this post was submitted on 09 Mar 2026
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Hej lemmings! (Hoping this is relevant enough for the selfhosted commjnity)

Quick question for you all: do you stick with the same distro across your PC, laptop, and server, or do you pick different ones based on the device and what you're doing?

For me, I've been mixing and matching depending on the use case, but I'm starting to think it'd be nice to just have one distro (or at least one family like Fedora or Debian) running everywhere. That way I wouldn't get confused about default settings or constantly have to look up flags for different package managers.

Right now my setup is:

  • Gaming rig: CachyOS
  • Laptop: AuroraOS
  • NAS: Unraid
  • Various project servers: DietPi, Debian, Alpine etc..

I feel like NixOS might be the only distro that could realistically handle all these use cases, but I'm a bit scared of the learning curve and the maintenance work it'd take to migrate everything over.

Am I the only one who feels like having "one distro to rule them all" would be nice? How do you guys handle your setups? All ears! 😊

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[–] eksb@programming.dev 33 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (3 children)

Servers are all Debian. Family member's laptops are all Debian. I used Debian on my laptops for 20 years, but when Steam Deck switched to Arch, I switched my laptop to Arch to force me to learn it. I have a file with notes of differences between Debian and Arch. Next time I buy a new laptop, I will probably go back to Debian.

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[–] lka1988@lemmy.dbzer0.com 21 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

Yep. Debian. I like apt, and I like shit that just....works. Very form after function. So what if a bunch of packages are on "old" versions. They work. The kernel works. KDE Plasma works. I can do everything I want to do without having to constantly be on the bleeding edge. If you prefer newer things, great. I prefer older, proven things. That's also why I drive Toyota cars and Honda motorcycles.

My Proxmox cluster runs...uh...Proxmox, which is based on Debian. NAS runs OMV which also runs on top of Debian. Laptops all run Linux Mint Debian Edition 7, and my 5800X3D/7900XTX gaming PC runs LMDE6 (will be upgrading to 7 soon). The only non-Debian machines in my house are my wife's iMac and Macbook Pro, and the Home Assistant mini PC.

[–] Hamartiogonic@sopuli.xyz 6 points 2 months ago (3 children)

That’s the same philosophy I’ve applied for a long time. Recently, I found out that gaming is an exception to the rule, though. While older versions are just fine for the most part, there are edge cases where that no longer applies. I also found out that I care about one of them. Until you hit that brick wall, there’s no reason to switch. Just keep on using Debian for everything.

Took me a while to realise that I was spending way too much time figuring out workarounds instead of actually gaming. I ended up using Bazzite in my gaming rig because it works so well for that purpose.

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[–] smiletolerantly@awful.systems 15 points 2 months ago (4 children)

Yes. Everything is NixOS. Because it's perfect for everything.

[–] ivn@tarte.nuage-libre.fr 7 points 2 months ago (1 children)

And it's very handy for this, I have the same config for all my devices (desktop, laptop and server). Enabling and disabling different modules depending on the host it's deployed to.

[–] smiletolerantly@awful.systems 7 points 2 months ago

Yep, exactly.

To be fair, if you use Debian, Arch, Fedora,... long enough, you also know how to tweak your machine for every purpose. In Nix, it's just somewhat of a self-fulfilling prophecy, because you have to know how to tweak your system to achieve.... anything, and then it's the same tweaking mechanics for every other purpose as well.

[–] panda_abyss@lemmy.ca 6 points 2 months ago (3 children)

What is the learning/on-boarding curve for this?

I ask because my home folder has a giant just file I use to script everything. I feel like I’m 80% there to just migrating.

[–] smiletolerantly@awful.systems 10 points 2 months ago (1 children)

It's a very steep curve to start, with some additional minor steep parts along the way, but it's not a long curve. Once you got the core concepts and the basic language constructs, you've learned most of what you'll ever need.

Two nice resources: search.nixos.org is super handy, and you can search GitHub with language:nix and a search term to get tons of examples from other people.

Oh, and nix and just is actually a pretty common combo!

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[–] FaygoRedPop@lemmy.world 15 points 2 months ago (6 children)

I love how this post doesn't even pretend that anyone may use anything but Linux. Classic Lemmy.

[–] Telodzrum@lemmy.world 16 points 2 months ago

Whoa, that’s completely untrue buddy.

Some people here use BSD-based systems.

[–] frongt@lemmy.zip 10 points 2 months ago

I don't see anyone here saying "actually I use BSD" so it seems to have been a safe assumption

[–] mech@feddit.org 7 points 2 months ago

Self-hosting on Windows Server is a pain I don't need in my life.

