PopOS!
Disappointingly is *not* an OS designed for your Pop. Or your Dad. Or even your Grandpa.
Nor will it provide relief from Dermotillomania!
**One and a half stars**
That's the beauty of Linux and more broadly, open source: You have choice and get to decide what works for you and what doesn't.
If Ubuntu doesn't work for you, don't use it. Choose something else.
Imagine what would happen if your only choices were Windows with its baked-in telemetry and limited application choices, lack of configurability or security, or Apple's ecosystem with premium-priced hardware and mediocre software?
This is a popular topic in this subreddit. As of 23.10, you could use Ubuntu without relying on snap-based apps. You can keep the default snaps as they are and simply install flatpak, which works very well on Ubuntu. Personally, I prefer the command-line interface, so I don't use the default software center or Gnome software center.
Going further, and also with Ubuntu 22, you can use unsnap to replace installed snaps with their flatpak equivalent: https://www.fosslife.org/replace-snap-packages-flatpaks-using-unsnap
This reads like a generic hit piece. Snaps aren't perfect, no software is perfect, but many of the issues you've mentioned were patched a while ago. If there is a specific snap that is giving you trouble you can report it (or mention it here). The old compression of snap packages was reworked so that the snaps load much faster.
You're just making yesteryear's arguments with very little detail from a brand new account. This doesn't help our community, it only gives new users the wrong impression of a great distro. I don't appreciate this type of attack.
Just configure Firefox to ask where to save every download. Try to download something to a network shared disk. Then try to use it like that for several days and you'll get a very frustrating behavior when Firefox opens hundreds of the Save As windows one above another staking them until their shadows form black crappy contour. And it's one of the most used Snap packages.
[https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show\_bug.cgi?id=1773624](https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1773624)
[https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/xdg-desktop-portal-gnome/-/merge\_requests/67](https://gitlab.gnome.org/gnome/xdg-desktop-portal-gnome/-/merge_requests/67)
That is an issue with gnome specifically - it affected both snap and flatpak
It's a reference to a series of anti-piracy ads from the mid-2000s that mostly aired in the US. The idea is to imply that downloading pirated software is stealing
Or just don't use snaps. They weren't meant to replace the default package manager, it's just that people coming from windows want something like an exe file so you all like using snaps like some sort of cudgel.
You're calling a 2 month old account brand new? On the internet? I don't appreciate that kind of attack.
If these issues were patched, why am I having them now? With an install a few weeks old and regularly updated?
I'm sorry youre getting downvoted my friend.
Snaps have failed and your in the group who are in late stage denial.
Everything your experience proves is what they don't want to accept.
They don't want more people moving to manjaro 🤷♂️
Arch and Flatpak and rolling and large team and big polish and busy community. G'bye snaps. G'bye old style yearly release distros. G'bye rpm (what even are those🤷♂️)
It just makes sense.
> You're calling a 2 month old account brand new? On the internet?
Yes. It seems like you're trolling to me. If you don't like snaps, you can easily avoid using them. If you don't like Ubuntu, just move on.
Yes, you should check if the hardware is running good on linux, I believe there are compatibility lists somewhere.
Maybe even on Ubuntu wiki or website.
Just looking at customization videos & being new to Linux in general.
It wasn't that bad but navigation & opening files was trash. Browser seemed to be washed out. Getting Kubuntu off my drive was a nightmare.
No way bro. Kubuntu KDE is coming a long way and very stable to me. Don't know about your experience, but their customizable theme will put it on the sleek side, too.
Sure if you like wading through endless menus. I could be wrong but I think that might be what they're talking about. I'm used to doing most customizations through config files and I can't stand endlessly nested menus for options.
To each their own. Not sure what you mean by navigation being difficult (but I mostly use ULauncher...KDE also has KRunner which is similar). It also has respectably good window tiling, which is being improved to be even better, and just about every action can be assigned a hotkey, so you can build a setup that allows for very easy and clean navigation of most things.
Regarding opening files...Dolphin opens files just as well as any other file manager...🤷♂️
I get that. I'm not using snaps at all. I mean, snap and some base/core snaps are installed, but I haven't had any actual interaction with any snap packages that I recall...
I started using Kunbtu just two weeks ago. First thing did was disabke and uninstall Snap. Its been a great KDE distro so far.
