That’s perfectly fine. 
Actually, I’m with Fedora 44 KDE. In the last months, I have used Arch Linux, EndeavourOS, and openSUSE Tumbleweed.
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Trust me folks, @anon7765229 is the master of multi-distro 
Little inside joke
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Made my day, @toadie .
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Devuan linux on my main rig. Void on my old Thinkpad. CachyOS on my older gaming laptop - a Lenovo legion 5.
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@somogibbs Nice diverse collection on your different systems. As I’ve recently commented we have quite a diverse group here; we all share an interest in Linux software, and yet that common interest takes many forms, often with unique characteristics that differentiate software that otherwise shares many common traits.
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My childhood best friend just kicked Microsoft Windows to the curb in favor of a CachyOS installation and says he is never going back. 
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Nice to see you back @sarcutus
CachyOS is a solid distribution.
At the moment I’m using EndeavourOS rather than CachyOS; it suits my particular interests; both of them are leading implementations of Arch Linux.
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I am fairly certain I am atypical of a newer Linux user because I do use multiple distros. I initially started in Mint in I think March this year? It worked pretty great without any serious hangups outside of me just needing to learn a new OS and not expect everything to be like Windows (things are less frustrating when you deal with an OS on its own terms rather than carrying baggage). I also more or less just took the plunge into Linux without bothering to have any significant period of dual booting with Windows; I wanted it gone so I just decided that was that.
However, as this forum documented a couple months ago, I encountered some issues with a couple video games that seemed to not work with my Mint and computer combo. After trying everything I could think of, I decided to add another distro in a dual boot setup (so these are hard installs, no virtual machines). I chose Nobara Linux, which Fedora-based, and this one has been totally flawless for my games, really fantastic. It looks good too. So for me my reason to have multiple systems on one gaming laptop is because of video games, but it has been kind of a blessing because it has allowed me to enjoy multiple ways of playing with my computer, something that was impossible before coming to Linux.
I think for someone so early on in using Linux it might be atypical to be doing what I am doing. I also don’t have any real computer science background, so I am not just “tinkering” like a hobbyist would; I do not know enough about computers to do so with any confidence. And I also chose a niche distro for my second system, instead of Fedora itself, which is also not recommended for beginners haha
But I do think this switch to Linux and subsequent second system has really made me respect and love what goes on under the hood in my computer in a way I never had before. I was more utilitarian in the past in terms of computer use, but now I can understand the fun of using my computer because I learned so much about things I had not thought about before.
I have been thinking of using my live USB to test out other distros too (not really with the intention of installing), just for fun. If I do, I think I may try CachyOS because it is supposed to be relatively friendly, and it is Arch based, which means I would have tried one each of the big three Linux varieties.
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That’s a good idea, as is trying out various different distributions. I like the fact that you are interested in trying not only the “usual” newbie distributions, but also at least one that might give you a completely different impression of system packaging.
I think you’ll find once you try a few that the main initial difference is appearance; every different distribution at least starts out with a look that typifies the distribution and the version of the distribution. The second, more functional difference is in the way in which the software is packaged, and as you said, you will hopefully end up trying at least one of the three major packaging varieties - .deb - Debian-based - Mint, RPM - Fedora-based - Nobara, and then CachyOS; quite a different approach compared to what is often seen when a new user tries out a system.
I’ll be interested to see how these “distribution excursions” work out for you; I certainly wish you success, and we’re glad to discuss them with you.
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I use Debian on my Thinkpad T42 and on my Asus EeePC. I use Arch on my main machine and NixOS on my Pi 5.
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Wow, I used a T42 quite a number of years ago. I couldn’t use Linux INSTALLED on it, but at one point in time, they weren’t controlled tightly enough to prevent me from running Linux LIVE on it from home.
The T40 and T60 series were among my favorite laptops ever. Though the key depression is longer than in today’s models, the key presses and keyboard feel was the best of any laptop system I can think of, including my current Lenovo Thinkpad T14 Gen 3 laptop.
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Here I am 
I am a multi-distro user and I think I will always be, and for this very reason I had a second SSD dedicated exclusively to Linux added to my new desktop computer (HP Z1 G8 - Intel i7, Nvidia RTX 3060 12 GB, 32 GB RAM) (SSD 1 = Windows, SSD 2 = Linux, 2 TB HDD = Storage, 500 GB USB SSD = Mobile Storage). I’ll tell you why: I discovered computers thanks to the Commodore 64 (a gift from my mother, the Internet didn’t exist yet) but I began to really get passionate about it with Windows XP, so Windows will always be present on my computer, both for sentimental reasons and because I absolutely don’t despise it. Linux is fascinating as well as useful and educational, so I will never abandon it and I will remain in multi-boot, not dual-boot, because I really enjoy installing, as well as trying, new distros. Well, some people like having several cars in their garage, I like having several distros on my computer As of this writing (August 25, 2026), my distro portfolio is as follows: Endeavour (Arch - KDE), Calamaro (Gentoo - KDE), Valtux (Debian 13 - KDE), Ubuntu 26.04 (GNOME). Yes, KDE is my favorite desktop environment.
