Fedora?

[Terry Stanford 11]

Hi all, long time fan of AirVPN here. I confess I went over to VPN.AC for a while due to so many problems with eddie on MacOSX, but I am finally dumping Apple OS/software where it belongs (in the trash) and i now plan to put Fedora on my Macbook Pro 2013. That means i think I can finally return to using AirVPN, which fills me with pleasure

I am new to Linux, used Ubuntu a little, but many people have assured me that Fedora is 'the new ubuntu', and in particular will be more compatible with my Macbook hardware. Will Eddie GUI run on Fedora? If so, I will probably use that for simplicity/ease of use.
Thanks

[OpenSourcerer 1435]

Haven't heard of any conflicting reports. Some smaller issues here and there, but nothing as serious as Eddie not running at all.

Not sure what this "new Ubuntu" is supposed to mean. Is Fedora going to crash just as hard, is that what you're saying?

[Terry Stanford 11]

Ha, that joke is above my pay grade, I am just getting INTO Linux, so I have no rights to complain, but give it time

By "the new Ubuntu" I think what they mean is a very user friendly OS with a wide uptake for new linux users, roughly speaking that anyway.

What OS do you use, if you don't mind me asking?

[debu 4]

A Linux newbie myself.  After trialling a few distros found MX Linux both intuitive to learn and pretty functional out of the box.  Eddie works beautifully with it, too!

Edited ... by debu
redundancy

[Terry Stanford 11]

i haven't even heard of that! will look it up, thanks

[OpenSourcerer 1435]

On 9/13/2022 at 10:59 PM, Terry Stanford said:

What OS do you use, if you don't mind me asking?

I'm on Arch Linux currently. Ready to seriously delve into Gentoo once the new Ryzen generation hits the scene, but still unsure if it will stick. I prepared myself for the invest into the flagship Ryzen 9 7950X and see where that gets me. Maybe I'll regret it a few minutes after starting the installation, maybe not. Even if I go back to Arch, builds will probably be blazing fast.

[Terry Stanford 11]

Cool, thanks!
I am a Mac user of 15+ years, i had a brief spell playing with a Linus VPX (Ubuntu LTS 14 IIRC), so i learned just about enouigh to update it, run UFW, and install a few programs. Other than that I am, as my friend in the US says "Dumb as a box of rocks" when it comes to Linux
I do like the look of Fedora, if only I can get used to dnf instead of apt! So long as Eddie will run, that's the main thing!

[OpenSourcerer 1435]

1 hour ago, Terry Stanford said:

I do like the look of Fedora, if only I can get used to dnf instead of apt! So long as Eddie will run, that's the main thing!

It's dangerous to go alone! Take this.

[Terry Stanford 11]

How useful! Thanks!

[SurprisedItWorks 49]

And of course there's linux mint, which with its cinnamon window-manager option has long been the standard for linux beginners.  In spite of having used fedora for a quarter of a century on my primary computers, some months ago I finally put mint/cinnamon on a late-2010 MacBook Air to revive it from the dead world of having dropped out of MacOS support.  I chose mint intending to try transitioning a household Windows user to linux with it, but I've ended up just using it myself.  Installation/setup was easy enough with a little help from googling (as long as I didn't insist on changing the video driver from the default), and I've been very pleased with the results.  I'm typing on it now.  I'm not an Eddie user so haven't tried that, but I do have both wireguard and OpenVPN running on it, the former using wg-quick per Air's instructions and the latter using Air's bluetit/goldcrest suite.  Of the two it's wireguard that's by far the easier and faster to get going, though that's without the superior flexibility of OpenVPN.

Perspective: generally fedora is, of the more mainstream distributions, The Thing if you want the very latest linux kernels and versions of everything, while mint is at the other end of the spectrum: oriented towards a rock-solid and predictable, zero-hassle experience by sticking with security-updated versions of otherwise slightly older kernels.  It's an Ubuntu derivative, so updates can be done with apt in addition to the GUI updater.

[Terry Stanford 11]

Thanks very much, very interesting.
It's a Macbook Pro 2013 I am intending to use.
I have heard countless people (over the years) tell me that Mint is the newbie Linux, etc etc. I tried it a few years ago and absolutely hated it. Nothing would install like i was told (GUI/app respository), I ended up needing terminal commands often, and they were made more complex by me being on Mint instead of stock Ubuntu. So I tried Ubuntu on a VPS and soon learned how to use it. I just found it not nice on the eye (i could probably have learned to adjust that).
So I kinda ruled out Mint based on how frustrated I was with it. Maybe it's different now.
I can get used to dnf, if that's one of few differences, I have to say the up to date views seem to have changed, and Fedora now sounds way more user friendly than before (and than many other distros). I am told it's pretty decent out of the box, security and privacy wise. Whether that's BS or not I don't know.

[OpenSourcerer 1435]

1 hour ago, Terry Stanford said:

So I kinda ruled out Mint based on how frustrated I was with it. Maybe it's different now.

No, your experiences are on-point. I'm stunned as to why Linux Mint is still advertised like this. "But it was historically easy on newbies" – yeah, probably; let's put some emphasis on that little "was". Fedora, Pop!_OS or EndeavourOS, whether you want RPM, APT or pacman to be your base, are currently doing a much better job at this. And still that unyielding "start with Ubuntu or Linux Mint, you can't go wrong with that"… no, I think today you seriously can.

[Terry Stanford 11]

Yes I hear more and more people say that lately. So I guess I better ask, what's PopOS all about?!
 

[OpenSourcerer 1435]

Pop!_OS is the Ubuntu-based distribution from System76, well known in the U.S. for selling and supporting Linux systems. They are doing work so that the experience of buying a computer with Pop!_OS preinstalled is like buying one with Windows preinstalled, but without all the bad strings attached. They're not the only retailer doing that, of course (we've got Tuxedo around German-speaking countries for example), but the most visible, because they've got their own distribution and soon their own desktop just lying around, waiting to be downloaded and installed. With a bought Windows PC, you can expect to simply install Steam, download a game and play it, just to name one use case. That's the thing Pop!_OS seems to be aiming at as well: Buy the computer, install Steam via the store, download some game and play it.

[Terry Stanford 11]

Bit confused where Steam came in? (And I don't know what it is so that doesn't help!).
I am wondering if I should try PopOS, what do you think? Or stick with fedora and give that a run first?
I am basically trying to replace my Mac usage, had enough of Apple once and for all.

[OpenSourcerer 1435]

5 hours ago, Terry Stanford said:

Bit confused where Steam came in? (And I don't know what it is so that doesn't help!).

It's just something I hear all the time from people reluctant to jump ship: They aren't sure whether they can play their games on Linux as they played on Windows. Steam (and their Wine-based compat tool Proton) helps greatly in this regard, only anti-cheat is a real game breaker now (great pun also ).
 

5 hours ago, Terry Stanford said:

I am wondering if I should try PopOS, what do you think? Or stick with fedora and give that a run first?

You will never know your personal preference if you don't try it. So just do it!

[Terry Stanford 11]

haha. Do you think the guy needs a number 2? I do.

[Terry Stanford 11]

Got myself a Lenovo Yoga 16 (16ARP8) which is a touch device, bloody nice spec too. 
Now I am trying to fun Fedora on it, oops, sound isn't great at all due to Dolby Atmos.  

But IF I get that sorted and can keep it, next step will be to try and get back into AirVPN and Eddie (or Wireguard). Does anyone know if Eddie will run on Fedora, and whether it's better to use Wireguard via network manager? 

I do like to be able to switch connections regularly (between various US and EU connections). 

thanks