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[–] Decq@lemmy.world 10 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (5 children)

I've converted everything to NixOS (Desktop, laptop, nas and 3d printer, rpi with home assistant) only my router is still pfSense (and thus BSD). It just makes configuration and updating so much easier from one central configuration. And I don't have to remember what and how I installed something. It's just there in my flake.

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[–] aksdb@lemmy.world 8 points 2 months ago

The machines I use regularly are all some form of ArchLinux (currently mostly CachyOS). Machines I use rarely I stick to LTS distros with few updates. Machines I don't maintain myself I try to stick to immutable distros that just update themselves every once in a while (less chance of breakage).

[–] Telodzrum@lemmy.world 8 points 2 months ago (3 children)

Arch on user PCs and Debian on anything else. This is with the exception that our big server is on Proxmox and the NAS (as well as off-site backup) are on unRaid.

[–] needanke@feddit.org 6 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Tbh I still consider Proxmox as Debian, so you're pretty much there ;).

[–] Telodzrum@lemmy.world 4 points 2 months ago

I actually agree, I just broke it out for this discussion.

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[–] mech@feddit.org 7 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Yes, Debian. It's called the universal operating system for a reason.

[–] needanke@feddit.org 3 points 2 months ago

Same, literaly only have bazzite and android on one device each with everything else being Debian.

Although I have been thinking about switching to Nix for a more robust backup/restore setup.

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[–] FlowerFan@piefed.blahaj.zone 7 points 2 months ago

yes. Everything is Fedora Silverblue, except servers they are ubuntu on proxmox.

My hobby is gaming, linux is just a means to do that hobby, not a hobby itself.

[–] blurry@feddit.org 7 points 2 months ago (4 children)

I use arch btw (on everything).

So yes ... my laptop, my home server and even my wife's laptop.

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[–] ikidd@lemmy.world 7 points 2 months ago

Fedora KDE for anything I need a GUI for, Debian for anything headless.

I've used damn near everything else in 30 years of Linux, but I'm pretty sure my tombstone will run Debian.

[–] quips@slrpnk.net 6 points 2 months ago

Debian on server, arch of some kind for personal use

[–] anon_8675309@lemmy.world 6 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Server: debian

Desktop: mint

Laptop: pop-os

Nanopi for travel Jellyfin: Debian.

[–] Evil_Shrubbery@thelemmy.club 5 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Proxmox with plethora of distros (preferably Debian), openwrt, opnsense (freeBSD), the pies as well somewhere ... but my desktop & laptop are both Tumbleweed.

(But I should try Bazzite myself at some point to understand if it's really a distro to recommend to Windows refugees looking for gaming & not learning anything or not that much "Linux related" immediately. It wouldn't be my guess, but the experiences I read here stayed with me for some reason.)

[–] coltn@lemmy.ml 5 points 2 months ago

arch on my two laptops, and desktop. proxmox on my server as the hypervisor, and debian on the vm/lxc. my routers are running openwrt.

one of my laptops i use for testing, and i do switch distro's.. i've tried alpine, gentoo and i'd like to try openbsd. but arch is comfy

[–] sbeak@sopuli.xyz 5 points 2 months ago

For me, I am running EndeavourOS on my laptop (for its rolling release updates and its customisability) and Debian on my homeserver (for its stability). I have also set up a secondary laptop with Linux Mint that is now being used by somebody else for its ease of use :)

[–] M137@lemmy.world 5 points 2 months ago

Oooh, look at mr. Rich guy here with multiple devices.

/s.... (not really, cries in only computer being a dying laptop from 2011 with no way to get even just another dying 2011 laptop when this one dies.)

[–] K3can@lemmy.radio 4 points 2 months ago

Debian on my servers. No drama, it just works.

Fedora on my laptop and desktop. Still solid, but quicker updates.

[–] Voroxpete@sh.itjust.works 4 points 2 months ago

I do, but it's more out of laziness than anything else. I hate having to remember sixteen different ways of doing things, so I tend to configure all my stuff as identical as reasonably possible. Is this the best way of doing things? Probably not. But it keeps my blood pressure down.

[–] AstroLightz@lemmy.world 4 points 2 months ago

Everything but my server uses Arch (BTW). This is so I can have all devices have the same scripts for uniformity.

