Finally making the transition from Windows to a Linux. I’m pretty sure it’s been asked several times but which Linux OS would you recommend a beginner to use? I’ve seen Ubuntu and Mint as a good start. Not looking to do much. Game here and there (not too worried about Linux compatibility), streaming, editing videos. If I break any rules. I’m sorry.
Don’t use Mint or Ubuntu, use Bazzite. It actually is “just works” with the added benefit of “you can’t break it”. It’s perfect for both beginners and experienced users who are looking to do work rather than tinker with their OS.
And if you have a graphics card (which you probably do since you mentioned gaming), Bazzite comes with Nvidia or AMD drivers preinstalled, so you don’t have to do anything extra to get it to work.
But if you really want to follow the YT influencer Linux memes, at least go with Ubuntu instead of Mint. Mint is just Ubuntu with a different default desktop, but
worse in every other wayless reliable (edit: toned down the exaggeration)Mint is just Ubuntu with a different default desktop, but way less reliable
I have never heard this, why?
The default desktop is better so why not use it. Especially for beginners, the default being a better option, that’s a good thing.
Mint is a more polished ubuntu as far as i’m aware.
Honestly, whatever you go with, you should make sure it has KDE plasma, it has a graphical interface that more closely resembles Windows and can function as training wheels until you better familiarize yourseld with the terminal. If you’re looking at Ubuntu, just be aware that you will likely find it irritating once you start understanding how the system works as it forces its own package manager, snap, which introduces a slew of difficulties in acclamaiting to the Linux ecosystem. However, snap does make installation easier for newcomers who may not understand how to identify dependencies for a given package they wish to install. With all of this in mind, Kubuntu is a really good option for first-timers as its a flavour of Ubuntu that comes with KDE Plasma out of the box.
options:
- i just want my shit to work: mint
- i just don’t want to deal with all of windows’ nonsense changes: zorin
- i just want my shit to work and i have ideological problems with microsoft: linux mint debian edition
- i want an ideologically pure os (mostly): debian
- i want a truly ideologically pure os: pureos
- i just want my shit to work and i have an old-ish computer: mx linux
- i just want my shit to work and i have a considerably old computer: antix
I just want to game: bazzite
I want to question life: bohi linux
I thought that would be Arch 😆
I haven’t used arch (yet) to form an opinion. I do however run bohi on a laptop. It’s been rock solid, but I offten scratch my head when I’m using it and end up questioning my life choices.
TempleOS
As long as you don’t pick Ubuntu, you’re good to go!
(p.s. not to scare you lol, if you pick ubuntu you’d be fine, just some of their decisions on where they are taking their os have been bad imo)
mint
As someone who’s been in this for a while, go with Mint.
It’s not a “beginner distro”. You can start there, you can stay there as long as you don’t develop any super niche prerequisites. Even then, Mint can probably do it.
The developers are sane and it’s a popular system that has been in development for years with many tweaks and improvements. There’s a big community around it if you need help/guides.
You just can’t go wrong with it.
Long time Mint enjoyer, the ONLY caveat I would put on that is I doesn’t yet have stable for support Wayland.
For a beginner, having the ability to run android apps via waydroid could be a real draw card.
Wayland support is coming, but it isn’t here yet.
If I read OP correctly, they plan to livestream games. Screen capture isn’t as smooth of an experience on Wayland as it is on X11. Which isn’t to say one can’t do screen capture on Wayland, but that it might be a point of frustration for a Linux newbie trying to stream or record their gameplay.
Tbh I haven’t had that issue in a while om KDE, tho TBF I don’t stream often. Screensharing on discord, meets, etc works perfectly fine tho, and I did manage to stream something with OBS.
I understood streaming as on the receiving end, e.g. watching streamed content online.
I would actually rate that as a plus.
While it’s nice to have the ability to run android apps, I don’t think many newcomers expect that.
However, it’s much more likely to find an Nvidia GPU in there somewhere, which works notoriously badly with Wayland.
Also Wayland has scaling issues with lower resolution fullscreen apps and settings.
I’d rather have those things working by default.
It’s not a “beginner distro”.
I would hardly disagree, that it isnt a beginner Distros. However, this does not mean that Mint is bad. It is a rock solid Distros that is focused on accessibility and being user friendly. It gives everyone who wants the ability to learn Linux/CLI while still giving GUIs as Backup if something is to complex in the command line. However not everyone wants to learn Linux/CLI and this is totally fine. For these People Mint is perfect.
That highly depends on what you consider a “beginner distro” to be.
I don’t like the term, because to me, it implies that you have to emigrate from Mint to something else at some point, which is not the case.
It’s not a distro that is supposed to teach you how to do X on Linux systems. It’s just a solid OS with a lot of features that are easily accessible, which does make it suited for starters, yes.
I don’t think you have to or should touch the terminal at any time as a regular user and Mint allows you to not do that, as you pointed out as well.