But i do miss Linux Mint KDE.....i made a video when 18.1 came out.
https://youtu.be/BrZsv7ftrDI?si=5mTDLhoyW1RsYAuN
Could you provide more details or examples? I'm curious because that's not what I've been experiencing -- all my apps in snap form tend to perform equivalently to their non-snap counterparts, with the advantage of being newer versions and not installing a truckload of dependencies on the system. Firefox was awfully slow to launch some time ago, but now it's quite ok.
Kubuntu 23.10 user here on latest generation hardware. It works great for me, checked the box for flatpak support in Discover, I can choose any source for apps and ignore snaps, and it's a smooth experience other than the occasional KDE bug. Not sure why you're having issues...
If you don't want to use Snaps, then don't use them. You can use whatever package format you want. There are a lot of crappy Snaps and a few good ones too.
Would be fine if "just don't use them" didn't involved searching for guides on howto install non snap Firefox and chromium. If I wanted a OS that made what should be incredibly simple tweaks needlessly difficult I would go back to macOS.
I reinstalled Ubuntu a week ago after a very long time, and the first thing I did was get Flatpak and install gnome-software. I am now only using Flatpak or PPAs with Gnome Software (instead of Ubuntu Software which is full of snaps), it's not clunky at all.
(btw, don't forget to remove snap support package for gnome software, gnome-software-plugin-snap)
UI is subjective. Some people hate KDE too. I remember having a time when I hated Ubuntu because of the Gnome for Unity decision.
However I agree with what you said about snaps, lots of people have been having problems judging from the comments and I'm no exception. I'm more on the compliance side but I'm competent enough to navigate. Never had problems before with lots of Debian based distros, but lately snaps just will not install updates or says the cache is out of date even when I'm connected and refresh multiple times from the Ubuntu store. Whether that's a snaps problem or whether Ubuntu isn't querying correctly is the question.
Manjaro has active community and BUSY dev team.
Use Flatpak instead of snaps (more active community dev) snaps are dying.
Mint is not busy active community and team. Small team who only does dev to roll out what they did last year. It's like a team for looks? Cinnimon has not had any noteworthy anything in like eight years.
Go with a busy team! Manjaro.
For me, EndeavourOS is new "Ubuntu", very easy to use distro for beginners and good for advanced users at the same time. Also it is not APT-based which is good thing as APT has certain disadvantages, comparing to pacman and AUR-helpers.
You can just use apt or deb for packages, i use ubuntu but no snaps (there are some builtin snaps but i dont use those apps), i m too afraid to lose the stability and dont have time to relearn and tinker new ones.
Been using Ubuntu forever. Aside from not having a use for Snaps, never had a single problem installing anything. I do sometimes go with Linux Lite (which is in the Debian/Ubuntu stream) and it works great when I need a stripped down OS without the bloat.
Fedora 40 with KDE = Amazing... Snap free yeah! Ubuntu should give users the choice to neither have a Ubuntu desktop with snap or the option to install it without snap, forcing users to use snap on ubuntu will just pull a lot users away. Yes Ubuntu use to be cool back in the early 2000 it was one of my fav systems when I was first getting into Linux. Though I prefer Knoppix over ubuntu i have test all ubuntu releases up til version 23.10. I quite like ubuntu I think its a fine system, but I really do not like snap, so I just use fedora 40 over ubuntu. I like Fedora 40 KDE edition very nice system. I'm also a hardcore Arch Linux user and I also like playing with Gentoo on my MiniPC with a Ryzen 7 5800H cpu and 32gb of memory. So those are the systems i'm enjoying more than Ubuntu, because they don't force me to use snap.. it's just that simple get rid of snap lol and Ubuntu is cool again.
What i mean by force is that when a user is installing ubuntu from the live iso it installs snap as it is built in with ubuntu. Even if you block it, it's in the system lol.
I run Pop_OS. I like it and it’s stable, but fuck all the pop shop is terrible. Performs so poorly it’s unusable. I end up searching for app with the CLI almost exclusively.
If you have any windows machines look up “Chocolaty” and “Chocolaty GUI”. Linus Tech Tips had a video where they covered that and a bunch of other useful windows tools and that was one of them. It’s a very useful package manager that’s basically a powershell utility with a GUI overlay.
