Today, lovely Windows 11 installed an update. And since then I don’t have internet access because Microslop Wincrap 11 can somehow magically no longer connect to the DNS server - to any DNS server. No other device in my network has the same issue. I’ve been bugfixing for over an hour and haven’t found a solution. setting the DNS manually, resetting the network adapter, flushed all DNS entries (I used the commandline tool on Windows!). nothing works.

I don’t have ANY more patience with W11!

I already tried Linux. I’m using Ubuntu Server for hosting Nextcloud and Fedora just to play around.

Do you prefer Fedora or Ubuntu? I have an old Thinkpad…

(And no, I will not go down the rabbit hole of Arch ;-) At least not for now.)

  • GreatWhiteBuffalo41@slrpnk.netEnglish
    0·
    1 month ago

    The update last month somehow both moved every single file I have back into one drive (I’ve had to remove them and turn off one drive multiple times now) and then a few hours later delete EVERYTHING. Windows help said there was no options, once it’s gone it’s gone.

    Thankfully I had just backed everything up recently. I had been meaning to dual boot this computer for awhile all I just installed Mint and haven’t looked back. Screw windows.

  • Auster@thebrainbin.org
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    1 month ago

    I’d recommend Linux Mint Xfce. It’s the closest to an “it just works” situation while being open to tinker and quick to respond, this last part as the micro delays from Linux Mint Cinammon for most things being what pushed me away from Windows in the first place.

    Both Mint versions are made by the same people and found in the same site.

    • kalkulat@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      1 month ago

      Also, note that LMint installs many Ubuntu components, but supports Flatpak apps out-of-the-box, but not Snap.

    • Auster@thebrainbin.org
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      1 month ago

      Also maybe a niche case but since the source of your irritation is connection, I think it’s worth mentioning:

      If you use a certain VPN whose widget is for Debian/Ubuntu only in this family of distros coughcoughprotoncoughcough, please take the time to learn how to use the WireGuard integration from the VPN instead. The widget version if installed on Mint is way too prone to breaking, being a matter of when, and not if it will break. And WireGuard instead I have yet to see breaking on its own.

  • snoons@lemmy.caEnglish
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    1 month ago

    Fedora, mainly because ubuntu is putting ai into it’s release in the coming months. Which is fine if you’re visually impaired, but afaict that’s not why they’re putting it in.

    I’ll be switching to Cachy once I’m forced to switch.

      • snoons@lemmy.caEnglish
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        1 month ago

        Yeah. It was really disappointing to hear that. I’ve been using Ubuntu for almost a decade now. ;-;

  • happy_wheels@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
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    1 month ago

    Ubuntu and Fedora are both great choices.

    I will also recommend OpenSUSE Leap (NOT tumbleweed as it’s a rolling release vs long term support model) and Linux Mint.

  • brb@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
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    1 month ago

    Kubuntu has been pretty nice to me. It has the beginner friendliness of Ubuntu and the modern desktop of KDE

  • BigBoyShuanzee@aussie.zoneEnglish
    0·
    1 month ago

    I’m on Win10 LtSC IOT… The only reason I moved from Win7 to that operating system was so I could keep steam alive. My steam account is 18-19 years old. Any one have step by step instructions on how to get the nicest, easiest to use Linux distro for a guy who uses 5 different windows keyboard shortcuts entry 5 minutes?

    I’ve been with Windows since 95, I’ve been working in IT support since XP… I just want to get away from Microsoft, keep all my games, keep a file explorer and be able to quick change my brain to learn new (just as easy ) keyboard shortcuts like Crtl-C, Ctrl-F, Win-R, Win-E…

    • busted_Anoose@aussie.zoneEnglish
      0·
      1 month ago

      these days computers are fairly cheap. just have two, one for games and such, the other for browsing and wotnot

    • vole@lemmy.worldEnglish
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      1 month ago

      With most Linux OS’s you have a choice of what desktop environment to use. The desktop environment controls most of what I would call the OS experience. Most linux distros will have KDE or Gnome installed as the default desktop environment, though there are often some more minimal or power-user focused desktop environments offered. I’ve heard Cinnamon is another good choice.

      Ctrl-C, Ctrl-X, Ctrl-V, Ctrl-F, F3, F11 generally behave the same on most Linux desktop environment and software as they do on Windows.

