Why Fedora is the Ultimate Linux Platform + Fedora 44 Changes

Added: 2026-05-06

[00:00:00]Fedora is Linux's best platform. So yesterday, Fedora 44 dropped. And just in the spirit of Fedora 44, I wanted to make a video on why I love Fedora so much and why I think Fedora is Linux's best platform. And we will cover some of the things Fedora 44 added real quick before I talk about why Fedora is the best platform. But this isn't going to be a full review because one, I'm building my own DRO. I don't really want to dro hop because I need to be on my own DRO for now. soon I'll have extra hardware to do dro reviews on. And two, the other thing is just for me, I've been using Fedora for so long, like probably five years now. And it's just been so reliable and stable that I just don't have that much things to say about a new Fedora release other than talking about Fedora as a whole. So, let's just get into it and let's start with some of the Fedora 44 changes. Not the biggest update. You know, it's a new Fedora release, but this new Fedora release is going to be giving you Gnome 50 for one, which is one of the most important releases of Gnome ever because one, it completely drops X11 support 100%. And two, it just adds a bunch of extra things to finally make Wayland a viable platform to use over X11. This release is also going to give you plasma 6.6, which we'll talk about in a second. And then I am recording this a little bit before Fedora 44's release. So you will be getting at least kernel 6.17 with this release. However, Fedora actually updates their kernels mid-release cycle, which means you're very likely to get kernel 7.0 very quickly. Another change is they're changing package kit to use DNF5 as the backend. So this is going to make software installation in things like Gnome Software Center and KDE discover a lot more reliable and probably faster too. Another thing is Anaconda doesn't configure network configurations anymore. So if you've had weird network issues on Fedora, this may fix that. If you're using KDE, there's a new out ofthe-box setup experience. So on Fedora Workstation with Gnome, you don't set a username or password when you're installing, you do that after the installation. So that's very good. If you want to install Fedora for someone, then hand a computer off to someone else. And they finally added something like that to KDE. So Fedora 44 is going to ship that. They also replaced the SDDDM display manager which is responsible for your login with the plasma login manager. Now you probably won't notice a difference because the plasma login manager is a fork of STDM.

[00:02:22]However, it's going to be much more coupled to the plasma desktop and much more integrated kind of like how GDM for Gnome is super integrated with the Gnome desktop. And then finally, if you're using Bedora Budgy, you're going to be getting Budgey 10.10 10 which has completely transitioned from X11 to Wayind. So you will be getting Waywind now. Now aside from that when I say Fedora is Linux's best platform. What do I mean by platform? Well some Linux distributions do a lot more than just being a Linux distribution. And that's kind of where the big four like bases come in. So yes, there's other distros I'm not talking about like Open Soua, Nyxos, all of the dros that came out of Mandrea/Mand Drake Linux, Void. Yes, those are all independent distros that also somewhat provide a package platform, but they aren't as widely used as the big four here. So, you have Debian, which will give you rocksolid stability, and it's just a communitydriven OS. They call themselves the universal OS. And you will get some older packages. They're generally more conservative on what they ship. And this is going to power things like Linux Mint Debian Edition, MX Linux, Kawi Linux, Raspberry Pi OS, things like that. And then I did separate Ubuntu. Even though Ubuntu is Debian based, it is very different in how you use it. So Ubuntu is going to ship some newer packages than Debian. Some things are going to be patched and it's generally more userfriendly and commercially backed by Canonicle rather than Debian which is just communitybacked. But because of things like snaps, using a Ubuntu base is going to be fundamentally different than using a Debian base which is why I did separate them. And I didn't separate Fedora and Red Hat. And Ubuntu powers distributions like Pop OS, Zoran OS, Elementary OS, and Linux Mint. You also have Arch. So this is a very bleeding edge distro. And instead of fixed releases like Debian 12, Debian 13 or Fedora 43, Fedora 44. Arch is just Arch.

[00:04:16]It's a rolling release. You'll continually get updates. And this powers distributions like Menaro, which does hold back packages a little bit, but whatever. Endeavor OS, Cashios, and Gerita Linux. And then we have Fedora and Red Hat, which is what this video is about. And this is a upstream first where they try and get changes to be changed upstream rather than patching packages like a Ubuntu might. It also is cutting edge but with a little bit more QA than something like Arch and it feeds directly into enterprise Linux distros.