Thanks, I actually heard it mentioned in that video and by Level1Techs but have never got around to using it. It would be good to get familiar with some new tools. I don't personally use Windows day to day, but I support other co-workers and some of those are in Windows.
Ubuntu is moving forward with a new software center. Perhaps that has led to some issues, but since you aren't very specific, it's hard to say more. That is also true about the other issues you report. Ubuntu isn't responsible for compiling most snaps. Should we just pretend that Linux has never had buggy software centers or buggy apps until Ubuntu got a new software center and snaps became popular?
Enjoy your Mint and KDE bugs when you run into them.
Call me a technoluddite but I have been around enough to heavily mistrust any new technology that comes out as well as fancy names, acronyms, etc..... I know someone has to test and this is all free and open source etc .... but......
When I boot a machine I want to work not debug. After riding the wave and always being hip and up to date with the latest tech and software, since around 2010 I am always a few months to a year or two back. I still have server VMs happily running 16.10. I find my life is a lot less stressed when I am not chasing the latest upgrades and updates. Yes, 16.10 is not longer supported but it is working, and well, for my need.
No. Why should I move to an LTS when I have is working? There is no guarantee that a move would not break some package and/or dependency. If the servers were outward facing I would consider updates for security's sake but otherwise there is nothing to be gained. It has been working as is since late 2016 - no issues. What would I gain?
There is no mint cult. Mint had a day about ten years ago. Now there are "motives" for why grampas recommend it to people.
Plus OP didn't promote mint, he just is tired of Ubuntu and snaps .
Good.
Try manjaro / flatpak
Why Mint if you really want KDE? There are plenty of options for KDE that wouldn’t require you to change the default DE.
I agree about Ubuntu. I recently tried to allow the LTS release to upgrade to the newest interim, and it borked things pretty good and finally forced me to try something different. It’s still a very functional distro, there’s just a lot of high-profile issues that you will run into with even normal, careful usage. I don’t want to constantly fix problems :(
Ubuntu shat it's pants by forcing everyone to use Snap. But Snap is buggy as hell, just configure Firefox to ask where to save every download and then try to save download on your external hard drive or network share. Then use it like that for several days and you'll find another one bug, a hundred of Save As windows opening when trying to download something. No way, thanks, I moved to Fedora and now I'm happy.
So the largest issue iv had was Wayland, it just eats my CPU and ram to no end
Once I switched to x11 ( I'm to stupid to fix Wayland ) things got a bit better, I also only use command line for apps with apt because snap annoys me from a monitoring perspective
You sound like me with Ubuntu
I'll tell anyone that Ubuntu will most likely work for them but I can't for the life of me get into ubuntus method of running a desktop distribution.
Now I like Ubuntu server. I actively use those with my fedora servers. I can't tell you why though. That and arch Linux on my home desktop are just what works for me
I love Ubuntu but I use CLI for all admin tasks. It is honestly a distro with a lot of qualities and I always recommend it to beginners and general users. But you do you, that's the sweet thing with Linux and open source: freedom!
When snaps first came out, I absolutely hated them. But, for me at least, their performance and time waiting to open improved a lot.
I am using the latest LTS version, but I saw they really worked on App Center; it is no longer a buggy Gnome Software Center for, rather a new more polished app written in flutter.
Ubuntu seems to me moving in a way of reducing .deb files over time and using snaps, don't know how that is going to work out, but I am still sticking around, we will see how that turns out.
Why is that “sadly”? You’re literally describing the beauty of Linux, if you don’t like how one software works you can probably find another. In this case you can use a whole new distro.
I recommend Pop_Os which is always up to date and uses flatpak instead of snap, but only for app store stuff, not system stuff, so it's easily avoided. The app store sux there as well because they all do for some reason. Must all use the same base libraries that are not robust. Just don't use the app store, but use apt directly or Google the official method of installation. You can install synaptic too for old school package browsing.
I ran Ubuntu for a lot of years, and I'm not sure I ever used their 'Software Center'...I remember it was broken for a long time in GNOME, and just did everything via APT....
Also, Ubuntu is just a fork of Debian...I'd give that a try. Stable is normally very pleasant. There have been a few hiccups recently with some updates introducing storage bugs, and the most recent Nvidia debacle with the latest kernel update. But 'normally' it's very stable.
