Linux Mint (I'd recomment Debian edition, LMDE) is basically what you want to try out. I've set up a PC with it for my stepfather that hasn't used Linux at all and he's happy with it. It's designed to be as newbie-friendly as possible. You won't have more issues with it than you'll already have using Windows.
Then if you feel unsatisfied with anything about it, you can go looking for other linux distributions (distros) because you have a general idea what's happening.
You won't have more issues with it than you'll already have using Windows.
You absolutely will, and the ones you get will be harder to solve. It's far more useable than it used to be, but the overall experience with Windows is still easier.
BUT it probably is quite usable for you overall. Just don't go into it expecting nothing but smooth sailing.
I was a system admin with a focus on Windows for many years. The idea that Linix is somehow more issue prone hasn't been true for years, especially for end users who aren't tinkering. I've had more issues with an enterprise install of Win 11 this year than I've had with PopOS for the past 3.
Make it an alternative OS before erasing your existing OS so you can switch back and forth and use the old one to research when something unexpected happens on your new one. This way you can transition slowly. Expect there to be challenges, but also expect to learn a lot. It’s a fantastic platform.
For a reasonably stable but updated os I would recommend FreeBSD. You only have to install X yourself, and linux guides doesn’t work. But reading manual page and searching on mailing lists can solve every issue. OpenBSD is easier but it is a bit “slow” in performance, packages are not updated (you have to follow -current, the latest development branch).
Can you not set it up and then not have ongoing issues?
That’s a tough one to answer, because Linux has one key element that is different from other OS : it isn’t one single thing dumbed down to cater to everyone, instead it has multiple variations (distributions), each has their own logic and ideas, and everyone of them are highly customisable (so yeah you can spend a lot of time editing stuff if you want to). This means that it higly depends on what you chose to use, what you wanna do with it, and what are your skills.
I could say that you would get as much issues as you would with any other OS, but that would be wrong depending on the distribution you use, that would be wrong if you have a specific need that isn’t easy to get on Linux or not yet troublefree to use, and that would be wrong if you have no idea what you are doing. You could even have less issues (but I wouldn’t advertise that thought). This is why there are what people call “noob friendly distros”, meaning as much troublefree as possible and easy to learn (doesn’t mean it has all your needed features, or that it will grant you the best experience).
I have been toying with Linux since I was 15, but I only made the switch some years ago (I’m 29). Most of my issues were either that the distribution I used did’nt satsfy me, or that my needs were a bit complicated to get working, but once I found something that worked for me most of my experience has been «you configure it once and then you are good to go», I cannot say it is the same for everyone.
One important thing to note is that switching from a familiar OS to an unfamiliar one is never easy (people tend to forget how hard they had to learn using a pc), and it can get painfully hard to do if you go at it with the wrong mindset. So if you want to try it out, I’d suggest you first spend some time looking if everything you need will be available and easy to get working, then find a distribution that you think would suit you (since it’s a first dive you might try something “noob friendly”). Ideally you would first look how it works before trying anything, for exemple don’t be fooled thinking a distribution is only defined by how it looks, it’s how it works that matters most. It’s a bit like preparing yourself for a trip, never try it blindly (it’s a common mistake people do when switching between OS, be it Linux or otherwise), it will require patience and an open mind because you will have to learn how thing works since it’s new to you and it might feel like nothing is working the way it should, so it’s better if you can still go back to an OS that is familiar to you if something goes wrong. And then you’ll see for yourself if it is a troublefree experience or a masochist one :p
I don’t know who these people having issues are but I run Linux Mint Debian Edition and have no issues editing my stuff.
The only issue I can imagine is if they had formatted an external HDD with ext4 and and copied docs from a previous Linux install, and now when they copy it to their new install, they don’t have permission to edit the doc.
For example, you try out Ubuntu for a few weeks/months. You format your ext HDD in ext4 and create docs in Ubuntu. You then copy those into the HDD. Or maybe you had another drive formatted with NTFS and copied docs from there onto the ext4 drive.
After a few weeks you erase Ubuntu from your machine and install Arch. Now when you try to edit a doc on the HDD or copy it to your machine, you find you don’t have permission because those permissions were set on your previous Ubuntu install.
I’ve had permission issues with that hence I format my ex HDD with exFAT and it works perfectly. Also works perfectly with Windows and macOS as they can all read/write to exFAT without permission issues.
Even running Arch for the last decade or so, I largely don’t have issues that wind up being any more complicated than downgrading a package every so often. Most of my config editing occur in one of three situations. First and most common, initial setup of a program to telling it where to find any files it needs and change any default settings I have a different preference on. Second, it’s a program I use constantly and want to tweak it to work just so, adding to it as I discover new features that catch my interest, like tweaking my ncmpcpp and tmux setups. The last case is procrastination, where I get obsessively focused on something because, clearly, the reason I haven’t written my 5 page paper due tomorrow has nothing to do with the fact I’ve been screwing around and not keeping up with my coursework for the last week, and can instead be squarely attributed to the fact that I have discovered some aspect of my emacs setep that needs to be refined, like realizing I dislike how biber formats my references in Auctex and needing to spend hours finetuning my reference style to m’ exact preferences.
