I regularly read questions from new users on Reddit and KDE’s discussion forum asking what Linux-based operating system they should start out with, or asking for help after choosing an unsuitable one.
Very helpful 
I hope many readers find this.
Yup. Fedora is pretty good. I’ve been using since Fedora 40. As a somewhat experienced user, I feel like their Flatpak integration works well to supplement their traditional packages and gives users options for if they don’t like the RPM version or of its just borked. For example the RPM for Kdenlive doesn’t include any useful media codecs, but the Flatpak does, so I use the Flatpak. Well, now that I’ve moved my desktop over to Kinoite I use exclusively Flatpaks, but I think you get the point.
Fedora flatpaks are questionable, which I now realize is what you were referring to. Yeah I’m not quite sure what’s up with those. You always have to go in and enable Flathub in discover. Very annoying. Often very broken and unnecessarily repackaged versions of what we already have. Like maybe for some things not already on Flathub they serve a purpose, but other than that they are not great.
As for updates, updating between major versions requires you to be on the latest updates for the currently installed version before you can update to the new version. I believe this is to minimize potential conflicts. So yeah you gotta update once and reboot, then update again and reboot. Which can be a bit annoying, and is why I vastly prefer the atomic model. It works good and I never have to worry about my computer going boom.
I was previously on the regular version of Fedora KDE since version 41. I updated up to version 43 on the regular version and it’s always updated just fine. I decided to switch over to Kinoite for version 44. I always update via discover so that probably explains why updates went smoothly when I was on the regular version. Although it’s pretty neat as a new user to update via DNF and watch all the text blast through the terminal. Hacker man vibes.
I did know openSUSE had an atomic version. Gotta take a look at that sometime.
I recently chose Kubuntu with backports. The main reason was that i’ve made some automation for Ubuntu-based systems so Kubuntu means fewer differences. Also, i feel it might be a little more reliable than Fedora, with less frequent changes. I like change, but i don’t like too frequent change 
OpenSuse’s experimental “slowroll” release was intriguing, but i decided on the apt world to make my life a bit simpler.
good call.
these are the two that are best situated for new users… they are the new mint.
the only quibble i would have is sending ppl off the kubuntu LTS track… i would not recommend that because non-LTS track are often missing packages and libraries that the LTS is sure to include.
the HWE kernel for kubuntu is perfectly fine at keeping up with the latest hardware (currently my plasma 5 install is at 6.17.0-29-generic) and and regular kernel updates come throughout the LTS cycle.
mine installed with the HWE by default on two different machines at two different epocs in their release cycle, but some get the older kernel and—i don’t know why—but it’s easily corrected with
sudo apt install --install-recommends linux-generic-hwe-24.04
the new 26.04 LTS release uses the v 7 kernel so i would have no qualms about recommending the LTS release and staying on it.
Really? That’s the opposite of what I would expect, so this is surprising. Do you have any examples?
it’s been a while since my foray off the LTS track, but there were certain aspects of my desktop experience that were kneecapped… it could have been power management, pim handling or audio related, i remember having difficulty with those (and still when it comes to pim).
but regardless, the non-LTS track is a different set of repositories with different build criteria so one can expect that they are not getting the full LTS treatment in terms of completeness and compatibility.
i found it was not as reliable as the LTS track and maybe that was due to the Qt5 fo Qt6 thing or because it was early on in the cycle 24.10, but whatever the reason, i switched back to plasma 5 because of it, and will remain until the kinks in 26.04 are sorted.
Start with Fedora, no I would not recommend at this time.
I decided to give Fedora a try again (not in virtualbox), unfortunately the KDE iso installer repeatedly crashed (yes I verified, re-downlaoded, verified again, etc), I ended up using the fedora workstation iso (obviously Gnome) to install and later switched over to KDE.
Furthermore, my goal was to replace the CachyOS with arch kde-unstable that I used to beta test the last Plamsa release, and test Plasma beta 6.7 on Fedora but that also is proving to be more work to obtain than it’s worth.
I’ll switch back Arch/CachyOS to beta test Plasma 6.7.
Setting aside bugs or crashes, the choice between Fedora and Ubuntu still matters for other practical reasons.
Fedora tends to receive major updates very frequently. In practice, this means significantly higher bandwidth usage and the need for a sufficiently large or stable data plan. For users with limited internet access, mobile tethering, slow connections, or bandwidth caps, this can become a real issue over time. Ubuntu, especially LTS releases, generally has a smaller and more conservative update flow, which is easier to manage for average users.
Another important point is the software ecosystem. Fedora strongly promotes Flatpak, and while Flatpak has advantages, applications can sometimes be maintained by third-party packagers or publishers that are not always well verified or fully trustworthy. The average user often does not distinguish between official and unofficial Flatpak sources. Ubuntu, on the other hand, relies heavily on the Debian/Ubuntu repository ecosystem, which is centralized, mature, and generally well vetted. Snap also has its own criticisms, but from a security and trust perspective, the ecosystem feels more controlled and predictable for non-technical users.
For experienced Linux users, these differences may not matter much because they know how to audit repositories, verify package maintainers, and manage updates properly. But for regular people who just want a stable system that works with minimal maintenance and surprises, these details become important.
That is why, when I install Linux for friends, family, or less technical users, I usually choose Ubuntu-based distributions instead of Fedora-based ones.