Fedora, Arch, or EndeavourOS?

Hi, I was here and asked about a few distros already, so here’s a quick summary of my situation:

I’m thinking about what distro to put onto my new Laptop, which will be used for University, Work, and just general daily usage. I am currently using EndeavourOS on my main PC and have been decently satisfied, but I want to experiment more. I’ve already asked if Arch was fine for this situation, to which the answer was a general “Yes, but keep x in mind” and I’ve asked about NixOS, where the answer was generally a no.

I’ve been looking around a bit more, and now I’m kind of curious about Fedora, specifically the KDE spin (or i3, I haven’t quite decided). It seems to be cutting edge, compared to Arch’s (and by extension EndeavourOS’s) bleeding edge, and I’m wondering what you all think of it. From what I can gather it has basically all traits which people used to enjoy in Ubuntu, before Canonical dropped the ball on that. While it’s not rolling release, the stability improvements and user experience compared to something like Arch, or even a more comfortable fork like EndeavourOS, seem quite decent, but in your experience, does that make up for the lack of the AUR and reduced applicability of the Arch Wiki?

I’m curious to hear about your experiences and recommendations!

**Edit:**I feel like I need to clarify, I know about the difference between EndeavourOS and Arch, I mostly just brought it up as a note that I am somewhat familiar with arch-based systems, and as a question of if it’d be stupid to just go with raw Arch, as EndeavourOS is basically the same, but with a more comfortable installer. I should have specified that more clearly in the first place, my apologies.

dendarion,

I recently started using Fedora 39 KDE Spin as my main driver. It mostly just works out of the box. You’ll need to add some repos to get media support etc. but that is just a quick Google-search away.

I have been using Debian for a long time for my home server and to be honest, and it never once failed me. In my experience, Debian on a server is just rock solid. When I made the switch from Win11 (I don’t like a snooping AI in Notepad) to Debian (stable) I wasn’t that happy. Apps were outdated, Wayland was f**king things up, etc. So I switched to Debian testing (trixie) and installed KDE the manual way. That way I hoped to get a really ‘clean’ system, leaving some of the standard apps (that I wouldn’t be using anyway) behind. Although Debian testing seemed really stable, the ‘manual way’ left me with some quirks that left me unhappy. For a reason I can’t remember, I decided to try out Fedora 39. And I have to say, it has been great. Up to date apps, no unexpected errors or crashes, etc.

Hellmo_Luciferrari,

Disclaimer: I am by no means a Linux expert, but figured I could give my 2 cents.

I recently installed Fedora on one of my machines that I mainly use for web browsing, file downloading, and general office like activities. And I don’t have much experience with it yet. I specifically went the KDE route, as I am a huge fan of what KDE has to offer. That being said, for the most part everything “just works.” Sorry I don’t have much more to say about Fedora, but I will report back as I use it more.

The distro I have used for a few years now that I quite enjoy is Arch. What drew me to Arch was the fact that it is bleeding edge. That being said, as with anything bleeding edge, you should have backups and other contingency plans for failure. That should be done for all systems, but doubly so with things that are bleeding edge I would argue. Arch has been quite stable for me, but I would say that it is more tailored to someone who is looking to tinker. On my desktop, I unfortunately still run windows due to some proprietary hardware and software that I have yet to figure out how to get working within Arch. The biggest issue I have had with Arch over the few years that I have been using it comes down to the Nvidia graphics card I use in my desktop. I know not everyone has had the same issues I have had with Nvidia, but getting wayland working on it, as well as just general multi-monitor issues, have sort of taken the wind out of my sails for linux on my desktop computer.

Here are a few resources I would recommend checking out to help you make your decision [distrochooser.de](Distro Chooser) - Distro Chooser asks questions about what you are looking for and the like to help you pick a distro to try. [linux-hardware.org](Linux Hardware) - This is Linux Hardware website and is quite handy for looking into getting drivers,and checking to see if there are known bugs for specific hardware you are trying to use on a Linux system.

geophysicist,

Controversial opinion: unless your university studies and work is in OS development, then you should go for Windows or Mac. You won’t have energy or time to keep fixing your laptop OS when an update breaks the Bluetooth driver or whatever when you have a class to attend and assignments to do

Shamot,
@Shamot@jlai.lu avatar

A better advice would be: Don’t install updates when you have a class to attend and assignments to do. There is always a risk of breaking something on any OS.

Stanley_Pain,
@Stanley_Pain@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

This is the right answer.

What are you studying OP?

My opinion has been to install PopOS on all my laptops. It’s consistently needed the least amount of fixing to get things like fan curves, or keyboard backlights, etc working

Arch in desktop.

lemmyvore,

While not choosing a bleeding edge distro is a good idea, there are plenty of stable Linux distros to choose from. And it’s not like Windows is a paragon of stability either. And buying a Mac is a whole other story.

astronaut_sloth,

I agree with this in general, but you still may want to consider using Windows or Mac if there’s university only software that is Windows/Mac-based and doesn’t play nicely with VMs, which is really common in test-taking software (since it’s essentially spyware). An alternative would be dual-booting if you want to deal with that.