[00:04:45]So this powers set OS stream, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Elma and Rocky Linux, Bazite, Nobara, and my DRO still OS. So the way to think of these platforms is kind of like Android. Android is a platform. So with Android, device manufacturers customize Android with new features that match their devices, maybe a different UI and branding. And all of this is done to match how an OEM wants you to use your phone. These other distributions as platforms kind of work in a similar way. So for a few examples, my distribution still west. It takes Elmo Linux packages and customizes it.

[00:05:18]It adds atomic updates and it forms a whole new vision that I have on how Linux should be used aim for nontechnical audiences. Linux Mint's another example. They're taking Ubuntu and completely changing it to fit Mint's goal of helping Linux beginners and also just making a dro that just works. The Universal Blue team takes Fedora and makes atomic experiences for both daily use and gaming through Aurora, Blue Fin, and Basite. And then Arch Linux is kind of a unique one because you take the Arch platform packages and you make your own experience from scratch. You can actually do that with Debian, Ubuntu, and Fedora 2. Although it's not like the standardized approach, but if you guys are interested, maybe I'll make a video on installing Fedora the Archway. So what does Fedora do differently than these other platforms? Well, Arch Linux is a very bleeding edge platform. And unlike Arch, Fedora has a release cycle with fixed releases. and they have real quality control where everything's tested and despite having newer bleeding edge packages, you can still depend on a Fedora desktop to be stable yet still it remains cutting edge. And because Arch is rolling release, if Arch makes a breaking change, it will kind of just roll under you and end up breaking your system. And because Fedora is a fixed release approach, if they need to make a breaking change, they just move it to the next Fedora release instead of just straight updating Fedora. So you kind of have scheduled like migrations and maintenance with needing to transfer to a new Fedora version, but you can do that once every 6 months or you can even skip Fedora releases and do that once a year and then you just have your once a year package migration to the newer version rather than just the package breaking underneath you and then you having to go and fix it on your system.

[00:06:56]You can actually upgrade it when you have the time to upgrade it. And then unlike Debian, it's not going to be 2 years behind on every single package you're using. And it's also just not as opinionated and corporate as Ubuntu is.

[00:07:08]So Ubuntu you have the snap stuff that a lot of people hate. And sometimes they just build new tech just to be different that no other dro is adopting such as uh upstart where they tried to replace systemd or mirror which was their attempt at making a display server similar to Wayland. Now another benefit of Fedora is enterprise Linux. So Red Hat Enterprise Linux is built on top of Fedora and Red Hat works closely with the Fedora team, but Fedora is still a community project and sometimes decisions are made against Red Hat. For example, Fedora ships Butterfest, but Red Hat doesn't really have any developers working on Butterfests and they don't want to do enterprise support for Butterfest. So they use XFS instead.

[00:07:48]So the way a Red Hat distribution is developed is they take a Fedora release and then they build a CentOS stream release on top of it. And so set OS stream is semi-rolling where I think set OS 10 was built on top of Fedora 40 and then they just do security updates and things like that to the Fedora 40 packages and that ends up eventually being built out to be Red Hat 10. And it's also worth noting that Red Hat is one of the biggest contributors to Linux. A lot of modern technology coming to Linux is either built by Red Hat developers or heavily contributed to by or funded by Red Hat. And so if you're looking for something like Fedora but more stable, Sent OS stream, Red Hat, and then Red Hat is a paid DRO, but you have Alma Linux and Rocky Linux, which are complete rebuilds of Red Hat, which allow you to get it for free. Alma Linux is willing to make changes to the DRO as long as it doesn't break Red Hat binary compatibility, whereas Rocky's more closer to a one for one clone. That said, it is worth noting that this is typically done for enterprise environments. like it can be rough to run a Red Hat desktop. Mainly because Red Hat only supports a small subset of packages that they're willing to provide enterprise support for rather than just all the random community packages that Fedora supports. That said, the Fedora team actually maintains EOL, which is extra packages for enterprise Linux. And this can actually help make Red Hat a lot more usable of a desktop, especially if you pair it with FlatHub, which just is another way to get much more bleeding edge applications that are not in Red Hat's repos. And yeah, there are some differences like that small repo and you're getting XFS instead of Butterfs like I just mentioned. But generally, if you're a Fedora user and you go into a Red Hat environment, you're going to know what to do. It's just like running a slightly older version of Fedora.

