Is ubuntu still alright? I've only ever used that kernel and it was on machine that was prepped for it, would y'all say it's relatively easy to install yourself?
this post was submitted on 23 Jun 2025
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Ubuntu is good, actually. It has basically the widest out of the box hardware and software support of any distribution, a decent default UI and an easy installer. Its downsides are that it has a reputation as baby’s first Linux so you don’t get any hipster cred and some people don’t like that it uses snap as a package format for some things, including Firefox.
How do I dislike Ubuntu, let me count the ways:
- Desktop whiplash: Gnome, Unity, no Gnome...
- snap pushed into the default distro, long before it's a net-positive (and it's still not a net positive, IMO)
- You want this security update that somebody else published? Yeah, we want your money.
I've used Ubuntu heavily since 14.04 through 24.04... my new system installs are going Debian 12 with XFCE, and yes - I did evaluate Xubuntu, I'm actually typing this from an Xubuntu machine right now that's planned to be getting Debian if it ever needs a re-image.
Ubuntu wasn't a bad choice, still isn't a terrible choice, but if you're going to have to strip out snap by hand and deal with security updates by hand after 4-5 years and install a "niche" desktop version to get out from Gnome's rather inflexible view of things, might as well just go to Debian and be done with whatever "new deals" Canonical comes up with in the future.
Mint is really good , but a while ago I was having issues with Mint , swapped to Fedora Desktop. No more bad feelings to Linux again
fedora coo. i coo fedor
for all Ubuntu haters there is a Debian Version of Mint. And second Linux Mint is the perfekt set and forget Distro. No Tinkering for a basic PC without special Requirements.
And i love it that almost all agree that when a noob ask what Distro to choose that Linux mint is every time in the proposed Distros
Why are there Ubuntu haters? I'm on the verge of installing Linux on my desktop and have the Ubuntu pro installer on a thumb drive ready. I'm worried now...
I started out thinking to go with Mint, seems popular, but there was an instruction to verify the ISO image and it was just too complex. https://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?t=291093
I'm already using Linux on an old laptop (Zorin) so I'm not inexperienced, but good lord that's a faff and a half. I have a life!
What's with all the Mint hype? I've never used it and have little desire to go back to a Ubuntu-based distro. Just curious why everyone loves it so much.
For the most part, it works well without needing too much tinkering by the user. It's the Fisher Price My First Distro.
I tried it out with a 21.3 dualboot with Windows 11 and within 2 or 3 months I hadn't gone back to Windows other than to push files over. Sure, there were a few "learning opportunities" with tweaks or weird driver issues that were because of the particular hardware I'm using, but they were manageable. At this point I'm running 22.1 only on this machine.
The nice part is that being Ubuntu-based, if I run into a problem, I can search for both the more widely-documented Ubuntu version of the issue, or look for a Mint-related version. Claude does a great job with small-to-medium troubleshooting rather than me dig through forums. It's low-risk, low-work, high-reward.
It's fantastically simple to set up, and it's (well it's linux!) fantastically powerful out of the box.
Easy peasy, just go. No need to fiddle to get it starting, good looking, and everything is there ready to be used.
Maybe all distros are like that today but they sure wasn't (even Mint wasn't before IDK maybe 18 IMO).
I ran it for a while, and loved it. Cinnamon is sleek and feels polished. The installation is really fast and not bloated with garbage software.
Everything generally works, and the interface feels familiar.
It is Ubuntu/Debian under the hood, so compatibility with most software is good. Bleeding edge drivers may run into issues, but most of them work with a little fiddling.
It's worth a try. If nothing else toss it on a USB drive and give it a test drive.
I ran Ubuntu for like 15 years and was especially recently getting frustrated by how far behind the packages always were. I'm full in on Arch - everything about it has been a much better experience.
That's one of the beauties of Linux, if you need something else than want you can probably get another distro that suits your needs. OP was asking about newbies. I set up Mint for my mom. I can guarantee that she won't change.
My son on the other hand distro hops.
It's rock solid and the desktop is very close to what people coming from Windows would expect. It's just a very good beginner distro, not necessarily something that more advanced users would choose.
