I did encountered that DE gone after update issue before thought after I switch to Arch and install everything from scratch I never encountered that issue again. Then again I know what each package was at that point so whenever I did updates I knew if it would fuck anything and exclude packages that would cause conflict.
A desktop environment. It includes most of the software you directly interact with once you boot up your computer (session manager, window manager, task bar, etc...)
Some of the user friendly DEs used in Linux include GNOME (default for Ubuntu), Cinnamon (default for Mint), KDE, Xfce...
If you have no DE at all, you just have a shell and you can interact with your system only through command lines.
But in Linux, there's a middle ground where it's also possible to have only some of the software that make up a DE while keeping your system somewhat minimal. For example, you can login through the shell (and not use a session manager) but then run "startx" if you use X11 or a window compositor like "sway" if you use Wayland and still have a graphic session.
In computing, a desktop environment (DE) is an implementation of the desktop metaphor made of a bundle of programs running on top of a computer operating system that share a common graphical user interface (GUI), sometimes described as a graphical shell. The desktop environment was seen mostly on personal computers until the rise of mobile computing. Desktop GUIs help the user to easily access and edit files, while they usually do not provide access to all of the features found in the underlying operating system. Instead, the traditional command-line interface (CLI) is still used when full control over the operating system is required.
A desktop environment typically consists of icons, windows, toolbars, folders, wallpapers and desktop widgets (see Elements of graphical user interfaces and WIMP). A GUI might also provide drag and drop functionality and other features that make the desktop metaphor more complete. A desktop environment aims to be an intuitive way for the user to interact with the computer using concepts which are similar to those used when interacting with the physical world, such as buttons and windows.
While the term desktop environment originally described a style of user interfaces following the desktop metaphor, it has also come to describe the programs that realize the metaphor itself.[1] This usage has been popularized by projects such as the Common Desktop Environment, KDE, and GNOME.
I ran Gentoo in high school. I think I spent more time tinkering on it than I ever did getting anything done, but damn was it fast. I ripped support out for everything except for my hardware.
Arch is incredibly stable... As long as you know what you're doing. The majority of people who would move from windows to Linux expecting a similar experience won't find that in Arch, unless they're willing to become enthusiasts.
This is the OS version of "it works on my machine"
I updated to nvidia v550 recently. Got a blank tty screen right after login to gnome/wayland. Rebooted the computer and login to gnome/x11, no issue. Logout and relogin to gnome/wayland, no issue. Yay, I guess?
One time, on endeavour, Xorg stopped working for some reason after an update. Had to look up how to manually switch to wayland, adding to the tower of ducttape that is my system.
The NVIDIA drivers getting removed during an update has happened to me THREE times in the last 3 months. In that same time frame I saw an LTT video where they had the same problem, and now this meme with the same problem again. What the actual heck is going on here? I just run the system update command and it says it has to uninstall the drivers due to some conflict with a system package. Then it reboots to the screen in the right image above. Im still trying different distros and configurations but it's almost enough to make me give up. As lame as windows is I can at least expect an update not to completely brick my system (most of the time).
That's why I switched to Arch. Every stack overflow article to fix little problems with sound or screen tearing or whatever was a 1 line fix for arch or 4 to 6 lines for Ubuntu.
I mean that's true for a lot of things, even if it took effort to learn how to do something it can make doing certain other things easier. Like learning to use the command line is certainly more effort than not doing it, but it also makes so many things so much easier once you can. Or learning to ride a bicycle takes effort, but once you know it's way easier than walking to the store.
