> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://itsfoss.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # A Simple Ubuntu Fail Made Me Want to Try Fedora: I Love it! - URL: https://itsfoss.com/news/ubuntu-fails-fedora-works/ - Published: 2024-08-28T06:18:01.000Z - Updated: 2024-08-29T04:05:34.000Z - Description: Ubuntu let me down after a simple change, and I'm here with Fedora. - Author: Sourav Rudra - Tags: Opinion, News, #Import 2025-11-08 21:15 Over the years, I have seen many users complain that NVIDIA drivers on Linux are a mess, even on popular distributions like Ubuntu. Similar to our editor's experience in his distro hopping journey, making him [switch from Ubuntu to Arch Linux](https://itsfoss.com/archcraft-experience/). For me, I never really faced such issues on my Ubuntu installations when using the recommended proprietary driver. Be it on a GTX 10-series desktop GPU or a RTX 30-series laptop GPU. But, that smooth sailing came to an abrupt end recently. Join me as I take you through my experience switching NVIDIA drivers on an Ubuntu installation using the [GUI method](https://itsfoss.com/install-additional-drivers-ubuntu/). ## NVIDIA Drivers: Ubuntu's Achilles Heel? 0:00 /0:06 1Γ— Black screen after logging into the X11 session on Ubuntu 22.04.4 LTS. You see, on my Dell G15 5530 laptop (*featuring a RTX 3050 6 GB GPU*) equipped with Ubuntu 22.04.4 LTS, I had switched to the open-source [Nouveau](https://nouveau.freedesktop.org/?ref=itsfoss.com) GPU driver from the proprietary NVIDIA 535 driver (*the recommended driver*). But, as you can see above, after the driver switch, logging back into the [X11 ](https://www.x.org/wiki/?ref=itsfoss.com)session of Ubuntu resulted in black screens on both the connected monitors, with Ubuntu refusing to move ahead and load up the interface. The screenshots below show the method I used to switch drivers. πŸ‘‡ ![](https://itsfoss.com/content/images/2024/08/Fedora_Switch_b.png) ![](https://itsfoss.com/content/images/2024/08/Fedora_Switch_c.png) ![](https://itsfoss.com/content/images/2024/08/Fedora_Switch_d.png) The GUI method, follow the images from left to right. I did another reboot, and I was finally able to see the interface, but that was a short-lived affair. The secondary 24" monitor displayed a white output, with the top part of the screen showing some content, going white as I moved the mouse cursor around. On subsequent reboots, the case was the same: either I got a black screen or a white screen. After disconnecting the secondary monitor, the black screen issue was still present. Do keep in mind that **I had Secure Boot disabled** when all this happened. I then switched to the [Wayland](https://wayland.freedesktop.org/?ref=itsfoss.com) session, and that was running just fine, or so I thought. πŸ˜‘ Around the end of the day, I noticed that the boot behavior with the Wayland session was inconsistent, with random black screens on subsequent reboots. And, to my surprise, using virtual machines on VirtualBox stopped working when I set out to test [RefreshOS](https://itsfoss.com/refreshos/). Even existing machines threw the same errors; I could not take a screenshot for that. **That is when I realized that such a basic GPU driver switch caused issues that warranted a fresh installation?** 🀯 And, that too, in 2024? Where the Ubuntu experience should have been more reliable than this? I didn't bother troubleshooting it, as I felt it wouldn't have been worth the effort. *Moreover, I was itching to distro hop* πŸ˜„ **Suggested Read** πŸ“– [I Just Removed Ubuntu for Archcraft and my Linux PC Looks Awesome!Switching away from Ubuntu, again, to try Archcraft. Here’s what I think!![](https://news.itsfoss.com/content/images/size/w256h256/2022/08/android-chrome-192x192.png)It's FOSS NewsAnkush Das![](https://news.itsfoss.com/content/images/2024/08/moved-to-archcraft-from-ubuntu.png)](https://itsfoss.com/archcraft-experience/) ## Journey to Find a Replacement: Fedora 40 I then set out on a journey to find a replacement. First, I tried [Ubuntu 24.04 LTS](https://itsfoss.com/ubuntu-24-04-lts/), but it had the same black screen issue on login that was present the last time I tried daily driving it. Then, I went on to try distros like [Pop!\_OS 22.04](https://itsfoss.com/pop-os-22-04-release/), [EndeavourOS](https://itsfoss.com/endevouros-5-anniversary/), and even tried reinstalling Ubuntu 22.04\. But, I still faced the black screen on boot issue across those distros. At the end of my patience, I gave [Fedora 40](https://itsfoss.com/fedora-40-release/) Workstation a try. I tried it last because, earlier, Ankush, had [a mixed experience](https://itsfoss.com/fedora-ubuntu-switch/) on his NVIDIA 30-series GPU-equipped desktop, and I thought I would also face similar difficulties. Surprisingly, for me, **Fedora came through**. I didn't face any of the issues I faced with both Ubuntu and the other distros I tried. Almost everything worked out of the box. I just had to install a few [GNOME extensions](https://itsfoss.com/gnome-shell-extensions/) to restore some missing functionality. By default, the open-source Nouveau NVIDIA GPU driver was enabled, and my laptop didn't seem to have an issue with that, even when connecting an external monitor, that too on a Wayland session. ## Do I Miss Anything? ![](https://itsfoss.com/content/images/2024/08/Fedora_Switch_e.jpg) Fedora 40 with a few GNOME extensions. There are a few things that I miss from Ubuntu but that's okay. For instance, I miss being able to easily install *.deb* packages, as many app developers just provide that, with the other options being to use the *.tar.gz* package or to build from source. Here, we have *.rpm* packages. So, not all is lost. [Snaps](https://snapcraft.io/?ref=itsfoss.com) were cool to have too (by default), though [Flatpaks](https://flatpak.org/?ref=itsfoss.com) have done a fantastic job of quickly making me forget that the former exists. Plenty of applications/tools are available as Flatpaks, and with the Flathub repos being enabled by default on Fedora, I have a good experience so far. Though, I have yet to play any video games on this new setup, I expect it to perform worse than Ubuntu, as I have the Nouveau driver. I won't be switching to the proprietary driver anytime soon because I do not need it. You can [install Nvidia drivers on Fedora](https://itsfoss.com/install-nvidia-drivers-fedora/) if you are wondering. In the end, **I believe that both Ubuntu's broken driver switching mechanism and NVIDIA's reluctance to offer open-source drivers caused these issues**. If I were to do the same thing on a Windows machine, it would do the job without breaking a sweat. NVIDIA should take pointers from how AMD handles GPU drivers for Linux. Doing that could go a long way toward making the experience a lot better for users on Linux. *For now, I am happy with what Fedora has to offer; I will stay on it until something breaks, and I have to distro hop yet again πŸ˜‰* **Suggested Read** πŸ“– [I Switched to Fedora From Ubuntu: Going Back Again!Here’s how it went with the switch to Fedora.![](https://news.itsfoss.com/content/images/size/w256h256/2022/08/android-chrome-192x192.png)It's FOSS NewsAnkush Das![](https://news.itsfoss.com/content/images/2024/02/fedora-switch.png)](https://itsfoss.com/fedora-ubuntu-switch/)