Finally making the transition from Windows to a Linux. I’m pretty sure it’s been asked several times but which Linux OS would you recommend a beginner to use? I’ve seen Ubuntu and Mint as a good start. Not looking to do much. Game here and there (not too worried about Linux compatibility), streaming, editing videos. If I break any rules. I’m sorry.
options:
- i just want my shit to work: mint
- i just don’t want to deal with all of windows’ nonsense changes: zorin
- i just want my shit to work and i have ideological problems with microsoft: linux mint debian edition
- i want an ideologically pure os (mostly): debian
- i want a truly ideologically pure os: pureos
- i just want my shit to work and i have an old-ish computer: mx linux
- i just want my shit to work and i have a considerably old computer: antix
Mint is fine. I went with pop!_os because at the time mint didn’t play well with my hardware.
Make sure you test things from the install live disk before you commit. Internet access, displays, audio should all work.
mint
Btw you can load them to a USB and try out without installing if picking one is kinda hard tho remember performance will depend on USB quality.
As someone who’s been in this for a while, go with Mint.
It’s not a “beginner distro”. You can start there, you can stay there as long as you don’t develop any super niche prerequisites. Even then, Mint can probably do it.
The developers are sane and it’s a popular system that has been in development for years with many tweaks and improvements. There’s a big community around it if you need help/guides.
You just can’t go wrong with it.
It’s not a “beginner distro”.
I would hardly disagree, that it isnt a beginner Distros. However, this does not mean that Mint is bad. It is a rock solid Distros that is focused on accessibility and being user friendly. It gives everyone who wants the ability to learn Linux/CLI while still giving GUIs as Backup if something is to complex in the command line. However not everyone wants to learn Linux/CLI and this is totally fine. For these People Mint is perfect.
That highly depends on what you consider a “beginner distro” to be.
I don’t like the term, because to me, it implies that you have to emigrate from Mint to something else at some point, which is not the case.
It’s not a distro that is supposed to teach you how to do X on Linux systems. It’s just a solid OS with a lot of features that are easily accessible, which does make it suited for starters, yes.
I don’t think you have to or should touch the terminal at any time as a regular user and Mint allows you to not do that, as you pointed out as well.
“beginner-friendly”, perhaps?
I don’t like the term, because to me, it implies that you have to emigrate from Mint to something else at some point, which is not the case.
I can totally understand where the implication comes from but I personally dont see it like that. I see it more as a measurement for how accessible something is.
Long time Mint enjoyer, the ONLY caveat I would put on that is I doesn’t yet have stable for support Wayland.
For a beginner, having the ability to run android apps via waydroid could be a real draw card.
Wayland support is coming, but it isn’t here yet.
If I read OP correctly, they plan to livestream games. Screen capture isn’t as smooth of an experience on Wayland as it is on X11. Which isn’t to say one can’t do screen capture on Wayland, but that it might be a point of frustration for a Linux newbie trying to stream or record their gameplay.
I understood streaming as on the receiving end, e.g. watching streamed content online.
I would actually rate that as a plus.
While it’s nice to have the ability to run android apps, I don’t think many newcomers expect that.
However, it’s much more likely to find an Nvidia GPU in there somewhere, which works notoriously badly with Wayland.
Also Wayland has scaling issues with lower resolution fullscreen apps and settings.
I’d rather have those things working by default.
It’s been asked a million times, and it’ll be answered every time, and the answers will mostly be “Mint, Fedora, FedoraKDE, and if you wanna game Bazzite.”
The real advice that gets posted less, regardless of distro:
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Back up your important files to an external drive, often. It’s entirely possible you’ll fuck up an install beyond repair (or beyond what you know how to do at the time) and you end up reinstalling. If you can just put your important files back and be up and running, nothing of value is lost.
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Don’t be scared of the terminal, it’s incredibly useful. Look up a few YT vids like “bash basics” or “linux terminal for beginners” or something and follow along like it’s a class, you’ll soon be comfortable enough to use it when you need it, and you will, and you may come to love it. It’s not as bad as windows cmd! Be careful when using sudo or su, that’s when you could really screw up the system (but mostly it’ll be fine just be careful.
And most importantly, have fun!
Here’s an absolute classic unix koan about the terminal:
One evening, Master Foo and Nubi attended a gathering of programmers who had met to learn from each other. One of the programmers asked Nubi to what school he and his master belonged. Upon being told they were followers of the Great Way of Unix, the programmer grew scornful.
“The command-line tools of Unix are crude and backward,” he scoffed. “Modern, properly designed operating systems do everything through a graphical user interface.”
Master Foo said nothing, but pointed at the moon. A nearby dog began to bark at the master’s hand.
“I don’t understand you!” said the programmer.
Master Foo remained silent, and pointed at an image of the Buddha. Then he pointed at a window.
“What are you trying to tell me?” asked the programmer.
Master Foo pointed at the programmer’s head. Then he pointed at a rock.
“Why can’t you make yourself clear?” demanded the programmer.
Master Foo frowned thoughtfully, tapped the programmer twice on the nose, and dropped him in a nearby trashcan.
As the programmer was attempting to extricate himself from the garbage, the dog wandered over and piddled on him.