Makes sense. I went from Suse to Mepis, stuck with it for a bit after they transitioned to Ubuntu before just going full Ubuntu, but I was getting frustrated by how long it took for their repos to catch up. I've been on Arch for a year or two now and it's been fantastic.
It just works.
Gonna be a lot of perfectly good hardware going up on ebay soon.
Maan, I already have like 4 spare computers, what am I going to do? What project do I have to cone up with to rationalise buying new used ones?
k8s
That's interesting. Have anything that comes to mind as easily searchable that might start showing up? I would have to imagine a lot of corporate stuff that is certain they want to keep up on security.
CPU: intel 7th gen or earlier.
I doubt companies will be flooding markets with anything. 7th gen devices came out almost a decade ago (yes it's almost been that long since 2016) and most companies only keep computers for 3-5 years max.
Originally I planned to switch in October when support for W10 runs out, but it seems my PC made the push for me.
At the start of July some issue with windows that caused my system to freeze and then get stuck on boot when restarted finally bricked my system for a 2nd time this year and I was forced to reinstall the OS again. So, instead of wasting another 4 months on dealing with all the crap windows has been throwing my way lately, I just jumped ship to mint.
3 weeks in and, so far so good. Really got around to all the personalization it allows over windows. Learning to run a pc mostly through the terminal has been a step out of the comfort zone, but an enjoyable one tbh
At the start of July
Ah, so I see you switched to Linux and made the time travel. Cheers.
I’m trying, I really am. My current issue is that Wi-Fi completely ignores IPV4 if I’m on a network with additional IPV6 support.
Don't let Lemmy mislead you into thinking Linux is a drop-in replacement or easy to switch to. It's a difficult process that takes learning, but hopefully you'll find it worthwhile. Good luck with your troubleshooting.
I really need to move my PC over to Mint, but change makes me deeply uncomfortable :(
Ironic, the fact that I hate change is the whole reason I ended up using Linux. I felt that Mint was closer to Windows 7 than 8.0 at the time.
You have Arch on your username and you're not using Arch Linux? You are doing a disservice to your username.
It would appear to be a reference to Magic the Gathering
Take it slow. Install a VM with Mint. Play around with it. Get familiar. Move your regular usage over to it gradually. Make the jump when you are ready. It's perfectly OK to have reservations about a big change like that. But you don't have to do it all in one go.
It's not using it that's the problem, I have Mint installed on my work PC and my laptop, and I like it. But for some reason installing it on my main PC, which I use pretty much every day, has me worried for reasons I don't get myself. It's like a soft phobia, an irrational fear.
It took me 3 years from when I first started dual booting to when I launched Windows for the last time.
Take your time, move as slowly as you want, and always leave a way back. Eventually you might notice that you're feeling more comfortable with Linux than Windows, and if you're lucky, you might not even notice when you've stopped using Windows.
It took me over a year too. I was using a mini PC with Mint but still kept my old Windows PC under my desk. When I built a new PC, it never got defiled, though.
Dual boot? Keep like 200GB for windows, and the rest mint. If you need windows for something, boot over. But otherwise, I legit feel more worried when windows has access to my data.
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I'm seeing a lot of advocacy for Mint on Lemmy but not as much for Fedora it seems?
I've only ever run one Linux distro and that was Fedora KDE Plasma, havent tried Mint yet. Are they not mostly the same or am I missing something?
You're not. If you're happy with what you've got, don't worry about it. Or join the great Linux tradition of distro hopping. But Mint gets a lot of praise for noobs, but much like Ubuntu there are much better distros out there. It just has name recognition at this point.
Mint is the best distro for people who need you to tell them the distro.
I use Mint on my Laptop but once Windows is done for I'm switching to:
- Fedora, OpenSUSE, Secureblue, or something with KDE Plasma (security, stability, and ease of use priority)
- Bazzite (for games, and dual-booted into to protect the security of my daily driver)
- OpenBSD or something (so if something like Crowdstrike or Wannacry happens but for Linux, I have an alt)
I've never understood the fedora hype. The fact that it is adjacent to Redhat should be enough for people to want to stay away lol.
It's easier to install/use. It was my first distro before I switched to CachyOS for my latest build.
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