Linux users would post their problems on various forums, but very rarely post their success story. Linux desktop is actually pretty good at this point. Just pick a distro and try it yourself.

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”, packages are not updated (you have to follow -current, the latest development branch).

the dark secret of linux is that there are just as many people who dont understand how to solve problems and resort to searching the correct way to shake a dead chicken as with every other platform.

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

Search this community for the many other “Which OS” posts and you’ll find many well explained options for what you seem to be seeking.

Unless you have very niche needs or choose to tinker, everything just works.

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.

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.

My experince :

Tbh motherboard matters. Updating my msi motherboard actually fixed a major issue for me preventing grub from letting me select what OS to load on boot.

I installed linux mint and did have to do a bit of tinkering to get my audio to work from the front panel too. Found answers in the mint forums.

Other than that my discord streams have no audio and discords screen capture daemon or whatever keeps the computer from shutting down for like a minute after i try to.

Those are the only issues Ive had though.

As for lack of features, no HDR sucks, but other than that I’m good.

Warpinator is nice for syncing files with my phone.

Also enjoying the simpler feel compared to windows, and no ads.

In the last years I’ve tried Ubuntu, Debian, crunchbang and PopOS. A few months ago I asked IT if I could change the os on my company laptop from Windows 10 to Linux Mint. It means I have to stay outside the AD domain, but since almost everything (email, teams, OneDrive…) is available on the web, the only downside is not being able to use the wifi projectors. I can live with that. Mint is simple to use, easy on the eyes and stable as hell. And windows games run really well with proton, except maybe Starfield but I can wait :)

Yes, it is stable.

Is it not stable?

Can you not set it up and then not have ongoing issues?

You are going to get gaslit to hell about this on lemmy. But no. It is not stable in the sense you mean.

The effort is worth it though.

Linux has different flavors, some with bleeding edge updates like Arch, some rock-stable and built on FOSS like Debian, some that force you to compile nearly everything on your end to save fractions of seconds in compute time like Gentoo, and some meant to be as beginner friendly as possible like Cinammon/Mint.

Linux “fans” are likely to use something like Arch and break something, then fix it. People who use Linux will use Fedora or something and call it a day. You don’t have to go down the rabbit hole and play with all of the shiny new tools as they release.

You absolutely can. I set up my Debian server to automatically stay updated and restart regularly and don’t have to touch it if I don’t want to. Yesterday, air had to spend like 30 min getting kde 6 setup on tumbleweed because it’s a roll in ng distro. The nice thing about linux is it allows you to make trade offs depending on what your priorities are.

Unless there is a specific niche software that is only on windows, you shouldn’t have issues out of the box.

Some games have some compatibility issues, but it is getting better everyday.

I think the biggest hurdle for many people is that they are so used to Windows that it is daunting learning a new way of using their computer.

But once you get over that hurdle, it is frustrating going back to Windows. The amount of ads and pop-ups in Windows is criminal.

Try to use a user friendly distro. I use Kubuntu (Ubuntu with KDE plasma) and it is great.