So i was surprised today when my fiancee told me she was thinking about switching over to linux. Surprised because she is absolutely not technically minded, but also because she was weary about having Microsoft AI slop forced on her PC every update. ( i’m so proud!)
Now i’ve used a little linux but i’ve always been a holdout. Won’t stop me from moving someone else over but i have too much going on in my setup to deal with that right now. So i’m not super versed but i was able to give her the basic rundown of what distros are, concerns when switching, what may and may not be available, shes still on board so we’re doing this! Knowing her she would like to not have to transition too much, whats something fairly hands off and easy to learn. I’ve heard some good things about mint from hanging around you nerds the past few years but also some not so good things, any suggestions?
next concern is what kind of transfer process is this going to be? i have some spare HDD’s so we can try and get everything ported over but i’m so busy with school right now i can’t quite allocate the time to really deep dive this.
Any help is appreciated, cheers!
Mint
correct
What about Slackware? Not popular anymore?
Yep I don’t think it’s that popular anymore. I see Fedora or Pop-OS recommended a lot lately. And Mint.
It was just a just a joke. Slackware is a dinosaur.
This is the first I would suggest as well. As much as I like other distros, Mint has the appearance, capability, stability, and settings combination I would want as a new user
Specifically Linux Mint Debian Edition
Even as an EndeavourOS user, I concur: Mint. Why? Cinnamon is hands down the best desktop environment. Beginner friendly default without blasting features in one’s face with configs all over the place, yet intuitively customizable for experienced Linux users.
This means she will be able to freely use it without your help, but you will be able to easily fine tune it to her preferences as well.
⚜︎ arscyni.cc: modernity ∝ nature.
My last experience with Mint might’ve been 10 years ago. The outdated packages so common among Debian-based distros back then made me switch to something else. I don’t know what’s the current situation, though.
Mint.
No war. I don’t use it, myself, but I’ve set up a couple family members and over þe past several years have gotten two tech support calls: one about connecting to a WiFi printer, which required only me telling þem how to get to system preferences; þe oþer because þey’d bought a new laptop which came wiþ Windows 11 and þey wanted help installing Linux (which þey were used to) on it instead.
Three correct answers:
- Mint
- Fedora
- Pop
And a few incorrect answers:
- Ubuntu
- Arch
- Ubuntu again
- Really, don’t go with Ubuntu
Gentoo it is, then!
Ubuntu was really good when I was a kid. when I went to school like 10 years ago I had to have a windows computer for a while to run my school’s proprietary virtual clinical lab software and I was too busy studying and going to irl clinicals to worry about getting a dual boot running. I tried to go back once a few semesters in but it seemed really bloated compared to the Ubuntu I grew up with and I did mint for a bit but that computer kicked the bucket iirc and I didn’t have the time to set up another dual boot. Hubs is thinking we’re gonna have to switch soon and I’ve honestly been ready for a bit and think I’ll probably try mint again, but distrowatch says a lot of people are super into cachy so I was considering that. Will Probably still try mint first.
When I was a kid (15-ish years ago) my laptop’s hard drive crashed. The repair place told my dad that something broke and it’s not compatible with Windows so they installed Ubuntu. Barely noticed the difference.
Yeah, I switched to Ubuntu in 2008, and it was great for years, but lately it’s just been so awful.
Ubuntu has started going off the deep end. They’ve been heading in that direction for a while, but they recently (I guess like 5 years-ish ago) hit this corporatey, money-grabbing, mentality that’s so completely opposite of what made Linux great.
The feel I get about it is 10 years ago, tutorials were written using Ubuntu because it was an easy distro to use and was a great platform for beginners, so people used that as their platform to teach. Now it feels like tutorials are written using Ubuntu because they’re being sponsored to. A lot of how-tos I come accros have the same vibe as watching a video animation tutorial that uses adobe and oh gosh, it’s also sponsored by adobe. Or a networking tutorial sponsored by Cisco. I’ve actually started just looking to see if another distro is acknowledged before I actually see what they have to say.
There’s a very different feel if you’re trying to set something up and a website has “if you’re in this family of linux, here’s what you do, or if you’re in this one, do this” versus “so you want to set up x in linux? Here’s how you do it in Ubuntu”. It’s as if no other distro exists.
Anyway, ignoring that rant. Linux is super stable these days, you can take pretty much any distro and you’ll be fine. I tend to gravitate toward the base distros, like fedora, opensuse, and Debian over Rocky, mint, etc. I haven’t come across one in the past five years that gave me any trouble, except when it came to updated nvidia drivers and wayland. In which case some distros were behind a month or two on getting those updated.
