I used to format and re-install the operating system on my laptops frequently. Way back when I ran Classic MacOS or Windows this was at least four times a year, then when I started using Linux it became less frequent, but I did a fresh install at least once or twice a year and most of the time I experimented with different Linux distros. As operating systems became more reliable I got out of this habit.
After struggling with a number of things in ElementaryOS recently I'm going to revisit this hygiene and install something else on my laptop. I'm not exactly sure what I'm going to land on, but there's a few things I want to try.
I'm going to give HaikuOS another shot. I can't remember if I ever tried to run it on the Rework, so maybe it won't "work", but since it's easy to test from a USB flash drive I'll give that a shot first.
If that doesn't pan-out I'm going to try a stock Debian install. I use Debian on a lot of my server projects so it's familiar, and I'm fairly confident that I can manage it well enough to customize it into whatever I want. The only real question is whether or not I'm going to run into issues with non-open drivers for the Rework's hardware.
If that doesn't go my way I might try KDE Neon. I used Neon for years when I was allowed to install Linux on my work laptops and I like it in general. I don't like what Ubuntu has become (never really loved it in the first place) and since Neon is built on Ubuntu I'm worried about some friction there, but it's another one that is easy enough to test-drive so it's on the list.
I'm wondering what other operating systems I might try. My application requirements are fairly simple, the essentials being:
* Librewolf
* OrcaSlicer
* OpenSCAD
* Signal
* LibreOffice
* Micro
* Golang
* Git
* rsync
* An email client
I could probably forgo some of these for my laptop and use them on dedicated machines or elsewhere if needed.
I'm certainly not opposed to trying something unusual, and I'm seriously interested in looking at alternatives to Linux (MacOS and Windows need not apply).
Jason J. Gullickson, 2026