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Fat Tony @lemmy.world

When Windows 10 dies, I am going to jump ship over to Linux. Which version would you recommend for someone with zero prior experience with Linux? Edit: Linux Mint it shall be.

Whom also likes to game every now and then ;)

Edit: Thank you all for your input and suggestions! Linux Mint shall be my next OS! Though, I think I'll give Pop!OS a look-see as well.

199 comments

  • Definitely Linux Mint. Literally the best out there whether new to Linux or an advanced user.

  • I'll comment and agree with most of the people who have already commented who recommend Linux Mint. It's very good for beginners. Alternatively, you can also take a quiz found at distrochooser.de to get an idea of which distros may be right for you.

  • Linux Mint, 100%. Most of your configuration will have a GUI and their flagship Cinnamon desktop is made to look similar to Windows 7.

  • You have a lot of options

    -Linux Mint: the default choice, nothing wrong with it, however not the best when it comes to gaming or if you have multiple monitors with different resolutions and refresh rates.

    -ZorinOS: Looks good, but can take some time to get used to it and doesn't have the multi monitor issues of Linux mint, however it is on the heavier side of Linux distros.

    -Fedora/Nobara: the 2 are basically the same with one another, but nobara is more gaming-focused. They will also take some time to get used to how they work, but are in my experience generally snappier and more responsive.

    No matter which distro you choose, remember, don't think of Linux the same way you think of windows, think of it as desktop android, as in you download stuff from the distro's app store and not off of the internet, unless necessary.

  • I'm a Linux mint user for my main system and am no beginner. As others have said, it's friendly to both beginners and advanced users, it's good to see you've made that choice.

    That being said, don't stop there. Whether it's in a virtual machine or some old laptop, also try one of the "from scratch" systems. I went with Gentoo and that is the root of where a ton of my Linux knowledge started. It's my favorite distro simply because it has that history for me. You'll find everyone has their own favorites for their own reasons, so be sure to explore and find the one that you enjoy and helps you learn.

  • Personally, I think your choice of desktop environment have more impact to your day-to-day experience than your distro choice. If you feel at home with windows-like UI, try KDE Plasma. If you like minimalistic mac-like interface, then try Gnome.

  • You need to first understand what kind of interaction you expect with your OS. For this, you can start by considering what you use your OS for and currently what you do for your OS. e.g. Before I jumped to Linux, I was just starting to learn PowerShell on Win, because I saw a lot of places in my system where I wanted to use it. I felt consistently dissatisfied with the lack of things I could just tell the system to do, making me go to scripting. This way, I knew I won't have a problem with putting time into something that takes a lot of configuring. But since I was still new and wanted an easy start, I went with Manjaro KDE. It was based on Arch, but had a system of differed updates, giving me a feel of it being easier. Plus, it had a lot of customisations out of the box, some of which, I learnt from, when making my own configurations for EndeavourOS. EndeavourOS considers itself to be more terminal oriented, and it is possible to easily get a full-fledged tty system, just by selecting it in the installer. I chose KDE because I like changing the Appearance a lot, but you might want to look at other DEs depending upon your expectations.

    Ubuntu has been shifting a lot to snaps, so if you want your computer to be snappy (the literal meaning), you might want to avoid it (ironically). But at the same time, if you want less configuration requirements and want to keep most of your exp outside the terminal, on top of finding it easier to install software from vendors' websites, you can consider it. If you are fine with putting in the minimal amount of brain usage it takes to understand the installation instructions of the website - and by that I mean, read the heading telling you which distro the copy-paste text is meant for (I know ppl too lazy to do that and trying paste an apt command into Red Hat) - I suggest Fedora/Linux Mint and a slew of others.

    DE = Desktop Environment apt = Package Manager (kinda like an app store on terminal) used for Ubuntu

    P.S.: If you choose an Arch-based distro, make sure you keep a backup OS that is in the Debian/Fedora tree. I keep a Debian KDE, mainly for older linux games, which ask for packages that have been long removed from Arch, but it is useful in case you break something. That way you won't have to wait for the time it takes to make a Live USB and can just restart.

    • And all this comes down to the fact that you should either Install Uwuntu(if you're a femboy) or Hanna Montana Linux(If you aren't a femboy)

  • This is not distro specific advice but: when starting out you can use a virtual machine like VMware to test drive Linux without having to repartition your drive. VMware is free for individual non commercial use.