On the flip side, I use Ubuntu and I’m very happy with it. I didn’t like Gnome so I realised I could easily switch to KDE Plasma. It’s still miles better than Windows. Although I did have issues once installing Selenium, turns out it didn’t play well with snap packages which I didn’t know were there (I was using apt-get install)
My advice would be to just give up on the dual boot (unless you still need it, and even then, maybe keep Windows on a different machine maybe?).
I think the best way to go is full Linux immersion.
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They didn’t say beeteedubs so clearly not.
Pop is such a cool project but it’s been kinda broken for me both times I’ve tried it, and then add to that what happened with Linus tech tips where him being dumb combined with pop having not fixed a major and obvious packaging issue that completely broke his system has kinda just left me with the impression they’re not super on top of the ball
I hope that’s changed, I want them to be successful, especially with cosmic
Who even uses normal arch anymore.
All the cool kids use endeavour or cachy. Which is like calling Ubuntu, Debian.
Who even uses normal arch anymore.
Me, btw.
Nah all the cool kids are on Omarchy now.
Cringe
Ah yes, arch but fascist.
pass
Damn, I’m 2 months into my first Linux experience and went with Ubuntu Studio since I use my PC for freelance audio/music/art and it’s promoted as great for creatives. It took a lot of work to get my audio working without ALSA and more work to get smaller things working right. I’m concerned if I switch distros I’ll have to do it all again and I barely remember what I did to fix things haha. Think I’m stuck with Ubuntu. Didn’t realize it was so looked down on.
Ubuntu Studio is great, but absolutely not for beginners. Ubuntu Studio isn’t the same thing as Ubuntu, too. They change a lot from the base Ubuntu.
Oh ok, I didn’t know that. I thought it was just Ubuntu with pre installed programs and a low latency kernel. I’ve been enjoying the learning curve, even though it’s been frustrating at times I’ve learned so much in the last 2 months and love it haha
This is the best answer I’ve seen. But why aren’t more people recommending Pop Os! Pop Os is by far my favourite as a noob user. I’ve live booted all the popular distros and Pop Os has the nicest interface a everything works so smoothly.
Unfortunately, Linux Mint devs are transphobic.
If she’s a Windows refugee, Linux Mint.
If she’s a Mac refugee, fuck if I know.
If she’s a IBM OS/2 refugee, please let me know how to get the drugs she’s gotten. I want in.
GNOME is great for Mac refugees. Fedora might do.
Ubuntu for a Mac refugee. Definitely Mint for a Windows refugee.
I hate GNOME through and through, but it’s a very polished interface and resembles Mac in a lot of ways.
Ubuntu is heresy. Canonical hath turned against the users.
Also, I’m genuinely curious: why do you hate GNOME?
Nah, Ubuntu is perfect for a Mac user - they love the abusive, arbitrary decisions made by their OS designers lol
Yeah…
See, I used to like Ubuntu, but then Canonical had to ruin it for me by betraying the principles that Linux stands for.
Ubuntu is a shadow of its former self, and it saddens me. :(
I hate GNOME because it feels like an iPhone.
I don’t know much about what Ubuntu is doing but it surely can’t be that bad.
I hate GNOME because it feels like an iPhone.
That’s fair.
I don’t know much about what Ubuntu is doing but it surely can’t be that bad.
You would be surprised.
Oh, and I also hate that they’re actively undermining of theming.
That’s legit.
That sounds like a very specific user case, I’m using a laptop for teaching with a smallish screen so gnome actually improves my workflow and the visibility of the OS. I don’t need theming either. Gnome is really aimed at productivity imo.
Ubuntu is gross, don’t recommend. It works until it doesn’t. Expect questions like “why doesn’t USB access work in chromium” and having to try to explain what snap is
Mint is the best for most users. But if you want a Mac style, Elementary OS is the correct answer for MacOS users. Here’s my latest screenshot of it:
Tbf, my current laptop looks pretty similar, and I’m running Bazzite with KDE.
Lol Linux is awesome
If she’s a Mac refugee, fuck if I know.
She could consider Linux Mint with KDE Plasma. KDE Plasma feels very like modern Mac, only nicer, to me.
KDE is not a Mint supported DE and the KDE files are not in the Mint repos.
