Hey folks. I’ve 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 it… leading to “catastrophic failure” that I can’t 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 I’m forced to with an update, and really no issues with any hardware or software I was running.
But with Linux, I just can’t believe how unstable it is, even when I do the absolute basic things.
I’m trying to learn why this is, and how I can prevent these issues from coming up. As I said, I’m committed to using Linux now (I’m done with American software), so I’m open to suggestions.
For context, I’m using a Framework laptop, which is fully (and officially) supports Fedora and Ubuntu. Since Fedora has American ties, I’ve 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. I’ve even got VirtualBox running Windows 11 for the few paid software that I need to load up from time to time.
But I’m 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: “something went wrong, but we’re not sure what it is.”
Then sometimes I’ll be using Firefox, I’ll open a new tab to type in a search term or URL, and the typing will “lag”, then the address bar will flicker like it’s reloading, and it doesn’t respond well to my mouse clicks. I have to close it out, then start over for it to resolve.
Then I’ll open a different app, sometimes it might open, sometimes it won’t.
Or an app will freeze for no obvious reason, and I’ll 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 rebooted… all my work was gone, and it was starting fresh from the login screen.
I’m trying not to overload things, and I’m doing maybe 1/5th of what I’d normally be doing when running windows. But I don’t understand why it’s so unstable.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
FWIW, I’m not keen to switch away from Ubuntu, because I do still want official support if there’s 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! 😂
UPDATE 2: Ok, Fedora seems waaaay more stable than Ubuntu (and Mint). No strangeness like before… but not everything works as easily. For example, getting a bridged network adapter to work in virtualbox was one-click easy on Ubuntu… not so much on Fedora (still trying to get it working). And Virtualbox didn’t even run my VM without more terminal hackery.
But the OS seems usable, and I’m 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
I’ll likely be downvoted for this, but if you’re committed to Linux, you might want to reconsider using Ubuntu (or Fedora for that matter). Ubuntu has a well-earned reputation for trying to make things “easy” by obfuscating what it’s doing from the user (hence that useless error message). They’re also a corporate distro, so their motivations are for their profit rather than your needs (wait 'til you had about Snap).
A good starting distro is Debian (known for stable, albeit older) software. It’s a community Free software project and the 2nd-oldest Linux distro that’s still running as well as the basis for a massive number of other distros (including Ubuntu). The installer is straightforward and easy too.
Or if you’re feeling ambitious, I’d recommend Arch or Gentoo. These distros walk you through the install from a very “bare metal” perspective with excellent documentation. Your first install is a slog, but you learn a great deal about the OS in the process, ensuring that you have more intimate knowledge when something goes wrong.
The latest arch with archinstaler is actually very straight forward from boot to full desktop install. It just does not have a gui for installation. Very ligh, minimum packages by default but works great.
What are you talking about being downvoted for that. Ubuntu is not well-liked and switching it out is a common suggestion.
Well, they’re also taking swings at Fedora which isn’t usually as maligned. Besides that, there’s a lot in their comment that people could have strong opinions about beside “Ubuntu bad”.
I don’t know what to tell you. I’ve been shouted down more than a few times for suggesting that Ubuntu is a bad gateway distro.
ironically, I think whining about anticipated downvotes for expressing the most mainstream sentiment is worthy of downvotes
Yeah, Ubuntu is really corpo these days, tons of bloat too. I avoid it like the plague.
I do appreciate the reply. I’ll check with Framework to see how well Debian is supported. I might just go that route. I don’t need anything fancy or cutting edge, but I do need stability.
There’s a saying: “Don’t break Debian.” It’s considered among the most stable options, and that’s in part because of its extremely long test cycles (which can come with its own set of problems, on occasion).
I do find it curious that you’ve chosen to divest from even American FOSS projects. Like, Microsoft makes sense; they have no qualms about doing whatever they want with user data for profit, which inevitably goes towards billionaire machinations. But why draw that same line with FOSS?
I know some people are suspicious of fedora specifically because of its ties with IBM.
Honestly, not knowing enough about how linux distros are funded is part of it.
And the second part is more “If I’m going to commit, I might as well start off with something I can live with through whatever geopolitical wars we have to endure.” My preference is to remove as much American influence from my life as possible, including the OS and software I use.
This is the only reason why I’m moving away from Windows, because it’s served me well.
First of all, I’m not trying to tell you how you should live your life. My following commentary is well-intended and in the spirit of making informed decisions, of which I believe everyone has a fundamental right. At the end of the day, follow your conscience. It’s your life to live.
