# Ubuntu 560 Hacker News commenters recommended Ubuntu and 493 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 12 of 13 months; owners who said how long report a median of 10 years (116 owners). **Verdict:** A mainstream Linux distro that mostly just works on lots of hardware, suits beginners and offers long LTS support, though critics dislike Snaps and Canonical's direction. ## Why people recommend it - Just works, beginner-friendly (8 comments): "My (completely non computer savvy) parents and in-laws are on ubuntu/mint since 2009 and it was the best decision ever to switch them over." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46724303)) "if Canonical didn't invest into making a Linux distro that's accessible to normal people, it wouldn't have the relevance it now does" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50078077)) "my experience running an Ubuntu LTS in my main computer has been straightforward, easy and as problem-free as one could expect" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48159412)) - Broad hardware and driver support (5 comments): "Dell have pre-installed & fully supported Ubuntu on a bunch of their Precision, XPS, and, more recently, Pro laptops for over a decade now." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49420419)) "Distro like Ubuntu are a fair compromise to get amd/nvidia GPU drivers, wifi, and brother laser printer/scanner networking installed." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47886502)) "It (mostly) just works on a wide range of hardware, whilst remaining up-to-date with the latest Linux developments." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49909802)) - Long-term LTS support (4 comments): "my experience running an Ubuntu LTS in my main computer has been straightforward, easy and as problem-free as one could expect" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48159412)) "Established software changes SLOWLY. It doesn't need to reinvent itself with a brand new dichotomy every 3 years." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46023721)) "For them, better to install the latest Ubuntu LTS once, and then I can upgrade for them at Christmas in 4 years." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46104722)) - Big community and mainstream (3 comments): "I use Ubuntu because I've been using it for ~20 years and have better things to do than try out different distros." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46578565)) "install one of the most mainstream distros like Ubuntu or Fedora, accept the defaults, and move on with your life" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47450451)) "Stick with mainstream like Ubuntu and you will have tons of community support and knowledge to search through." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48151344)) ## What people warn about - Snaps and forced packaging (4 comments): "Just install Ubuntu and remove snap. We are doing this for our University pool etc and encountered no issues." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47886214)) "I think it's horrible that they've taken extreme measures to overtly circumvent their users' desire to run the Firefox distributed through Mozilla's repo." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45923224)) "you don't need to put up with any of the continuous enshittifications Canonical subjects you to (Snaps, increasing poor quality code etc)" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46093087)) - Distrust of Canonical's direction (4 comments): "even the Ubuntu certification is a joke - Canonical is allowed to use customized versions of Ubuntu that they aren't required to release to the public" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49489381)) "after being burned by what Microsoft did to the Linux community for the last 20+ years, I'll just distance myself more from Ubuntu ecosystem." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47134798)) "Canonical proceeded to focus on the server side where there's more money, fewer loud freeloaders, and now they're somewhat more evil." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46298723)) - Risky core changes and upgrades (4 comments): "Some LTS upgrades don't require many changes (mostly minor package name changes) and some take months of work to get rolled out" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48231442)) "I think it's an awful idea. Apart from making things less secure it also makes sudo's UX inconsistent with most of the other coreutils." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47467008)) "Injecting ads into the desktop and cli, having a package manager that runs as a root service, their decades of poor upgrade testing" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50102972)) - Hardware and driver quirks (3 comments): "that's honestly reflected in it sometimes having hardware breakage during a version's initial two year mainstream support run." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47524718)) "If you could get the kind of driver support you have with Windows for just whatever the fuck you have lying around, I'd probably use my Ubuntu laptop as more of a daily driver." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48591842)) "A problem I've been having with Ubuntu is just quirky things with bluetooth devices and a monitor that doesn't always get recognized when waking the pc up from sleep." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46966894)) ## Alternatives hackers recommend - [Debian](https://hackerapproved.com/p/debian.md): 552 recommend - [Fedora Linux](https://hackerapproved.com/p/fedora.md): 437 recommend - [Arch Linux](https://hackerapproved.com/p/arch-linux.md): 362 recommend - [Linux Mint](https://hackerapproved.com/p/linux-mint.md): 277 recommend - [Asahi Linux](https://hackerapproved.com/p/asahi-linux.md): 260 recommend ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "Ubuntu", https://hackerapproved.com/p/ubuntu/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).