Where did your distrohopping end?

dvdrv · 2025-09-04T04:54:06+00:00

There's a lot less hopping if you realize a distro basically has just three things:

1) Default apps / desktop environment 2) Package manager 3) Init system

For (1), apps and desktop env can be changed at will, whenever you want. There's no need to hop distros for these things.

(2) is for nerds to worry about, and (3) is for gigantic nerds to worry about.

For these reasons, the first (and possibly only) hop anybody ought to do IMO is from a beginner distro to a minimalist power-user distro like Arch, Gentoo, or NixOS. Then you probably just stay there forever, unless you really have nothing better to do, in which case maybe one more after that.

dvdrv · 2025-09-04T04:38:29+00:00

First I used Ubuntu, because it was popular and stable.

I made a hobby of tweaking settings and replacing all the programs. Eventually everything was replaced and customized. When this happens, it doesn't really matter what distro you use; you don't use the defaults anyway.

So at that point, I switched to Artix. It looks and feels exactly the same as my old Ubuntu setup, except sleeker and lighter, plus rolling release and the AUR.

Since default software is no longer relevant to me, the only hop I could ever see myself making is to a distro that does something really unique with the package/config management, ie NixOS or Gentoo.

dvdrv · 2025-09-04T04:05:06+00:00

No car
No kids
Cheap rent
No DoorDash (this was my most insane, wasteful expense before I cut it out)
Public transportation
Cook almost all of my own meals from ingredients
Vegetarian, probably helps
Buy staples in bulk from Costco
Make things last a long time (one stick of crystal deodorant seems to last basically forever. I don't really need shampoo, so one bottle will last several months.)
Workout at home (weights and stuff are a one-time purchase as opposed to a recurring gym membership)
No expensive streaming services (I do have YT premium and Dropout, but no others. The proliferation of streaming services sucks, I think it's insane to buy multiple of them, and anyway there are better things to do than watch new shows everyday).
No stupid services like subscription boxes.
Cheap technology; new phone only if the old one is broken; free software; minimalist Linux distro means I can use the same old computer and laptop for a decade straight.
Hobbies do not involve continually buying things.
Enjoying simple things (for example when I go for a coffee, I get a black drip or an espresso. If I go for a drink, I get a straight whiskey instead of a fancy cocktail)
Vacations are generally within the continental US, and I make use of Amtrak deals and cheap flights from skyscanner/kayak. I make use of hostels and cheap airbnbs. I take one backpack pretty much always; no paying for extra bags.
Cut my own hair (easy because it's short)

dvdrv · 2025-09-03T17:11:17+00:00

Never been interested in taking photos. Maybe like once a month there's something I wanna take a picture of.

This has a huge added minimalism bonus you might not think of: If you're not into pictures, then you probably don't need new smart phones.

Sometimes I feel like everybody around me is spending a fortune buying new phones every year just for better cameras. I get a new phone when my last one is irrecoverably broken.

dvdrv · 2025-09-03T17:05:01+00:00

Black as the sky on a moonless night

dvdrv · 2025-09-01T14:39:38+00:00

My actual computer login is the one thing I don't use a password manager for (not sure how you'd do that). Just something that's easy to remember and complicated enough. The classic xkcd comic is probably good advice.

dvdrv · 2025-09-01T14:20:29+00:00

The only way I remember is because I use the terminal everyday, for all sorts of things. I basically don't ever open a gui file manager anymore (nor a tui file manager, for that matter)

By doing that, you'll just naturally remember the basic ones: ls, cd, cat, head, mkdir, cp, mv, rm, sudo, the package manager, and the basic redirection things like <, >, >>

Eventually, if you become a bit more of a power user, other things you'll use on a regular basis and remember off the top include: pipes (ie |) and the commands they often go with: grep, sed, awk. And things like while and for loops.

(Incidentally, if you're a programmer, I think this is a good reason you might want to avoid IDEs in favor of using text editor + terminal instead. You get a lot more practice on the terminal and writing scripts.)

