Clean install on a dedicated desktop machine and a dedicated laptop.

MikeB4:

 

@openmedia 

 

I don’t want to sound harsh but Fedora 28 KDE just seemed to lack quality control.<snip>

I fully agree also. I ran into SELinux issues during install the last time I tried it and that isn't a good thing.

MikeB4: I simply cannot see how Ubuntu 18.04 was a suitable LTS candidate.

Ubuntu LTS releases are initially no different from non-LTS releases, and are no more stable.  They become solid with time. (I don't know if that statement is official, but I've seen it stated by knowledgeable people and it's my experience.)  IMO if you want stability from *buntus wait for the .2 release, expected about ten months after the initial release.   So right now for a stable *buntu go for its latest 16.04 (for Ubuntu that's 16.04.4).

One flavour of Buntu that stands out from the Buntu crowd is Kubuntu, this is relatively stable compared to its cousins

Kubuntu has been really solid for me since the 16.04 beta, on a new very vanilla desktop (with one significant exception, possibly caused by a power outage).  A relief after the dark days of the first plasma 5 releases, on my old hardware.  I should have stayed on 14.04,  I could still be running it as it's supported till April 2019.  Also, it's very fast compared to my limited experience with Win 10 (perhaps not a fair comparison, Win 10 on a laptop).

jlittle:

 

MikeB4: I simply cannot see how Ubuntu 18.04 was a suitable LTS candidate.

 

Ubuntu LTS releases are initially no different from non-LTS releases, and are no more stable.  They become solid with time. (I don't know if that statement is official, but I've seen it stated by knowledgeable people and it's my experience.)  IMO if you want stability from *buntus wait for the .2 release, expected about ten months after the initial release.   So right now for a stable *buntu go for its latest 16.04 (for Ubuntu that's 16.04.4).

 

One flavour of Buntu that stands out from the Buntu crowd is Kubuntu, this is relatively stable compared to its cousins

 

Kubuntu has been really solid for me since the 16.04 beta, on a new very vanilla desktop (with one significant exception, possibly caused by a power outage).  A relief after the dark days of the first plasma 5 releases, on my old hardware.  I should have stayed on 14.04,  I could still be running it as it's supported till April 2019.  Also, it's very fast compared to my limited experience with Win 10 (perhaps not a fair comparison, Win 10 on a laptop).

 

The long term support releases are aimed at commercial users and users that want stability, continuity and of course support.Therefore on my view that should be present from time of release not from some point release down the track

Thinking back to earlier Fedora releases such as Heildleberg, Stentz and Bordeux things were a lot better, the releases were solid with little issues. I feel now that things may have got sloppy or release dates have become more important than release quality.

The same is true with Ubuntu the old Breezy, Daper, Maverick releases from memory were more solid. With the move from Unity back to Gnome, be it a heavily customised Gnome desktop, maybe Canonical should have gone with a longer development time line for its first non Unity LTS and left 18.04 as a stated “test bed” and made 18.10 the LTS.

I keep coming back to Xubuntu 16.04.3 LTS.  On my Intel Pentium system with Intel HD Graphics (in other words as standard as they come!) this distro seems really stable & yes I have noticed that it has got better with time.

MikeB4:

 

The long term support releases are aimed at commercial users and users that want stability, continuity and of course support.Therefore on my view that should be present from time of release not from some point release down the track

 

The stability in that regard is in terms of the libraries and applications in the product and the lifecycle of the release. Not in terms of no crashes. It means that if someone sets up one now they know they will get security fixes etc for the next five years and that major versions of libraries etc will remain the same. Very important when validating software to run on the server.

Switched recently from macOS back to Ubuntu after 3 year break and I see no reason why 18.04 is horrible. I did not notice any stability issues, may be subjective look-n-feel issues. The most of things just works out of the box. I just spent some time tinkering Gnome shell to have a look I like, also fixed fonts rendering to be it macOS-like.

I have a list of things I'd like to be fixed, like NVidia Optimus support, but it never was as good as in Windows, so nothing to complain about if compare to Ubuntu 14.04 for example.

I think 2018 is the year Linux officially lost the war for the Desktop, but at least it can console itself with having won the war for webservers and mobile devices..

