Hi everyone, I am planning to install linux on my friends laptop and I am not sure which distro to install for them.
The options I am considering:
- Fedora: I have it on my PC and since I will be the first person to be asked, I thought it would be best if I know the distro well
- Mint: is a default suggestion, but I am not sure if it is different enough from the Windows look that one does not expect it to behave the same as Windows
- Ubuntu: most widely available in forums, etc. And a good starting point in my opinion
What do you guys think?
EDIT: Thanks for all the suggestions, I think I’ll stick with Fedora and let them try Gnome, KDE and Cinnamon :)
I would look at Fedora Kinoite, much harder to break than classic distros.
https://fedoraproject.org/atomic-desktops/kinoite/I don’t have any experience with atmoic distros, so I think it is too much of a risk for me 😅
It’s actually slightly less risk especially for someone’s PC you won’t be around 100% of the time to help fix. Immutable just means the system files can’t be edited.
The “atomic” part means it gets frequent (daily, if desired) updates but you can change in the settings to only check monthly so it doesn’t feel crazy.
I think the atomic part actually means the updates are not applied until restarting the system.
Oh interesting I read “atomic” and assumed it meant small. As in small updates to an immutable system.
Makes sense, this article has a section that does a good job explaining it: https://www.linuxnest.com/what-is-an-immutable-distro/
Thanks, I learned a lot from this!
I’ll throw my vote in with Fedora KDE Plasma. The fact you run it will absolutely help with any possible troubleshooting, and Plasma is IMO great for anyone coming from Windows. Fedora, from my experience, doesn’t throw many curve balls your way either.
Good luck with your friend’s transition!
I support this and would suggest Fedora Kinoite which is Fedora’s immutable version with KDE Plasma and is very very hard to meaningfully break.
Thanks, never heard of this one. After reading the horror stories about what Cannonical is doing to Ubuntu, I may move to this…
Fedora will get you the most stock Linux environment without all the caveats, and it’s eash to switch from KDE to Gnome or whatever you want without fuss.
Mint is fine-ish, but has caveats when looking for support online.
I no longer recommend Ubuntu at all.
Mint is fine-ish, but has caveats when looking for support online.
What are the caveats in your opinion?
I no longer recommend Ubuntu at all.
Because of snaps? Or because of something else?
Mint caveats are that it’s Mint. Yes, most solutions for Ubuntu will work with Mint, but it has Cinnamon for its DE, whereas the bulk of all Linux users are on KDE or Gnome, so that puts this new user at a disadvantage due to that simple difference.
Canonical just keeps making poor decisions with Ubuntu, and can’t be trusted to keep putting the user first. Snaps, data/telemetry collection, attempting to shove ads into desktops, disengaging with the community, and all these subtle package shifts away from open community solutions to Canonical solutions.
Desktop Enivorements > distro (when it comes to beginners)
Can’t go wrong with any user friendly distro like zorin, mint, fedora, pop_os, anduin, debian, bodhi… the list goes on and on.
Focus on desktop environment, do you like Kde Plasma, Gnome, Cinnamon or even Cosmic?
If u truly want something different from winbloat go the tiling window manager route. Arch + Hyprland. Garuda or Cachy are both nice for a more beginner friendly arch experience(not really recommended for beginners, but i read in of your other comments that u want something more different from Windows)
Setup a Ventoy drive and let them try out a few. Linux Mint, Fedora Workstation (GNOME), and Fedora KDE/Kubuntu (KDE) are all good starting points to figure out what kind of DE they like. If they play a lot of games, Bazzite might also be a good option. GNOME, KDE, and Cinnamon are all very different from each other, and I’m sure that your friend will like at least one of them.
Not a lot of games, mostly Sims. I doubt that they are willing to test a lot of things 😅
It might be worth also teaching your friend how to:
- install games via Lutris (if they downloaded the Sims while sailing the high seas)
- to change Proton/Wine versions (for compatibility, if they play older titles)
- how to install libraries through Winetricks/Protontricks (again for older titles requiring abandoned libraries like playing .wmv files in-game)
- how to mod the Sims and how to run .exe tools inaide Wine/Proton prefixes (such as Anadius’ tool for Sims 4)
