thinking of trying linux,
thinking of trying linux,
My current issue is i see you guys constantly having issues, editing files etc.
Is it not stable?
Can you not set it up and then not have ongoing issues?
Keep in mind that all the people who are just happily going about their day to day with it and not having issues are probably not posting. The only reason most people make posts is to complain about something or get assistance troubleshooting an issue. It also really depends on what all you want to do with it.
One of my favorite things about Linux is this: you can try it. Get a thumb drive, get Rufus or Etcher. Download Mint, Ubuntu, something with a "Live Linux". Boot from the thumb drive, spend an hour or two surfing, clicking around, seeing if things work. 2018, you had like an 80% chance of a flawless experience. 2024, it's way higher! Plus, the alternatives have gotten slower, more bloated, more interested in monetizing you than serving you, so even if it feels strange, and you have to relearn some stuff, more than ever, it might be worth it.
Even if it didn't work quite right, keep the thumb drive around. The number of times I've rescued an important file off of a messed up system using a thumb drive with Mint on it? You'd be surprised.
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.
Ever read some of the microsoft forums? Just as many people seeking help there - the only difference is we don't have an over eager paid employee replying with scripted answers which don't help.
Linux is as simple or as complicated as you want it to be. Most of the mainstream distros "just work" on most hardware. I've installed Mint, Rocky, Ubuntu and Debian on laptops and desktops for relatives, including those who aren't remotely technically gifted. It was as easy/easier as Windows to install, set up and get running. The users are happy - they can use cheaper hardware (and don't need to upgrade a perfectly good laptop for Windows 11) and are entirely free of software costs and subscriptions. Everything works and things don't break - just like Windows and Macs. Most people just want their computer to turn on and let them run stuff. All three do that equally as well.
I've also installed linux on hardware clusters costing hundreds of thousands of pounds and that definitely wasn't a simple or quick process, but that's the nature of the task. Actually, installing the base os was probably the easiest part. Windows just isn't an option for that.
You ask a fair question - you're not unique in your viewpoint and that's probably hampered takeup more than anything else. What makes you a bit better than most is that you actually ask the question and appear to be open to the answers.
Yes Stable Linux variants (also known as distros) are very widely used, and range from Linux mint which is completely stable with no issues for day to day use (assuming you don't use an Nvidia card) to Debian which which has a selling point of not changing anything beyond security updates for like 6 years straight
Most people here will be talking about there bleeding edge systems which will use code that is often in beta or use systems so new they don't have proper documentation (the bcachefs file system which showed up last month comes to mind).
This seems to imply that other operating systems don't have issues and don't require editing files.
Compared to Windows, I've had fewer frustrating issues on Linux. I think the reason you hear about these issues is because the Linux community naturally encourages sharing these issues. If I have a niche problem, I can share it, then the community will work together to solve it so it isn't an issue anymore. On Windows, you might run a troubleshooting wizard that might solve the problem, and if it doesn't you'll probably take it to MS support who'll walk you through it. If that doesn't fix it, you'll likely just wait for a bug fix in the next update. Point being, they get talked about less because the system doesn't encourage problem solving on the users end (as much as Linux does).
As for editing files, sure, you do a lot of that on Linux. On Windows, you use a settings menu to fiddle with things, but all that settings menu does is give you a button to press. Pressing that button is just a fancy visual way of editing a file somewhere. Linux just often forgoes the graphical interface and encourages you to get used to editing those files directly.
In general it's pretty stable. That being said, especially when you're using bleeding edge hardware, it's not perfect.
Take my Radeon 7800 XT as an example. I'm using Linux on my desktop as of January 1st pretty much, and decided I'll go for Fedora as it's pretty up-to-date in terms of kernel releases but also has a great out-of-the-box experience. Kernel 6.6 has been pretty good for me, but newer kernels (6.7.x and 6.8) have issues with my setup. Engaging VRR (variable refresh rate) after the computer wakes up from standby leads to part of the screen flickering white for a few frames every now and then, and eventually the system crashes. Up to 6.7.4 the GPU only output a black screen after standby or even after a warm restart. The latter has been resolved in 6.7.5 but the former issue has not. I've been following a few issues, adding a crash report here and there, trying patch files, but so far to no avail.
This means I'm basically stuck on 6.6 for now, which also means I'm compiling the kernel myself to get the latest patch release, as Fedora doesn't maintain 6.6 anymore.