      Alt-Tab, Alt-F4 are commonly supported

      For the run menu, Alt-F2 opens a similar menu in KDE and Gnome. I can only go into the specifics with KDE, but I can also run commands with the regular Windows key start menu. Though when I personally run commands, I generally open a terminal (Ctrl-Alt-T) so I can get tab completion. On KDE, Win+E opens a file explorer. Almost all the keyboard shortcuts are customizable on KDE, but I prefer to swim with the current whenever possible.

      For some distros, you can write a “Live” version to a flash drive to try it out before installing, but opening applications will be slower than running on an SSD.

  • kyTdKZx9PtDQ9e56u06@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
    0·
    1 month ago

    Don’t settle immediately. If you can spare the time, distro hop for a few weeks / months. On the shorter run of things, give each OS you try a good week before moving on to the next. All distros do essentially the same thing, they just flavor it diffetently. Do you like typing apt, or dnf, pacman or yum? Do you prefer being deep in CLI or prefer using an application store? How do you like your userspace to look? Shiny? Bubbly? Classic? Retro? GNOME, Plasma, Xfce, Mate, Cosmic?

    There’s enough options out there to make your head spin. Without touching arch, you should at least visit the following -

    Little Champs

    • Mint
    • Zorin
    • Endeavour
    • Pop OS

    Big Champs

    Gaming focus

    • Bazzite (fedora)
    • Nobara (fedora)
    • Cachy (arch)

    Give each or those that pique your interest a fair shake. A week at the minimum. Some you may not need a week, some you’ll find yourself in a natural swing of things. You’ll know when you know.

  • droopy4096@lemmy.caEnglish
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    1 month ago

    Try either one and see for yourself. I would recommend to partition carefully isolating /home so that you can wipe distro but keep your files and settings. Distro pick is rather personal thing - folks find their groove in various ways. I’m on Fedora and have been with Fedora for ages, never owned Windows machine so I’m not your average user, BUT looking at self-starters today I do see a lot more gravitating towards Fedora whereas previously I saw more Ubuntu jumps. YMMV, but distro-hopping is not a bad thing. Partition wisely and pains of distro-hopping won’t be as pronounced 😃

      • chippydingo@lemmy.worldEnglish
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        1 month ago

        +1 Fedora (Workstation, in my case) When I set up Fedora on the machines I loaded it on, I normally allocate 50 GB to /root and the balance of the space to /home after setting up my swap and /boot partitions. This has worked well for me so far, YMMV. It also sounds like its not a bad idea to leave a small percentage of a drive un-allocated but I haven’t done this personally.

        • BeMoreCareful@lemmy.worldEnglish
          0·
          1 month ago

          Thank you.

          My assortment of varied storage devices & drives me nuts sometimes.

          I’d been boping along just fine, but had to install window the other day to do something and I been meaning to look into this before jumping back over.

          Leaving a bit of change on the drive sounds like a good idea too.

  • man_wtfhappenedtoyou@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    1 month ago

    So far I’ve only tried Pop!_OS and Mint, and I much much much prefer Pop!. I even got my wife to start using it.

    Edit: Pop!_OS is also Ubuntu based.

    I didn’t really like Mint at all.

  • cenzorrll@piefed.caEnglish
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    1 month ago

    I had a great experience with Fedora on my thinkpad, it’s almost as if they’re made for each other. It’s basically the testing version for Redhat. If you want something more stable and still enterprisey, Rocky Linux or Almalinux are both basically RHEL rebranded.

    I’ve abandoned Ubuntu, even though it was what I started on and used for over a decade. Canonical is kind of like the Microsoft of linux right now, a bit hostile toward the rest of the community, but still an acceptable choice. I would recommend Linux Mint instead, though.

    Keep in mind that the look and feel you’ll experience is all the desktop environment, so if you don’t like it, trying using a different one instead of looking at a new distro. I highly recommend using a few live USBs of what you want you try before installing to get a feel for what you like.

  • spacehedgehog@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
    0·
    1 month ago

    Thank you all for the many replies!

    I’ll summarize it as followed:

    • Ubumtu: one does not use Ubuntu any more
    • Linux Mint: always a good start
    • Fedora: also always good and would be good for a Thinkpad
    • Bazzite for gaming
    • Gnome really is not for everyone

    Since I already tried Fedora, I’m going with Linux Mint for the moment.

    (In fact, the installation of Mint is running right now and I’m using the whole SSD, no windows boot manager partition will survive!!!)