[–] fozid@feddit.uk 4 points 2 months ago

no, i use archlinux on my main desktop as i use it daily and is my main workhorse. i have a laptop that rarely gets used at that has debian on. then i have a mini pc server with debian and a raspberry pi 4 with debian based raspberry pi os.

[–] justme@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 2 months ago

I used to have Ubuntu everywhere, then changed to Debian for servers. Now that I'm using bazzite for my gaming rig, I really liked the idea and went to fedora silver blue on my work laptop. I'm the near future I want to re do my home lab, bit not sure yet what, unfortunately to many open questions concerning storage left.

[–] savvywolf@pawb.social 4 points 2 months ago

My main desktop is Mint - I feel like most of the random pieces of software I find myself wanting to run are built for Ubuntu or at the very least a lfh distro.

My server and random devices run NixOS, and I'm acrually considering combining all the config into a monorepo...

My Raspberry PI I think runs Raspbian though. I should see if I can nixify it.

[–] French75@slrpnk.net 4 points 2 months ago

No. Debian on the server. CachyOS on the laptop OPNsense / FreeBSD on the router-firewall appliance.

I don't really feel like I need a single OS across everything. The lack of that has never been an issue.

[–] NewOldGuard@lemmy.ml 4 points 2 months ago

I used to use a variety. I’d use Arch on my desktop/gaming machine, Fedora on my laptop, and Debian on my server. But I got the NixOS bug a few years back and now I use that everywhere. It’s great to have every change and configuration documented and available for easy review or modification, and built in generation rollbacks are a lifesaver.

Thinking of building an HTPC from some spare parts, and I think that’ll be the machine to buck the trend. Bazzite will be everything I need out of the box for that purpose without any effort for maintenance. It’s not getting customized or doing anything but games and media

[–] PokerChips@programming.dev 4 points 2 months ago

Laptop arch

Web servers Debian or fedora.

Looking into slackware for self hosting

[–] StellarExtract@lemmy.zip 3 points 2 months ago

NixOS home server, gaming PC will soon move to Bazzite from Windows 10 (whenever I'm done working on my home server). I'm trying Bazzite for that machine because I use it more like a game console hooked up to the TV and don't need the same level of tweaking and customization.

[–] pentastarm@piefed.ca 3 points 2 months ago

SteamOS on my steam deck. Bazzite on my laptop. And fedora on my home server that I'm still learning how to set up(I have immich running in a container, but that was just following an online tutorial. Still trying to understand docker better.)

[–] HexaBack@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 2 months ago

Bazzite GNOME on my "it needs to work daily no matter what" school/work/light gaming laptop, ~250ish flatpak apps (mostly very awesome tiny GTK4-based tools) Devuan on my desktop PC, Trinity Desktop Environment, almost entirely apt apps, I do heavy multimedia work and gaming on it, I squeeze as much speed as I can Debian on my Linux phone (FuriLabs FLX1s running FuriOS, a fork of Droidian, which is a fork of Mobian, which is a fork of Debian), Phosh UI, almost entirely ~140ish flatpaks

I try to keep my operating systems and software as controlled and predictable as possible, but I approach that differently depending on the usecase

[–] huquad@lemmy.ml 3 points 2 months ago

I run unraid for my main servers (mostly out of convenience/ease), and pop-os for everything else. I treat my laptop as my beta tester for my desktop which is stable, but both use the same underlying os. Who has the time to troubleshoot more than one?

[–] irmadlad@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago

Servers: Ubuntu Jammy NUC: Mint xfce VMs: Kali, Mint, and a variety of others including WIndows & Mac.

I hear a lot of chatter about NixOS. Going to have to check it out.

[–] PumpkinEscobar@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago

Arch everywhere. LTS kernel on servers and zen kernel on desktop and laptop. I love the idea of nixos but in practice it felt like more work than it was worth (to me).

I originally did Debian on servers but after using arch for long enough and never having stability problems, it was easier to move to the same distro.

[–] BladeFederation@piefed.social 3 points 2 months ago

No, and that's the beauty of Linux.

Desktop gaming PC: Fedora KDE (might try Bazzite if I stop dual booting Windows, but I already got Nvidia set up and that's the hard part)

Old laptop: Zorin OS

Old as dirt laptop: antiX

Wife's Surface: Pop!_OS 22.04. Maybe change it eventually to something lighter.

I will likely go with Ubuntu Server or Debian when I set up my home server. Ubuntu seems like it has better Docker support.

[–] AsankaMan@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

ZorinOS for the desktop and PopOS on the laptop which also serves as a Plex server.

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