PS: @spartanvxl It's already been announced.. https://www.computerworld.com/article/3293429/microsoft-windows/with-daas-windows-coming-say-goodbye-to-your-pc-as-you-know-it.html

MikeB4:

 

It maybe just me but 2018 is looking like an annus horibilis for Linux Distributions. Why is this? There seems to be regression in so many of the offerings so far this year especially Fedora 28, Ubuntu 18.04 LTS, Debian, Mint 19, Manjaro and for special mention Open Suse 15.

Long time openSUSE user (10 years +) and am very pleased with Leap 15.0 
At least on my system a step-up stability wise over Leap 42.3 and some nice new features (including in plasma 5.12)

farcus:

 

MikeB4:

 

It maybe just me but 2018 is looking like an annus horibilis for Linux Distributions. Why is this? There seems to be regression in so many of the offerings so far this year especially Fedora 28, Ubuntu 18.04 LTS, Debian, Mint 19, Manjaro and for special mention Open Suse 15.

 

 

 

Long time openSUSE user (10 years +) and am very pleased with Leap 15.0 
At least on my system a step-up stability wise over Leap 42.3 and some nice new features (including in plasma 5.12)

 

Back around 1998 to 2004 I was using Redhat, Mandrake and Suse. When the first Betas of Ubuntu came out I started using them. I dropped Redhat for quite a few years and used Suse and Ubuntu and for a long time Ubuntu exclusively.Of those of course Mandrake ran head first into a wall and that as they say was that, Suse remained solid as did the early days of Ubuntu until the move to Unity. It would seem that the move back to Gnome is going to be a contentious and arduous as the move to Unity was.

In recent times Suse has become a very bloated and labour intensive beast and frankly a pain to deal with compared to Mint and other offerings. The more modern distributions have left Suse behind with regards to management and installation. An OS is supposed to work for you not the other way around and with the current Open Suse it is just tiresome. Add to the labour instability and bugs the latest OpenSuse is just not worth the hassle and cost of extra coffee.

Every time I have tried to use Linux I have run into brick walls. I have tried different versions, including 'user-friendly' ones like Mint. About half the time it fails to install at all. Otherwise it turns its nose up at basic, fundamental bits of hardware, like my graphics card. Or it starts out fine, then abruptly crashes for no apparent reason.

I have also tried Apple. Coming from Windows, it is like putting on a straitjacket. I have reached a point in my life where I don't want to have to fiddle anymore. I just want to install something and have it work. That has never been my experience with Linux. It also has not been my experience with Windows, but I am familiar enough with it that I can usually find answers to things fairly quickly. For me Linux is just a black box. I am too old to start over and spend as many years figuring out its quirks as I have with Windows. 

Rikkitic:

 

Every time I have tried to use Linux I have run into brick walls. I have tried different versions, including 'user-friendly' ones like Mint. About half the time it fails to install at all. Otherwise it turns its nose up at basic, fundamental bits of hardware, like my graphics card. Or it starts out fine, then abruptly crashes for no apparent reason.

 

I have also tried Apple. Coming from Windows, it is like putting on a straitjacket. I have reached a point in my life where I don't want to have to fiddle anymore. I just want to install something and have it work. That has never been my experience with Linux. It also has not been my experience with Windows, but I am familiar enough with it that I can usually find answers to things fairly quickly. For me Linux is just a black box. I am too old to start over and spend as many years figuring out its quirks as I have with Windows. 

 

 

 

Just like shoes, use the one that fits best and works for you. 

MikeB4:

 

It maybe just me but 2018 is looking like an annus horibilis for Linux Distributions. Why is this? There seems to be regression in so many of the offerings so far this year especially Fedora 28, Ubuntu 18.04 LTS, Debian, Mint 19, Manjaro and for special mention Open Suse 15. All of those seem to have gone backwards and the one time darlings of Distributions Ubuntu and Mint are just too buggy for words. I simply cannot see how Ubuntu 18.04 was a suitable LTS candidate. Mint 19 and Fedora 28 frankly should still be in Beta as they are not fit for consumption. Sometimes missing a release date is better than releasing a train wreck.

I'm interested to hear what complaints you have with Debian? I use Stretch on my servers and I use Buster with LXDE as a desktop OS. Very happy with the stability and speed of Debian and haven't heard of any obvious complaints.