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Use Linux Mint until you know what other distro fits you better.
Hey, for my recommendations keep in mind I did not use Linux as a main os for some time now. It is based on me following Linux channels and news, but also my past experience and installing it on my laptop and my brother's laptop.
Linux distros are different in the packages they choose to include for their environment, use and desktop. Some distros offer different desktop environments (which are different desktop softwares, with different handling of included apps, settings and theming).
Depending on how well you know how to search online and not follow outdated advice, some different distros can be interesting :
Beginner friendly for Linux :
- Linux Mint (cinnamon desktop)
- Pop OS (gnome desktop)
- Ubuntu (gnome desktop) (maybe, but I'd rather choose Pop OS due to snap packages of Ubuntu beeing forced and having lower quality compared to apt and flatpak)
All desktops can be themed. Tho cinnamon I don't know how well it supports modifying the task bar.
Gnome can have extensions to do things, show a bottom task bar, start button, start menu...
For these 3 distros, the system package manager used (installer, app searcher) is apt-get (shortened to apt). It is a well k'ow package manager with plenty of tutorials online. All also include flatpak, which is a special package manager where apps Comme bundled with their own dependencies (software to make the main software work), and so reduce incompatibilities.
Ubuntu as a package manager called snap installed by default, it has the same objective as flatpak, but it is closed source, and already had issues with malware spreading through it.
Obviously all 3 package managers can have issues, as community is there to check the apps, but it may not always be safe. The safest package source is still the system one apt as packages are checked by the people maintaining the main distro repo. But many flastpaks and snaps are safe. (tho they can have some theming issues).
All of these 3 include a GUI store where you can search and install apps.
Another great distro which can work for beginner or advanced
- Fedora desktop (gnome) (It is also available with the kde desktop). Tho this one has a smaller community, and so there is less useful help online, and there may be more out of date advice you would have to navigate through.
Fedora has a pretty good documentation, but even that one seems to be a bit out of date on some things.
If you have an nvidia driver, this one doesn't have nvidia proprietary drivers installed by default nor help at the beginning on automatically installing them. You have to enable at install (or after in the store settings) the nvidia closed repo and install the nvidia driver from the store.
Kde as a desktop is pretty great, tho it can be overwhelming with all it's settings and options available to the user.
Gnome tho still requires an app to be able to control hidden settings like mouse acceleration and some other settings.
I wouldn't recommend other distros for beginner or someone who just wants to easy setup and work.
Debian is pretty stable even in its "testing" branch (Debian stable = old bur rock solid, not recommended for gaming. Testing = newish, still not breaking. Unstable = unstable) needs to have a manual install or help through someone's script.
Manajaro is a mess. On some devices it will work, on other it will just desintegrate after some months.
Or the communities are so small that packages may easily pass testing and break.
This is a great beginner friendly comment. I really appreciate you for that.
Pop_OS!
Linux Mint is awesome for beginners.
Ubuntu or Mint (Ubuntu based) are the clear winners, I see recently a mild return to Fedora and OpenSuse but I wouldn't start with them
Why not? I've been using nobara KDE (fedora based) for the past weeks now (just a few weeks of pop os before) and I'm perfectly happy.
Well fedora isn't really a beginner friendly distro. The community is much smaller, and there is a lot more outdated or bad advice circulating when searching an issue.
When I installed fedora on my laptop some months ago, I wanted to switch the ffmpeg install and get codecs installed. Even fedora's documentation was outdated.
Only by searching and digging in some websites I found a command I had to do to make it world, in order to switch the ffmpeg version away from the open fedora version...
I see, that makes sense. thanks!
Debian + KDE Plasma if you want a working, stable operating system.
but only if you don't want to experiment, distro hop and god knows what arbitrary challenges to face and never be completely satisfied.
Windows main here but occasionally use Debian, why do you think almost noone in this post recommend Debian? As far as I can tell it works great.
it's just my opinion, but I think because it's LTS and has a philosophy behind the OS that doesn't ring well with hardcore modding.
I kinda feel that Debian is sort of the "boomer OS" in the community; it just works, the way it works, it's the "easy route" (if it makes any sense). also, some people doesn't like APT or initd, I don't know what's up with nVidia drivers on Debian, or the support for any other super proprietary stuff.
you also don't always get the freshest of stuff with it.
I personally love Debian, but granted that I haven't tried out the whole Linux repertoire and I really don't need too exotic stuff in my life if it's about my main computer.
but to me, for developing, working, browsing the web, fuck around with documents, consuming media, networking etc etc., is more than perfect.
I think it's just too stable, doesn't get updates that often. That can be detrimental for gaming, leading to having to install up to date drivers yourself.
Honestly, just go with Ubuntu. If there are any problems you can very easily find answers. Second option would be the get something Ubuntu based, like Mint and Pop OS. Being based in it basically means they take Ubuntu and modify a bit to their liking but at the core they're Ubuntu, meaning that almost everything you find for Ubuntu will work for them.
You can always switch later to something else if you feel like it.
