'it came to me in a dream' has got to be a pretty unique reason for switching to Linux
this post was submitted on 09 Oct 2023
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I kept closing tabs and they kept reopening with ads. It must be a sign.
sounds pretty realistic to me tbh
😂 I've done weirder things based off dreams. I'd say this is reasonable
Are you sure that was a dream?
Are we sure this isn't a dream?
Anytime someone new ask for recommendation, I'd give Linux Mint.
also this, start small with mint, and you can test other distros that people show here
also, start with dual boot/VM, it's a different OS, keep windows there for when you need it
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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.
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What was your dream about windows?
I was trying to run some weird nonsensical dream program for a work presentation and it kept opening M$Edge to show me ads. Every time I closed a window, two more would open. Eventually I was fired because "real dudes use arch". Then I woke up.
@PRUSSIA_x86 @BananaTrifleViolin damn, your dream really went full "I use arch btw"
For real though, that sounds like a much better future than an OS from a company named after Elon's dick
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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 :)
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
Clear vote for Fedora,
You didn't give much info to go on, so maybe try Distrochooser. Honestly, most distros should work out fine. If you like Ubuntu, maybe try Mint.
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Pop 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.
I'd recommend against Ubuntu. It uses snaps and it'll teach you that the hard way eventually by having very weird issues.
Mint is based on ubuntu but says no to snaps, so that's a good place to start.
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I highly recommend ZorinOS for newbies.
Alternatively: openSUSE (if you don't like terminals), Fedora (required some customization via terminal for me), endeavourOS (just works, arch-based, but the install didn't work on my old PC for some reason).
I recommend KDE over Gnome for the desktop environment.
Seconding KDE. Imo new users will avoid a lot of frustration with Plasma.
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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.
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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.
Just use Ubuntu/Mint, because that's what everyone uses and has the most support forums.
Linux Mint or Garuda Linux
Ubuntu is a good starting point.
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'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)
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Arch, of course.
If they are asking, not discovering, perhaps EndeavourOS would be a better intro to Arch.
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!)
EndeavuorOS. It's a seamless base configuration of Arch which has a wonderful wiki that has a ton of stuff to tell you.
You can install pamac for a GUI for the package manager. Do yay to search for any package and install it; do yay (nothing else) to upgrade everything, and yay -Rcns to remove stuff and all their unused dependencies. I also recommend chaoticAUR
For the DE I recommend MATE but you can select any of the major ones in the installer. For me Steam didn't work when xdg-portal-gnome was installed though and firefox-like apps booted real slow, so you may or may not want to try GNOME.
Get synapse for a spotlight-like search; it uses the alt+space keybind by default
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I use my PC for gaming. Ubuntu works well for me with my new hardware: Intel 13gen, Nvidia 3080, Steam.
I still think Ubuntu or a flavor of it is the right answer for people new to Linux.
If by flavor you mean linux mint: yes, absolutely! If you mean anything else thats more like ubuntu itself: hell no!
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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.
Counter Strike 2 and WoW have been running great.
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