Any distro I should use?

  • rufus ( rufus@discuss.tchncs.de ) 
    10·
    3 years ago

    Try it with a Live USB stick. And maybe don’t listen to the people recommending Ubuntu. It’s somewhat okay, but they regularly do annoying business decisions that affect their users. I’d rather start with Mint or something.

    There are many other websites dedicated to this question:

  • SavvyWolf ( savvywolf@pawb.social ) English
    10·
    3 years ago

    Mint is my recommendation, having using it myself for many years now.

    If you have a Nvidia GPU, a case could be made for POP! due to the built in drivers, but installing Nvidia drivers is rather painless in Mint.

  • 520 ( 520@kbin.social ) 
    9·
    3 years ago

    First time? Use Ubuntu. Not only is it easy to use and a good UX overall, most tutorials assume a Ubuntu based distro (there are differences between distros that can be…hard to translate over). That’s going to be really useful when you’re looking up how to do stuff

    • assplode ( assplode@kbin.social ) 
      4·
      3 years ago

      Another vote for Ubuntu.

      I tried it as my first Linux distro about 5 years ago. There was some learning curve, but I really enjoyed it.

      I’ve been using it for 5 years now. I’m glad I switched from windows!

      • Avid Amoeba ( avidamoeba@lemmy.ca ) 
        3·
        3 years ago

        Parent comment is right. The body of documentation generated for Ubuntu by the community is an enormous asset. It’s one of the important side effects of it being the most used distro.

      • d3Xt3r ( d3Xt3r@lemmy.nz ) 
        2·
        3 years ago

        Parent comment is wrong. The default UX used in Ubuntu may actually be confusing for newbies, as it’s quite different compared to Windows. Just check some screenshots or videos and you can see for yourself. I’d instead recommend going for a distro which uses a more familiar UX (ie the Desktop Environment).

        Perhaps a distro which uses KDE, XFCE, Cinnamon, MATE or LXQt by default (these are “desktop environments” (DE) - which is a collection of the desktop shell components (eg start menu, taskbar, dock etc) plus default applications that go with it eg the file manager, document viewer etc). A desktop environment like the ones I mentioned above, in their default settings, should be familiar to most Windows users. Now whilst you can install any DE on any distro, it can be a daunting task for newbies, plus, the settings might not be optimal for you. So it’s better to go with a distro that comes with such easy-to-use DEs by default. Examples of such distros include Linux Mint and Zorin. These, by default, should look quite familiar to you, and should be even more easier to use than Ubuntu.

        Both Mint and Zorin are based on Ubuntu, so most of the documentation for Ubuntu should be relevant to Mint and Zorin as well. But if you’re not sure, just include quotes for your distro when you’re doing a web search, eg how do I do this in Linux "Mint" will ensure you’ll only get results with “Mint” in the page.

        • 520 ( 520@kbin.social ) 
          3·
          3 years ago

          The default UX used in Ubuntu may actually be confusing for newbies, as it’s quite different compared to Windows.

          It’s not that different, dude, and it’s not like they don’t give you a tutorial on first boot either.

          Perhaps a distro which uses KDE, XFCE, Cinnamon, MATE or LXQt by default.

          Gauge your audience dude. A Linux newbie will not know wtf anything you just named is. (For any other newbies reading, these are all ‘desktop environments’ - essentially collections of programs that make up a user interface)

            • 520 ( 520@kbin.social ) 
              2·
              3 years ago

              Side dock, top panel, lack of a “start” menu are already three immediately visible differences, and you claim it’s not that different?

              The side dock is a taskbar except on the left hand side. Big whoop. Top panel is basically the system tray as seen on Windows, with all functionality fairly obvious just by looking at it, and there is infact a start button where you can type in the program name you’re looking for, just like most people do in Windows. Not exactly MacOS levels of relearning.

              Which is EXACTLY why I mentioned them, so that they can Google it.

              Or…you can explain what you are talking about. Like I did for you. Sending newbies off on wild Google chases is not helpful.

            • 520 ( 520@kbin.social ) 
              1·
              3 years ago

              I do need to be fair though… The ones the other person mentioned, they are infact more ‘windows-like’ than Ubuntu’s default. It isn’t hard to learn Ubuntu’s setup by any means but it is something to learn.

        • Avid Amoeba ( avidamoeba@lemmy.ca ) 
          1·
          3 years ago

          This is not 2005 when the vast majority’s experience with interactive UX on a screen was Windows. People today operate Android, iOS much more so than Windows. Thus they are able to grok multiple OS chrome paradigms without much difficulty. And then the OS chrome is rather simple and therefore learning it doesn’t cost much or yield significant benefits should you have gotten that knowledge for free. Therefore the argument for choosing an OS based on its chrome is as shallow as the chrome itself. The difficult stuff is things not working due to defects (bugs), finding solutions and implementing them and that’s where the OS choice yields the highest benefit. On that front few options beat Ubuntu LTS other than perhaps Debian, but Debian isn’t novice-friendly.

  • Amends1782 ( Amends1782@lemmy.ca ) 
    8·
    3 years ago

    For the love of god and all that is holy just use mint cinnamon it’s the easies most stable with little learning curve ever. High performance great for work gaming browsing whatever lol. If you can use windows 7/10 you can use mint cinnamon

  • SterbenDeathGun ( Sterben@lemmy.ml ) 
    7·
    3 years ago

    Why don’t you try becoming comfortable with Linux while using it in a Virtual Machine? I tried different distros too, and then I decided which one was the best for me.

    We can’t really suggest you one, if we don’t know what you are going to use it for.

    You may want to do some research, because different distros have different purposes (gaming, privacy, programming, easy to use etc etc).

    Let us know, what your use cases will be?

  • st3ph3n ( st3ph3n@kbin.social ) 
    5·
    3 years ago

    I’ve been linux-curious on-and-off for years. I’ve toyed with it several times but always gone back to Windows eventually. I have a laptop with a 7th gen Intel CPU that is not supported on Windows 11, so I decided to wipe it and threw the latest version of Linux Mint on it. Everything (except for a fingerprint reader) worked straight out of the figurative box, and I’ve been happily running it on that machine for about 6 months now. I think Mint is a good choice if you want a simple windows-like experience.

    I still have a desktop PC running Windows for games and Adobe Lightroom and stuff, but I won’t be going back to Windows on that laptop.

  • gerdesj ( gerdesj@lemmy.ml ) English
    5·
    3 years ago

    Start off with Gentoo to get the hang of the basics. Switch to Arch because compile times and heat burns. Try Linux from Scratch for a laugh, giggle and move on, but with a new found respect for distro maintainers.

    What’s your use case? If it involves AAA games then that will narrow things a bit but if you simply want a bit of docs n that and, internet browsing and a spot of email and realtime sound and CAD then we’ll need a broader chat.

    Debian, Fedora, Ubuntu, OpenSuSE, Mint - those would be my starters for 10 in no particular order. Pick yours and your hip angle. I personally run Arch (actually) and Gentoo. I don’t recommend them as a dip your toe in the water job 8)

    Feel free to dive in, the water is lovely.