I had even more issues with Nvidia combined with Wayland. Ironically, Intel Arc probably works the best in terms of stability in my experience.
I'm going to say that in terms of GPU stability, I had a better experience with Windows. Sure, the odd AMD driver release has issues, but Windows does a way better job in recovering from a GPU driver crash. The monolithic nature of Linux means a GPU driver crash will often kill the whole system. I had a case where the system recovered, but in a new desktop session with my running desktop applications orphaned somewhere (basically forcing me to restart). Windows usually just restarts the GPU driver (because it's mostly running in user space, which it isn't in Linux) and you can continue.
I also had an issue with my network adapter (Intel 2.5G onboard) dropping connection after several hours of use. A workaround involved editing boot parameters to prevent PCIe from going into some sort of power saving mode. Searching for the issue revealed that it's likely because how ASUS (mainboard) configured the onboard network adapter.
You'll also need to fiddle with Feral GameMode to properly pin games to the 3D cache cores on a 7950X3D. This is more "set and forget" with Windows Game Bar.
To be honest, Windows is a pretty solid OS from a technical perspective. It has its downsides, but so has Linux. Don't switch for an allegedly technical superior experience. Switch if you don't agree with what Microsoft is doing from a user experience perspective. That's why I switched.
All that being said, Linux at its core is super stable. I use Linux on a few servers for many, many years now, and I don't think I ever had a system crash.
It's perfectly stable. Linux just generally attracts people who like to tinker and tweak things, in particular because it's much easier to do and gives you a lot of power and flexibility in making the machine your own.
My laptop running Arch Linux has remained problem-free for the last 6 years or so since I installed it.
Constantly having issues
You're going to see a lot of issues on Linux boards because people go to then for help. I've been running Linux since 2020 and though there have been hiccups, its been remarkably reliable. Having said that, when there ARE issues, it can take some digging to find answers.
Is it not stable
Moreso than Win 11, in my experience. I use Win 11 at work and I've needed a system wipe twice. Once because networking just... stopped... and once because appx apps decided not to load.
Ongoing issues
Plugging PopOS as a good "set and forget" distro that is easy to grasp. The workflow is very MacOS and the tweaks they've made make for a friendlier interface v Ubuntu, IMO.
I've usually run linux until I got sick of having problems with it and then install windows... until I got sick of having problems with it and then switch to linux again.
There is no OS without issues. In my experience, that may not be the same as others, linux problems tend to be more frequent, smaller and easier to fix. While windows problems tend to be less frequent but more problematic and harder to fix (I'm looking at you windows update which destroyed all my OS).
But if you are going to use linux you are going to need to tweak some things. The tinkering to make it all work is easy as the community forums have all the answers (btw windows support forums are the WORST, 99% of proposed solutions are useless).
It depends what you want it to do. For basic stuff, linux desktop works fine. If you need specific software i'd look into if it's doable and how hard it is first.
Linux by default runs fine and without issues, if you pick a distro with stable releases. If you go with something like Arch, you likely will run into issues. If you want to do heavy modifications or run fancy software, you tend to run into issues. Thing about the fancy software is, it tenda to only work properly on linux, hence the issues being linux related.
If you're a gamer, just don't. A lot of people here will say you can run almost any game easily, but you usually need to do some fancy commands per specific game to get it to run properly. Which is fine if you just play one game occasionally, but if you hop between games or like buying the latest games, don't.
If you have a specific preference for desktop environment, make sure it comes with the distro and is well supported by it. You can install whatever you want on any distro, but you have more chance to break shit.
I'd go with Mint or Ubuntu for your first try.
I don't think you could go wrong with any of the top user/newb friendly distros. I see Mint mentioned a few times in these responses, and I agree, use Mint. It's a nice distro.
It's as stable as you want it to be. I break my system a lot more than expected because I'm deleted directories and files I'm not supposed to. Experimenting with a bunch of stuff. My laptop is using the same distro (Arch) and I don't do weird stuff with it so it runs perfectly fine.
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 :)
80% of my linux issues happened because of me
I'd suggest that Linux tends to attract a higher percentage of people that want to tinker with their OS, and tinkering with your OS can lead to some unexpected outcomes, or outright break things that someone would have to turn to the community for help.
It depends a lot on what you want to do with it though too. Browsing the web, checking email, spreadsheets / word processing, etc? You could likely install literally any Linux os and be fine, and definitely be fine with the mainstream core distros.
