I've been subbed to the newsletter basically since it started a year+ ago. It's nice to get a glance at what's new/updated, but I especially use it for the "breaking changes" info as I have setup my system to basically be hands-off, if-i-get-hit-by-a-bus-it-keeps-going, except if the docker config change. I have watchtower set to run every week, a day after the newsletter, so I've got time to check the email and make changes if needed.
I thought "oh, I'll just be notified through github of new releases" and went through, setting that notification up, one by one, set to be put in a specific folder in my inbox so it's right there, no external stuff needed... I've never looked at that folder, except for "holy fuck there's a ton of mail in here" and then closing thunderbird, lol. So the newsletter is essential.
Rant, but not at you.
Well I would use Debian, but the last two systems I tried to install it on hung at some point in the install process. I tried multiple times, multiple downloads, multiple versions (across multiple months!), and these are two separate machines from two different vendors.
Debian is fine on my server boxes, but fuck me it's dogshit in a consumer environment. One of those laptops has - and is an absolute necessity to have working - WWAN. I tried over a dozen distros, from 'easy and popular' to 'obscure and edge-case'. Ubuntu (actually Kubuntu, I like KDE) was literally the only distro to 1) boot, 2) install, and 3) have working WWAN (after fucking with the fcc-unlock shit and filling my carrier details). Nothing, literally nothing else could do this simple task.
Linux is great, they say. It's easy. It's simple to install and use. It puts you in control. These are ideas that the Linux community wants to believe, that I want to believe, but it's just not. Given the right circumstances, with the right hardware, and the right use-case, it's good. Stray anywhere off the beaten path and unless you're a veteran *nix sysadmin who values their time as $0, sometimes you're just fucked. I would know, I've been using various distros on and off for 20 years. It's still bad. I don't understand how, but here we are.
I don't like Ubuntu for a few reasons, but in my experience, the situation sucks the least when you use it. Sometimes - see above WWAN bullshit - it's the only thing that works.
And that's fucking bullshit, but it's a fact. And even interested users, who like to tinker, have a limit to what they will put up with before throwing in the towel and using what works.