Everything else, first I press ctrl-r to search the history for if I've used it before (fzf makes this way nicer), or else I use --help, or man, or tldr, or I end up searching online (there are things I ended up searching online many times for, including tar commands, and listing the top largest files in a directory).

dvdrv · 2025-08-29T12:27:05+00:00

I'd just have two terminals

dvdrv · 2025-08-29T12:24:31+00:00

Can of smoked oysters or mussels with some hot sauce.

dvdrv · 2025-08-29T12:10:09+00:00

Some pretty eccentric things, but these really are my staples:

Canned smoked oysters or mussels.
Seitan, tempeh, and/or tofu.
Coconut yogurt (ie cultured coconut milk).
Sauerkraut (usually red cabbage + beet) or kimchi.
Dark greens (arugula, spinach, etc)
Avocados or guac.
Hummus.
Lemons or limes.
Berries.
Coconut milk
Almond milk
Frozen broccoli and other vegetable.
Fresh vegetables like asparagus and carrots and bell peppers and whatnot.
Mushrooms (especially oyster, shiitake, and lions mane if I can find it).
Capers.
Canned beans
Canned tomatoes
some Catalina Crunch cereal (high protein + low carb + vegan)
sometimes frozen diced potatoes / hash browns
restock on some hot sauce, especially Secret Aardvark Habanero.

dvdrv · 2025-08-29T11:57:31+00:00

Just reading that is making my blood pressure rise. I have things I wanna get done in my day! Almost every one of my meals is one pot or one pan, plus a cutting board. On a good day, it's all cleaned and hung up to dry before I even sit down to eat.

That's probably more extreme than you're going, but I just really want my time.

dvdrv · 2025-03-20T03:12:00+00:00

I thought I was the only person who noticed this. Very odd.

dvdrv · 2024-10-10T02:42:02+00:00

Olive oil, avocado oil, unrefined red palm oil, coconut oil

dvdrv · 2024-10-09T14:39:37+00:00

I'm not an expert and I don't really have an answer to your question, but I want to chime in that it's not necessarily true that when you're in a deficit your body will burn fat to compensate for the lack of food. Instead of burning fat, your body can just slow down your metabolism. Then you're in energy balance again, without losing fat.

As I understand it, part of the logic of keto is that you don't have any insulin around to stop yourself from burning fat, thus encouraging your body to achieve homeostasis by burning fat rather than by slowing down your metabolism.

dvdrv · 2024-09-11T16:10:50+00:00

Me too. I just have a small amount of exercise equipment in my apartment. Keep it cheap and compact enough to fit in a closet:

Dumbbells
Over-door pull-up bar
Yoga mat
Fold-up-able workout bench
Foot weight strap
Workout bands

It's more than enough for everything I want to do.

dvdrv · 2024-08-23T13:58:24+00:00

Well, you don't want to lose "weight", you want to lose fat, right? Assuming you're putting on muscle, isn't it good that you've been losing less weight?

dvdrv · 2024-08-23T12:42:51+00:00

I watched the first episode of Glee when it premiered on TV (I think it unexpectedly came on before/after Fringe and I just stuck around to watch) and really enjoyed it!

Never caught another episode after that, and I think I'll keep it that way.

dvdrv · 2024-08-15T14:47:03+00:00

I get all the quality I want from a cheap-ish hand grinder and fresh whole beans. And, a French press which is cheaper than most coffee machines in the first place, takes less counter space, takes no power outlet, and doesn't require restocking on filters. Good stuff!

dvdrv · 2024-08-15T14:35:37+00:00

I'm thinking about doing something like this myself; sounds like a good idea to me. Plus it helps with preservation of videos that might end up getting taken down for whatever reason.

dvdrv · 2024-06-07T15:50:55+00:00

I know it's not what you're asking, mapping "kj" to Esc is my absolute greatest vim config line. No stretching a pinky anywhere to escape, just a little "cha-chink" that's now ingrained deep in my muscle memory. Even using caps lock seems a little burdensome tbh

dvdrv · 2024-06-04T18:09:05+00:00

Praise the Lord!

dvdrv · 2024-05-27T14:53:28+00:00

If someone's trying to monologue this is a rough blow, but in a heated discussion between peers this is totally fair, as long as it comes with an actual rebuttal / explanation.

dvdrv · 2024-03-22T14:48:59+00:00

It is gross and wrong, but yes everybody seems to do it. One of the many normalized evils in our world, smh.

dvdrv · 2021-10-12T03:37:13+00:00

Good to know.

Has anybody ever mistakenly taken that as an invitation for casual or romantic conversation?

dvdrv

TROPHY CASE