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 (Kinode). 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 Kinode!
edit: i am DYING at the number of “you’re using it wrong” comments here. never change people.
@digdilem @LeFantome
I’m actually curious. Does Oracle build off of RHEL too? I believe they made overtures toward the RHEL based distros about supporting them if RHEL did not. SuSE made similar overtures.
Yes, other than the kernel, Oracle Linux is essentially just RHEL. They are drafting off them.
I think their “overture” was brilliant marketing but I am very cynical about it as they have never provided those packages themselves. They just recompiled RHEL.
SUSE at least puts in some work. Rocky and Oracle are drafting off them now.
Only Alma really stepped up to provide an ABI compatible RHEL alternative that they build themselves from CentOS Stream.
I really hope Alma gets rewarded.
@LeFantome
Alma is a good distro, though I do sometimes wonder at these distros that are just another distro repackaged. Kind of seems a bit disingenuous to me.
Highly agree. That is why I applaud Alma. They are at least creating their own ABI compatible distro starting from CentOS Stream vs just recompiling Red Hat’s work.