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Nice setup, and the separate SSD for Linux is good it keeps Windows from messing with the bootloader and makes distro hopping a lot less risky.
Curious what you’re using for the boot menu across four distros, GRUB? Also haven’t seen Calamaro or Valtux come up here. Both websites look AI-ish. 
Would love to hear how they’ve held up compared to Endeavour?
Welcome feel free to jump into the topics relating to your setups or start new ones.
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Hi Hydn Thanks for your comment. Yes, I use GRUB because I know it a little and until now I haven’t had the desire to try new things like Limine, for example. Booting with systemd doesn’t seem to detect Windows installed on another SSD so I’m not considering it. I once wanted to try reFind but at startup it showed a blank page and nothing else (I don’t remember on which distro), I abandoned it immediately. I can say that Calamaro works like a Swiss watch, it intrigued me a lot and I wanted to try it because years ago I installed “pure” Gentoo and I don’t feel like repeating the experience hahaha (I compiled the kernel by hand and was going cross-eyed in a divergent sense); I don’t understand why until now no one has thought of taking stage 3 and attaching Calamares to it to promote the spread of Gentoo. One last note: “Discover” is included, but it’s only designed for flatpaks (which I avoid using as much as possible). You need to be familiar with Portage to install binary packages or packages to compile. Endeavor works well, but I have to use the X11 session; with the Wayland session, it’s unusable (mouse twitching right from the login screen). I like the update script, which does everything flawlessly. I also installed Shelly, but it’s not really necessary. Vailux (like Calamaro) has a website that simply presents the distro and nothing else (no forum), but since it’s based on Debian 13, that’s not a problem. Aesthetically, it’s very appealing. The software package might seem excessive to some, but that doesn’t bother me. I think if you don’t need something, just remove it. It works well, but there are some small bugs that haven’t bothered me so far. I don’t think I’ve forgotten anything. See you next time. 
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@Bourbon I also use GRUB on all my systems. Set it and forget it and has all I need.
Thanks for sharing!
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I remember LILO, Grub is 100% better:
A Comprehensive Guide to LILO in Linux
In the early days of Linux, boot loaders played a crucial role in the startup process of the operating system. One of the most well-known and widely used boot loaders was LILO (LInux LOader). LILO is a classic boot loader that was used to load the Linux kernel into memory and start the operating system. It was popular in the 1990s and early 2000s and laid the foundation for the development of more advanced boot loaders like GRUB. Understanding LILO is not only a trip down memory lane but also provides valuable insights into the fundamental concepts of how Linux systems boot. ……
(LILO development was officially discontinued in December 2015)
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I read half the conversation & still don’t know why would some multi-distro !?
It’s literally the same thing.
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It may seem that way, but there are quite a few things that you can change, beginning with the kernel. Every system has a kernel, but there is a very wide range of kernels available; there are different releases - some are maintained for long term support, others exist to provide the latest capabilities to the newest systems.
Beyond that, some systems are optimized for particular things. For example, the Liquorix kernel, which utilizes Zen kernel capabilities, has a strong preference for responding to mouse and keyboard clicks, even at the expense of other things, so that’s great for gaming systems or anyone who wants a very responsive system. That can come at a cost of general throughput, providing instant response, potentially sacrificing slightly at general computing performance. It can also produce additional heat consumption, so those are tradeoffs.
The default Debian and Slackware kernels are really conservative. They tend to lag considerably from the latest available releases but are very stable for long term server configurations.
A very good compromise for this is to obtain the Zabbly+ kernel, which tracks the current stable kernel, lagging the absolute latest version at kernel.org for stability, but otherwise provides a current kernel.
Another kernel that’s very good for interactive use is the Xanmod kernel; it can be used for gaming too; slightly less aggressive than Liquorix, and also more specific to the type and age of system; Xanmod provides V1, V2 and V3 versions of each kernel release. An x86-64-v3 result is the normal outcome on many modern desktop CPUs. Older but still 64-bit capable systems may report x86-64-v2 , while much older hardware may need the legacy x86-64-v1 path.
Needless to say, different kernels are only one significant difference, even with the same distribution. Add in different distributions and there are differences in appearance, choice of desktop and window environments, and the choice of applications. Some distributions offer great variety of choice; others simplify or reduce choice either to lessen complexity or to lessen the amount of code building and support, based on the size of the build development teams.
There is a lot more difference than a casual look would show.
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