Should I just stick with windows or should I try and go back to Manjaro or PopOS?

[Renton577]

So recently I had to go back to Windows because my install of Manjaro just became too unstable and didn't work how I wanted it to, moving back to Windows 11 though I forgot how bad my laptop performs when using it. So my question is should I stay on windows, go back to Manjaro (AUR is super nice) or go to PopOS since I hear it's a bit more stable.

[SupaKomputa]

if you find linux such a hassle to deal with, you should just stick with windows. it works.

[LloydLynx]

I'd say try PopOS. It's one of the bigger ones that keeps getting bigger so it'll have good community support, and it has a version specifically for Nvidia. 

[Renton577]

3 hours ago, SupaKomputa said:

if you find linux such a hassle to deal with, you should just stick with windows. it works.

I would have stuck with Manjaro if it didn't become so unstable, I like Linux way more than windows it's mainly just I want something that will stay stable over time.

 

2 hours ago, LloydLynx said:

I'd say try PopOS. It's one of the bigger ones that keeps getting bigger so it'll have good community support, and it has a version specifically for Nvidia. 

I've heard pop is good and I have an Intel GPU. I'm just wondering how good the store is too because I'd be coming over from Arch Linux which has basically everything in AUR.

[LloydLynx]

2 minutes ago, Renton577 said:

I've heard pop is good and I have an Intel GPU. I'm just wondering how good the store is too because I'd be coming over from Arch Linux which has basically everything in AUR.

The store is pretty decent for a Linux app store. It comes with flatpak and the flathub repo OOTB. And unlike the Gnome Software Center, it won't be broken half the time. 

If you're using flatpak a lot, I highly recommend installing flatseal to manage permissions through a GUI. 

7 minutes ago, Renton577 said:

I have an Intel GPU

Wait, so the system in your signature is not this system? What specs is this system then? 

[Renton577]

1 hour ago, LloydLynx said:

The store is pretty decent for a Linux app store. It comes with flatpak and the flathub repo OOTB. And unlike the Gnome Software Center, it won't be broken half the time. 

If you're using flatpak a lot, I highly recommend installing flatseal to manage permissions through a GUI. 

Wait, so the system in your signature is not this system? What specs is this system then? 

I might give it a try using a live USB then and see how it runs I just wish PopOS had a KDE version honestly haha. Also it's an i5-1135G7 with 12GB RAM and Intel Iris Xe Graphics.

[Giganthrax]

If you're after stability and you want an ubuntu-based system, give linux mint or zorinos core a try. Been using them for about a year now and I find them to be as stable as win10.

 

You could also just use win10 instead of 11. 11 doesnt really bring anything worthwhile anyway.

[LloydLynx]

5 hours ago, Renton577 said:

I might give it a try using a live USB then and see how it runs I just wish PopOS had a KDE version honestly haha. Also it's an i5-1135G7 with 12GB RAM and Intel Iris Xe Graphics.

Ok ok, I have a new recommendation now; OpenSUSE Tumbleweed KDE. It's one of the best KDE experiences on Linux. It has a tool called YaST that's basically MS Control Panel but more powerful. The whole distro follows the paradigm of doing everything through the GUI, even advanced configuration. It even has a menu entry to launch the file manager as root, addressing one of Linus's complaints. The distro is a bit less commonly used/known, and you'll have to add repos and install proprietary codecs, but it's all pretty easy to follow along with on guides. The KDE app store "Discover" seems to work pretty well in my experience and can easily be setup to use flatpak. Also YaST can be used to install native RPM packages and manage repos if you wanna do it that way. I have OpenSUSE on my TV PC and it's honestly a really great and very customizable experience. 

 

I didn't recommend it at first because most people want a simpler and more commonly used distro, and I saw Nvidia in your sig. 

[Renton577]

7 hours ago, LloydLynx said:

Ok ok, I have a new recommendation now; OpenSUSE Tumbleweed KDE. It's one of the best KDE experiences on Linux. It has a tool called YaST that's basically MS Control Panel but more powerful. The whole distro follows the paradigm of doing everything through the GUI, even advanced configuration. It even has a menu entry to launch the file manager as root, addressing one of Linus's complaints. The distro is a bit less commonly used/known, and you'll have to add repos and install proprietary codecs, but it's all pretty easy to follow along with on guides. The KDE app store "Discover" seems to work pretty well in my experience and can easily be setup to use flatpak. Also YaST can be used to install native RPM packages and manage repos if you wanna do it that way. I have OpenSUSE on my TV PC and it's honestly a really great and very customizable experience. 