Is Kubuntu a good choice?
Yeah it's fine. That's the one I started with and still use at work.
LMDE (Linux Mint Debian Edition).
I'm an Ubuntu user, which is built off of Debian, but as most others have said Snaps can be annoying. It also typically uses more resources than Debian (depends if you use the base version or some derivative). My next install will be LMDE (or some other Debian distro) because I prefer starting a little more barebones then getting things just how I like it. Ubuntu is more like Windows where things are nice and convenient OOTB but it's more of a pain to dial it back. With Debian you'll need a little extra work to get proprietary drivers installed but it's nothing that has been done by thousands of others.
If you don't really want to tinker with the OS and focus more on games and coding (non-OS) then Ubuntu is a safe bet.
nobara if you care a lot about gaming,other than that MIint perhaps
There are a bajillion distros out there and you already have a lot of suggestions here, so instead, allow me to note a few things I think are handy while learning Linux.
- Most Linux distros are customized versions of a few base distros. Once you learn how the base distro lays things out, that knowledge is transferable (more or less) to other distros in the same family. But solutions that work in one family of distros may not work on another!
Some common base distros:
- Debian: Stability-above-all; all-rounder distro. Updates slowly, but provides a very-well-tested base that many other distros build on. Ubuntu and its derivatives are built on Debian.
- Red Hat: A commercially-focused distro that I haven't used in a looong time, so I won't say too much about it. Slightly less popular as a desktop basis than Debian, perhaps, but also a solid all-rounder.
- Arch: If computers were cars... Arch is for the Hot-Rodders. You have a ton of control to optimize and tweak Arch to precisely meet your needs. When you want to really dig into the machine and tune it to peak performance, this is where you begin. Fortunately, Arch-based distros often forego the detailed install of their parent and just provide a fast-updating, highly-tuned Linux experience. SteamOS is said to be a customized Arch.
- Software installation / updating is simpler and more confusing than either the Windows or Mac worlds.
It's very rare to have a Linux program require an installer like Windows, and it's not as simple as drag-and-drop install like Mac. Linux has had the equivalent of "app stores" for a looong time, just minus the tracking and selling parts.
Most programs in Linux get installed via a package manager tool. There are various front ends, but under the hood, there's usually a command line program handling installation and updates.
Generally speaking, Debians use "apt", RedHats use "yum" and Arches use "pacman". There are also "flatpak" and "snap" both of which are more recent managers that attempt to solve dependency hell.
- The terminal is gonna come up. Love it or hate it, the terminal is still at the heart of the Linux experience. There are guis for pretty much anything you want to do, but because Linux is so highly customizable, help forums and such tend to give solutions in the one constant: bash scripts.
That said, you can get around just fine without it if you really want to. Just recognize that you might be swimming upstream at times.
- You can customize anything! Your desktop environment is pretty much a given on Windows and Mac. On Linux you can install something comfy, like Gnome (customizable, lightweight, akin to Mac UI) or KDE (less customizable, very pretty Windows-style UI).
Or try something experimental like Ratpoison - a window manager that requires no mouse inputs!
Part of the fun of Linux is trying out alternatives and truly customizing your personal computer.
...That's it, I think!
Good luck! Have fun!
Fedora, OpenSUSE, Ubuntu are all good for beginners.
I recommend an Ubuntu fork, like Pop OS, just because Ubuntu forks seem to be more stable in my experience.
But if you want to do a lot of tinkering to get random weird hardware to work, then use an Arch fork, like Endeavour OS or Manjaro. Because normally if you find an obscure project on GitHub that you want to try out, it'll probably need you to download, compile, and then install their package on Ubuntu. But if you're on Arch they will likely have an AUR package that you can just go and install with a single command.
I am a experienced Linux user and I just use Ubuntu. Community support is good and it just works and gets out of your way, with that said I probably fiddle more with it than I realise.. Depending on the system you install it on there is also a possibility that the hardware is tested and supported by the manufacturer. In my case I use it on a Thinkpad p52 workstation and a Dell XPS 13, both of which was/is sold with Ubuntu versions. And if you don't like it just distrohop and go crazy, it can honestly be a lot of fun and a learning experience in itself Edit: Ubuntu 22.04 LTS (Long Term Support)
I moved away from Windows few months ago, and i would recommend linux mint, its easy, stable and beginner friendly. And you can of course Distro Hop to another distro. And with steams proton or wine (almost) every game can be run! For those few that doesnt run good or at all, you can still dual boot windows and linux mint.
Garuda is a great Arch distro which is gaming-focused. I do some coding, and it works fine for that, too, but I actually don't know which distros are better for that than others.
On the other hand, Garuda also does things a bit differently than other distros, so I don't know if it would be good for somebody new to Linux. I recommend checking out some videos on YouTube just to see what it looks like.
If you want a comfortable experience moving away from Windows, I recommend Zorin. It feels somewhat similar so you should feel at home.
Unless you want to f around just install Ubuntu and be done with it
- an arch user btw