For most general use cases, like browsing the web, listening to music, watching movies and maybe firing up a word processor, this is entirely unnecessary. To give an example, I got tired of having to periodically spend a night purging my elderly mother’s laptop of myriad viruses and uninstalling the dozen or so IE toolbar she kept infecting her system with. Clearly not a techy person. I put Linux mint on it, changed the desktop shortcut for Firefox to the Internet Explorer icon, ditto for Open Office’s word processor with Ms Word, and she was happy as could be without really noticing a difference. I would just remote in and periodically update it. Worked fine for her until she got a new new computer, by which point she’d realized she could, in fact, live without all that malware taking up half her screen in IE.
I’d suggest that Linux tends to attract a higher percentage of people that want to tinker with their OS, and tinkering with your OS can lead to some unexpected outcomes, or outright break things that someone would have to turn to the community for help.
It depends a lot on what you want to do with it though too. Browsing the web, checking email, spreadsheets / word processing, etc? You could likely install literally any Linux os and be fine, and definitely be fine with the mainstream core distros.
If you’re gaming, I’d recommend a distro aimed at gaming. PopOS, nobara, bazzite, or Garuda all come to mind, depending on your preferred flavor.
But, as much as it pains me to say it, if you need to run, for example, Adobe or Autodesk products (or something similarly specialized and proprietary) you’ll probably have a better time doing it in windows. There are alternative options that will work in Linux fine, but if it’s for work or some other situation that requires you to use those specific proprietary products, you might be stuck.
Car enthusiasts spend a lot more time under the hood than normal drivers. You’ll find a similar effect here.
Install something like Linux Mint, maybe chase down a few quirks with your particular hardware (for instance, I installed a surround sound system with a fairly hot amplifier, so every time the motherboard turns the sound chip on and off there’s a loud pop, so I had to change a couple settings in some config files from 1 to 0 and Y to N, and it’s been fine ever since) and you’re pretty much golden until you decide to start messing with something.
There are extremely stable Linux distros, there are Linux distros that aren’t so stable, but come with newer packages. Which one you choose depends on what you want.
Linux is stable if you pick a stable distribution. The big thing is the skill floor is higher than windows, but the skill ceiling is way higher too. But yeah pick a well respected LTS distribution (not arch based, use a Debian based one) and Linux will be just a boring computer until you start fucking with it. But you can fuck with it, and that’s the beauty and the danger of it. Remember the “delete system 32” memes? Yeah you can’t do that in windows anymore, they idiot proofed it so hard it’s smart people proof too, linux will let you make a terrible decision if you sudo it.
I really wish Linux desktop was stable. On Ubuntu 22.04, this year alone I had nvidia driver failures, wake up from sleep issues, crypsetup failing to decrypt the root drive on startup (and dropping to a busybox shell), gnome UI freezing and more.
I’ve been using Linux for over ten years and love it. On servers, it’s rock solid but on desktop it’s hit and miss. The good part is that problems are fixable, it’s just not user friendly.
Not sure what you’re doing, but I’ve been using Debian and Pop_OS! without issue for work and gaming for 4 years. I’ve never had to reinstall or troubleshoot something unless I created a problem doing something stupid.
I’ve usually run linux until I got sick of having problems with it and then install windows… until I got sick of having problems with it and then switch to linux again.
There is no OS without issues. In my experience, that may not be the same as others, linux problems tend to be more frequent, smaller and easier to fix. While windows problems tend to be less frequent but more problematic and harder to fix (I’m looking at you windows update which destroyed all my OS).
But if you are going to use linux you are going to need to tweak some things. The tinkering to make it all work is easy as the community forums have all the answers (btw windows support forums are the WORST, 99% of proposed solutions are useless).
Yeah it’s stable, as long as you aren’t messing with the core of things you’ll be good. Gaming isn’t the worst on most systems but it can still be a challenge. And if you have a laptop trying to set up your GPU so it won’t destroy your battery can be a challenge. Those are really your only pitfalls though. If you just want to install it browse the Internet, code, do office stuff it will work perfectly. If you start trying to do anything too fancy there is a possibility of running into unstableness from misconfiguration
trying to set up your GPU so it won’t destroy your battery can be a challenge
Avoid NVidia. Get a GPU from a company that respects the way you will use it instead of engaging in malicious compliance so it can claim it works, but it never does.
You’re always going to see people with problems in support forums. If your Linux system is running well, you’re less likely to post about it than if you’re having problems.
Those communities got a little stale when enough people started reporting uptime in decades. Also, unless you’re on a flavor that can upgrade the kernel while the system is live, good uptimes these days are just the time between kernel updates.
used mint for a few years now on a few different rigs, never really had issues. also never really had issues using windows either. it’s not really difficult to get the OS to a stable state.
I have linux distros that i like and work for me, i almost never have issues. I think it depends on hardware, and i think a lot of the issues are just people trying to do things as they used to on windows and things just work a bit different
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