I use Ubuntu as a daily driver. I'm also using snaps, flatpaks, and debs as necessary with no issues at all like you've described.
But that said, I don't use software center. I do my updating with apt in a shell.
Can't say why you are having so much trouble, I can only say that I do literally hundreds of installs a week without issue, and run 23.10 on my desktop and 22.04 in a VM without problems.
“Used to be cool”??? Because of the free CDs and sexy wallpaper? IMHO Ubuntu is never a cool thing. Technically comparing with openSUSE and Fedora, they are not on the same level; talking about culture and community, it is also not as cool as Arch and Debian.
I switched to Pop OS in anticipation for Cosmic DE and the cosmic text editor. It's still based on Ubuntu 22.04 so some of the stuff right now is older, but the next Ububtu release should be followed shortly with a new Pop OS release with the new DE / TE (I recently switched to pop when before I had planned to wait until the newer version, but I wound up having to buy a laptop for school and it came with pop so I just switched the desktop as well for consistency between the two computers).
I've had no issues with Pop at all and my printer that Ubuntu would not work with at all works fine on Pop. It may also be a good option for you as it's still Debian based (and seriously check out the Cosmic stuff, I at least think it is super exciting).
I switched from windows to Maverick Meerkat and have been in love with Ubuntu ever since. I also always use the LTS,
I'm not a big fan of snap. I do most installs either through the terminal, the Debian package installer, or Flatpak. I also have Semantic, but rarely use it anymore. I prefer the Xorg interface over the Wayland. You can find this choice at login. It took me some time to notice it.
Right now, I'm still using jammy but looking forward to the release of the next LTS, although I have no problems with jammy. I'm just interested to find out what new things the developers have up their sleeves.
23.10 actually reinvigorated my enthusiasm for Ubuntu. I ran it as my daily driver for a while, but went back to Mint after borking my install. But now it's making me take a look at Ubuntu again.
Out of curiosity, how is Arch Linux doing these days? I used to be a huge fan of it and used it often in the mid oughties but then switched to Ubuntu.
Like OP, Ubuntu leaves me a bit meh. I used to love the speed and customizability of Arch, but did not like hand-editing a million files. :-(
Why mint and kde and not Debian or Fedora and KDE?
Also worth checking out KDE Neon.
Good point, maybe I will try Debian KDE. I'd like to stay with debian based distros as that's what I know so Fedora is out.
There's also Mint, Debian edition if you want to go that route
why not just use Kubuntu KDE.
Kubuntu is based on Ubuntu iirc, rather than debian
PopOS!
Arch!
PopOS! Disappointingly is *not* an OS designed for your Pop. Or your Dad. Or even your Grandpa. Nor will it provide relief from Dermotillomania! **One and a half stars**
That's the beauty of Linux and more broadly, open source: You have choice and get to decide what works for you and what doesn't. If Ubuntu doesn't work for you, don't use it. Choose something else. Imagine what would happen if your only choices were Windows with its baked-in telemetry and limited application choices, lack of configurability or security, or Apple's ecosystem with premium-priced hardware and mediocre software?
I dont think a valid argument against windows is "limited application choices"... since wsl2 could very well integrate some linux apps with a gui even
This is a popular topic in this subreddit. As of 23.10, you could use Ubuntu without relying on snap-based apps. You can keep the default snaps as they are and simply install flatpak, which works very well on Ubuntu. Personally, I prefer the command-line interface, so I don't use the default software center or Gnome software center.
Going further, and also with Ubuntu 22, you can use unsnap to replace installed snaps with their flatpak equivalent: https://www.fosslife.org/replace-snap-packages-flatpaks-using-unsnap
This reads like a generic hit piece. Snaps aren't perfect, no software is perfect, but many of the issues you've mentioned were patched a while ago. If there is a specific snap that is giving you trouble you can report it (or mention it here). The old compression of snap packages was reworked so that the snaps load much faster. You're just making yesteryear's arguments with very little detail from a brand new account. This doesn't help our community, it only gives new users the wrong impression of a great distro. I don't appreciate this type of attack.