    • I would unironically recommend arch to anyone who has a large steam library, and id recommend KDE Plasma as the desktop. Valve uses Arch as a base, and KDE as their desktop mode environment, so a lot of games on steam are tested in this environment via proton.

      I would not recommend it to newcomers to start with, but as a "learn about linux and work your way towards arch" type of ordeal. Arch would be the endgoal, not the starting line.

  • I'd second Mint as well (I've used it for many years now). Out of interest, what games are you thinking of? Most of them should work out of the box, but with some there can be issues especially with multiplayer ones.

  • Yes Linux Mint. You CAN migrate later to other distros without losing your data so feel free to test others out later when you feel ready and know more about them.

  • What I suggest is to Nobara for gaming or Linux mint. Most distros are the same but depends on what comes preinstalled.

  • I went with Pop!_OS because it was one of the least Windows-like DEs. Which is what I wanted after getting so damn sick of their garbage. Kinda macOS though with the dock and all. I dig it.

    • Plus they are working on COSMIC which looks SAF. That's honestly the only thing that has kept me from distro hopping.

  • Everyone has different opinions. In the end the different versions, or distributions, are basically the same.

    It starts with the Linux vernal, that as far as I know, handles communication with the hardware, and things like directories, storage, users, permissions. On top of that, every distribution creator puts a destropenvioment, like gnome or KDE (plasma?). Gnome is kinda like Mac is, KDE can be what ever you want, very customizable.

    Than there is the package manager. Fedora for example uses yum or dnf (dnf is the new version I think) and Ubuntu uses apt. The package manager is like your app store, that you access over the command line. It is managed by the owners and ist mostly safe to download anything. (Installing Spotify would by 'sudo apt/dnf install spotify'. So pretty easy to use.

    On top of that the distribution has preinstalled programs, like the browser, writing tools, and some useful apps

    That is basically the only difference between distros. You can even get different spins of a distro. If you like fedora, get it with the KDE desktro envioment. It's all the same basically.

    So put something on a usb drive and boot from that, try it out for a few minutes and than look at others. There are also websites that allow you to boot into different distros.

    If you like something, just install it, maybe as a Dualboot first next to windows (best is on a different drive) and just try it out. If you don't like it, just jump to another one.

    Linux can be a little bit pain sometimes, but in my opinion it's worth to invest the time. Have fun!

  • Start looking at the desktop environments and use a virtual machine/live usb to try them out. For something similar to Windows I'd recommend KDE plasma or Cinnamon, both can be tried out using KDE Neon or Linux Mint.

  • You should try a bunch and see what you really like! The beauty of Linux is there's so much out there that you'll almost definitely find one that gels with you.

    A good place to start is Linux mint! The best way I can describe it is a blend of all the best parts of windows 7, 10 and 11 with very few of the downsides. You'll almost definitely settle in quickly and you might never want to switch as it's very full featured, snappy and well put together. It was designed for people wanting that Linux experience while still feeling familiar to windows users.

    Another one to try if you love customisability is ZorinOS. There's a free and paid tier, both of which are excellent with the free tier offering layouts for old and new windows and Mac like experience and the paid tier (only around £30 for a lifetime licence) has layouts and customisability for absolutely everything else and extra tools and options for those that want more of that!

  • Food for thought: you should start getting familiar with Linux, either with Virtualbox/VMware, or dual booting right now. When the time comes and Win10 reaches EOL, you know you will find reasons to just go with the flow and stay with Microsoft.

    As for what flavor? There are a few that come to mind as "windowy": Zorin, Mint, and the anything that uses KDE Plasma. Personally, I prefer Pop!_OS because I use MacOS as well and prefer that feel to windows a bit more, and System76 has done a fantastic job of making a polished product.

    That's what I did, anyway. The mental load of still having windows to fall back on if I couldn't do something helped make the anxiety lighter and also helped me be motivated to try new things out. I couldn't imagine having to learn something with a gun to my head!

  • Pop OS is great because of up to date kernel and drivers, and they even have a specific version created for nvidia gpus, on disadvantage is that gnome version is a bit old, but its very stable at least

  • My recommendation is to avoid any overly bleeding edge distro while starting out, as when things will inevitably break you won't have much knowlege on how to fix the issue, and googling it may not always give you an answer.

199 comments