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

[10leej]

58 minutes ago, deltatux said:

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

And that's why I say they're unstable

[deltatux]

29 minutes ago, 10leej said:

And that's why I say they're unstable

AUR is fine if you know what you're doing, there's a reason why they're disabled by default. If you know what you're doing or you don't use AUR at all, Arch & Manjaro is rock solid. It's no different than PPAs on Ubuntu. Ubuntu is also rock solid until people mess with PPAs & being careless about it. Same with using 3rd party Zypper/YaST repos for OpenSUSE.

[foehammer127]

On 6/5/2022 at 2:41 AM, Renton577 said:

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.

 

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.

Manjaro is not true Arch Linux.

I am not saying that because of any gatekeeping reasons, but because it is not recommended to use Manjaro. As their philosophy can cause frequent breakages, and it is hard to get support from arch Linux community members, as we do not support anything but Arch Linux x86_64. Manjaro allows inexperienced users to mess up their systems, therefore I recommend either moving to Arch Linux, where you will gain greater support and stability, as well as learn proper system maintenance, or moving to POP! OS/Ubuntu, which are both great, user friendly Distros that you will have a good time using.

Good Luck with whatever you decide.

 

[Renton577]

Honestly part of the reason I went Manjaro us the rolling release. I have more modern hardware and it seems to be one of the only distros that actually functions correctly with my hardware but I also just like it all around and I for sure really like Arch. The issue before may have also been partly my fault too since I'm still learning Linux but I went back in with the mindset that every command I need to use now and everything I need to do I need to research before I do it and not just use commands if I don't truly understand what they do.

[deltatux]

11 minutes ago, Renton577 said:

Honestly part of the reason I went Manjaro us the rolling release. I have more modern hardware and it seems to be one of the only distros that actually functions correctly with my hardware but I also just like it all around and I for sure really like Arch. The issue before may have also been partly my fault too since I'm still learning Linux but I went back in with the mindset that every command I need to use now and everything I need to do I need to research before I do it and not just use commands if I don't truly understand what they do.

It's quite important to read the man pages if you're not sure about the commands and don't randomly install things from the AUR without reading about the AUR package itself. There may be some quirks that could bork the whole distro as they're not really vetted by the Arch or Manjaro dev teams, just like Ubuntu's PPA archives.

[Renton577]

40 minutes ago, deltatux said:

It's quite important to read the man pages if you're not sure about the commands and don't randomly install things from the AUR without reading about the AUR package itself. There may be some quirks that could bork the whole distro as they're not really vetted by the Arch or Manjaro dev teams, just like Ubuntu's PPA archives.

That I did learn about the AUR, since it's a user maintained repo. So when I am thinking about installing one now I actually go to the package page and research it first.

[RollyShed]

On 6/8/2022 at 7:49 PM, maplepants said:

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.

What do you mean by, "Windows loves to be restarted," If you mean switching off at night and back on next morning, no it definitely doesn't make any difference it still isn't reliable.

 

It is also impossible to run on some laptops because it spreads like a virus and fills the storage completely. Install Linux Mint on these computers and they will work well with plenty of room for information (docs, pictures, etc.). Actually the MS Updates do work as viruses, kill things, delete things.

[cretsiah]

On 6/8/2022 at 5:49 PM, maplepants said:

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.

i wish i was lucky as you in this area....... windows failed me at windows 10 on 3 different computers give me windows xp and 7 back thanks .........

 

i swapped to linux mint 20, now im happily running LMDE 5 ( linux mint debian edition 5 )as my main ..... ive maybe touched my win 7 install twice in 18-24 months (cos the system is set-up as a triple boot ) the windows 10 version 2004 im thinking of deleting cos i havent touched it  in that time frame .... its slow as hell compared to win 7 or linux mint BUT then i am still using an old AM3+ cpu with its 1600mhz ram

 

probably should have added i use it to game on

Edited June 13, 2022 by cretsiah
my main use case is gaming

[10leej]

21 hours ago, deltatux said:

AUR is fine if you know what you're doing, there's a reason why they're disabled by default. If you know what you're doing or you don't use AUR at all, Arch & Manjaro is rock solid. It's no different than PPAs on Ubuntu. Ubuntu is also rock solid until people mess with PPAs & being careless about it. Same with using 3rd party Zypper/YaST repos for OpenSUSE.

You see the problem with this is that the community has not aimed in that direction. Almost every guide for installing and maintaining archlinux tells you to enable the AUR and setup a AUR helper like yay or paru. Without giving you warnings about the AUR.

[maplepants]

17 hours ago, RollyShed said:

What do you mean by, "Windows loves to be restarted," If you mean switching off at night and back on next morning, no it definitely doesn't make any difference it still isn't reliable.

I mostly mean via updates mostly. Almost every update wants me to restart, and lots of times I have to update and restart more than once. When there are issues, they are almost always solved by a reboot.

[maplepants]

On 6/10/2022 at 5:48 PM, deltatux said:

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.

Theoretically you can mess up your Ubuntu install with PPAs, but it just doesn't happen nearly as often to Ubuntu newbies as it does to Manjaro newbies (in my experience).

To have a good time with Linux you absolutely should be reading documentation, and this is where Ubuntu's advantage comes in. I love the ArchWiki as much as the next guy, but AskUbuntu / stack overflow is a better resource for new users. 

 

For even somewhat experienced users, I think basically all distros are basically the same. But if you're so new to Linux that you don't understand questions like "what DE are you using?" or "what's your package manager?", then I think Ubuntu is the way to go. 

[RollyShed]

2 hours ago, maplepants said:

To have a good time with Linux you absolutely should be reading documentation,

No.

I have dozens of Linux Mint users who don't even know there is a manual anywhere. They use their computers to do things with, not fiddle with the operating system.

 

Are you using the computer to do documents, spreadsheets, web browsing, emails, listen to music, learn the violin, do proof reading and map downloads for books, etc. etc.

 

In that case, you simply use it as a computer and it will be easier to use than Windows and more reliable. It won't get wiped or crash because of viruses written by Microsoft.

[deltatux]

5 hours ago, maplepants said:

Theoretically you can mess up your Ubuntu install with PPAs, but it just doesn't happen nearly as often to Ubuntu newbies as it does to Manjaro newbies (in my experience).

To have a good time with Linux you absolutely should be reading documentation, and this is where Ubuntu's advantage comes in. I love the ArchWiki as much as the next guy, but AskUbuntu / stack overflow is a better resource for new users. 

 

For even somewhat experienced users, I think basically all distros are basically the same. But if you're so new to Linux that you don't understand questions like "what DE are you using?" or "what's your package manager?", then I think Ubuntu is the way to go. 

Oh for sure Ubuntu is a great distros for newcomers, I'm not debating that. Just that I don't think Manjaro deserves the bad rep it's getting at all. It's still an easier to use version of Arch but Ubuntu is still the easier for newcomers, Manjaro ain't there yet.

[The Hope]

If stability is the most important thing to you, then there isn't much better than FreeBSD, NixOS, and NetBSD.

This can of course be above your skill level. But after the initial installation and configuration, there's nothing more maintenance-friendly and reliable than FreeBSD.

 

Suppose these systems are too difficult, then you can of course also try Fedora and EndeavourOS instead of Manjaro.

 

Alpine Linux is also a nice Linux distro, it uses absurdly little RAM and you can build it into a fully featured desktop system.