Aloha!
I tried out Ubuntu, I think it was with GNOME, and I could not be more disappointed. Partly because of the way Ubuntu was designed (more on that below), but also because of fatal buggyness.
I have a circa 2011 HP laptop, Intel Core I7-2630QM CPU @ 2.00Ghz processor, Intel HD graphics family (best info I can find in the Window's "device manager"), and HP TrueVision HD.
I installed Ubuntu alongside Windows 7 with Ubuntu's duel-boot driver.
Firstly, I write "webware" using HTML, JS, & CSS, and typically need a "private server" on my laptop. I use FireFox and the "localhost" to manage the editing process. On Windows, I use the "Friends of Apache" product; on Ubuntu I use the included Apache server.
FireFox on my Ubuntu install completely FAILS to display my web-pages correctly. My educated guess is that it is in GNOME's X_Windows system, or the way FireFox integrates with that system. Like, take the web page, and all the "CSS layers", cut them into pieces like a jigsaw puzzle, scatter them randomly across the screen, loosing some of them, and display a bunch of messy garbage.
The specific page:
https://softmoon-webware.com/MasterColorPicker_instructions.php
Go there and click in the box that says "try here" to see the mess. At least it is on my system.
By contrast, FireFox on Windows 7 performs BETTER than any other browser on any Windows install, in terms of accuracy of display, speed of display, and JavsScript processing. And my 13-year-old laptop with FireFox outperforms all the "modern" (and cheap) ones with Chrome or Edge I see at WalMart or the public library.
I use ActiveState's Komodo Edit to write the code (love their product!). It uses the Mozilla package to display the code, and I think the editor interface also. It FAILS on Ubuntu to display the code and interface correctly at all times (sometimes it works OK). Again, on Windows 7, it works perfectly, flawlessly for me. On Windows, they say they supply the specific version of the Mozilla package with the editor; I'm not sure if they piggyback on FireFox's Mozilla package in Ubuntu, but if they don't, that leads me to believe that the problem is with the GNOME X-Windows system.
I quit using Ubuntu over a year ago (after a month of trials and bugs), so memory is fuzzy, but I think the desktop itself gave me display problems once or twice also.
I wrote OS updates WAY BACK in the day (and not for Windows or Linux) so I have a teeny-tiny idea of what's "behind the scenes" in ANY OS; but I don't pretend to know what is actually going on here.
The first time I tried OpenOffice Text Editor, I wrote 1.5 or 2 pages, and the whole computer (OS) crashed, and I lost my all my work - hours. Like it can't even save the draft every 10 mins or so?
Needless to say, I didn't try that again. Back to OpenOffice on Windows 7.
Now every time I try to shut Ubuntu down, it does not: just goes into an endless loop. I quit using it altogether, but every now-and-then I get distracted when I first turn the laptop on, forget to "select Windows 7", and it boots to Ubuntu.
I also HATE the way it INSISTS to update software without my permission, when I don't have the bandwidth or the time, or the desire!
I also HATE the way Ubuntu treats me like a 90-year-old who never owned a computer before, has no idea what they are doing, and can't be trusted fooling around with the file system, yet I work for a top-secret government agency and my computer needs such an insane level of security, that I have to type in my password for EVERY FILE just to get them into the server's filesystem, or any part of the filesystem besides my "sandboxed" personal folder. Not real time-efficient when your laptop is your workstation, and you are editing and updating and testing multiple files every few minutes. I'm not even sure WHO this system IS good for, except a 10-year-old who just needs to read the school website.
I installed Linux specifically for BlueTooth support to play internet music through my mobile-home (car) radio. I was hoping to get completely away from Windows, but Ubuntu was a real joke; a complete failure.
I am still interested in Linux, perhaps Kubuntu? Will KDE fix my display problems? Maybe it won't crash the whole computer while I type away at my work? Maybe I can control the update processes? Maybe I can access my file-system without insane restrictions? (really, I'm a big boy now). Or, is there another flavor? Debian? Lots of online talk about Mint being the best...true in the terms I need?
"Trying out" 14 different installs is just not in my time-schedule. HELP?