[00:09:34]Whereas if you're like a Debian user and you go to Ubuntu, there's a lot of fundamental differences. Next up, let's talk about some of the technological benefits that Fedora has over other distributions. So Fedora always ships the latest tech once it is stabilized.

[00:09:49]So they were the first distribution to ship Wayland, Flatpack, Systemd, Pipewire, and plenty of other things too that I just couldn't think of when I was making that slide. And pretty much the only thing they shipped out of those that wasn't ready when they shipped it was Wayland. Although Waywind you are able to pretty easily revert because all you had to do is just in your login manager or display manager switch it from Waywind to X11 which isn't a big deal and they are always shipping the latest software just to ship the latest software. For example, the new Ubuntu release ships restbased core utils instead of GNU core retails. And they're doing it for claim security benefits, but just core utils is something that has had so many eyes look at it looking for different vulnerabilities that to me I don't see any security benefits going from C to Rust. But the rest core utils when Ubuntu was first experimenting with it in earlier versions did break stuff.

[00:10:40]So, and then another thing, this is more of an opinion. This isn't like a straight fact, but DNF 5 in my opinion is the best package manager. Now, Fedora and DNF had a reputation for being very, very slow, but DNF5 is a rewrite and see and fixes that. DNF5 is very, very fast.

[00:10:57]Also, it's just much easier to actually make an RPM compared to a dev package because RPMs have one giant spec file where you make everything whereas if a dev package, you have to go through like different files that you are all switching between when you're trying to maintain a dev package. Another thing is Fedora is willing to ship newer kernels mid-release cycle, which to me is a huge benefit because newer kernels don't typically break things that often unless you're running like really obscure hardware that gets removed from the kernel for some reason. But you get benefits from newer kernels like improved hardware support. Like if you're running like a brand new gaming laptop, you might have random issues on an older kernel, just things randomly not being supported. Whereas on a new kernel, you're good. Another thing is Fedora ships SE Linux by default which is the gold standard for Linux security.

[00:11:42]So Debbie and Ubuntu ship app armor which is a lot less battle tested in enterprise context specifically because most enterprise companies are using Red Hat and Red Hat ships SE Linux 2. And then Fedora has great developer tooling cuz you have toolbox which was the original thing before Dro box but you could basically run a CLI container of any DRO and you just in general have first class container support because Red Hat developed Podman which is sort of like Docker but a lot more open and that is baked into Fedora and so you're going to have first class container support on a Fedora based system. All right, I'm editing this video right now, but I forgot to mention this in my original recording, but another huge technological benefit Fedora has to me is Copar. And this essentially lets you host your own Fedora repository. It's kind of similar to DPAs on Ubuntu except they're a little bit more reliable because what happens is Fedora will actually automatically migrate your packages to a new Fedora repo whenever a Fedora upgrade comes out. And so most of the time PPAs actually work between versions of Fedora. The only time you're going to have issues is if a Fedora copar repo goes unmaintained and then the person maintaining it isn't updating the package to match proper dependencies. But this is still in sheer contrast to Ubuntu famously disabling all PPAs every time you upgrade Iuntu.

[00:13:00]And this is really good for derivative projects like mine because I don't need to be hosting a repository for still OS.

