I had a dream about windows and have decided to setup Linux on my laptop. What distro should I use?
I used Ubuntu once a few years ago but had compatability issues so I went back to windows. Not a great programmer but I'd like to learn. I'm not looking to do much gaming beyond DOOM2 and factorio. Mostly looking for privacy and a way to get back into programming (I have this pipe dream of learning Assembly). I'm not to particular on UI, I can use whatever.
You don’t need to be a programmer to use Linux. I’d probably recommend you go with something like mint. Avoid things like Arch or Gentoo or NixOS for now as they involve a lot more manual configuration and it’s probably best to understand the landscape of things first.
I recognize that, having used Linux almost exclusively for 20 years, my perspective on these things is not objective. EndeavourOS seems pretty new-user-friendly, though, doesn't it?
Could be, but I don’t know anything about it! Of course there are distributions based on Arch (like SteamOS) and Gentoo (like ChromeOS) that can be perfectly usable for beginners to the Linux world. In general, though, I’d probably recommend using something common, and not using a rolling release distro as a beginner.
Realistically, though, the distro probably doesn’t matter too much for a first install, as long as you pick one where you get a reasonably well featured desktop environment out of the box. Beyond that the biggest difference between most distros is the package repository and package manager… You’ll probably pick up pretty quickly that you need to use dnf or yum or whatever on something like Fedora vs the apt suite on something like mint. It’s also kind of a time honoured tradition to do some distro hopping when dipping your toes in Linux, which I think is a good idea because you’ll learn about some of the different things that are available :). It’s not even too big of a deal if you preserve your home partition between installs (have a backup if you mess this up, though).
I’ve been in Unix land pretty much my whole life and I’ve been on Gentoo and NixOS for a long time so I’m not totally up to date on the beginner friendly distros either haha. Frankly, as long as you pick something with a short and simple install process (which most distros have) you’ll be fine in my opinion.
Yes. Assuming they aren't terrified of the command line. It's actually quite easy. Updating everything on the system just requires you to open a terminal and type in "yay". As far as Arch goes it is one of the simpler ones.
Many people have asked me this (I'm the certified neighborhood tech guy :P), I always recommend Linux Mint, with the Cinnamon desktop environment, or KDE. Ubuntu used to be the best one and it's still very good, but pretty heavy on hardware and they keep adding frustrating features nobody asked for.
Please please please, at the start, stay away from Arch and it's derivatives. I daily Gentoo, but you need a decent knowledge of Linux to use both. If you need help, post to the Linux community or DM me :)
It's plenty good out of the box, it was my first distro and I had a great time with it. But after learning more about what I like about a distro I ended up changing. But I'm glad it was my first 😉
Really recommend mint, or ubuntu. Please for the love of god stay away from arch and all of it's derivatives, or at least try Ubuntu/Mint first. Also do NOT use manjaro it sucks, it is not maintained well at all
Dog I just told it I wanna game and have game Dev supported distro. Guess what? OpenSUSE, Zorin, and every flavor of Ubuntu. I was assuming it would tell me Fedora/Nobara, Ubuntu, and Debian Stable.
I tried this for the hell of it and it suggested almost every distro I have ever tried, close enough to the order of how long I have used each. Didn't suggest kinoite and similar which I have some variant of on all my old people's computers and several of my own.
Well, some specs as to what kind of hardware you have, and what kind of software you intend to use (browsing, gaming, editing, what ever). Maybe a word on what kind of desktop experience you are looking for (Windows, Mac, something else). Do you absolutely need the latest versions of software. Tell us what you need from your OS.
Seconded. PopOS doesn't get enough love. For a drop-in desktop it's pretty great. I totally get why other distros have some weirdness around closed source and binaries and things. However, the average person just coming from Windows doesn't care, so just make it easy to install Steam and whatever else they want without making them go through extra steps.
Wanted to write the same. Normaly I would suggest Mint, but OP sounds like they are ready to learn and endure some things to end up very happy with Debian, the mother of all distros.
