Yea I tried in twice. First time the network was disconnceted at suspen and could not be reconnected without a reboot. Second time the printer did not work. I really tried to repair these issues but couldn’t. Really beautiful distro though, too bad it’s so broken.
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I just did an install of EndeavourOS on VirtualBox. Wouldn’t boot on current kernel, did boot on lts kernel. Seems a bit sluggish (KDE version)compared to similar install of Manjaro KDE on Vbox. Lack of a graphic package manager is a turn off. I get the idea of learning to do things with the CLI, but the instructions to install Pamac failed. NOt to impressed.
I used to upgrade to latest Ubuntu until 2019 when I had problems with CrashPlan backup software and Gemalto drivers. Both are only supported in LTS versions.
Since then I just compile darktable, what is actually good because I can make sure it is optimized to my desktop.
Not Nvidia drivers no. Updates breaking the system mostly, was a while back some may have forgot some stuff. Had it running quite a long time the first time before it started getting buggy. The first major thing was a weird one because Fstab had been changed, it had the totally wrong UUID number. I found someone who had the exact same problem on the forum, they were saying how strange this was and how it shouldn’t happen. After this an update totally broke the system and I didn’t even bother looking into it because at this point I’d had enough and also seen quite a few Arch and Arch based distro users mentioning issues they’d had with Manjaro.
There’s loads of happy users though. I have got Manjaro on two other computers, a laptop that became unusable for some reason (it went really slow) but has been fine ever since after a reinstall and my old imac that I use at our shop which I’ve never had an issue with so not all bad.
Thanks for the reply. I’m also finding that some distro’s seem to be more hardware sensitive then others, and depending on the computer and it’s components, more or less a successful install. I think I got lucky with Manjaro on my desktop computer (a 2018 Costo HP with decent specs). I’ve had a couple problems, and spent some time solving them. There is a new problem with their GUI package installer and flatpaks I’m sorting out today. Lucky the CLI works. Oh well, that’s what retirement is for.
I also have a Thinkpad P50, on which I installed a dual boot of WIn10/Manjaro, decided to switch DE’s, and following all known instructions to a tee, managed to destroy my install, be unable to recover it, let alone reinstall it the way I had it. I ended up installing Mint, and am pretty happy with it. Everything worked on set up, one problem was fixed with an updated flatpak, and another solved in a quick and courteous manner on their forum. Problem was mine, of course.
This all started because I’ve been thinking about changing from XFCE to KDE, and am still not convinced I need to. Been trying different KDE distros, and found they all have their quirks. So far, the Manjaro is the fastest, takes far less times for upgrades, and is generally smoother and easier to work in then the others. I’m sort of surpised by all the differences.
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Just installed Zorin OS on a VM, and in their software store found 2 versions of darktable. One is a 3.6.1, flatpak, the other is 3.2.1snap1.
I know that in a Vbox VM, I won’t get openCL. but wonder if on a real install what I’d have to do to get a current dt version that will use openCL. Anyone know?
Zorin OS is based on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS? If so then perhaps a native Ubuntu package for darktable, rather than a snap or flatpak would give best results and would support opencl? Have a look here on the Opensuse Open Build Service page: Install package graphics:darktable / darktable, and download the Ubuntu20.04 build file.
Thanks Brian, I did use the Open Build Service for Linux Mint on another machine and it worked.
I’m just taking a look at Zorin now, thinking of switching out of Manjaro. If I decide to get serious, I’ll probably get an external ssd to try it out on for real.
Things seem to be going south for me a bit on Manjaro, and since I’ll be away from my desktop for 4 months, I don’t have a high degree of confidence that I’ll have an easy time with the updates when I get back.
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With the flatpak, openCL will work with an nvidia card and an extra flatpak to enable the opencl. The snap sandboxes itself out of opencl support and is out of date.
Yes, that’s one of my concerns about rolling releases, if you leave them too long, they’ll be difficult to update.
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Thanks MIca. Unfortunately (or fortunately?) I have AMD Radeon. I think that it won’t be an issue if I do a bare metal install and use the package from the Suse Open Build Service. I’m going to bang on the Zorin in a VM for a while and see how things go. I’ve got the dt flatpack on now, and it seems to be running well. I’ll finish my edits and see how the export goes.
I’m pretty frustrated with dt’s behavior in Manjaro. I can’t go 15 minutes without a crash.
Well after much distro hopping, and much stress, I think I’m going to end up back where I started, in good old Linux Mint, Cinnamon Edition. 
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Hi Brian-
Curious to know if you tried Zorin, and if so, what your impressions were. I put it on a VM yesterday, and am working with it to see how it goes. Thinking of changing my Linux Mint setup on the laptop to Zorin for an extended try, and maybe switching my desktop over if it works out. Thanks
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I did. Extremely slow boot-up from a USB-stick.
Refused to install on a Ryzen/Nvidia machine.
I can second the slow bootup from USB. But on the VM, it’s as fast as anything else.
I’ve got older hardware, so I’m not worried about the install.
Been editing and exporting in dt on the Zorin VM all morning, not a crash or problem anywhere. Like the interface, will see how it does in a few upgrade cycles.
I can’t say I have tried Zorin. What put me off is you need to pay for it, to get the main features, otherwise your limited to the free “core” version. Pretty much a commercialised Ubuntu?
I’m trying the free core edition. The only thing the Pro edition seems to offer is a few more layout templates, and they don’t matter to me. You can also get a larger set of default apps with it, as well as tech support. If you haven’t done your mint install, you might want to try it. I’m still checking out, but after a day running it on a VM, I’m pretty happy so far.
Here’s a couple reviews if you are interested:
https://youtu.be/GTMBFtl_xs4
https://youtu.be/pgjHCGgitiU
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I may experiment in a virtual machine with Zorin. However it seems quite a “small” distro, compared to Mint / Ubuntu, so what will it’s long term longevity be? Plus it uses Gnome 
by default!
Seems like it’s been around 12 years, not bad. And I’m beginning to think that a change of distro every few years will be the norm, not the exception.
Been trying out Kubuntu today, booted from a USB stick. Surprised that it worked as well as it did. I had some gyrations to get OpenCL running, but found a guide that worked for me, and was able to edit a series of about 20 photos in darktable 3.6.0, and used the usual mix of modules. Spent about an hour, and was able to successfully export them. No crashes or hangs during the session.
Also installed displayCal and colord-kde, and was able to generate a monitor profile and install it.
Really didn’t know I could get that far running of a thumb drive. I’m still crashing darktable every 15 min on Manjaro XFCE, and have not found any fix, so I think a new distro is in my future.
One thing I noticed in darktable was that the elegant-grey interface I normally use had much bolder type and more contrast. Much easier to see than my working install. Not sure why it’s so different.
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