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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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Which Linux distro for beginners (with requirements) (programming.dev)

submitted 3 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

26 comments fedilink hide all child comments

cross-posted from: https://programming.dev/post/19622913

A friend of someone related doesn't have a laptop nowadays, but needs one. Now we have 2 old laptops at home, and we want to give her one so she can do some things on it. Since she isn't used to laptops and the old laptops wouldn't run a Windows 11 (I don't want to install a Win10 because of end of support and lacking security features), I guess installing a simple Linux is fine. Now comes the big question: Which Linux distro should I install? (see requirements below)

Laptops:

Acer Aspire ES 15, AMD dual-core E1-7010 @1.5 GHz, 4GB RAM, 1000 GB HDD

HP Pavilion 17-e030ez, Intel Pentium @2.4 GHz, 4GB RAM, 10000 GB HDD (I'd choose this)

Tasks:

Office Stuff (I thought about OnlyOffice)

Internet surfing

Banking via Web

Requirements:

needs to have full German support

needs an easy software installation center

should be easy to learn

optionally, her friends (which probably use Windows/ Mac) should be able to help her (since she never had a laptop before)

eventually German forum/ German Guides

I'm using Linux/ Manjaro for myself but don't have any experience with beginner-friendly distros. I used a KDE neon for some time and also have used Ubuntu, and to be honest, they seem beginner-friendly too.

Please let me know your opinions, thanks!

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 months ago

The XFce version of Linux Mint is not the same as the default XFce. It's been modified to look like the default Cinnamon Linux Mint. You can't tell them apart most of the time, so it doesn't look retro. At 600 points of cpu, xfce can run well, and work better than Lubuntu. Lubuntu is great for less than 400 points cpu, but if you have more than that, you are wasting your user experience (the xfce linux mint edition is much better than lubuntu's in user experience).

I suggest you don't disable flatpaks, you just disable it from the menu so it's not visible to be clicked. But let it in, just in case it's needed. Right click on the cinnamenu (if you install that), open preferences, and then open menu editor. There, you can make the flatpack menu entry invisible.