I tried using Debian 12 instead of Arch. I ended up installing my apps with the Nix package manager. Debian provides Firefox ESR and an old version of NeoVim. I didn't want to add more repositories to apt, as I have had some bad experiences in the past with conflicts in backports packages.
It just pisses me off that people told me for years to switch to Linux and when I finally did, it wasn't good enough for a lot of them because I wasn't using the right flavor of Linux in their view.
But yeah, Mint is fine for my needs- a web browser and a handful of applications- and I'm going to stick with it.
I can relate. if you let people tell you what you should do, you will never feel satisfied because there is no consensus. People are addicted to pointing out negatives and telling others what they should be doing. I am an arch user because of imagined people telling me I should.
I realize now I that this has impacted my life in many ways. I am working to uncover the difference between what I want, and what I think i should do because of what my brain thinks people expect of me.
It’s the hobbyist issue. “You don’t [hobby]‽ Learn it!” Followed by “Do more [complicated/expensive/expert] version.”
I’m really glad I switched, but I’m a casual. I shouldn’t’ve taken the die hards into account when switching. You don’t need or want to learn an instrument on the most expensive version. You don’t need or want a high end carbon fiber bike to get into shape and do grocery runs. And you don’t need or want to learn on arch unless you’re certain you want to spend a lot of time learning.
In the past 5ish years linux has entered viability as an “I just need a computer and this seems like it might be better for my needs/wants”. We should trust them about as much as the people saying to drop thousands of dollars on a top of the line bicycle for groceries.
Fedora was actually the last version of Linux I used, back in high school on my old HP e-Vectra. Fedora Core 4. What made you pick Fedora? I'm going to be switching to Linux before Win 10 is end of life, and there are so many more options than there were in the early 2000's.
Fedora is a very solid, no nonsense distro. It gives you a vanilla Linux experience, with sane defaults out of the box. You get major updates every 6 month shipping newer version of the core stuff (kernel, desktop environment, etc). The Fedora community is dedicated to deliver a reliable OS and tests a lot before shipping updates.
It's my favorite desktop/laptop distro for many years.
However, there are a couple a pitfalls to avoid. If you go for it, follow some beginners guide to get you sorted out with things like codecs and proprietary drivers. E.g: Things to do after installing Fedora 40 - itsfoss.com I would definitely recommend to do steps 2, 3, 4 and 5 from this guide.