I figured this question is not specific to certain distros in Linux and about Linux in general.

How much should one experience a distro in order to become proficient at it? For example, to go from something like Linux Mint to Debian takes a certain kind of knowledge and experience to understand how to install it. Another example is going from that to Arch, or even Gentoo.

IMHO? Two months.

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There's probably no good answer. I like to see how I feel about a distro after using it for at least a couple of years. Unless I find some reason to dump it before then.

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I am not sure there is much of a challenge moving from Linux Mint to Debian. The installation for Debian 10 is about as easy as it gets really - at least compared to Ubuntu and Xubuntu, which I used previously.

It probably was after testing Debian for around 2 months that I decided to make a permanent switch.

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you cannot learn a distro completely in a month or two. But probably you can learn the changes of an upgrade or when you move to another distro (if you know the system already).

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Do you have an opinion on this matter yourself? If not, why not? For instance, have you tried any distributions as yet? I disagree about your initial premise that it is not specific to certain distributions. I think you'll find that those who have a preference for certain distributions will tout exactly those distributions 100% and tell you to not try some variety of other distributions.

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One of things that sparked my question is due to some experiences and some gaps in my knowledge of Linux. There's so much to learn and that's what I enjoy about Linux, in general, coming from being both a previous Mac and Window user.

Becoming more of a minimalist in my philosophy towards distros is something recent and now tend to choose distros based on that. Right now, I'm on MX-Linux.

And I feel you're right. I will be sticking with this for a long time! Compared to the prior post, I don't think 2 months is enough knowledge and experience to really learn enough. It's like cramming for an exam, in my opinion! You learn fewer things.

The following link is only part of the inspiration that inspired my thread:
https://mxlinux.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=80&p=502806


For example, I made a mistake in my misunderstanding about NVidia drivers. I mistakenly installed the latest proprietary drivers for NVidia on Arch, and the next thing I know, I was at a blank screen with a blinking cursor. I even went into the failsafe or fallback mode, whichever Arch calls it! And that made my screen have a lower resolution. I thought there was something wrong with what I either did, or the kernel. I found out later that the stock kernel drivers are fine! It was my own fault of installing the latest proprietary driver, which had bugs in it.

When I realized I didn't have the proper Arch / Google search criteria to deal with it, I migrated to MX-Linux as I wanted to try that distro anyway, based on what I've read and seen in videos and started thinking more about stability. I like that it was Debian based, with more added hardware support, as well as some good tools built-in. I want to get away from my Ubuntu based experience and for other reasons.

For me, I'm going to stick to MX-Linux for as long as I can. In fact, I love that many people on that team are Arch users and they love Arch as well. Not to mention, the community and popularity means faster development and growth.

Yes, in fact, my own opinion was my latest reply.

Honestly, my first distro was the original Slackware 1.0, however much has changed since that version! Package managers, window manager, and kind of great things came out of the Linux distros. It's interesting that some distros die out in time when others don't have the time to go with that project, however it is never the end! Projects can re-live and even outgrow the original philosophy. An example of this Bunsenlabs Linux, based on Crunchbang:
https://linux.softpedia.com/get/Linu...x-103809.shtml

There was a time when I even back to Windows due to games and other software that weren't working in Linux at the time. Thanks for the Wine project!

I was on it for a few months, then got excited about Red Hat and tried that, being a "RPM based distro". After months, I switched to Suse Linux, as well as Mandrake (i.e. later Mandriva and now OpenMandriva). Slackware had no package management, which made it a dependency nightmare and I enjoyed that I can install packages with simplicity! That's the other reason I moved on to Red Hat, at the time.

After coming back from Windows, I did get experience with Linux Mint for about 6 months and later tried POP OS, Ubuntu Mate, Feren OS, as well as attempted Gentoo and then Arch.

Not to mention, why distro hop when you can experience distros in a VM without affecting hardware (a.k.a. Virtual Machine for new users)?

I like to get a feel for what's gonna happen from one release to the next, and of the project's longevity and so forth. Some that I've used in the past are no longer out there. There are others that I really liked at first but then with later releases they kinda went in a direction that I didn't like so much.

Started playing around with some Arch derivatives (rolling-release, of course) back in 2013. Moved on to Arch later that year, and I knew I liked it but still I was thinking, "Let's see how things look two years from now." Still hanging with it. The last Arch derivative I used here was Antergos, so I had both Arch and Antergos running here for a while, but the Antergos project is another one that is no more.

Spent some years running Mepis. Then that distro died. Later, installed MX Linux, but after some time I decided that I didn't need it -- simply sticking with Debian seemed like a better option for me.

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Yes, and sorry I kinda read your first sentence in your first post and ignored the second paragraph where you did talk about varied distros.

Myself, I'm not a distro hopper, I put one one there, use it everyday, keep it up to date, but do not change until a new major version of it is released, or if my flow of work causes me to try or need an entirely different distribution. Overall, most of the ones I'm using a desktop distros and so long as they have a compiler and communications for email and web browsing, they're suitable for my needs.

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The longer you use Linux in general, you will find what suits you best, & that is when you start to tailor distros to your way of working. The main difference between distros is the package manager, get familiar with a few to find the one that suits you. Once you have found a distro that suits you, stick with it for at least a year or two, if not permanently.

Curious. I experienced dependency hell only outside Slackware which package management tools are one of the best reasons to stick with it imho.

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What do you consider proficient? You will find that differs for each person. How much knowledge are you seeking, how far down the rabbit hole are you willing to travel?

PS: Arch really isnt anything to brag about, once you learn how to install it and you learn how to start/configure programs manually its no different then other distros. Same for Gentoo etc... So revert back to first two questions.

I suppose there was a period asomewhere I was just "distro hopping" for something new, so I remember the M.E.P.I.S. project! I believe PCLinuxOS and, of course, Ubuntu which that is based was still around. Mepis re-lives now in MX-Linux, if correct.

If I'm not mistaken, Anteregos is now alive in the Reborn OS and perpahs in Archlabs. I tried that distro on real hardware, however it had bugs from the Calamari installer, if my memory serves me correctly (i.e. which Antergos used the Calamari installer).

However, my point is that I'm not alone in my experience. In the past, I haven't spent a large amount of time in these distros. Perhaps, this is something that needs to be corrected for my continued future Linux experience!

That's OK. Sometimes I skim posts and re-read them later, similarly.

I've heard the expression, "If it ain't broke don't fix it"! I tend to like when things work out of the box and I think time is becoming more important in my workflow. Thanks for your post!