I don’t like the term, because to me, it implies that you have to emigrate from Mint to something else at some point, which is not the case.
I can totally understand where the implication comes from but I personally dont see it like that. I see it more as a measurement for how accessible something is.
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Start with Mint. You can always try something else when you’re more comfortable with Linux.
Mint is also one of the biggest distros which is a factor in getting help. Any problem you may have, chances are, somebody already posted the solution.
I should really give mint a try. I like Ubuntu for both of these reasons, even if it does have snaps.
I agree, for a new user everything including installing nvidia drivers is in a GUI. And if you run into issue due to the size of both Mint and its base Ubuntu, searching for the problems usually results in a solution.
I have been using Mint for a long while now, and I’ve been very happy with it. Can’t say I’ve felt the need to try anything else…
Mint is fine. I went with pop!_os because at the time mint didn’t play well with my hardware.
Make sure you test things from the install live disk before you commit. Internet access, displays, audio should all work.
Check out the YT videos from Explaining Conputers for some more comparisons of distros for starting out.
As someone who’s been using Linux for around 12 years now, I just came back to Mint a while ago and it’s a good choice for close to everyone I reckon.
I used pretty much all the major distros and some niche ones as well, but in the end I want a PC that does PC things without having to fuck around all the time. Mint does exactly that, it just works.
That being said, feel free to mess around with live USBs, try some distros on an old laptop etc, it’s good fun and you might find something you really like.
Everyone has their own preferences, many of the loudest pretend Linux is sport betting, it’s not.
What you care about is:
- how well does it support your hardware
- how well does it support your use case
- how open is the community around the distro to new users
The core OS’s have pretty good support and open minded communities.
Debian, Fedora, Ubuntu, Mint
Then you have distros that try to cater more to specific needs, like Bazzite focuses on steam and video drivers staying 100% ready out of the box. That’s not to say that current Debian, Fedora, Ubuntu and Mint can’t install and just work, but it’s not their primary focus.
Debian was old and rigid about non-free software Ubuntu forked and allowed free, and their community blossomed. Ubuntu made marketing decisions with Amazon and some other stuff that wierded people out Mint formed the community started heading over there. Ubuntu tried to start doing snap package manager which people hated, so Mint got stronger. Debian finally said ohh fine you can have non-free software, no mint and Debian are both strong and well liked with pretty good support and communities. Fedora is from the old Redhat lineage and is a strong contender with an ancient community and lots of support. Mint, Debian, Fedora and Ubuntu still all have strong communities and lots of support. They’re a great place to start. Bazzite is a Fedora port that focuses on Gaming and Video driver support.
There is some stink in the air about Fedora dropping 32 bit support, if that happens Both Fedora and Bazzite will have a very hard time supporting games. As long as Fedora keeps 32 bit support, Bazzite is the best for getting your games running out of the box.Video editing can be challenging. Divinci Resolve is pretty good, but the free version has harsh limits. KDEnlive is free and ok, but it really lacks authoring features.
Watching streams is easy
Streaming live video is messier. OBS still works a treat, but you don’t have Nvidia background removal, and most of the other removal options in Linux are anemic.
Mint or Fedora. You’ll get tons of responses, and none of them are wrong, because no one can tell you what’s best for you, but those are the most popular choices among newbies, and they are very user friendly and approachable.
The best advice I can give you is try a bunch of different ones and see which one you like best. They’re free and easy to reinstall if you end up liking one over another.
Best of luck and I hope you find one that you truly love. :)
I started and ended with mint. Donknow about video editing, but it just worked. It’s like everything windows p should have been. No bs, easy interface, easy to fix. Do it
It’s been asked a million times, and it’ll be answered every time, and the answers will mostly be “Mint, Fedora, FedoraKDE, and if you wanna game Bazzite.”
The real advice that gets posted less, regardless of distro:
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Back up your important files to an external drive, often. It’s entirely possible you’ll fuck up an install beyond repair (or beyond what you know how to do at the time) and you end up reinstalling. If you can just put your important files back and be up and running, nothing of value is lost.
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Don’t be scared of the terminal, it’s incredibly useful. Look up a few YT vids like “bash basics” or “linux terminal for beginners” or something and follow along like it’s a class, you’ll soon be comfortable enough to use it when you need it, and you will, and you may come to love it. It’s not as bad as windows cmd! Be careful when using sudo or su, that’s when you could really screw up the system (but mostly it’ll be fine just be careful.
And most importantly, have fun!
Here’s an absolute classic unix koan about the terminal:
One evening, Master Foo and Nubi attended a gathering of programmers who had met to learn from each other. One of the programmers asked Nubi to what school he and his master belonged. Upon being told they were followers of the Great Way of Unix, the programmer grew scornful.
“The command-line tools of Unix are crude and backward,” he scoffed. “Modern, properly designed operating systems do everything through a graphical user interface.”
