Fedora is much more open source than Ubuntu. Ubuntu’s link with Canonical has been criticized by many public figures including RMS.
Debian is open source but it lacks updated software.
2 Likes
It’s crazy how fast fedora is going. I still have a Fedora 22 install disk in my OS stack… Yikes!
I also agree, Fedora’s update process since ~28 has been smooth. In the past it was just as rickety and scary as anything else though 
.
If anyone tries Fedora 33 give us a shout about if it’s as easy to get GPU support as it is on the latest CentOS. That’d be worth factoring in for some people.
1 Like
idk why you’re attacking Ubuntu out of blue but I just want to say I don’t use Ubuntu, I use Arch (btw) but that’s not the point.
The point is a distro being linked to a company does not mean evil, as you pointed out, having Red Hat is a good thing.
but non of these have anything to do with what Linus pick to use, and or what Julia users should use.
I have installed Fedora 33 Beta on three laptops, all using NVIDIA GPU. They all run very well.
Fedora 33 changes file system from ext4 to btrs, which is a radical change. For GPU drivers, there is nothing to worry about.
1 Like
Can you get the drivers via the software manager? That feature saves a ton of headache/maintenance issues with kernel updates. Rebuilding DKMS and all that is not a lot of fun.
I am not attacking any distro. I am just saying among the two most popular Linux distros, Fedora feels more open source than Ubuntu.
You need to enable NVIDIA nonfree repository in the software manager. After that, run:
sudo dnf install akmod-nvidia
if you also need CUDA, run
sudo dnf install xorg-x11-drv-nvidia-cuda
That’s all.
2 Likes
I completely get if people feel strongly about only using libre software that is important
However, it is not really a concern for me. The first thing I do is install proprietary CUDA so that is out the window anyways. I really care about the system running smoothly and installing CUDA does not involve an afternoon of bash Foo.
BTW as far as I understand RMS’ philosophy Julia would be “evil” too for not using the GPL right?
I’m too scared of it but one day I will attempt an install just for the learning experience. 
1 Like
I’m sticking to “boring” Ubuntu 20.04:
- No hassles
- If I come across a bug, most probably someone else has already encountered it and a fix/workaround is available
- Snaps offer up to date software (VScode, Eclipse, Libreoffice, KeepassX,…)
5 Likes
I am using Debian (testing) and Ubuntu (whatever the latest release is).
If you know your way around it, I wouldn’t bother changing unless you have a really good reason. Despite claims to the contrary, distro choices shouldn’t matter much as long as it is something reasonable and gets the job done with minimum hassle.
I am sure there are more interesting things you can do with your time, at or away from a computer.
12 Likes
Ubuntu user here: what’s the main diff between fedora and centos?
I mean, with Ubuntu I run my desktop, then if I want to run a server I just install server packages (and perhaps use a server-tuned kernel), but it is the same distribution, easy…
1 Like
Fedora and CentOS are very similar. Fedora is where redhat tries all the experimental stuff, and is open source. The idea is, the stuff they find that works in Fedora and is beneficial - ends up in CentOS down the road. So CentOS is more stable, but - may not have all the latest versions of things. Fedora tends to come onboard with more of the stuff an end user cares about. CentOS may lack those things but - its great for things like headless servers because of that.
2 Likes
Do you also read benchmarks comparing different distros?
Do you prefer distros with privative drivers included?
I have tried Linux many times and always go back to Windows.
What Julia Interface are you using in Linux?
3 Likes
Arch user here. Never had any problems.
5 Likes
I’m using vscode and jupyter but more and more vs code only. I’ve been wanting to try out Pluto notebooks.
You are probably right. Ubuntu has served me well over the years.
1 Like
Another Arch Linux user.
Started with Debian, migrated to Ubuntu, used for some years without any problems, but then Ubuntu became too similar to Windows for my taste. By this I mean: the default interface became slower and focused on things I did not care about, and they were following the path of “making easy things even easier and hard things impossible” (too many things overwriting the default configuration, it became impossible for me to debug problems by myself and solve them). I wanted something less fussy and that let me advance in my learning about Linux so Arch Linux fit like a glove. I was interested in Gentoo too, but compiling everything is a little overkill to me, maybe in the future as a next step.
4 Likes
Pop!_OS seems interesting, but I already use xmonad for tiling/‘keyboard navigation’/workspaces/stacking with Arch Linux what seems to be one of the main selling points. The encrypted by default bit seems very interesting. This is something I always wanted to do on Arch but always procrastinated for the next installation.
2 Likes
I am always surprised when people consider this a problem — you can easily change the defaults, and try out different desktop environments with a few clicks. Eg you can turn your Ubuntu installation into Xubuntu in a few minutes, or switch to xmonad, or whatever you like. Software availability overlaps 90–99% between various mature distros, depending on where they are on their release cycle.
The only difference is configuration and software management. I found that both stabilize quite a bit over time, and I only need to tweak things a bit after major upgrades, so I go with Ubuntu as a way of minimizing effort on this front, but this is where distros like Arch or NixOS can offer something different.
4 Likes