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There comes a time when everyone has to sit and think about what they use on their PC, especially if you're on Linux. For me, Arch Linux (via EndeavourOS) just wasn't working out any more and so I've moved to Fedora.

While I was reasonably happy with Arch Linux, it's just not stable enough for me personally. It's a very subjective thing of course, and highly dependent on what hardware you use — along with how often you update. For me, it just messed things up a bit too often, and last night was the final straw.

I updated either that day, or the day before, and just before a livestream was due to start, my SteelSeries headset no longer worked. No matter what I tried, following guide after guide about PipeWire, nothing helped. Just this weird and very quiet electrical static noise whenever I tried piping audio to it. Eventually it worked again by some downgrading, plus random hotplugging and testing it on a Windows machine for a sanity check and it started somewhat working again. My Microphone was another issue, at the same time it decided to be ridiculously quiet for no apparent reason I could see so there were wider problems. I had enough, I had work to do and after hours of hair-pulling — hello from Fedora.

Fedora's KDE Spin

Thankfully, with the likes of Flathub / Flatpak packages and how far along apps like Discover have come along for installing packages and setting things up, there's not a whole lot to learn. It's been a very long time since I used Fedora, and it was one of my first Linux distributions I tried sticking with back when it was "Fedora Core" and wow — it's always surprising to see how far we've come as a platform for doing anything.

Fedora does come with some of its own issues, like NVIDIA drivers being a nuisance to install, which they definitely should improve. If other distributions can do one-click or one-line installs, I'm sure they could do it too. However, it's just another point towards me swapping to AMD when prices settle, or perhaps Intel when Arc properly launches for desktop. I also need to figure out why Dropbox won't load on startup, some little things like that.

Anyway, are you really a Linux nerd if you don't distro-hop at least once a year? Jokes aside, I look forward to seeing why people keep recommending Fedora nowadays as a stable distribution, let's see how long it takes me to break it.

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I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. After discovering Linux back in the days of Mandrake in 2003, I constantly came back to check on the progress of Linux until Ubuntu appeared on the scene and it helped me to really love it. You can reach me easily by emailing GamingOnLinux directly.
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slaapliedje Apr 8, 2022
In my experience, Fedora is a great system when you first install it. But inevitably when you do updates, for some reason it randomly breaks things. They're usually small things. Like suddenly the touch screen scrolling stops working in Firefox, or auto rotation on a tablet breaks. Since they are niche use cases, it's weird that the out of the box install is fine, but then an update breaks it.

The bit about nvidia drivers? They ARE easy to install. Enable rpmfusion repo, yum install them, and reboot. Done.
kokoko3k Apr 8, 2022
Quoting: doctorx
Quoting: kokoko3kHow ironic,
Pipewire (apparently broken in Arch, which uses default upstream configs) has been created by Wim Taymans, Principal Engineer at Red Hat which in turns sponsors Fedora :)

Even more reason to avoid pipewire
Pipewire may not be ready yet, but I totally approve his approach to stop the fragmentation in the linux audio ecosystem by embracing the existing technologies instead of trying to just replace them.
pageround Apr 8, 2022
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Will you try fedora on the steamdeck?
McCarthee Apr 8, 2022
I've been getting performance issues on Arch lately (intermittent micro stuttering), I switched to Fedora and it stopped. I love the idea of Arch (building your perfect OS from scratch, no unnecessary bloat), but lately I've had a better experience on a finely crafted experience like Fedora, which still has less bloat than most + uses up-to-date packages.
drlamb Apr 8, 2022
Quoting: pageroundWill you try fedora on the steamdeck?

Until the Deck-specific drivers and tweaks are in the mainline kernel it'll be a very lackluster experience with anything other than SteamOS. Even after these tweaks get mainlined I cannot see myself wanting to run anything other than SteamOS on my Deck.


Maybe if you used the deck exclusively docked?
ridge Apr 8, 2022
As an Arch user on all my devices (except the Pi). Yeah. Yeah I don't blame you one bit. I haven't experienced any breakage with my hardware but I keep reading about it and other issues that can occur, so while I do love Arch, it kind of feels like a minefield at times even for me. Fedora's a great choice! I tried it on a laptop just over a week ago and I'm a big fan, packages are relatively up to date and it's so simple to set up. A bit bloated out of the box, for my tastes, but that's just nitpicking really, so I'm definitely recommending Fedora KDE or Mint to anyone who might ask me what their "first distro" should be.
STiAT Apr 8, 2022
Quoting: ridgeAs an Arch user on all my devices (except the Pi). Yeah. Yeah I don't blame you one bit. I haven't experienced any breakage with my hardware but I keep reading about it and other issues that can occur, so while I do love Arch, it kind of feels like a minefield at times even for me. Fedora's a great choice! I tried it on a laptop just over a week ago and I'm a big fan, packages are relatively up to date and it's so simple to set up. A bit bloated out of the box, for my tastes, but that's just nitpicking really, so I'm definitely recommending Fedora KDE or Mint to anyone who might ask me what their "first distro" should be.

Yeah, arch still has and always will have a special place in my heart. It is good, but probably not for the every day use of a person who does not want or does not have the skills to tinker.

Fedora for new users? Well, I certainly would not recommend that. In my personal opinion there are better distros for that, though based on Ubuntu (as Neon) which I wouldn't touch, for new users who want stability, the LTS kernel and just "use" the systems and very likely... mostly just a web browser in todays time, it's perfectly valid.
nrcn Apr 8, 2022
Quoting: dpanterWhen you've had enough of all the other distros breaking for no reason, I'll be here waiting with Debian at the ready. :)


Obviously I'm taking the piss here, people can use whatever they want. It will be interesting to see if Fedora lasts for Liam. I like Debian and Siduction is my preferred distro.

I feel you 😅
Debian as a desktop and notebook workstation since 2015, server since either woody or sarge, dont remember exactly.

I switched desktop distributions like every other day, until I finally had enough, never going back, it will be Debian until either of us dies^^

The best fedora for me was 6 (zod), after that it was a slippery slope
Maluraq Apr 8, 2022
As a long time Fedora user, I don't see it getting nearly the love it deserves. It's stable and reliable and has a LOT of spin options to get the look and feel you want. I run it with XFCE4 myself. Enjoy!
wolfyrion Apr 8, 2022
Once you go with Arch you never go back.... :P

I am using EndeavourOS which is kinda Arch with easy installation...

Is just everything works...
I am even on testing repos on Arch with KDE Unstable , very few issues which most issues are solved within a day.


Last edited by wolfyrion on 8 April 2022 at 9:54 pm UTC
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