 

I didn't recommend it at first because most people want a simpler and more commonly used distro, and I saw Nvidia in your sig. 

I'll give it a look then and live USB it so I can try it out first. I don't need a widely used distro, I mean I was using Manjaro before and I loved that but the KDE environment is what I mainly liked so I think switching over should be easy. I tried Fedora KDE before as well but it had some conflicts with my hardware so I'll try this out and see how it goes, maybe I should just dual boot it with windows 10 in case I ever need it because like Giganthrax said 11 really doesn't bring anything to the table.

 

Edit: also forgot to mention semi regular updates would be nice, which is one of the reasons I went with Manjaro before.

[LloydLynx]

3 minutes ago, Renton577 said:

Edit: also forgot to mention semi regular updates would be nice, which is one of the reasons I went with Manjaro before.

OpenSUSE has both rolling and stable. "Tumbleweed" is the rolling release, "Leap" is the anual release. Both are meant as end user OSes, so take your pick. 

I would advise Tumbleweed though, since your hardware is so recent and you're used to the way Manjaro rolls out updates. 

[Renton577]

8 hours ago, LloydLynx said:

OpenSUSE has both rolling and stable. "Tumbleweed" is the rolling release, "Leap" is the anual release. Both are meant as end user OSes, so take your pick. 

I would advise Tumbleweed though, since your hardware is so recent and you're used to the way Manjaro rolls out updates. 

I'll take a look at that, right now I'm testing out Linux Mint as well and it seems like a nice distro, I had to upgrade to the most recent kernel available in their Update Manager but it seems to still be working fine. All places I look though seen to point to Debian distros for being the most stable.

[RollyShed]

13 minutes ago, Renton577 said:

I'll take a look at that, right now I'm testing out Linux Mint as well and it seems like a nice distro,

I've installed Linux Mint Cinnamon for 40+ people who use it as their every-day system. It works, it is reliable and dependable.

There is a good discussion forum if help is ever needed.

 

You haven't said what you actually use a computer for.

[Renton577]

2 minutes ago, RollyShed said:

I've installed Linux Mint Cinnamon for 40+ people who use it as their every-day system. It works, it is reliable and dependable.

There is a good discussion forum if help is ever needed.

 

You haven't said what you actually use a computer for.

I use it for day to day work, videos, the occasional game and thats about it and linux mint seems to be good so far. The only thing I have an issue with so far is there doesn't seem to be an option to set an audio output device on a per application basis which Manjaro did have and I used from time to time.

[Renton577]

Actually I just found PulseAudio Volume Control and it lets me do that now so now it works like I want it to.

[RollyShed]

13 hours ago, Renton577 said:

Actually I just found PulseAudio Volume Control and it lets me do that now so now it works like I want it to.

Always remember, there is a very good, helpful, discussion forum specifically for Linux Mint.

[10leej]

On 6/5/2022 at 5:12 AM, Renton577 said:

I just wish PopOS had a KDE version

kubuntu or kde neon then, but you can install KDE Plasma on popos

 

On 6/6/2022 at 3:17 AM, Renton577 said:

All places I look though seen to point to Debian distros for being the most stable.

Generally yes that's true, but really any distro that's not trying to be "up stream" is inherantly going to be more stable than the rest. That said, a distor like Manjaro sits in a weird place as it claims to be "ArchLinux, but stable" and yet of all the Arch flavors/forks Manjaro is by far the worst of them stability wise.

If you miss the updates (since you said you prefer semi regular updates) might I recommend giving Arch Linux proper an instalation? It's really not that hard of a distro to install and you';ll find the system much more customizable to your liking. The only tradeoff is your dealing with the default settings of applications, so KDE might look horrible at first.

[maplepants]

What are you trying to get out of Linux? 

 

If you can get every linux feature / tool you want out of WSL2 or multipass then I'd stick with Windows. 

[RollyShed]

5 hours ago, maplepants said:

What are you trying to get out of Linux? 

 

If you can get every linux feature / tool you want out of WSL2 or multipass then I'd stick with Windows. 

I've had so many move to Linux because Windows isn't reliable and certainly not logical.

