this post was submitted on 02 Aug 2023
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submitted 1 year ago by glassyoghurtsipper to c/linuxmemes
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Down that hole

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[โ€“] glassyoghurtsipper 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Edit: removed my own Linux background after realizing I didn't know how to use the app, and responses were to top comment.

Ubuntu is a great suggestion for beginners- that's what I install for friends and family as of now (I'm considering alternatives). I'm thinking about getting new folks on opensuse tumbleweed, but let's see.

Complete agree: always mainstream distribution for new users - Fedora, opensuse tumbleweed, Ubuntu are all great choices.

[โ€“] grue 2 points 1 year ago

Complete agree: always mainstream distribution for new users - Fedora, opensuse tumbleweed, Ubuntu are all great choices.

There are a lot of distros that are great (for beginners and in general), but I recommended Ubuntu and only Ubuntu for two reasons:

  1. It's the only distro other than SteamOS that Valve officially supports (and there's a reasonably decent chance folks wanting to try Linux are also gamers).
  2. Even merely presenting choices incurs a cost in terms of increasing cognitive load, and I think it's important to avoid inflicting more than is absolutely necessary on newbies. I think it's very likely that analysis paralysis on distro choice is one if the biggest barriers to entry for Linux, and saying "X, Y, and Z are good options" when the person has no clue what the differences between them are or why they should care, instead of just straight-up saying "use X," may be doing them a disservice.