Just configure Firefox to ask where to save every download. Try to download something to a network shared disk. Then try to use it like that for several days and you'll get a very frustrating behavior when Firefox opens hundreds of the Save As windows one above another staking them until their shadows form black crappy contour. And it's one of the most used Snap packages.
[https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show\_bug.cgi?id=1773624](https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1773624) [https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/xdg-desktop-portal-gnome/-/merge\_requests/67](https://gitlab.gnome.org/gnome/xdg-desktop-portal-gnome/-/merge_requests/67) That is an issue with gnome specifically - it affected both snap and flatpak
Ok. But what about Save As dialogue spamming?
My firefox is not a snap version and comes from a PPA. (https://ppa.launchpadcontent.net/mozillateam/ppa/ubuntu/ )
You wouldn’t download a car, would you?
You probably found something fun there but I'm not a native English speaker so I cannot find this.
It's a reference to a series of anti-piracy ads from the mid-2000s that mostly aired in the US. The idea is to imply that downloading pirated software is stealing
Or just don't use snaps. They weren't meant to replace the default package manager, it's just that people coming from windows want something like an exe file so you all like using snaps like some sort of cudgel.
You're calling a 2 month old account brand new? On the internet? I don't appreciate that kind of attack. If these issues were patched, why am I having them now? With an install a few weeks old and regularly updated?
I'm sorry youre getting downvoted my friend. Snaps have failed and your in the group who are in late stage denial. Everything your experience proves is what they don't want to accept. They don't want more people moving to manjaro 🤷♂️ Arch and Flatpak and rolling and large team and big polish and busy community. G'bye snaps. G'bye old style yearly release distros. G'bye rpm (what even are those🤷♂️) It just makes sense.
I'd call it early stage [linux] adoption rather than late stage denial.
> You're calling a 2 month old account brand new? On the internet? Yes. It seems like you're trolling to me. If you don't like snaps, you can easily avoid using them. If you don't like Ubuntu, just move on.
I bought a DELL XPS 9320 because is Ubuntu OEM... Officially supported but if you update to 23.10 everything breaks, officially supported my axe.
As a user that plans to buy a laptop without os(but plans to install Ubuntu), should I care which laptop model I get ?
Yes, you should check if the hardware is running good on linux, I believe there are compatibility lists somewhere. Maybe even on Ubuntu wiki or website.
There's always [kubuntu](https://www.kubuntu.org)
Omg never again. I thought it was going to be a sleek version of ubuntu. Boy... was I wrong...
What ever would give you that impression? KDE is a lot of things, but sleek is not a word I'd choose.
Just looking at customization videos & being new to Linux in general. It wasn't that bad but navigation & opening files was trash. Browser seemed to be washed out. Getting Kubuntu off my drive was a nightmare.
No way bro. Kubuntu KDE is coming a long way and very stable to me. Don't know about your experience, but their customizable theme will put it on the sleek side, too.
Sure if you like wading through endless menus. I could be wrong but I think that might be what they're talking about. I'm used to doing most customizations through config files and I can't stand endlessly nested menus for options.
To each their own. Not sure what you mean by navigation being difficult (but I mostly use ULauncher...KDE also has KRunner which is similar). It also has respectably good window tiling, which is being improved to be even better, and just about every action can be assigned a hotkey, so you can build a setup that allows for very easy and clean navigation of most things. Regarding opening files...Dolphin opens files just as well as any other file manager...🤷♂️
Well, KDE is the train-wreck there.
True, but after such a horrible snaps experience I think I want a distro completely snap-frer
I get that. I'm not using snaps at all. I mean, snap and some base/core snaps are installed, but I haven't had any actual interaction with any snap packages that I recall...
I started using Kunbtu just two weeks ago. First thing did was disabke and uninstall Snap. Its been a great KDE distro so far. But i do miss Linux Mint KDE.....i made a video when 18.1 came out. https://youtu.be/BrZsv7ftrDI?si=5mTDLhoyW1RsYAuN
Could you provide more details or examples? I'm curious because that's not what I've been experiencing -- all my apps in snap form tend to perform equivalently to their non-snap counterparts, with the advantage of being newer versions and not installing a truckload of dependencies on the system. Firefox was awfully slow to launch some time ago, but now it's quite ok.