I know of Arch wiki, but are there wiki's explaining easier distros? I'm on Nobara, because I want to game, but perhaps I could be learning to configure and install some of these tools to be able to one day use any distro for whatever I wanna do?
My vote is for mint. If you've been a long time windows user it should be the easiest one to get used to. PopOS is also newbie friendly if you're not into the feel of Mint for whatever reason.
My biggest recommendation though is to spend some time with a few different OS's and try setting things up different ways. Like if you start with Mint, try something new a month or two later. It's a good way to get used to the way linux OS's work under the hood.
I'm not a programmer at all, but if you have some background with computers and are willing to sink some time into learning and setting up a new system you'll be fine.
Mint is currently my recommendation for Windows refugees and has been for a while.
Cinnamon desktop environment works like Windows' UX
Ubuntu-based, so you'll find help online for basically anything
Not just Ubuntu; follows more popular, community decisions rather than Canonical's (e.g. things like Flatpak instead of Snap) which will help you in the long run since you'll be using what everyone else is using
Ubuntu-based, so Debian-based, so pretty stable with lots of available software (even outside of Flatpak)
Significant amount of work put into UX with less you have to do
If you're not worried about high-performance gaming, you'll be fine with whatever. For developers, any Linux distro is gonna be leagues better than what you're used to on Windows. For Assembly, NASM + VS Code will be great.
I used to think this was sound advice but I'm on KDE Plasma and it's almost exactly like windows but with the Alt-F2 search menu, stay on top is installed by default. I don't know all the desktop environment options but it sounds like there's more reasonable options.
This.
The best distro is the one you stick with.
AND you're gonna bounce off from the first one soon enough. You might come back to it later, but just pick one and go for it.
You can follow the general idea of: "Are you new to Linux? If yes, use something you know other people know too. If no, use whatever the fuck you want, heck, make your own distro if you want".
I'd say try whatever looks good to you, you can always install something else if you don't like it, as long as it isn't Manjaro. (backup your data before you install something new)
Some distros that I think are a pretty good choice for starters (no particular order):
Pop!_OS
Ubuntu
Fedora
Endeavour OS
Linux Mint
openSUSE Tumbleweed
You can also use Distrochooser to maybe help you make a decision.
Not a great programmer but I’d like to learn.
That's alright, you don't have to be a programmer to use Linux. You don't even have to use the command line if you don't want to (tho I recommend it, getting good at it feels pretty great).
I swapped from windows to Opensuse Tumbleweed recently. Seems like a really nice distro. Frequent updates and easy rollbacks if something breaks. Luckily I haven't had to use that feature yet but it's nice knowing I have it. Yast is also great for changing system settings with a gui instead of using konsole for all that.
Since you're just starting out, I would probably recommend mint. I think it's the most stable of the "mainstream" distros and you'll have less frustrations. If you want to have a great experience with managing packages, I think installing and using the nix package manager is the best way to manage packages on any distros (and who knows, maybe in a year or 2 you'll want to try nixOs!)
I've been using arch for years, but finally removed my windows install a week ago and ended up on opensuse tumbleweed. It's rolling release like arch (so there's never a need to reinstall or have a big update once a year) and it has some extra fail-safes for when updates go wrong (there's an automated QA that tries to find package breaks before they're pushed for updates, and they have a tool called snapper that let's you revert back to a working state if you run into problems)
I really liked OpenSuse when I tried it, but personally want slower releases. Very glad to hear that they just released the new Slowroll distro regarding this. Might have to switch back now... 😅
Fedora has been great. I will admit though, that gnome without extensions or tweaks for a desktop isn't the most fluid UI. Works better for tablet/laptops though.
I prefer kde for desktop. I'm also looking forward to the big xfce update that supports Wayland.
Going from Windows to Gnome is pretty jarring change, as much as going from Windows to Mac. Something with Cinnamon, KDE, or MATE would be a much easier transition to start with.
