Hey folks! I'm getting a fresh laptop for the first time in about a decade (Framework 16) in a couple of months and am looking forward to doing some low-level tinkering both on the OS and hardware. I'm planning to convert into a "cyberdeck" with quick-release hinges for the screen since I usually use an HMD, built-in breadboard, and other hardware hacking fun.
On the OS, I'm planning to try NixOS as a baremetal hypervisor (KVM/QEMU) and run my "primary" OSes in VMs with hardware passthrough. If perf is horrible, I'll probably switch back to baremetal after a bit. But, I'm not likely going to be gaming on it so, I'm not likely to have much issue.
Once the hypervisor is working in a manner that I like, I should have an easy time backing up, rolling back, swapping out my "desktop" OS. I've been using Linux as my pretty much my only OS for over a decade (I use MacOS as a glorified SSH client for work). Most of my time has been on distros in the Debian or RHEL families (*buntu, Linux Mint, Crunchbang, CentOS, etc) and I pretty much live in the terminal these days.
With all of this said, I am coming to you folks for help. I would like you folks to share distros, desktop environments, window managers that you think I should give a try, or would like to inflict on me and what makes them noteworthy.
I can't guarantee that I'll get through suggestions, as my ADHD has been playing up lately, but I'll give it an attempt. Seriously. If you want me to try Hannah Montana Linux, I'll do it and report back on the experience.
EDIT: Thank you all for your fantastic suggestions. I'm going to start compiling them into a list this weekend.
Manjaro KDE.
I cant really understand how people are still recommending Manjaro, just get Arch pure or EndeavourOS. Its more up to date and has fewer package conflicts and inconsistencies because they arent arbitrarily held back. Also doesnt ddos aur. It even has a guided graphical installer. Additionally if you need some GUI to manage your packages then just install pamac to get the same one as in manjaro or use pacseek.
That's nice.
The fact that you think Arch is a better replacement for Manjaro tells me that your opinion is not worth considering.
Manjaro is Arch in a trenchcoat and on crutches lagging two weeks behind with its packages. Holding them back doesnt provide any additional stability and on the contrary has repeatedly caused conflicts. They simply dont have the capacity to check all the packages so its pretty much useless to prevent timely updates. The only difference between then is that manjaro has a few more preinstalled Apps and pamac. And EndeavourOS covers that, its a kind of Arch for beginners, easy install, and lots of Software preinstallable.
Ok.
It's always sad seeing you people get up in arms just to hate on manjaro. It's like you feel it's your duty to enter into an argument whenever someone mentions something good about Manjaro.
I think it's tribalism at play.