Hey folks. Iāve had an on-again, off-again relationship with Linux for over 20 years. Usually, my attempts to use it are either thwarted by issues installing, issues booting, or general problems while using itā¦ leading to ācatastrophic failureā that I canāt fix without digging into hours of research and terminal commands.
Windows 11 (even 10) are rock solid for me, even as a very heavy multitasker. No crashes. No needing to reboot, unless Iām forced to with an update, and really no issues with any hardware or software I was running.
But with Linux, I just canāt believe how unstable it is, even when I do the absolute basic things.
Iām trying to learn why this is, and how I can prevent these issues from coming up. As I said, Iām committed to using Linux now (Iām done with American software), so Iām open to suggestions.
For context, Iām using a Framework laptop, which is fully (and officially) supports Fedora and Ubuntu. Since Fedora has American ties, Iāve settled with Ubuntu.
All things work as they should: fingerprint scanner, wifi, bluetooth, screen dimming, wake up from suspend, external drives, NAS shared folders, etc. Iāve even got VirtualBox running Windows 11 for the few paid software that I need to load up from time to time.
But Iām noticing issues that seemingly pop out of nowhere on the software/os end of things.
For example, after having no issues updating software, I get this an error: āsomething went wrong, but weāre not sure what it is.ā
Then sometimes Iāll be using Firefox, Iāll open a new tab to type in a search term or URL, and the typing will ālagā, then the address bar will flicker like itās reloading, and it doesnāt respond well to my mouse clicks. I have to close it out, then start over for it to resolve.
Then Iāll open a different app, sometimes it might open, sometimes it wonāt.
Or an app will freeze for no obvious reason, and Iāll get a popup asking to wait or quit.
Another time I left my computer while I went out for a walk, came back, and it was like I just rebootedā¦ all my work was gone, and it was starting fresh from the login screen.
Iām trying not to overload things, and Iām doing maybe 1/5th of what Iād normally be doing when running windows. But I donāt understand why itās so unstable.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
FWIW, Iām not keen to switch away from Ubuntu, because I do still want official support if thereās ever a problem with getting hardware to work.
UPDATE: Wow, I did not expect to get so many responses! Amazing!
Per suggestions, I ran a memtest86 for over 3 hours and it was clean.
I installed Fedora 41 and am now setting it up. Seems good so far, and elevated permissions can be authorized with biometrics! This was not something I had to. Ubuntu, so awesome there!
Any specific tips for Fedora that I should know? Obviously, no more Snap packages now! š
UPDATE 2: Ok, Fedora seems waaaay more stable than Ubuntu (and Mint). No strangeness like beforeā¦ but not everything works as easily. For example, getting a bridged network adapter to work in virtualbox was one-click easy on Ubuntuā¦ not so much on Fedora (still trying to get it working). And Virtualbox didnāt even run my VM without more terminal hackery.
But the OS seems usable, and Iām still setting things up.
One thing I have noticed, however. When I search for how to fix or do something, nearly all websites and forums reference Debian/Ubuntu commands, so the fragmentation there is a little annoying
first this is not a criticism of kde. use what ever you want i just want to keep expectations within the realm of reality.
now about the security issues, afaik those problems exists because X11 not cinnamon specifically which is why cinnamon for Wayland exists ( itās gonna take WAY longer to mature than KDE), but i donāt think that this is a big problem for most for now since our user base is small so there is much less malware and targeted attacks (well as long as you are not a high profile employee at a company with vast data access privileges )
the mixed dpi displays is a fair point too, i do that sometimes and i would say that i used it more than the people i know who might used it once or twice for a PowerPoint representation or something. programmers, gamers, graphical designers are peanuts compared to office work and regular users ( watching youtube, arguing on the internet etc)
i donāt understand what you mean exactly by performance when talking about a DE ( responsiveness, ram and cpu usage ? ā¦). in terms of cpu and ram usage iām pretty sure that kde consumes more and in terms responsiveness i would assume that kde is better but how much ( a difference between 5 s and 2 s is huge but from letās say 80 nanosecond to 60 is just for benchmarks and wonāt be noticed in real world usage)
what really holds us back is the lack of commercial software compatibility and at least decent alternatives compared to industry standards
oh yeah, and nvidia drivers + wifi and bluetouth
Security is not as huge of a problem on linux as it is on windows for sure. But EVERY SINGLE proprietary app you use can snoop on EVERYTHING. and I do not trust proprietary apps, beginners especially will use a ton of proprietary software. Remember that weāre recommending to a beginner, not a linux evangelist who is willing to do anything to make linux/foss work for them.
If you use KDE on a laptop from like 2002 it will be a HORRIBLE experience, they use way too much ram, way too much rendering (with animations and whatnot), absolute cpu and gpu hogs for a machine from back then. thatās pretty much the reason xfce and lxde exist. Itāll also be real bad on cinnamon. Maybe this is better now, I havenāt tried in a while.
The only reason I see for a beginner not to choose KDE over xfce is if they have a laptop from the 32 bit era. Elsewise, KDE if you use windows, Gnome if you use macos. The development speed alone and the fact that they have proper funding means in 20 years theyāll probably still be around, cinnamon development is nearly dead by comparison, we shouldnāt be encouraging people to use significantly less supported software unless thereās a compelling reason, and for cinnamon, there really just isnāt. People wonāt want to relearn everything when cinnamon breaks for them, might as well start on the most well supported stuff for all hardware.
I personally donāt use KDE, but I donāt think we should be recommending anything but KDE/Gnome to beginners without very good reason. Sure, use whatever you want, but that isnāt a valid course of action for someone who doesnāt even know where to start, and the obvious answer for where to start is KDE.
I think many people here have been linux users for so long that they forget their solution isnāt the best choice for beginners.
i donāt trust them either but from what i have seen most donāt care
this is a bit of a stretch
the development rate is a deciding factor for sure and i agree that we shouldnāt encourage using software that is considered āobsoleteā
i donāt agree on everything and maybe youāre right i still donāt get why they dropped support for kde but still support MATE
They get this benefit for free on KDE. Even if they donāt care, itās still better for them.
I donāt see how itās a stretch, someone was posting with basically this exact problem on one of the linux forums on lemmy like, last week. I donāt feel like digging up the post but this happens sometimes.
Makes absolutely no sense for a beginner distro.