[Renton577]

12 hours ago, maplepants said:

What are you trying to get out of Linux? 

 

If you can get every linux feature / tool you want out of WSL2 or multipass then I'd stick with Windows. 

7 hours ago, RollyShed said:

I've had so many move to Linux because Windows isn't reliable and certainly not logical.

I moved to Linux because I like it way more than windows, the customization and openness of the OS is really nice and not having telemetry in everything is nice. The main reason though is that windows is god awful at utilizing my hardware. I actually just made a post about this. In windows playing a game the CPU throttles down to 1.5Ghz at times and the GPU 700Mhz, in Linux playing the same game the CPU stays at base clocks 2.4Ghz and 1100Mhz GPU. Even running a game in wine on Linux the performance gain is crazy.

[maplepants]

2 hours ago, Renton577 said:

I moved to Linux because I like it way more than windows, the customization and openness of the OS is really nice and not having telemetry in everything is nice. The main reason though is that windows is god awful at utilizing my hardware. I actually just made a post about this. In windows playing a game the CPU throttles down to 1.5Ghz at times and the GPU 700Mhz, in Linux playing the same game the CPU stays at base clocks 2.4Ghz and 1100Mhz GPU. Even running a game in wine on Linux the performance gain is crazy.

Ok, so then WSL2 isn't enough for you.

 

Then I recommend my favourite distro; Ubuntu. The standard flavours (Ubuntu Desktop, Xubuntu, & Kubuntu / KDE Neon) are all excellent. With something like Arch you can customize more, but you have to really know what you're doing. On these Ubuntu flavours not only are there a good number of customization options, there are also loads of guides written with these distros in mind.

 

If you have a problem, odds are good that someone else has already had and been helped with the same issue. This is much less true for more niche distros.

[maplepants]

10 hours ago, RollyShed said:

I've had so many move to Linux because Windows isn't reliable and certainly not logical.

Windows loves to be restarted, but for most people it's reliable enough. I don't run Windows on my main PC, but I do run it on my gaming PC and it's just as reliable as the OS on my PS4 or Switch.

[10leej]

9 hours ago, maplepants said:

With something like Arch you can customize more, but you have to really know what you're doing.

Not really, you just have to know how to read a technical manual

[maplepants]

3 hours ago, 10leej said:

Not really, you just have to know how to read a technical manual

Technically yes, but most people are not comfortable running large numbers of command which they don't understand. If OP sticks with something more popular and Ubuntu based, he'll still end up having to run some commands he doesn't understand but there'll be fewer. 

 

Remember, he's already had trouble maintaining a stable Manjaro system so I wouldn't recommend anything arch based for now. If people from my local LUG are representative, his major stability issues problem came from AUR packages anyway.

[10leej]

20 hours ago, maplepants said:

Technically yes, but most people are not comfortable running large numbers of command which they don't understand. If OP sticks with something more popular and Ubuntu based, he'll still end up having to run some commands he doesn't understand but there'll be fewer. 

 

Remember, he's already had trouble maintaining a stable Manjaro system so I wouldn't recommend anything arch based for now. If people from my local LUG are representative, his major stability issues problem came from AUR packages anyway.

Manjaro is inheritantly unstable in comp[arison to archlinux. So not suprised.

[deltatux]

21 hours ago, 10leej said:

Manjaro is inheritantly unstable in comp[arison to archlinux. So not suprised.

Have used both Arch & Manjaro, honestly they're about the same in terms of stability. Arch's main advantage is the customizability and following the "keep it simple stupid" philosophy.

 

However, I find that most people screw up their Arch & Manjaro install by being careless with AUR packages.

On 6/8/2022 at 5:26 PM, maplepants said:

Technically yes, but most people are not comfortable running large numbers of command which they don't understand. If OP sticks with something more popular and Ubuntu based, he'll still end up having to run some commands he doesn't understand but there'll be fewer. 

 

Remember, he's already had trouble maintaining a stable Manjaro system so I wouldn't recommend anything arch based for now. If people from my local LUG are representative, his major stability issues problem came from AUR packages anyway.

I don't think Arch is the real problem as one can screw up Ubuntu installs just as easily by being careless with PPAs. It's important that people jumping into Linux need to read the manuals, they're quite essential, you can really mess up any Linux distro by not properly reading the manual. In terms of documentation, I argue that Arch Linux has superior documentation.