The reason I say this is that when I went back to school and started course work, there was an online class that mandated the use of certain test-taking software. I tried to get it to work in a VM (by masking the clues of being in a VM), and it kept shutting me down. I ultimately had to borrow a friend’s laptop to take all of my quizzes and tests, which was a real pain. Thankfully, I only had that one class like that, but any others would have driven me to get a cheap throw-away Windows-only box.

In the end, I’d stay away from bleeding-edge for school work, so Fedora is probably your better bet, but there may come a time that you will need to use Windows (much to your chagrin).

morbidcactus, (edited )

I’ve literally never had issues like this with Linux updates, tbf I use Debian and Debian derivatives so maybe that’s why (Debian on my laptop, Ubuntu server on my nas/server, Debian and Mint for my 3d printers). On the other hand I’ve had horrible experience with Bluetooth in windows for audio, some devices losing audio mid meeting but remaining connected for examole.

rufus, (edited )

Yeah, I had sound and printing break on Windows, too. And my mom’s Windows PC breaks every year and a half. I’d say go for linux if you’re comfortable with that, it’s pretty robust. Or MacOS that also seems not to break.

(Of course something like Arch or EndeavourOS is more complicated and may break. Fedora, Debian, Mint … will be a better choice for stability. My Debian install runs without mayor issues for 5 years now. If you don’t do silly stuff an mess with the system, they’ll outperform windows.)

Most people choose an OS because they’re used to that specific workflow and know the quirks and how to get around. That’s why many peoole use Microsoft, not because it’s better. School/College/University is a good time to try something. After that you’re pretty much stuck.

yum13241,

Fedora requires less maintenance which is important in a university scenario. But then you have those Exam Safe Browsers which don’t run on wine anyway.

If you’re going to miss AUR-levels of package count, my advice is to grab openSUSE (preferably non-Leap), get familiar with zypper and yast, then add the Packman repo. Combined with the OBS (basically the openSUSE version of the AUR), you’ll have pretty high package availability.

openSUSE also requires less maintenance than Arch.

But generally, I recommend EndeavourOS, just add the chaotic-aur so you don’t spend hours compiling, and have fun!

ILikeBoobies,

Once Arch is set up you have Endeavour

I really don’t see a reason to use Arch over it outside of the initial learning experience and bragging on the internet

LeFantome,

Arch and EndeavourOS are the same once installed. EndeavourOS just helps get your system setup and fully configured more quickly.

Nothing wrong with experimenting though of that is something you enjoy.

I used Fedora for many years and liked it but it was years ago now. I have used Arch. I mostly use EndeavourOS these days.

My “play” installation is Chimera Linux. I want to check-out VanillaOS and LMDE. I have thought about trying Fedora ( or maybe Nobara ) again.

Para_lyzed,

I have been using Fedora Workstation for years now, and I plan to switch to the KDE spin when Fedora 40 is released. I will absolutely never miss the rolling release model, and Fedora has been stable enough that I basically never have any issues. You get updates quickly, but even with the speed it manages to be very stable, at least compared to bleeding edge distros like Arch. There are still MANY things you can use the Arch wiki for in Fedora, so it’s still my first place to check for most things. But there are also forums for Fedora, and lots of community members that have answered questions in those forums, just not to the extent of something like Ubuntu. It is mainstream enough that you can find most things with Linux releases packaged for it, so I haven’t had an issue with compatibility, either. It’s overall a very solid choice, and I would recommend it.

TCB13,
@TCB13@lemmy.world avatar

Fedora, Arch, or EndeavourOS? >>>> Debian + GNOME + Flatpak.

sharkfucker420,
@sharkfucker420@lemmy.ml avatar

I love my arch linux :)

MalReynolds,
@MalReynolds@slrpnk.net avatar

Consider immutable, I use ublue-kinoite (fedora spin ‘with batteries’) and use a distrobox Arch for the AUR and development, best of both worlds, rock stable main OS, cutting edge rolling release as needed. I’ve been very happy, and if you’re using for uni and work, reliability should be a consideration.

WeLoveCastingSpellz, (edited )

I use nobara it is fedora but with gaming and xwayland spesific tweaks and bleeding edge kernel and drivers but also it doesnmt have the difficult maintenance of arch because the only thing bleeding edge are the kernel and the drivers the rest is normal fedora, I also use distrobox to use AUR packages

iopq,

NixOS is actually the best for an experience. For the basic stuff it’s easy enough, just put more programs into the system packages list to install some stuff

When you need to have older versions of packages while still having newest versions of others is where it really shines

1984,
@1984@lemmy.today avatar

Fedora has lots of weird bugs in my experience, but some people seem to love it.

TooLazyDidntName,

Ive never used arch for more than a week, I was an ubuntu user for the longest time before switching to fedora a few months ago. Ive never been happier with an OS. I’m using the KDE spin

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