specific tasks. For everything else I prefer using native Linux.
Also for gaming I’m using Linux: I play some retro gaming, gaming from mid 90’ initially released for Windows 95 and some Steam games, which are perfectly running with Wine and Proton. As I already said I don’t like play online competitive games, so I don’t miss Windows anticheat.
For programming needings Linux is top of the top, I’m using EXT4 formatted disk where I keep projects and virtual machines. No problem after all. npm and Javascript compilation are very speedy and consistent.
Windows usage is limited to some legacy ASP.NET development, office and FL studio. As I already said using FL studio in a VM with audio passtrough performance are very decent.
So yes, I finally consider the number “4” as the sigil against my madness of OS Hopping: when I think about it I’ll remember all the four times Chat GPT said me the exact same thing, and I suddently stop about thinking other system configuration.
Also I started using Fedora Linux at release 42 and just this is so magic, maybe a sign? 
If you’re stuck in the same OS hopping cycle I was in… maybe it’s time to pick your own sigil and move on. 
