I haven't had to recompile a kernel or driver in at least five years. It's well past time to retire that cliche.
The only time I build Linux kernels or drivers is when I'm doing Linux kernel or driver development for embedded hardware; my Ubuntu 'workstation' just runs and runs.
“I haven’t had to recompile a kernel or driver in at least five years. It’s well past time to retire that cliche.”
Indeed. I come from a MS-DOS and Windows background. I got so tired of Micro$nots shabby treatment of customers that I desperately wanted to ditch them. Beside that, Windows is a virus magnet. I tried half a dozen distros until I settled for Ubuntu and Mint. I don’t know Unix and have never had to compile anything. All most people use is Office applications and Internet browsing — for those, Linux is a no-brainer.