Hey guys, I want to switch to Linux, but I don’t know what Distro to use, and I wanted to know what you guys think.
I’m pretty much a noob when it comes to PCs- I built my first last summer, mostly for uni work but also for gaming (I spilled water on my Xbone lol). Until then I was using an old Acer laptop, which is getting long in the tooth, but otherwise works fine (and which I recently installed Firefox on at your recommendation, and it works great). I have no coding knowledge whatsoever, but I’m willing to learn as much as I need to get by!
I’m not worried about gaming compatability. I’ve checked on proton and all the games I want to play atm are compatible, so I’m golden. I’ll probably make the switch on my laptop first, before moving over on my desktop.
So, beginner-friendly Distro suggestions? I’ve head good things about Mint and Ubuntu, but I’m open to suggestions.
Also, having some sort of pinned Hexbear Guide to Switching OS, even if it only included links to other websites, would be a good idea IMO
Who the hell would rec arch for a first time newb?
That would be like telling someone they need to learn to rebuild a carburetor to drive a prius.
did you miss the part of my comment that begins with “fair” lmao
also recommending manjaro isn’t the same as recommending arch
I’ll always suggest Ubuntu. The community support is massive. Something to understand is distros can be similar in their family tree. Ie Ubuntu comes from debian, mint comes from ubuntu, etc. So if you have a “debian based” distro, you can mix and match support as long as its not a niche thing about that distro.
Ubuntu is great not because its the best, but because of the support. i’ve been using Linux for 12 years now, I’ve used Arch, Fedora, Debian, and Ubuntu and I still install Ubuntu on machines where I don’t want to think much.
Another note: If you’re researching distros and think “I like how this one looks”, understand you can install any desktop environment on base Ubuntu. If you like how Mint looks, you can google “install cinnamon desktop ubuntu” and get that same experience.
When first learning, the terminal will feel like you’re feeling around in a dark room. Find a basic tutorial for the basic aspects of using a terminal, ie “cd” for “change directory”, “ls” for list whats in that directory, what a “man page” is(the built in manual system). etc. Some basic reading on understanding the language of using a terminal will go very far and if you look up tutorials, pay attention to the terminal commands, don’t just blindly paste it in. If you see a command you don’t know, try typing “man <command>” and read up a bit.
If you know you want to do something with a command, open the man page with the above, then type a “/” and type a phrase to search and press enter to search for it, “n” for next, or “<shift>+n” to search backwards.
Good luck and have fun. I’ve handed linux to people with zero computer knowledge and they’ve thrived. Just be careful with the “sudo” command and back up your data in case you get yourself in a whole and need to reinstall.
For some reason, first installs are always weird, don’t be afraid to re-install and try again.
I had a friend with a good Vyvanse prescription who had never used linux before. He learned via brute force, just reinstalling ubuntu on his mac until he understood all the steps and configurations, then jumped to arch in a week. I ask him arch questions now.
I usually recommend Kubuntu for Windows power users, Mint for people who just want to grill, and Pop OS for gamers and people who aren’t afraid of a different user interface.
In other words, Pop OS for zoomers, Kubuntu for millenials, Mint for boomers.
They are all based on Ubuntu which is not my favourite distro (the upgrades suck and it sometimes does things you didn’t ask it to do in the name of user friendliness) but at the same there are many things that assume you’re running Ubuntu and you need a bit of experience to adapt them to other distros.
I hadn’t considered Pop OS, but I’ll have a look. Thanks for the suggestion!
Any Debian-based distro aimed at beginners. That includes Mint, Ubuntu, Pop OS, and probably a zillion other things. You’ll be in good hands with any of them, and you might as well pick based on which one has your favorite default desktop background.
I like Kubuntu plasma, its fairly simple but if you know what you’re doing you can customize the shit out of it. Lots of people are recommending Pop OS, I haven’t used it but from every thing I’ve read it seems to be really good.
