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This article is about how to choose Ubuntu and Fedora. The editor thinks it is very practical, so share it with you as a reference and follow the editor to have a look.

Ubuntu and Fedora are both one of the most popular Linux distributions, and it's not easy to choose between them. In this article, I will compare the different features of Ubuntu and Fedora to help you make decisions.

Please note that this article is mainly compared from the perspective of the desktop version. Special versions of Fedora or Ubuntu for containers are not taken into account.

Ubuntu vs Fedora: which is better?

The differences between different Linux distributions are mainly reflected in the following aspects:

Basic distribution (Debian, Red Hat, Arch, or start from scratch)

Installation mode

Supported desktop environment

Software package management, software support and updates

Hardware support

Development team (supported by the enterprise or created by amateurs)

Release cycle

Community and online support

Let's take a look at the similarities and differences between Ubuntu and Fedora. With this information, it may be easier to choose between the two.

Installation mode

Ubuntu's Ubiquity installer is one of the most useful installers. I think this is one of the important reasons why Ubuntu is so popular, because when Ubuntu was first born in 2004, installing Linux was a huge project.

The Ubuntu installer allows you to complete the installation in about 10 minutes. In most cases, it can also identify the Windows system installed on the machine, and dual system startup of Ubuntu and Windows can be achieved with just a few clicks.

The icing on the cake is that you can also update the system or install a third-party codec during the installation of Ubuntu.

Ubuntu Installer

Fedora uses an Anaconda installer with an easy-to-use interface that also simplifies the installation process.

Fedora Installer | Image Credit Fedora Magazine

Fodora also provides a write tool that can download and create Fedora live USB on the Windows operating system. But I didn't succeed when I tried to use it about two years ago, and ended up using a regular software to create live USB.

In my experience, installing Ubuntu is easier than installing Fedora. But that's not to say how difficult it is to install Fedora, it's just that Ubuntu is easier.

Desktop environment

Both Ubuntu and Fedora use the GNOME desktop environment by default.

GNOME Desktop in Fedora

Fedora uses the original GNOME desktop, and Ubuntu has made personalized adjustments to make it look like the Unity desktop environment that Ubuntu used before.

GNOME desktop customized by Ubuntu

In addition to GNOME,Ubuntu and Fedora, some other versions of desktop environments are available.

Ubuntu has Kubuntu, Xubuntu, Lubuntu and other versions, which provide different desktop environments. Although they are official versions of Ubuntu, they are not developed directly by Canonical's Ubuntu team, but by another team.

Fedora provides several versions of different desktop environments through Fedora Spins. Unlike Kubuntu, Lubuntu and other versions, these versions are not developed by independent teams, but by the Fedora core team.

Software package management and quantity of software available

Ubuntu uses the APT package manager to provide and manage the software (including applications, libraries, and other required codecs), while Fedora uses the DNF package manager.

Ubuntu has a huge software repository that allows you to easily install thousands of programs, including FOSS (Free and Open-Source Software abbreviation for LCTT) and non-FOSS software. Fedora focuses only on providing open source software. Although this has changed in recent releases, Fedora's software repository is still less large than Ubuntu's.

Some third-party software developers provide Linux with clickable packages like .exe files. These packages are in .deb format in Ubuntu and .rpm format in Fedora.

Most software vendors provide DEB and RPM files for Linux users, but I have experienced situations where vendors only provide DEB files. For example, the SEO tool Screaming Frog only provides the DEB software package. Conversely, it is extremely rare for a software to have only RPM format but no DEB format.

Hardware support

In general, Linux is prone to problems with the compatibility of WiFi adapters and graphics cards, and both Ubuntu and Fedora are affected. Take Nvidia as an example, its open source driver, Nouveau, often causes problems such as a false panic at startup.

You can easily install proprietary drivers on Ubuntu as a supplement. In many cases, this leads to better support for hardware.

Installing proprietary driver is easier in Ubuntu

Fedora insists on using open source software, so it is difficult to install proprietary drivers on Fedora.

Online support and user base

Both Ubuntu and Fedora provide good online support through community forums. Ubuntu has two main forums: UbuntuForums and Ask Ubuntu. The main forum of Fedora is Ask Fedora.

As far as the user base is concerned, Fedora has a large number of users. But Ubuntu is more popular and the number of users is even larger.

The popularity of Ubuntu has spawned many websites and blogs that focus on Ubuntu. So you can get more troubleshooting guidance and learning materials about Ubuntu than Fedora.

Release cycle

Fedora releases a new version every six months, and each version has a nine-month support cycle. In other words, you have to upgrade your system between six and nine months. Upgrading the Fedora version is not a difficult task, but a good network connection is required. Not everyone likes to upgrade 1.5 GB every nine months.

There are two versions of Ubuntu: a regular release and a long-term support (LTS) release. The regular version is similar to Fedora, which is released every six months and has a nine-month support cycle.

The long-term support release version is released every two years, with a five-year support cycle. Regular releases explore new features and new software versions, while long-term support releases support older versions of the software. For people who don't like to change often and prefer stability, this is a good choice.

A strong basic distribution

Ubuntu is based on the Debian distribution. Debian is one of the largest community projects and one of the most respected projects in the free software world.

Fedora is a community project of Red Hat. Red Hat is a company focused on Linux distributions. Fedora acts as a "testing ground" (called "upstream" in technical terms) to experiment with new features before Red Hat Enterprise Linux releases them.

The enterprise behind it.

Both Ubuntu and Fedora have support from the parent company. Ubuntu comes from Canonical, while Fedora comes from Red Hat (now part of IBM). The support of the enterprise behind it is important because it ensures that the Linux distribution is well maintained.

Some distributions are co-created by a group of independent amateurs, but often end up under work pressure. You may have seen some fairly popular distribution projects that have been terminated just for this reason. Many of these distributions, such as Antergos and Korora, have to be terminated because developers don't have enough spare time to devote to the project.

Both Ubuntu and Fedora are backed by Linux-based enterprises, which makes them better than other stand-alone distributions.

Ubuntu vs Fedora: server side

So far, our comparison between Ubuntu and Fedora has mainly focused on the desktop side. However, the discussion of Linux is not complete without considering the server side.

Ubuntu Server

Ubuntu is popular not only on the desktop side, but also on the server side. If you are proficient in using Ubuntu on the desktop side, you will not be unfamiliar with the Ubuntu server version. I started using the Ubuntu desktop side, and now my website runs on a Ubuntu server.

Fedora also has a server-side version, and some people are using it. But most system managers don't like a server that needs to be restarted every nine months.

Learning Fedora can better help you use Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). RHEL is a paid product that you need to buy a subscription to use. If you want to run an operating system similar to Fedora or Red Hat on the server, I recommend using CentOS. CentOS is also a community project affiliated with Red Hat, but focuses on the server side.

Thank you for reading! This is the end of the article on "how to choose Ubuntu and Fedora". I hope the above content can be of some help to you, so that you can learn more knowledge. if you think the article is good, you can share it for more people to see!

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