If you're gaming, I'd recommend a distro aimed at gaming. PopOS, nobara, bazzite, or Garuda all come to mind, depending on your preferred flavor.
But, as much as it pains me to say it, if you need to run, for example, Adobe or Autodesk products (or something similarly specialized and proprietary) you'll probably have a better time doing it in windows. There are alternative options that will work in Linux fine, but if it's for work or some other situation that requires you to use those specific proprietary products, you might be stuck.
I had far more issues on windows than I ever have on mint.
When I had issues on windows, which i would run into multiple times a week, the "fixes" would be hacky, slapped-together nonsense that don't even make sense on paper. I had to change almost every program manually to run as administrator. Installing old games was a nightmare and didn't always work properly, even with compatibility modes. New drivers would break stuff. Trying to learn anything new was a rabbit hole that took countless hours and then I only learned the fix for that one specific use-case, and not anything... overarching. System updates were so intrusive, installing crap I didn't want or removed manually, I disabled them completely. It was slow and boot took forever. Ending system processes via task manager didn't always work and the system would freeze often when something went wrong. Often uninstalling programs was messy and left shit all over in the system registry and files and you would have to defrag and system clean once it started getting bloated.
When my windows install finally broke completely just trying to get shit to work the way I wanted, I bailed.
Transitioning to mint was certainly a learning experience.
Reorganizing your workflow will always be more upfront work, but I found I took to the changes fairly quickly. I found the file structure the most odd, but I became very used to it and very much prefer it over how hard it is to find stuff spread scattershot in windows files. It had a lot of little quality of life things that I really appreciate, mounting and unmounting external drives felt better, way more stuff worked out of the box, old games were not a nightmare to get working because they're had longstanding fixes for years that actually make sense. Solutions, in general, make way more sense to me, and I actually get a sense that I understand why they function. My boot time is very fast and I've never broken my system (I came close once doing something incredibly stupid and very niche, but I just timeshifted back and voila, fixed.)
Fixes or changes for preference tend to "stick" for me, like when I swapped to pipewire myself it's been very smooth sailing. I can pick and choose updates or ignore packages that don't work. There was an issue with kernels for a while that significantly increased my boot times; I just postponed that update for a few versions until one of the newer ones worked. I find I can get down similar rabbit holes to learn some stuff, but it both feels more like "lasting" solutions (and I learn more about how to do other stuff) as well as just more fun. Documentation is a lot better with users who know what they're doing instead of the guesswork "well I dunno but this might have worked for me, I tried 20 fixes so it's probably one of these!" I would run into on windows troubleshooting...
I think my favourite part of linux is a lot of things I wanted solutions to, for years, usually have at least one person out there with a similar issue that wrote a small program that just does it. Does it well. For free. I spent so much time digging for really basic stuff like a sound equalizer that wasn't garbage, bloatware, full of trackers, or ransomware! I don't have to spend hours trying to find a stinkin' RGB controller that isn't awful because the choices available are just better! I don't have to spend weeks comparing and contrasting antivirus-es and hate all of them in the end!
I find mint extremely stable and have no urge to swap nor return to windows. I find it much more stable for my use-case. I really like it, actually, and I appreciate how a lot of it is set up. Been using it daily for 4 years.
I loathed windows the entire time I used it, and had been side-eyeing linux for quite a while before committing. I don't know if I'm a "normal" use-case, probably not. Possibly it is best to take my experience as, "if you keep hitting walls often in windows that frustrate the hell out of you, linux might be a decent choice for you, and might "feel easier."" Both have their own quirks and own troubleshooting, I just prefer the ones on mint and they make more sense to me. (And take me far less time.)
Part of Linux culture is customizing your system. Linux allows you to do much more with your computer, but some of these things require tinkering or might cause you to break your setup. If you don't tinker much things will most likely be stable, but having the ability to tinker is for me a major part of the appeal. What are you hoping to get out of using linux? It's a good alternative if you wanna make an old computer run more smoothly, if you care about privacy or if you don't want to have to pay for your operating system, and if any of those are your main reason go for it and it will probably work out smoothly. If you're interested in linux because it seems "cool" or "fun" you're probably gonna have to do some tinkering so in that case you should be prepared to edit some files, read some instructions and possibly ask for help online.
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.
Linux is stable if you pick a stable distribution. The big thing is the skill floor is higher than windows, but the skill ceiling is way higher too. But yeah pick a well respected LTS distribution (not arch based, use a Debian based one) and Linux will be just a boring computer until you start fucking with it. But you can fuck with it, and that’s the beauty and the danger of it. Remember the “delete system 32” memes? Yeah you can’t do that in windows anymore, they idiot proofed it so hard it’s smart people proof too, linux will let you make a terrible decision if you sudo it.