At that moment, the programmer achieved enlightenment
Source: https://catb.org/~esr/writings/unix-koans/gui-programmer.html
I need Peter Griffin to explain this one
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Bazzite for a first try. If you never hit a wall needing to make system tweaks, stick to it in the long term. Otherwise, I’m really liking Fedora. KDE/Gnome is personal choice.
Fedora.
I’d recommend either OpenSuSE or Fedora, both with KDE. They’re big, well supported distros, which should install without issue and provide a slick modern experience. I use OpenSuSE, as I find the YaST system tools convenient and user friendly.
I’d avoid Ubuntu, multiple issues. Mint is a good distro but I think any big mainstream distro “just works” now, so I’d go for something that uses a slicker desktop. I prefer KDE, which is available on Mint but just isn’t as tightly integrated as their own Cinnamon desktop.
sounds like you have a decent computer so try bazzite gnome for your gpu
it’s great for normal stuff, development and gaming
Mint is the OS of choice for beginners. It’s hassle free and it just works. Ubuntu is good, but its snap package got a bad rap when it was launched. It’s not that bad. But it gets confusing since you end up with 3 different software packaging systems. (Apt with .deb files, Flatpak and Snap)
Personally I use Kubuntu, the KDE Plasma desktop version because it’s so much more like Windows and has many more features. I don’t mind the Snap packages, but I avoid them if I can if I can use Flatpak instead. Snap and Flatpak are essentially the same thing: it installs and runs software in a sandboxed environment which makes it safer to use.
Same. Kubuntu for its familiar Windows-like interface.
Gnu
LMAO You and I both know they meant which distro, asshole. 😂
I don’t think they were even bothering to even acknowledge the question that was answered by enough others.
They weren’t being one way or another or anything but to just provide important information. That, because it is, even though the poster didn’t recognize the importance of it, yet.
That’s as properly helpful as one may be given that absolute shit flung our way for highlighting this particular point.
Although we might be opt to point out some capitalization issues. That may well ack-choo-choo-ally be the point though.
ZorinOS is doing awesome for begginers, LinuxMint is also a reliable option that might makes you learn more about GNU/Linux OSes
Linux is linux. In the end it’s more your personal taste with just a little sprinkle of use case that decides.
The main differences are:
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Update speed: How quickly are the repositories getting updates. That’s a spectrum between getting cutting edge version in days or weeks or having things unchaged for up to several years. Or in other worlds you will see more bugs in freshly released software, but also bugfixes often within days. Compared to getting new feature only after years, but rarely any bugs (the very few ones that slip through… well, you will get the fix in a few years). That’s also where use case plays a bigger role. If you use very new hardware and want software that uses their newest features, a rather stale slow updating distro might not be the right fit for you.
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Update scheme: Fixed vs. continues release. Continues releases are slowly but constantly changing over time but once installed they can basically used forever. While fixed releases are mostly just shipping critical bugfixes and security patches and doing everything else in big release steps (think in terms of Windows upgrades here: You mostly have the same thing for years but at a certain point there is a newer version that might bring changes in defaults, new pre-installed software, UI changes etc. and after a couple of years you lose support if you don’t do that step).
Also more depending on your personal taste and habits:
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How much are you willing or interested in tinkering? Basically all distros give you access to all software. But what is pre-installed changes, both in what is provided by default and also how much software is there already. For example do you want stuff for video editing set up already or don’t you care as you will test out all the options available anyway?
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The same is true the basic desktop environment. Gnome and KDE are the two big ones (with some more oftens based or forked from those two). And it mostly a difference of “here is our environment exactly as we think it’s best with very little customisation” (Gnome - also the one with most forks, by people who did not agree with the Gnome devs vision) and “have fun customising” (KDE). Is customising stuff to your liking your thing? Or do don’t care and also prefer something as close to what you are used to on Windows? Again: Distros have all the options available. But some have one environment or the other pre-installed. Or they come in different flavors from the beginning. If customisation isn’t your cup of tea the decision on a certain distro matters much more.
Other considerations:
- Immutable distros are more on the newer end of things. They are basically designed more like for example Android. There is a base system that rarely changes and allows basically a “reset ot factory settings”, with updates and additionally installed software provided as incremental changes and/or highly containerised. That has benefits (you can revert screw ups easily) but also drawbacks (decades of available linux instructions are now worthless until you really understand where that regular config file you can’t edit anymore is now located in some separate container only used by one specific piece of software - and most people that google for such solutions don’t). Again this is mostly decided by habits. Are you expecting to tinker with your system or do you just want something that works on its own that neither you or an upgrade cannot possibly break. In the latter case an immutable distro can be the thing for you. And as always… you have all the options and you can also setup most other distros with extensive systems of “save points” to revert problematic changes anyway.
Things to not consider:
- ignore the answers speaking about “it provides WINE for running windows stuff” or “it comes with NVIDIA drivers” because they basically all do (minus the already mentioned combination of running cutting edge hardware with very slow updating distros - that’s not a good idea). At the worst it usually requires clicking some “Yes, I don’t insist on open source stuff exclusively but will also to use proprietary drivers if available” checkbox in the installer.
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Mint is fine, Ubuntu sucks ass, don’t use that. Zorin OS is also fine.
