this post was submitted on 25 Nov 2023
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Linux
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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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Yes. However the level of difficulty increases.
Zorin, Mint and Pop all are Ubuntu based distros that replace snaps with flatpak by default. I don't know what would make any of those any more difficult than straight up Ubuntu. I'd even argue that most mainstream distros aren't any harder to use than one another. Most of the differences between traditional distributions are behind the scenes: package manager, init system, default applications/configurations...
Even Arch, which has a reputation of being "hard", isn't particularly hard to use. It's the lack of an installer that makes people freak out. The rest is just Linux. Once you plop in a GUI for package management and a proper desktop environment, from an end user perspective, nothing of it is inherently harder.
Solving problems is what becomes more difficult. There's rarely issues with the happy path. The further away you move from mainline, the more components are different, the fewer of the solutions on askubuntu.com work by simply copy-pasting them. A novice user has no idea what the solutions do and why they don't work. Instead they have to keep trying other copy-pasta hoping some would work. At best taking longer to solve it, and at worst some copy-pasta breaking something on their system.
Copy pasting random stuff from askubuntu is how you break your install in the first place. Novices don't "have" to do that, they get told to do it by randoms on askubuntu that should not do that. Understanding an issue is key to fixing it, regardless of the problem's nature.
I've yet to hit anything that worked on Ubuntu that didn't on Mint. Hell, I find half of what I need on Arch Wiki even when not using Arch.
While you're right, this expectation is unrealistic. Not only is it unrealistic for novice hobbyists, it's unrealistic for people who use Linux to do other things, not for the sake of using Linux or learning its innards. For example my family members who use it for work an leisure. They couldn't and won't be bothered with learning how hibernation on Linux works. They want hibernate to work. The have me to make it work for them but folks who don't will go to askubuntu.com, grab a well upvoted answer and copy-paste it straight into a terminal.