[00:13:07]I can just use Copar for everything and it even supports Red Hat, Alma Linux, Rocky Linux OS stream. And so I basically have my own Fedora/alma Linux in this case repository that I got for free through Fedora Copar for my derivative Linux distribution. And anyone who wants to package their project for Fedora can just make a copar repo for their project rather than trying to get their package accepted upstream desperately. You don't even actually have to build the package yourself on your own system either. All you have to do is link it to a git repo that has some sort of RPM spec file in it. Or if you want to do something like patch a package for example still OS for example has to patch Gnome shells window manager called mutter. Look at this. We just take the git repo for the original package that contains the original RPM spec file. We grab our patch file right here and we just patch the RPM spec file to actually use that patch. And then it runs this script when it's actually cloning mutter here and ends up bringing our patches in. So I don't even have to do this on my primary system. It's entirely automated. Now the next thing I want to talk about Fedora is atomic technology. Bootcy is revolutionary. And what Booty does is lets you make bootable containers essentially. And instead of using a package manager to manage a Linux distribution, it basically turns your OS into a Docker container essentially. And your update system is going to be the same as like Docker's update system. So every installation that is on the latest version of the container is going to be identical, which means you're not going to have random dependency conflicts that break things. you're not going to be having random bugs where you're getting it works on my system type issues and then it is a readonly file system but that also prevents accidental user damage and then you would end up using flatpack or dro/toolbox containers for app installation or rpmos tree overlays for things like drivers and this allows the maintainers of bootc based distributions to essentially be like it for their users boot distro devs can create and execute very highly specific speific visions based on how they want their Linux system to work. And so some examples of this are universal blue.

[00:15:13]They're creating very highly specialized images based on Bootsie like Aurora if you want a clean and reliable KDE desktop or Blue Fin, which is like the same thing but a Gnome desktop or Bazite which is a gaming distro that can either give you a desktop gaming experience or even a Steam OS console-like experience.

[00:15:30]And right now this is the most popular distribution for gaming or sorry I seem to do a plug on this every single video but this is my passion project and it relates to this topic but still OS is another example. I'm taking Alma Linux which is another dro in the Fedora family and using Bootc to execute a highly specific vision of a Linux distro that gets out of your way and lets you do work with features like native web app integration and the custom software center things like that. And there's a lot of customuilt software and Gnome patches and even toolkits that I built custom for still OS. And maintaining that stack that I built up for still OS would be so much more harder on a nonbootcybased distribution. And just another thing worth noting is that if one of my users in some forum comes across some obscure bug and the fix ends up being to change some random option in a config file, I can actually do that for all my users. I'm not restricted by what a package manager allows me to change. If I wanted to, I could completely change the base distribution from Alma Linux to Fedora under the hood and my users would be able to just update it just like that. And it's just cool because I can kind of troubleshoot for a user and then just add it to the image and no one else will have that same problem. And that's kind of why I'm saying that it's making Dro maintainers kind of like it for their users. Another really cool example of this is Blue 95, which if you're tapped into my channel, I did make a video on this and then immediately delete it because I had a bunch of issues with my mic. This is actually the old website. My bad. Here's a new website. So, this is a Fedora atomic based distribution that takes Fedora XFCE and makes a full system that looks just like Windows 95. And so they have a vision of a Windows 95 style desktop and they're able to fully execute it and make sure that it looks identical for everyone so that everyone using it gets a stable Windows 95 looking experience. Now, if you want to learn more about these atomic distributions, I do have a full video covering these that I'll put at the end screen. But that said, Fedora isn't for everyone. Some people want a little bit more stability with their packages. So Debian or Ubuntu will give you something a little bit less cutting edge. Some people just want way more bleeding edge software and don't want to wait for a full DRO release to get it or they just want more customization and those types of people would prefer an Archbased DRO.

[00:17:47]But as a platform, Fedora balances stability and cutting edge software in a way that no other DRO has been able to do for me. And the tech stack around Fedora is just incredible. Fedora has huge repos, a great package manager. It always has the latest software shipped when it's ready without completely changing under you while you're trying to use your computer. and bootc is the future of system management. And then finally, the enterprise Linux ecosystem being set OS stream, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Alma Linux, Rocky Linux, all of that is super battle tested and stable in enterprise facing environments. And with that, I just don't see a platform in Linux that is better than Fedora.

[00:18:25]Anyways, thank you for watching this video. If you enjoyed this video, please give me a sub. Also, check out my video right here about readonly Linux desktop, which does go into a bit more detail on this atomic technology. Please check out my Patreon. If you want to help me support myself as a college student, both developing still OS and making YouTube videos like this, check out my Patreon. I'm going to be uploading videos early on there. And with that, I'll see you guys in the next