I am soliciting input from the community on switching distros (or not!).
I have been using Mint Cinnamon for the last two years and I really like it. I love the customizability of the desktop and the overall stability. I value dependability in my daily driver.
So, why even consider changing? Here are the major reasons:
1) Dependence on Ubuntu. Mint showed it is possible to break their Ubuntu dependency with the LMDE edition but I am not willing to sacrifice all the newer features I love just to be free from Ubuntu with an aging edition. But Ubuntu is making decisions and going in directions I don't like. I simply will not tie myself to them anymore.
2) Wayland support. Mint is way behind on Wayland support and I see no urgency to catch up. I am tired of waiting and wondering if they can actually pull it off.
3) Plasma 6. I tried it out on Manjaro and OMG I want it now. Cinnamon on steroids. Saving my session? Hell, yes. Wayland support...included at no extra charge. This is why I left Microsoft in my rearview mirror. I want new and better features. More control. It is obvious to me KDE Plasma is the future.
I need a go-forward strategy to get my everything I want with minimal downside.
Options:
Debian Trixie. Assuming Plasma 6.35 makes the final cut I can start in a good place with Wayland, Plasma 6, and be rid of Ubuntu. Even with Debian's glacial release cycle, I can use back ports as needed to stay current on most packages...except for Plasma. I risk getting stuck with outdated desktop for an extended period of time. So close...
Manjaro. Meets all of my objectives but it is a big change moving to an Arch-based distro. New package manager, KDE apps, Zsh, etc. Also, I will be assuming some additional stability risk with a rolling release cycle.
Not going full Arch. I don't have the patience or the pain tolerance.
Stay on Mint. Waiting and hoping? How long? It works now but the future is very uncertain.
Not considering any upstart distros with small user bases or unproven track records. I am not distro hopping.
What other options am I missing?
What would you do given my concerns and objectives?
Note to the Mint team: You need to step it up. If I am looking at switching, so is half of your user base for all of the reasons listed above.
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