Spoiler, because I'm long-winded
Every distro is different. Some have zero financial investment and only volunteer labor. Some have community donations only. Some have funds from non-profit foundations or trusts with specific philanthropic qualifications. Some have corporate sponsors. Some have a mixture. Since you’ve narrowed things down to Ubuntu and Fedora, I recommend exploring where their money each comes from, how they use that money, what kind of governing bodies they have, etc. Though Canonical is based in London, for example, they have a reputation for being the Microsoft of the Linux world.
It’s simpler to just dismiss all projects with American ties, but FOSS is unique in its collaboration, and drawing a hard line will make life in the FOSS space difficult, if not impossible. On top of that, it’s very unlikely to have any effect towards boycotting the billionaires and politicians that make all our lives awful.
FOSS is unique in that it does best when everyone works together. This is antithetical to most governments, most corporations, and practically every billionaire. I get your desire to diminish American influence, and as an American myself who’s trying to do the same, I have to be careful that I don’t inadvertently harm the philanthropic efforts still happening in my own back yard.
To me, FOSS is a way to rebel against the kind of polemicizing and politicking happening across the globe, because working together without their approval is the last thing many of them want us to do.
Lastly, good luck with your transition! I hope you figure it out and love whatever you ultimately pick!
I really appreciate that. I really do.
Considering how the EU is now looking to make a distro… based on Fedora… I’m more comfortable with the idea.
And you are right, FOSS projects are a collaboration, and I think it’s worth for me to explore the best option for me, rather than what I feel might be the best option.
That said, I’m backing up my Home folder, I’ve got memtest loaded on a flash drive ready to run, and I’ll be prepping Fedora 41 to install once that’s all done :)
Good luck! I’ll be there with you, figuring things out. See you on the Arch Wiki 😉
Well, welcome to the Free side fellow traveller :-) I too ditched Windows for (different) political reasons 25 years ago, and haven’t looked back. You’ll love it here, 'cause if you don’t, you now have the power to change it 'til you do.
In case you’re not aware: Back in the day Ubuntu took off because Debian was maybe a bit too strict on their approach on being stable and rock solid for quite a few of different architectures. There was a time when you could just edit few files and migrate a running system from Debian to Ubuntu, just with way more up-to-date software packages and that’s about the time frame I moved from Debian to Ubuntu too. For quite a few years it was pretty smooth, updates just worked, software versions were up to date and the general experience was more polished than what you could get from Debian at the time.
But that ship has sailed. Ubuntu changes stuff so frequently that the package maintainers can just barely keep up, snapcraft is a steaming pile of shit in my opinion and the stability is faint ghost on what it used to be. Maybe becuse it’s not that compatible with Debian anymore and thus can’t benefit from the original source, maybe for some other reason.
Whatever the case might be, running ubuntu gives you an ubuntu experience, which is very much not the same than debian experience. If you want more streamlined distribution I’d recommend Mint (Debian edition), if you want the rock solid system but with less refined experience where you might need to tweak thing or two manually then go with Debian.
And, mostly for the nitpicking commenters, I know, I grossly simplified things around and cut some corners. I know it’s not as black and white comparison. This is just my generic experience over quite a few years with Linux on Desktop.
FWIW Debian isn’t a non profit. Debian is not a legal entity period. It receives funds via the Software in the Public Interests, which also holds the copyrights, but the project itself just is. It’s probably the world largest, longest running, self organized affiliation group.
Also debian testing is a fine rolling release. maybe sometimes a bit slow on security updates, but for a workstation that isn’t exposed to the internet, and using flatpaks for browser it’s mostly a non issue. That can also be mitigated by installing security updates from Sid. And secure-testing release take care of the most critical issues as well. If you avoid the couple’s weeks right before and after the freeze, it’s generally stable enough.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nonprofit_organization
Sorry, I was on mobile so I over-simplified 'cause digging up the details on Wikipedia wasn’t so easy while also juggling my kid :-) I’ll try to amend the original post.
@danielquinn @Showroom7561 The differences between Ubuntu and Debian is trivial, however, Debian does do some things more securely, in a business environment that might be more of a consideration, things like requiring a signed kernel and modules, require that debian packages be signed, but if you’re learning, going to be compiling your own kernel, packages, Ubuntu is the better choice, as those things won’t get in the way and also the support for PPA’s is useful.