Gentoo.

debian doesn't do that 'out-of-the-box', but you can do luks and btrfs at install (default partitioning even, just go back and change partition type of root before continuing with install), then 'adjust' things to be 'timeshift compatible' after install. for some inspiration: https://mutschler.dev/linux/debian-btrfs-trixie/

i've used this numerous times, on debian and a couple other distributions.

It's best to think of the AUR as an arch-specific build instruction wiki, not a package manager repo. It's just that the build instructions are formally specified, so it's possible for the former to be used like the latter. But that's how you get yourself in trouble.

I can only tell you that I'm using CachyOS (Arch) with Wayland and the latest Noctalia, which is extremely customizable. I'm very content. My compositor is Hyprland, but Niri or Mango work, too. Noctalia even technically works with KDE, which I also used for quite some time, but I wouldn't recommend using it on top of it. Noctalia (Hyprland) has been a standard installation option in the CachyOS .iso ever since August 2026.

Ah too bad you didn't like nix. I was just about to propose a simple home-manager repo which could at least declare your tooling across any distro.

while I don't understand the git problem, since versioning your OS/tooling is a major feature not a headache, you seem too have found a place with debian so go ahead.

And it has problems; try changing the color theme and it keeps requesting your password. Some stuff is seriously messed up in CachyOS's Noctalia+Hyprland setup, which I tried in the past month. I'm gonna try Pop!_OS+COSMIC sometime soon; hopefully that'll rock, or else I'll revert to the tried-&-true Mint Cinnamon.

It doesn't do that. My color theme changes dynamically with my background. But even manual changes don't require that. Did you enable polkit in the control center? Are you running Noctalia 5 or newer?

Only when I want to update my greeter theme alongside everything else, I get polkit requests asking for my password. But I also got noctalia-greeter after having had installed another greeter. So maybe that messed it up. Anyway, you can disable auto theme update for the greeter. Or use a different greeter.

I'm sure there are problems still, but it only just got implemented last month (Noctalia greeter is also super new). I think we can expect fixes. Maybe your particular issue has already been fixed. For some tools I'm using I'm getting daily updates by now, so last month is like ages ago in terms of updates. Not necessarily true for Noctalia, though.

I did like Mint Cinnamon, as well. Pop!_OS I haven't tried yet. I might hop a little on my second machine. But for now I'm happy with my heavily customized Noctalia setup on my main machine. What else did you find to be messed up?

But Red Hat still sponsor it and that might be enough.

I disagree. As someone who is running both Debian-Testing and ubuntu-Mint, there is a difference between the two, especially in support of some hardware and some pre-configurations that come handy in some "difficult" machines. Ubuntu has special workarounds for a lot of things, you see. Debian does not. Debian doesn't even boot on my DELL Xeon workstation, for example. Ubuntu does. And that's my main issue with LMDE, being based on Debian. Also, LMDE doesn't have the nvidia driver panel, to make it easier for people with nvidias. If Debian was to create these workarounds for various machines, then sure, why not. LMDE would be just fine.

I go into distro-hop frenzies every 3 to 6 months. Last run Included EndeavourOS and CachyOS. I did stay in CachyOS for a couple of months, and used it to give some windows managers a chance, turns out I'm a DE kind of guy. Ended up back on Fedora, as it invariably happens, only this time I went with KDE. I'm a sucker for the GNOME workflow, but KDE is infinitely lighter on resources and way more customizable, so I now have a Plasma desktop that looks and behaves like Gnome.

In terms of cutting edge and almost never breaking, and if it does break, just reboot and choose the previous good kernel, Fedora has never let me down. They did fuck up horribly last week with kernel 7.2.5, lol.

Fedora.

I recommend Trisquel. Unlike most GNU/Linux distros, it's 100% free.

Nvidia has a debain repository you put in your apt and get drivers from. I am using it now with a 5060.

It’s exactly like windows for the nvidia repo, you get your drivers from the hardware manufacturer.

Personnaly CachyOS has been the one to stop my distro hopping, though I must say, I 'm an arch linux fan, so Cachy did it for me.
All of the Fedora based distros I've tried were good at the beginning but felt limited at some point, though this is specific to my use cases. But one that I really liked, and I'm not much of a debian person usually was PikaOS, so I'd recommend trying it out if not already done.

CachyOS, it is the way

sure.. but Dell also sponsors the Linux Foundation

I used to be a Fedora guy until IBM bought them and they killed CentOS. I first used Red Hat in middle school back in the nineties, so it broke my heart to leave, but I settled on OpenSUSE. It's non-US based, and it feels just as polished, if not more than Fedora. I use Tumbleweed, which is their rolling release distro.

I’d definitely give PikaOS a try. I’ve been using it and honestly really like it so far. I’ve bounced around between a few different distros, but PikaOS has been one of the easiest to just install and start using.

My maintenance strategy is to run a yum update before shutting down. Every time. Keep at least the previous kernel around for a backup. Maybe it was just luck, but it's hardly given me any trouble over the years. Good luck!