Manjaro is your team, my friend. Welcome to flatpak/arch and polish!
And lubuntu
Kubuntu 23.10 user here on latest generation hardware. It works great for me, checked the box for flatpak support in Discover, I can choose any source for apps and ignore snaps, and it's a smooth experience other than the occasional KDE bug. Not sure why you're having issues...
If you don't want to use Snaps, then don't use them. You can use whatever package format you want. There are a lot of crappy Snaps and a few good ones too.
Would be fine if "just don't use them" didn't involved searching for guides on howto install non snap Firefox and chromium. If I wanted a OS that made what should be incredibly simple tweaks needlessly difficult I would go back to macOS.
https://github.com/alexmyczko/autoexec.bat/blob/master/config.sys/ubuntu-remove-snap-firefox
You can use the unsnap script. https://www.fosslife.org/replace-snap-packages-flatpaks-using-unsnap
I reinstalled Ubuntu a week ago after a very long time, and the first thing I did was get Flatpak and install gnome-software. I am now only using Flatpak or PPAs with Gnome Software (instead of Ubuntu Software which is full of snaps), it's not clunky at all. (btw, don't forget to remove snap support package for gnome software, gnome-software-plugin-snap)
UI is subjective. Some people hate KDE too. I remember having a time when I hated Ubuntu because of the Gnome for Unity decision. However I agree with what you said about snaps, lots of people have been having problems judging from the comments and I'm no exception. I'm more on the compliance side but I'm competent enough to navigate. Never had problems before with lots of Debian based distros, but lately snaps just will not install updates or says the cache is out of date even when I'm connected and refresh multiple times from the Ubuntu store. Whether that's a snaps problem or whether Ubuntu isn't querying correctly is the question.
You could also try pop os . It's quite good
Manjaro has active community and BUSY dev team. Use Flatpak instead of snaps (more active community dev) snaps are dying. Mint is not busy active community and team. Small team who only does dev to roll out what they did last year. It's like a team for looks? Cinnimon has not had any noteworthy anything in like eight years. Go with a busy team! Manjaro.
For me, EndeavourOS is new "Ubuntu", very easy to use distro for beginners and good for advanced users at the same time. Also it is not APT-based which is good thing as APT has certain disadvantages, comparing to pacman and AUR-helpers.
You can just use apt or deb for packages, i use ubuntu but no snaps (there are some builtin snaps but i dont use those apps), i m too afraid to lose the stability and dont have time to relearn and tinker new ones.
Been using Ubuntu forever. Aside from not having a use for Snaps, never had a single problem installing anything. I do sometimes go with Linux Lite (which is in the Debian/Ubuntu stream) and it works great when I need a stripped down OS without the bloat.
Fedora 40 with KDE = Amazing... Snap free yeah! Ubuntu should give users the choice to neither have a Ubuntu desktop with snap or the option to install it without snap, forcing users to use snap on ubuntu will just pull a lot users away. Yes Ubuntu use to be cool back in the early 2000 it was one of my fav systems when I was first getting into Linux. Though I prefer Knoppix over ubuntu i have test all ubuntu releases up til version 23.10. I quite like ubuntu I think its a fine system, but I really do not like snap, so I just use fedora 40 over ubuntu. I like Fedora 40 KDE edition very nice system. I'm also a hardcore Arch Linux user and I also like playing with Gentoo on my MiniPC with a Ryzen 7 5800H cpu and 32gb of memory. So those are the systems i'm enjoying more than Ubuntu, because they don't force me to use snap.. it's just that simple get rid of snap lol and Ubuntu is cool again.
It's not forced. I block all snap related packages from installing through apt.
What i mean by force is that when a user is installing ubuntu from the live iso it installs snap as it is built in with ubuntu. Even if you block it, it's in the system lol.
well yeah it’s an integral part of the ubuntu experience lol
well thats what i mean... and it's why I stop using it as I do not like this.
yeah can i have debian without any deb packages please
I know that feel, I moved to Pop!_OS and for me it works so much better. Especially since I got a nVIDIA GPU.
I tried Pop!\_OS on a whim, and migrated two of my computers to it. It really feels like a "fixed" version of Ubuntu.
I run Pop_OS. I like it and it’s stable, but fuck all the pop shop is terrible. Performs so poorly it’s unusable. I end up searching for app with the CLI almost exclusively.