It really depends on what distro you choose because they are different Operating Systems using the same kernel and somewhat similar structure. Some are meant to have lots of user input and tweaking, some come ready to go with no real need to mess under the hood. I.e. Gentoo you will compile stuff, nixOS you will setup a config file or two, arch you might do tweaks after bleeding edge updates need some fiddling, then there is OpenSUSE where you have GUI for all settings and never need to edit files manually.
Part of the linux experience is trying a bunch and finding one that suits your interest.
I run Linux on my personal machine.
My needs aren't particularly demanding. Web browsing, watching streaming services, accounting software, some low impact games, 3D modeling, and running a video server.
I assembled my machine from $500 worth of parts 12 years ago. In between, I've added some RAM, and about 8TB of mirrored disk to store movies for the video server.
Admittedly, I'm starting to be concerned about the age of the disks, and I think I'd like a better processor, but money is tight.
Given the age of the thing, there's a chance that it's just going to drop dead one of these days, but it's been running for years without me having to do anything but install updates for the OS.
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.
There's a common joke that it's not linux, it's gnu linux and this is followed by a long copy pasta about how linux is only the kernel which is the code that handles managing how your machine is used
In this case this is important, linux can be a stable os (notible examples include android os, linux mint, debian stable, as well as the server distributions) these generally update slower in order to make sure bugs get squashed. On the other hand there are linux operating systems that are difficult to use for a beginner such as arch, void, and gentoo. There are also distrobutions that have a bad habit of breaking manjaro, gentoo, come to mind. If you want a linux experience that is set it up once and have no more problems than anyone might expect to have on windows you can do that (sometimes you'll run into a situation where you have a device that doesn't play well with linux like an algato streamdeck or a device that doesn't have a driver yet like my sister's laptop webcam (thanks acer much appreciated) but in general you can have a stable easy experience as long as you aren't trying to do anything crazy
Here's my recommendation, make a linux mint thumbdrive boot off it, play around with it, and test varius hardware you have (ie bluetooth, webcam, that one usb dingle doop that no one else has but you use every day). Maybe don't install it (or do chances are it'll be just fine) but boot off it often, and once you've learnt the os pretty well, back up everything you care about and install linux mint
As an, aside i love your username, very clever
The thing is that people use Linux and than find it so good that they try to find problems in order to spend time playing with it. It's like a hobby, or a game... But you can also use it without making it a hobby. Ubuntu was born for this, but for that I would honestly suggest something like Manjaro
Unless you have very niche needs or choose to tinker, everything just works.
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.
Been using fedora for a few years now and the most recent issue I had was it wouldn't update because of Google Chrome for some reason. Uninstalled that and it works just fine
Hehe, you got your answer. You're lokking at the places where 0.05% of the users are discussing their problems and some others share their crazy customizations that aren't possible with anything else. And it seems like 95% of users having issues to you.
I'd argue Linux is way more stable than Windows. If that's your perspective. (Unless you do silly stuff.) But less stable than for example MacOS. It depends on which Linux Distro we're talking about. I'd say it's MacOS > Linux > Windows. With the biggest step down from Linux to Windows.
Just go ahead and try. You don't really need our permission to do that. Most distros support "live install" direct from the installation media, without making changes to your system. If you don't like it, reboot and you're back to whatever you had before
Have fun!
And to answer your double negation questions, yes and yes.
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.
Linux Mint (I'd recomment Debian edition, LMDE) is basically what you want to try out. I've set up a PC with it for my stepfather that hasn't used Linux at all and he's happy with it. It's designed to be as newbie-friendly as possible. You won't have more issues with it than you'll already have using Windows.
Then if you feel unsatisfied with anything about it, you can go looking for other linux distributions (distros) because you have a general idea what's happening.
There are a lot of help posts on the MS and other windows forums too. Computers and OSes will always have issues because of complexity and incompatibilities between hardware and software. No matter if you install Windows, Linux, or MacOS. The machines that are least buggy because each manufacturer is doing extensive tests, are the mobile OSes, iOS and (most) Android. It's not as possible to do the same on a desktop OS. So cut your losses, and install Linux Mint, which is I believe it's the best for newbies.
Depends on what you want to do. For most general uses, Linux is stable af.
