I have tried Linux as a DD on and off for years but about a year ago I decided to commit to it no matter the cost. First with Mint, then Ubuntu and a few others sprinkled in briefly. Both are "mainstream" "beginner friendly" distros, right? I don't want anything too advanced, right?
Well, ubuntu recently updated and it broke my second monitor (Ubuntu detected it but the monitor had "no signal"). After trying to fix it for a week, I decided to wipe it and reinstall. No luck. I tried a few other distros that had the same issue and I started to wonder if it was a hardware issue but I tried a Windows PC and the monitor worked no problem.
Finally, just to see what would happen I tried a distro very very different than what I'm used to: Fedora (Kinoite). And not only did everything "just work" flawlessly, but it's so much faster and more polished than I ever knew Linux to be!
Credit where it's due, a lot of the polish is due to KDE plasma. I'd never strayed from Gnome because I'm not an expert and people recommend GNOME to Linux newbies because it's "simple" and "customizable" but WOW is KDE SO MUCH SIMPLER AND STILL CUSTOMIZEABLE. Gnome is only "simple" in that it doesn't allow you to do much via the GUI. With Fedora Kinode I think I needed to use the terminal maybe once during setup? With other distros I was constantly needed to use the terminal (yes its helped me learn Linux but that curve is STEEP).
The atomic updates are fantastic too. I have not crashed once in the two weeks of setup whereas before I would have a crash maybe 1-2 times per week.
I am FULLY prepared for the responses demanding to know what I did to make it crash and telling me how I was using it wrong blah blah blah but let me tell you, if you are experienced with Windows but want to learn Linux and getting frustrated by all the "beginner" distros that get recommended, do yourself a favor and try Fedora Kinoite!
edit: i am DYING at the number of "you're using it wrong" comments here. never change people.
Your second monitor was not broken by Ubuntu. Your second monitor was no longer receiving a signal. The distinction is that the second monitor was functional but not compatible.
Yeah I’m seriously sensing there’s a massive bit of info we haven’t been given. I can’t even conjure up a way that a distro would “break” a monitor lol.
It works with Fedora, Windows and Macintosh. It worked with Ubuntu until a month ago. It doesn't work with a fresh install of Ubuntu with default settings.
There, now you have all the same information I have.
The thing is that this is not something that happens, I remember when I first started using Linux, I got lots of weird problems like that, eventually they stopped happening, and for a while I thought Linux had gotten way better, until one day I was going through some backups and I found a xorg.file with a typo, and then I had the revelation that I had been breaking random stuff without realizing it.
You mentioned that the monitor doesn't work on a fresh Ubuntu install, but does it work on the live iso? You also mentioned having to run several commands and tweaks after installation on Ubuntu but not on Fedora, did the monitor work before those tweaks or could it be that one of those caused it?
I know such errors can be frustrating, and if you're happy with Fedora there's no reason to look back. BTW this is not a "you're using your system wrong", but you might be causing the issue without realizing it, I know I was when I was in your shoes, and probably would be angry at people telling me that because I was sure I hadn't done anything.
It worked perfectly with Ubuntu until recently. It worked perfectly with Windows and Macintosh. It worked perfectly with Fedora.
It didn't work with a fresh install of Ubuntu and several other distros in the same family.
Now I know what you're about to say- you're about to say it could have worked if I had only X Y or Z. But that's not my point.
My point is that newbies don't want to troubleshoot everything.
You don't seem to understand the distinction. You monitor isn't "broken." It wasn't rendered inoperable by Ubuntu. It simply wasn't compatible with the way you set it up.