this post was submitted on 19 Feb 2025
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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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At the risk of jinxing myself I just wanted to share how happy I am with my latest installation.

For over a year my Dell XPS has run Ubuntu. It's been, by far, the worst experience I've ever had with any computer and my very first computer had only 256 MB of RAM! Among the long list of issues I've had we're freezing, unresponsive keyboard and touchpad, glitchy video, multicolor flashing screens, piss poor battery life, piss poor Wi-Fi stability, failure to properly suspend or hibernate, and battery levels suddenly going from 40% to 5%. I figured either Dell put some kind of poison pill into there laptop so you'd spring for one of their Linux preinstalled laptops or I just got a lemon (I did have to get the mobo replaced within a month of buying it).

I've been in the process of getting all of my personal files off of it and getting ready to reinstall Windows and sell it, but I figured it was worth one last shot with a new installation. My desktop has been running Bazzite and I've been really happy with it so I thought I'd try another spin-off (Bluefin, because my laptop isn't well suited for gaming). Installation took a few tries but it's been about 72 hours and I haven't noticed any major issues! Battery life and Wi-Fi still seem a bit sad but I suppose that's the hardware.

So anyway, I just wanted to say that one Linux OS can be wildly different from another in user experience. If you have the patience, go ahead and try out something new if you're just not feeling the OS that you're on. It could make a world of difference!

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[–] floofloof@lemmy.ca 3 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

If it's any consolation, my Dell XPS 13 with Windows 11 and a healthy battery gets about 40 minutes' battery life and throttles due to heat when plugged in. It's quite useless. Dell cares more about them looking slick than being actually useful. I also have an older XPS 13 with Tumbleweed and it runs cooler and lasts a bit longer, though battery life is still nothing special.

Mine (XPS 15) might surpass an hour but I rarely work on it constantly while unplugged. I mostly say the battery is piss poor because even suspended the battery will die in a few hours. It probably didn't suspend to RAM so it was effectively running with a blank screen. Hibernate also resulted in a hard reset half the time.