Unlike Windows, Linux doesn't really try to stop you from doing much when it comes to customization, scripting and tinkering, the only limitations are your abilities and how well you can find proper information on the internet. The more exotic sort of thing you try to do the more likely you may inadvertently break something. That said, have fun with it, try the live distro, then dual booting first, and if you do break something you can easily reinstall, until you're ready to move fully.
The biggest issues I've had were either because of hardware (native drivers not supported by manufacturer) or because I was manually editing config files.
Not using Windows except for work, I use Linux mostly because of Microsoft's design decisions. I guess depending on your use case, Windows can be a perfectly fine OS. Personally, I think their behavior is unprofessional (trying to force Microsoft accounts on users, ads in the start menu, integration of AI into the system which means transmitting data to their servers etc) so I'm willing to accept tradeoffs for systems which do not come with these downsides.
In the end, OSs are inherently complex.
Car enthusiasts spend a lot more time under the hood than normal drivers. You'll find a similar effect here.
Install something like Linux Mint, maybe chase down a few quirks with your particular hardware (for instance, I installed a surround sound system with a fairly hot amplifier, so every time the motherboard turns the sound chip on and off there's a loud pop, so I had to change a couple settings in some config files from 1 to 0 and Y to N, and it's been fine ever since) and you're pretty much golden until you decide to start messing with something.
There are extremely stable Linux distros, there are Linux distros that aren't so stable, but come with newer packages. Which one you choose depends on what you want.
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.
Yes, it is stable.
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.
As everyone is saying, Linux can be perfectly stable, depending on your distribution.
The only thing I’d think about is that you could have to tweak a few things to get everything working at the beginning.
For instance, I had nothing to change to make everything work in Fedora on my Surface Go, but I gad to enable rom fusion in the terminal to get the wifi working on my wife’s MacBook Pro.
Otherwise, you can just enjoy your Linux distribution as long as you don’t want to do crazy stuff out of the beaten paths.
My current issue is i see you guys constantly having issues, editing files etc.
These guy cannot self-develop
They never learn thing themselves. Never read books. Never read manual pages.
Just ignore them.
Is it not stable?
Commits to softwares around Linux (userland, system maintenance tools, etc) usually just works (even if alpha). There are few bugs.
Alpine Linux edge+testing is much stable (my only issue come from testing mesa packages, just don't upgrade this package to any version without -r0 or -r1 or like that :) )
Can you not set it up and then not have ongoing issues?
Yes.
A system that never have to su root (except for shutdown, reboot).
Im a big zorin fan. Its an out of the box distro that focuses on windows compatiblity. that means it comes with tons of preinstalled apps so that you can do things right away like edit docs or watch videos but it also comes with well configured play on linux so that there is a good chance you can run any needed windows programs that you need to. Maybe people graduate out to more unixy stuff but its funny. Im a tech guy but in my personal life I just want to install and go. https://zorin.com/os/
I’ve never really had issues with Fedora (has more up to date software vs Debian stable) or Debian, they generally just work. Back when I used arch there were a couple of times in about a year and a half where it stopped booting (mobile nvidia graphics forced me to do weird things that lead to issues), but that’s a less stable OS on top of a bad hardware setup for Linux (obligatory fuck Nvidia).
Most problems I run into with Linux are caused by me doing weird things. Linux doesn’t prevent you from messing with things you don’t understand but if you just want to use it as a standard desktop then you shouldn’t have many issues aside from finding replacement applications for things you are used to using.
If you decide to start tinkering, just keep a backup of your home directory since it contains all your settings and files.
Yeah it's stable, as long as you aren't messing with the core of things you'll be good. Gaming isn't the worst on most systems but it can still be a challenge. And if you have a laptop trying to set up your GPU so it won't destroy your battery can be a challenge. Those are really your only pitfalls though. If you just want to install it browse the Internet, code, do office stuff it will work perfectly. If you start trying to do anything too fancy there is a possibility of running into unstableness from misconfiguration
Well since a few days my laptop speakers do not work anymore lmao. I had to install it 4 times to make my gpu drivers work. If you're not that teck savy it's fine but you need to atleast be interested in it and ready for it, and also patient. If you have a laptop I strongly advise you check online to see how well supported it is and if you have a nvidia card check if people are having issues.
Good luck on your journey, so far i don't regret my choice mostly because i know that linux is so maleable no matter the issue i'll get it fixed.