Whatever distro looks good to you is a good place to start. Think of distros as default configurations, you can basically change most stuff whenever you want.
Screw you, Arch is great. It's not for everybody, but if you want to know how your system is set up, decide what's running on it, and don't mind researching and maintaining your software, it's lovely.
I'd agree with the choice of Debian (or a derivation as LMDE, *buntu, Linux Mint, ...), but would suggest KDE. Anyway, I think a beginner should try the distro of their choice on a live medium first to get in touch with the look and feel of the desktop environment.
Suggestions:
Linux Mint: this is the most popular recommendation for new users. Its nice and stable, uses a familiar Windows-like layout, and should just work out of the box.
Pop_OS!: this one is another popular option, which uses a layout similar to MacOS and has lots of features such as window tiling. It does use older package and isn't often updated, however.
Zorin OS: this one is pretty similar to Linux Mint. It also offers some additional desktop layouts, but some of these are paid, so if you want an entirely free experience, this is not the best option.
Suggestions for if you enjoy suffering:
Arch Linux: Requires manual installation. You have to download and configure all the things yourself. Good option for advanced users who want complete control over their system and all packages installed on it. Otherwise, stay away.
Arch-based distros (Endeavour, Garuda, etc): Far simpler to install, but will likely require regular maintainance, due to frequent updates.
Linux is great but it isn't for everyone, damn perfect on servers but kinda of fails for most desktop use cases, have a read at this: https://lemmy.world/comment/4119679
If you're a power user, I'd actually recommend installing Arch Linux. It will take a while, and definitely much longer then just pressing "install" on a fancy UI, but the advantages it brings are priceless.
Generally, you'll have to build the OS yourself, but you get a manual doing most of the job if you simply follow it, kinda like Lego.
Given that you ultimately build it all yourself, you know how things work if anything might break. You also know how to adjust things if you wish to change something. And for everything you want to do, there's an up-to-date manual in the arch wiki.
On top of that, the distro is running the newest software, which means that almost everything is compatible and runs in the best possible way. It will be tested 2-3 weeks in advance in order to ensure it won't break your system immediately. But even if it does, guess what, there's a manual on how to fix your system.
In case you're overwhelmed at any point, there's a great community. Not sure if they managed to move to lemmy, but they're definitely over on reddit.
IF you want Steam,
THEN you want one of the Ubuntu family:
Steam doesn't support any other kind of Linux distro.
openSUSE gave me compatibility-issues after I had it running properly,
both Tumbleweed AND OpenLEAP versions, when they broke my wifi-driver, early in 2023, so I'm kinda leery of recommending them.
If you want the most Unix-like system, Slackware used to be that, haven't used it in years, though...
Funtoo should probably be the go-to distro for compute-oriented machines, like Blender renderers, or such... optimize to use ALL the hardware-advantage you can...
SteamOS is Arch with Steam components on top, so I would hope they support other distros! :-) It works great for me on Fedora as well.
Depending on their previous experience, a new user may be overwhelmed with any extra configuration involved in getting their computer running. In those cases a Debian/Ubuntu based distribution such as Mint or Pop is a stable foundation to learn what they want out of their system.
When I complained to them about Steam being broken on my ( either openSUSE Tumbleweed or LEAP, or Void Linux ) system,
they told me they only support Ubuntu, period.
I'm not talking about rumors, or feelings, or heresay, they put it in text/"writing", through their Steam support system, in a message to me, that they only support Ubuntu.
People downvoting me for stating fact is stupid ( I've no idea if you were one of the people who downvoted my comment, I'm presuming that statistically, 1 of the others who commented against my factual-reporting did. ).
If people have a problem with Steam not being the way they want-to-believe, then ought tell Steam to make a statement contradicting what they told me, and making explicit that they support Arch.
I've seen enough comments on various Lemmy communities, to know that I do not want to try running Steam on Arch: I've had enough obstacle-induced migraines in my life.
IF they tell you something contradictory to what they told me, fine: you get more-recent information that what I got some months ago!