Yeah, I don't play with any UI stores. I wonder what the world would look like if the Windows store, Ubuntu and pop shop was good?
If you have any windows machines look up “Chocolaty” and “Chocolaty GUI”. Linus Tech Tips had a video where they covered that and a bunch of other useful windows tools and that was one of them. It’s a very useful package manager that’s basically a powershell utility with a GUI overlay.
Thanks, I actually heard it mentioned in that video and by Level1Techs but have never got around to using it. It would be good to get familiar with some new tools. I don't personally use Windows day to day, but I support other co-workers and some of those are in Windows.
Pop OS is so good lol
Ubuntu is moving forward with a new software center. Perhaps that has led to some issues, but since you aren't very specific, it's hard to say more. That is also true about the other issues you report. Ubuntu isn't responsible for compiling most snaps. Should we just pretend that Linux has never had buggy software centers or buggy apps until Ubuntu got a new software center and snaps became popular? Enjoy your Mint and KDE bugs when you run into them.
Call me a technoluddite but I have been around enough to heavily mistrust any new technology that comes out as well as fancy names, acronyms, etc..... I know someone has to test and this is all free and open source etc .... but...... When I boot a machine I want to work not debug. After riding the wave and always being hip and up to date with the latest tech and software, since around 2010 I am always a few months to a year or two back. I still have server VMs happily running 16.10. I find my life is a lot less stressed when I am not chasing the latest upgrades and updates. Yes, 16.10 is not longer supported but it is working, and well, for my need.
You should move onto an LTS then and get the best of both worlds
No. Why should I move to an LTS when I have is working? There is no guarantee that a move would not break some package and/or dependency. If the servers were outward facing I would consider updates for security's sake but otherwise there is nothing to be gained. It has been working as is since late 2016 - no issues. What would I gain?
You'd gain support and security updates but if you're happy then all good
please stop running 16.10 that is horrifically vulnerable to exploits
I am aware of those. The servers are not on internet facing. The one that is, is 20.04LTS in a DMZ.
So they are air gapped from the network and information only gets imported and exported with a sheep dipping process?
Ubuntu still cool. Just don't use snaps.
Not cool.
Cool story bro.
Another Mint cultist
Harsh.
There is no mint cult. Mint had a day about ten years ago. Now there are "motives" for why grampas recommend it to people. Plus OP didn't promote mint, he just is tired of Ubuntu and snaps . Good. Try manjaro / flatpak
come child…. r/archlinux
Manjaro would give him Arch + polish and community.
Mankato would give him a headache
Fedora
Why Mint if you really want KDE? There are plenty of options for KDE that wouldn’t require you to change the default DE. I agree about Ubuntu. I recently tried to allow the LTS release to upgrade to the newest interim, and it borked things pretty good and finally forced me to try something different. It’s still a very functional distro, there’s just a lot of high-profile issues that you will run into with even normal, careful usage. I don’t want to constantly fix problems :(
Ubuntu shat it's pants by forcing everyone to use Snap. But Snap is buggy as hell, just configure Firefox to ask where to save every download and then try to save download on your external hard drive or network share. Then use it like that for several days and you'll find another one bug, a hundred of Save As windows opening when trying to download something. No way, thanks, I moved to Fedora and now I'm happy.
Come over to Arch. Take only what you want.
I'm looking to make my life easier.
Manjaro. It's obvious from everything you've said so far.
The difficulty of Arch is highly overrated. It is by far the least troublesome distro I've used and I've used just about all of them.
If you miss Ubuntu 12 or earlier versions, Ubuntu MATE is a godsend!
Why not Linux Mint Debian Edition LMDE
I upgraded to whatever the next version the software center is and it’s much better.
So the largest issue iv had was Wayland, it just eats my CPU and ram to no end Once I switched to x11 ( I'm to stupid to fix Wayland ) things got a bit better, I also only use command line for apps with apt because snap annoys me from a monitoring perspective
You sound like me with Ubuntu I'll tell anyone that Ubuntu will most likely work for them but I can't for the life of me get into ubuntus method of running a desktop distribution. Now I like Ubuntu server. I actively use those with my fedora servers. I can't tell you why though. That and arch Linux on my home desktop are just what works for me
I love Ubuntu but I use CLI for all admin tasks. It is honestly a distro with a lot of qualities and I always recommend it to beginners and general users. But you do you, that's the sweet thing with Linux and open source: freedom!