This can be made to work if you’re experienced but is definitely not a good idea for beginners. It will eventually break, and dependency hell is a thing.
For a KDE option suitable fir beginners, Fedora offers KDE as does Ubuntu, or there’s KDE Neon
Oh, that’s good to know! I’ve always installed KDE on Debian before, but I thought it was only because I just really liked Debian. Thanks!
if you’re doing kde then i think debian would make more sense (their netinstaller is very good)
Ooh that’s a good point. I mean, not Linux Mint because as thanksforallthefish said below it’s not a Mint-supported DE but I actually installed Arch (btw) with the KDE Plasma DE onto an old laptop I have and yeah it definitely gives early-2010s OS X vibes. :)
Unfortunately, Linux Mint devs are transphobic.
Is there a specific reason you are spamming the same single-line accusatory comment 7 times in this thread?
Combined with your account only being 10 days old if there’s not more substance to a spammed accusation like that I’ll just have to assume bad faith and block.
Fedora is pretty cool.
Linus Torvalds uses it, so you could say it’s the canonical distribution.
Well no, the Canonical distribution is Ubuntu.
/s
slow clap
They should change their name to Antitethical then.
Second on fedora, have been using it as a daily driver for over a year and ot has been pretty solid.
As a general rule of thumb, I usually recommend Linux Mint to beginners. The installation and update processes are easy and intuitive, and there is a ton of software available, as well as good support if you know how to do web searches properly. The main trick is to try and remember that a paradigm shift needs to happen here. Linux is not Windows. It doesn’t work like Windows, and it has different aims and priorities. She will also need to be prepared to learn a bit and be slightly more hands-on with her computing. The learning curve with Mint is comparatively gentle, but it does exist.
This is all very broad and general, but I hope it helps. Good luck to the both of you. I hope you are satisfied with whatever you decide on.
Linux Mint is the windows 7 experience of linux. It gets out of the way so you can work. It also has the best in-OS help tools. It’s also a bit more conservative in terms of newest features, so it’s a lot more reliable.
If she does PC gaming, you might want to look at Bazzite rather than Mint. It’s a lot better equipped for non-technical people to start gaming. It’s basically a preconfigured Fedora linux, so it’s got a solid foundation. It’s also something called an immutable distro, which basically means it’s more difficult to break as the core OS is “read only” (to simplify).
In terms of migrating, best to avoid dual booting off a single disk. Microsoft keeps breaking Linux installs (probably on purpose). So best to install a second SSD.
Before you migrate, have her make a list of software she uses and the hardware she has. Best to post that on a forum like this to have more experienced people look for possible issues.
When it gets to migration day, if bitlocker is disabled, you can access your windows data from linux.
Also get her on Lemmy and asking questions directly. The best thing you can teach a low tech person is how to get help.
Don’t forget to grab protonup-qt so you can easily install proton GE which has better .net support so more games work.
Thx for the tip. I just got a 5x FPS boost in a very poorly optimized sim game “war at sea” thing was chugging along at 5-6 fps when lots of ships were on the screen. Was maxing out all 32 threads on my 5950x. Now it’s running a cool 20% utilization.
Ah nice, sometimes different versions work well.
Thx for the tip, will give it a try.
I got it from the protonup app that is pre installed.
Bazzite is atomic, not immutable
It uses an atomic update system on an immutable base. They don’t refer to the same thing, but you sort of need the one when you use the other for it to make sense.
Unfortunately, Linux Mint devs are transphobic.
I have the deepest respect for my trans siblings - after all, the very first woman and humanity’s saviour were both trans. However, I googled “Linux mint transphobia” and couldn’t find what you’re talking about. I’d like to take your accusation seriously, so could you provide a source, or if that’s not possible, your story?
I too am fascinated by this assertion.
Personally, I don’t think anyone new to Linux at this point, who isn’t tech-minded, should be pointed to an X11 environment. So until Mint devs have ported Muffin into a Wayland compositor, I wouldn’t recommend it. They’re used to a shiny experience visually, so I’d go with Plasma 6 running on Fedora or OpenSUSE Tumbleweed.
Yeah I think mint advice is extremely dated, Bazzite or base Fedora is the way to go
I second the atomic Fedora ones with Plasma. Very stable system, updates run automatically like she is used to, and the Bazaar software center is a great and well organized central repository for flatpaks.
Just straight up Bazzite to be honest.
