this post was submitted on 25 Jun 2024
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Linux

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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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I have tried Linux as a DD on and off for years but about a year ago I decided to commit to it no matter the cost. First with Mint, then Ubuntu and a few others sprinkled in briefly. Both are "mainstream" "beginner friendly" distros, right? I don't want anything too advanced, right?

Well, ubuntu recently updated and it broke my second monitor (Ubuntu detected it but the monitor had "no signal"). After trying to fix it for a week, I decided to wipe it and reinstall. No luck. I tried a few other distros that had the same issue and I started to wonder if it was a hardware issue but I tried a Windows PC and the monitor worked no problem.

Finally, just to see what would happen I tried a distro very very different than what I'm used to: Fedora (Kinoite). And not only did everything "just work" flawlessly, but it's so much faster and more polished than I ever knew Linux to be!

Credit where it's due, a lot of the polish is due to KDE plasma. I'd never strayed from Gnome because I'm not an expert and people recommend GNOME to Linux newbies because it's "simple" and "customizable" but WOW is KDE SO MUCH SIMPLER AND STILL CUSTOMIZEABLE. Gnome is only "simple" in that it doesn't allow you to do much via the GUI. With Fedora Kinode I think I needed to use the terminal maybe once during setup? With other distros I was constantly needed to use the terminal (yes its helped me learn Linux but that curve is STEEP).

The atomic updates are fantastic too. I have not crashed once in the two weeks of setup whereas before I would have a crash maybe 1-2 times per week.

I am FULLY prepared for the responses demanding to know what I did to make it crash and telling me how I was using it wrong blah blah blah but let me tell you, if you are experienced with Windows but want to learn Linux and getting frustrated by all the "beginner" distros that get recommended, do yourself a favor and try Fedora Kinoite!

edit: i am DYING at the number of "you're using it wrong" comments here. never change people.

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[–] wheeldawg@sh.itjust.works 4 points 5 months ago

I tried it when the first one I tried didn't work out.

Ctrl+C hard locked it instantly every time I pushed it. I could right-click and choose "Copy", but pushing Ctrl-C just froze whatever image was on screen. No response at all after that. Plus it was giving me a headache trying to get Nvidia drivers installed.

So then I moved to Pop since the correct driver was baked in, and it's been mostly smooth since.

[–] fruitycoder@sh.itjust.works 4 points 5 months ago

I'm a big fan personally. I an experimenting more with OpenSUSE's distro including microOS but that not because of Fedora but more so I want to recommend options that are easy to scale into FOSS professionally for people too and unfortunately RedHat no longer offers that path for Fedora users.

[–] eveninghere@beehaw.org 3 points 5 months ago

Kinoite shows the future of noob Linux I think, but it's still new and has some rough edges. I installed it on an ARM and couldn't make it wake up from sleep.

[–] chemicalwonka@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

I didn't have any problem using Arch Linux which many say is much more newbie unfriendly but I had several problems using Fedora most related to Intel video drivers and I couldn't solve them in any way. The fan of my Intel Nuc started to run on maximum when I opened the browser lol. All drivers were correctly installed

[–] Kazumara@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 5 months ago

I generally do mention that I like my Fedora KDE, but I'm a little worried about SELinux. I have had two or three run-ins with it, and I think that would be hard to diagnose for a noob.

[–] ArcaneSlime@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 5 months ago

I do recommend Fedora. It's what I started on (besides tails) and after a couple years I've moved to FedoraKDE.

[–] Mango@lemmy.world 3 points 5 months ago

Because SE Linux drove me bonkers once and I am petty.

[–] DarkMetatron@feddit.org 3 points 5 months ago

I quite often recommend the atomic flavors of Fedora to people and have it set up for a few people (my mother for example). I think atomic distributions are perfect for tech unsavory people, because they can't really damage anything and it mimics/reproduces lots of the things they are already used from their phones.

[–] Procapra@hexbear.net 3 points 5 months ago (1 children)
  • Updates inevitably lead to things breaking sometimes. If you want to avoid things breaking as often, using something stable (like Debian) would help.

  • The benefits you are describing are probably because of KDE vs Gnome and not a distro thing.

  • Fedora does things differently than Ubuntu/Debian (mainly package management, but there are other small things). Because of this, noobs & intermediate users alike will get frustrated at things "not being how they are supposed to be"

All that said, if Fedora works for you, keep on using it. I daily drove it for about a year before switching to other things.

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[–] MystikIncarnate@lemmy.ca 2 points 5 months ago

I'm generally more of a Debian user, when I use Linux at least, so anything red hat based doesn't even occur to me to recommend. I generally don't get involved in distro discussions though.

My main interaction with Linux is Ubuntu server, and that's where my knowledge generally is. I can't really fix issues in redhat, so if someone is using it, I'm mostly lost on how to fix it.

There's enough difference in how redhat works compared to Debian distributions that I would need to do a lot of work to understand what's happening and fix any problems.

[–] ulkesh@beehaw.org 2 points 5 months ago

The installer is garbage in my opinion. But aside from that, the distro is probably fine.

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