Master Foo said nothing, but pointed at the moon. A nearby dog began to bark at the master’s hand.
“I don’t understand you!” said the programmer.
Master Foo remained silent, and pointed at an image of the Buddha. Then he pointed at a window.
“What are you trying to tell me?” asked the programmer.
Master Foo pointed at the programmer’s head. Then he pointed at a rock.
“Why can’t you make yourself clear?” demanded the programmer.
Master Foo frowned thoughtfully, tapped the programmer twice on the nose, and dropped him in a nearby trashcan.
As the programmer was attempting to extricate himself from the garbage, the dog wandered over and piddled on him.
At that moment, the programmer achieved enlightenment
Source: https://catb.org/~esr/writings/unix-koans/gui-programmer.html
I need Peter Griffin to explain this one
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Do you know anyone in real life that has some experience with Linux, and is willing to help you out with it? If yes, use the same distribution (distro, or “OS”) as they do.
If not, as others said, Mint is a good start.
I use KDE neon, I’d never recommend it to my friends though because quirks pop up every now and then and disappear after a couple of weeks.
I’d tell them to use Kubuntu which is just much more stable and is the same thing without quirks.
I considering moving to Hyperland on Arch which I’d recommend even less.
Even then, I think “check nearby people for what they use” shouldn’t be underestimated. Of course you wouldn’t tell them to use Neon itself, but if they’re using Kubuntu you’d probably be abler to help them than if they were to use, say, Mint, right?
My point is, that people underestimate the power of offline help, and having acquaintances who know the system well enough to help you out. And that matters a lot when picking your starting distro.
I shifted from Neon to Kubuntu on my work machine. Figured that Neon was a good shout because it’s the official KDE distro, only to later discover that KDE now consider it to be end of life, and are working on a replacement.
Kubuntu is basically the same (from my perspective), but has continuing support.
Neon is still alive and well but there’s going to be another reference implementation of KDE coming soon so I’m getting worried.
Linux is linux. In the end it’s more your personal taste with just a little sprinkle of use case that decides.
The main differences are:
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Update speed: How quickly are the repositories getting updates. That’s a spectrum between getting cutting edge version in days or weeks or having things unchaged for up to several years. Or in other worlds you will see more bugs in freshly released software, but also bugfixes often within days. Compared to getting new feature only after years, but rarely any bugs (the very few ones that slip through… well, you will get the fix in a few years). That’s also where use case plays a bigger role. If you use very new hardware and want software that uses their newest features, a rather stale slow updating distro might not be the right fit for you.
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Update scheme: Fixed vs. continues release. Continues releases are slowly but constantly changing over time but once installed they can basically used forever. While fixed releases are mostly just shipping critical bugfixes and security patches and doing everything else in big release steps (think in terms of Windows upgrades here: You mostly have the same thing for years but at a certain point there is a newer version that might bring changes in defaults, new pre-installed software, UI changes etc. and after a couple of years you lose support if you don’t do that step).
Also more depending on your personal taste and habits:
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How much are you willing or interested in tinkering? Basically all distros give you access to all software. But what is pre-installed changes, both in what is provided by default and also how much software is there already. For example do you want stuff for video editing set up already or don’t you care as you will test out all the options available anyway?
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The same is true the basic desktop environment. Gnome and KDE are the two big ones (with some more oftens based or forked from those two). And it mostly a difference of “here is our environment exactly as we think it’s best with very little customisation” (Gnome - also the one with most forks, by people who did not agree with the Gnome devs vision) and “have fun customising” (KDE). Is customising stuff to your liking your thing? Or do don’t care and also prefer something as close to what you are used to on Windows? Again: Distros have all the options available. But some have one environment or the other pre-installed. Or they come in different flavors from the beginning. If customisation isn’t your cup of tea the decision on a certain distro matters much more.
Other considerations:
- Immutable distros are more on the newer end of things. They are basically designed more like for example Android. There is a base system that rarely changes and allows basically a “reset ot factory settings”, with updates and additionally installed software provided as incremental changes and/or highly containerised. That has benefits (you can revert screw ups easily) but also drawbacks (decades of available linux instructions are now worthless until you really understand where that regular config file you can’t edit anymore is now located in some separate container only used by one specific piece of software - and most people that google for such solutions don’t). Again this is mostly decided by habits. Are you expecting to tinker with your system or do you just want something that works on its own that neither you or an upgrade cannot possibly break. In the latter case an immutable distro can be the thing for you. And as always… you have all the options and you can also setup most other distros with extensive systems of “save points” to revert problematic changes anyway.
Things to not consider:
- ignore the answers speaking about “it provides WINE for running windows stuff” or “it comes with NVIDIA drivers” because they basically all do (minus the already mentioned combination of running cutting edge hardware with very slow updating distros - that’s not a good idea). At the worst it usually requires clicking some “Yes, I don’t insist on open source stuff exclusively but will also to use proprietary drivers if available” checkbox in the installer.
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