It's better than it was, but still not as user-friendly as Windows or macOS.
From my experience having used Linux for years: Here is the full list of problems I encountered that I'd say are not the result of me tinkering:
- Nvidia driver is fucked up
- A hard drive also used by Windows won't mount
- The software app can't update my system
- 2nd monitor won't work correctly (pretty much solved nowadays)
Those are fairly common issues afaik, and they are caused by using a slightly more complex setup (dual-booting Windows, extra repos in the package manager) and notoriously troublesome Nvidia hardware. For all but the last there is a one-line command you can run to fix it, and it took maybe 2 min to find it on my phone.
Apart from these issues it's been rock solid, so I'd say you're good as long as you avoid those known causes for problems (No Nvidia, no Windows, no extra repos), or you are able to find solutions to the most common problems and run simple commands on the terminal.
it's been awhile since i dove into Linux, but last time i dabbled i was liking Kubuntu.
I have linux distros that i like and work for me, i almost never have issues. I think it depends on hardware, and i think a lot of the issues are just people trying to do things as they used to on windows and things just work a bit different
Linux has distributions. Think of it as windows preconfigured for different target groups or by different groups. They all have different goals and ideals. There are stable distributions like Debian and distros built on top of that or unstable ones like Arch and Gentoo + all the distros built on top of that.
Each have trade offs. Many stable distributions don't get all the newest software or features because in order to be stable, everything has to be tested. (No software is bug free anybody who tells you otherwise doesn't know what they're talking about). Some stable distributions do have new software and features but are very difficult to configure or set up.
There are unstable distributions that get "bleeding edge" software and features, meaning as soon as they are released they are available very quickly thereafter. Things are bound to go wrong more often here and the system can break in unexpected ways that require more knowledge to fix.If you want a stable system, don't use an unstable distro unless you know what you're doing.
Yes you can.
I spend a lot od time fixing things that I broke because I like it and it's a hobby for me.I installed Linux Mint Debian Edition on my SO's laptop last year (old thinkpad t470) and I haven't had to do anything about it since then. The installation process was easy, I didn't bother changing the defaults and just clicked "Next" on most of the steps.
Can you share with us the hardware you'll be using ? In most cases it'll be easy peasy, but some stuff is known to cause issues that we might be able to identify before you start your journey.
Even running Arch for the last decade or so, I largely don't have issues that wind up being any more complicated than downgrading a package every so often. Most of my config editing occur in one of three situations. First and most common, initial setup of a program to telling it where to find any files it needs and change any default settings I have a different preference on. Second, it's a program I use constantly and want to tweak it to work just so, adding to it as I discover new features that catch my interest, like tweaking my ncmpcpp and tmux setups. The last case is procrastination, where I get obsessively focused on something because, clearly, the reason I haven't written my 5 page paper due tomorrow has nothing to do with the fact I've been screwing around and not keeping up with my coursework for the last week, and can instead be squarely attributed to the fact that I have discovered some aspect of my emacs setep that needs to be refined, like realizing I dislike how biber formats my references in Auctex and needing to spend hours finetuning my reference style to m' exact preferences.
For most general use cases, like browsing the web, listening to music, watching movies and maybe firing up a word processor, this is entirely unnecessary. To give an example, I got tired of having to periodically spend a night purging my elderly mother's laptop of myriad viruses and uninstalling the dozen or so IE toolbar she kept infecting her system with. Clearly not a techy person. I put Linux mint on it, changed the desktop shortcut for Firefox to the Internet Explorer icon, ditto for Open Office's word processor with Ms Word, and she was happy as could be without really noticing a difference. I would just remote in and periodically update it. Worked fine for her until she got a new new computer, by which point she'd realized she could, in fact, live without all that malware taking up half her screen in IE.
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.
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" in performance, packages are not updated (you have to follow -current, the latest development branch).
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
Depends on your use case. Most of the people running Linux I think are the kind that want to experiment and try different stuff, opposite to the regular user of Windows. And you know when you do changes chances are something to break much higher.
If you install some user friendly and stable distro, VSCode, browser, word editor and you never touch the terminal or do any changes it will be solid and stable.
I use Ubuntu for everything I do (except building and testing windows binaries) beside upgrading when it asks me to I never really have to worry about anything, everything I use just works and the ui is fine.
I'm not a big gamer and I only really use open source software so I don't know if you'll want to do things I don't but I do pretty much everything else: image editing, video editing, CAD, coding, all sorts of weird internet stuff.