Almost everything is Debian - my servers, my desktop and laptops, my family member's computers, the living room media player. Only exceptions are my router (OpenWRT) and my Steam Deck (SteamOS).
this post was submitted on 09 Mar 2026
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Yes, Debian. It's called the universal operating system for a reason.
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.
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.
How quick could you pick it up? And how does it handle one config for different devices (due to different hardware(fstab/cryptsetup differences), propietary/non-mainlined drivers?
I have been thinking about switching because I'd love a reproduciable system but fear it would take some of that flexibility I rely on (I've had some issues with ftstab/cryptsetup and initramfs customizations on the fedora atomic base of bazzite on my steamdeck).
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.
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.
Tbh I still consider Proxmox as Debian, so you're pretty much there ;).
I actually agree, I just broke it out for this discussion.
I mix, my server and laptop are nixos but I use an arch variant on my desktop. Mostly I do this because of various pain points with nixos and gaming.
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.
Same but a ubuntu-derivative instead of Arch.
I don't want to think about my server, but I do sometimes want the latest and greatest app on my laptop.
I didn't use to, but I do now. Debian on everything (except the Proxmox servers, but Proxmox is basically Debian too)
i have slackware 15 on all, it's great how i can just copy over binaries and they just run because all the linked libraries are the same version
Yes. Everything is NixOS. Because it's perfect for everything.
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 Iβm 80% there to just migrating.
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!
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.
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.
Same here, except the steam deck.
My Steam Deck also runs NixOS.
Because this way I can much more comfortably configure it, plus everything game related I automated through nix for my Desktop (e.g. mod installs, reShade config,...) immediately and without any extra steps also applies to the Steam Deck.
I love how this post doesn't even pretend that anyone may use anything but Linux. Classic Lemmy.
Self-hosting on Windows Server is a pain I don't need in my life.
i do use freebsd :) and occasionally win7/10..
usage goes like freebsd >>> linux > m$win
I don't see anyone here saying "actually I use BSD" so it seems to have been a safe assumption
All normal PCs run CachyOS, includes gaming PCs, laptops and media PCs. All servers run some form of Debian (includes Proxmox) or a dedicated distro for their use (TRUE WAS, technically also Debian based).
I'm all some Debian dereritive, whether it's Q4OS or just Debian,
For me it depends on computer capability. 3 generations of laptop... Current: PopOS Older: MiniOS Oldest (32bit): AntiX
Oldest (32bit)
I still have a functional 32 bit laptop. It's rather slow, but it does work
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.)
I use arch btw (on everything).
So yes ... my laptop, my home server and even my wife's laptop.
Gentoo > Arch > Elementary
What about your wifes boyfriends laptop
He uses Windows
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.
Acronyms, initialisms, abbreviations, contractions, and other phrases which expand to something larger, that I've seen in this thread:
| Fewer Letters | More Letters |
|---|---|
| LTS | Long Term Support software version |
| NAS | Network-Attached Storage |
| NUC | Next Unit of Computing brand of Intel small computers |
| VPS | Virtual Private Server (opposed to shared hosting) |
4 acronyms in this thread; the most compressed thread commented on today has 8 acronyms.
[Thread #152 for this comm, first seen 9th Mar 2026, 16:50] [FAQ] [Full list] [Contact] [Source code]
Ubuntu for the main pc and Arch for the filthy weird frankenstein laptop from 2008. Just as god intended.
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).
Arch for Gaming/Desktop, Debian for Server/Proxmox/VPS.
Servers are Debian Desktop is Arch Laptop is EndeavorOS
I use Debian on servers, because stable.
I use Fedora on desktops, because I game and I like having fixes for mesa, the kernel, and amdgpu for my latest gen AMD GPU. My laptop is for work, but it's just easier having consistency.
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.
Everything but my server uses Arch (BTW). This is so I can have all devices have the same scripts for uniformity.
My laptop needs reliability to be fairly certain I'll have everything working when I use it on poor internet, my desktop is always comnected to high bandwidth and has a decent cpu so I can spare a bit extra time and cycles on updating everything when something breaks
Different needs
I did like having the same thing going on on both for the couple months I used mint on both.
Debian on homeserver, centos on work servers, and mint on desktops
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.)
Desktop - Ubuntu Cinnamon LTS (I game and edit video this is also currently my Frigate host)
Laptop - Ubuntu Budgie (It's basically just a thin client to access my desktop when I want to sit in the livingroom)
Stepson's Desktop - ChimeraOS (Because I don't want to deal with anything in his room)
Server - TrueNAS (Been using it since the FreeNAS 9 Era)
Router - OpnSense (Been using that since before I started using FreeNAS)
Different distro's suit different needs. Could I use a single one for everything, yeah with a lot of extra work I don't want to deal with. I'm much more hardware oriented and can make software work tried switching to Linux for everything in the mid 2000's but couldn't do things reliably with it till lately.
- 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.
My server is Debian. My desktop and laptops are all Garuda Linux.