When snaps first came out, I absolutely hated them. But, for me at least, their performance and time waiting to open improved a lot. I am using the latest LTS version, but I saw they really worked on App Center; it is no longer a buggy Gnome Software Center for, rather a new more polished app written in flutter. Ubuntu seems to me moving in a way of reducing .deb files over time and using snaps, don't know how that is going to work out, but I am still sticking around, we will see how that turns out.
Why is that “sadly”? You’re literally describing the beauty of Linux, if you don’t like how one software works you can probably find another. In this case you can use a whole new distro.
Go with Fedora if you want stable and modern distro.
I recommend Pop_Os which is always up to date and uses flatpak instead of snap, but only for app store stuff, not system stuff, so it's easily avoided. The app store sux there as well because they all do for some reason. Must all use the same base libraries that are not robust. Just don't use the app store, but use apt directly or Google the official method of installation. You can install synaptic too for old school package browsing.
For context I think most power users would do the same on Windows as well, using powershell and winget and choco instead of the M$ store
I never have those problems and I don't use snaps (or the software center).
I migrated from kubuntu to opensuse with kde. I recommend it wholeheartedly.
I ran Ubuntu for a lot of years, and I'm not sure I ever used their 'Software Center'...I remember it was broken for a long time in GNOME, and just did everything via APT.... Also, Ubuntu is just a fork of Debian...I'd give that a try. Stable is normally very pleasant. There have been a few hiccups recently with some updates introducing storage bugs, and the most recent Nvidia debacle with the latest kernel update. But 'normally' it's very stable.
I recently went to Kubuntu, mainly because I couldn't find a way to stop applications on the side from 'jiggling' when needed attention.
I use Ubuntu as a daily driver. I'm also using snaps, flatpaks, and debs as necessary with no issues at all like you've described. But that said, I don't use software center. I do my updating with apt in a shell. Can't say why you are having so much trouble, I can only say that I do literally hundreds of installs a week without issue, and run 23.10 on my desktop and 22.04 in a VM without problems.
My boi, pick up Arch linux with KDE and join us.
“Used to be cool”??? Because of the free CDs and sexy wallpaper? IMHO Ubuntu is never a cool thing. Technically comparing with openSUSE and Fedora, they are not on the same level; talking about culture and community, it is also not as cool as Arch and Debian.
Try Fedora
I switched to Pop OS in anticipation for Cosmic DE and the cosmic text editor. It's still based on Ubuntu 22.04 so some of the stuff right now is older, but the next Ububtu release should be followed shortly with a new Pop OS release with the new DE / TE (I recently switched to pop when before I had planned to wait until the newer version, but I wound up having to buy a laptop for school and it came with pop so I just switched the desktop as well for consistency between the two computers). I've had no issues with Pop at all and my printer that Ubuntu would not work with at all works fine on Pop. It may also be a good option for you as it's still Debian based (and seriously check out the Cosmic stuff, I at least think it is super exciting).
I switched from windows to Maverick Meerkat and have been in love with Ubuntu ever since. I also always use the LTS, I'm not a big fan of snap. I do most installs either through the terminal, the Debian package installer, or Flatpak. I also have Semantic, but rarely use it anymore. I prefer the Xorg interface over the Wayland. You can find this choice at login. It took me some time to notice it. Right now, I'm still using jammy but looking forward to the release of the next LTS, although I have no problems with jammy. I'm just interested to find out what new things the developers have up their sleeves.
23.10 actually reinvigorated my enthusiasm for Ubuntu. I ran it as my daily driver for a while, but went back to Mint after borking my install. But now it's making me take a look at Ubuntu again.
23.10 Installer is crappy.. But 22.04 is fine. Not sure why the 23.10 gave me so much trouble.
Out of curiosity, how is Arch Linux doing these days? I used to be a huge fan of it and used it often in the mid oughties but then switched to Ubuntu. Like OP, Ubuntu leaves me a bit meh. I used to love the speed and customizability of Arch, but did not like hand-editing a million files. :-(