Fedora by itself is too Puritan for stuff not fully foss in their default repos
Not a mint user myself, but I have helped a friend install it. The install script at the time would silently crash if it had issues with the network card name. Researching it I found that this had been reported 8 months before my friend ran into it, and a PR submitted, but was not even looked at for a month after. Sure, these are all (largely) unpaid volunteers, but if your objective is to be beginner friendly, stuff like that really shouldn’t be left sitting for so long.
Popos 24 beta is dope if you like to live dangerously.
Holy shit voyager dude. Could I get a virtual autograph? Love your app!
Credited chocie if she has an nvidia GPU
I guess a good question would be what software you plan on using. If it’s something more reliant on frequent updates and feature releases like gaming, the choice would be a bit different compared to something like office work or common browsing, where stability would be prioritized (at the cost of slower updates).
Mint, for example, is a great jumping off point for Windows users because of the familiar User Interface and a focus on stability and lack of prior knowledge required - but it lags behind when it comes to cutting edge stuff for things like gaming.
Since Mrs. Erinaceus is considering switching, I was going to try and steer her towards Mint, but since she’s a gamer and I’m not (I know, boring) perhaps this would not be the best choice? Please tell me more.
Like 9limmer mentioned, Bazzite would be a good gaming focused choice for a beginner. There are alternatives like CatchyOS, but those are geared towards more experienced users.
I just switched a couple months ago to Pop OS because it is supposed to be more up to date on Nvidia drivers and game stuff. I haven’t tested to many games yet but the couple I did worked fine. I was going to go with Mint originally but the gaming thing sold me on Pop. Its been pretty smooth but I would like more built in setting options for customizations.
Mint is a good jumping off point
Zorin OS is better
Isn’t Zorin very out of date?
I’ll be honest I tried zorin and it looked too much like MacOS for my tastes
I think Zorin OS 18 based on Ubuntu 24.04
was released just few days ago?will be released tomorrow. Also Zorin OS uses heavily modified Gnome Wayland session which is by many standards more “modern” and “leading edge” than X11 Cinnamon session. The desktop environment is by far the most significant thing an average Joe user will be affected by. If their packages are bit older they won’t notice as much.
If you’re supporting it, then one you are familiar with would be my recommendation. If you’re both beginners, then Mint.
Mint for Windows refugees
Fedora for Mac Refugees
My choice: Bazzite GNOME for Gamers, Children and Grandmas. It’s pretty, is damn indestructible and has a speedy app store with loads of cool free apps.
Bazzite is awesome, but I’d go with KDE over GNOME
KDE if you’re used to Windows, Gnome if you’re used to MacOS.
I’d say Mint or Fedora KDE for windows converts. They’re both good “just works” options, but KDE just by virtue of being more popular has excellent software and support that make it a great option.
Fedora w/ Gnome for Mac converts is a no brainer, and I’d add that you’re probably going to want the Dash2Dock Lite or Dash2Dock Animated extension for a Mac convert.
Bazzite keeps sounding better for her needs tbh
It’s truly a fantastic distro. Fedora atomic is very much an attempt at making Linux as easy and secure as Android. I recommend it for beginners and experts alike, truly awesome tech going on.
I’ve dabbled with a few different distros in VMs and laptops that I don’t use a whole lot over the years. I recently moved my main desktop to Bazzite and I love it. The built-in ‘ujust’ scripts, or whatever you call them, are fantastic. Setting up an 8bitdo pro 2 was a breeze. Getting new apps installed, even with distrobox, is really easy. I’m sold on ublue, probably going to move my work laptop to Aurora soon.
I’m not a child, gamer nor grandma but last time i tried mint a few years ago i literally cried, so it might be something for me
Fedora. I would not have said that two years, but I am blown away by how easy and up to date it is.
And I am normally an Arch person.
Yeah I ran it up on distrosea and was surprised how intuitive it already looked
KDE works perfectly on the KDE version which is official now. Updates are straight forward, lots of software available.
I also supprised myself a few years back when I ditched Arch Linux (after 10 years) for Fedora! I now use Fedora Silverblue, but would also reccomend having a look at the uBlue variants for different flavoring.
I loved Mint. It’s still great. Recently I installed Linux on a family member’s laptop which is not upgradeable to Windows 11. Hate to say it (and I may be a bit petty here): Mint looks dated, Cinnamon needs a facelift.
That was a reason I went with Zorin. It clearly tries to transition users that come from Windows with it’s design (honestly, it’s modded Gnome looks awesome). Even running .exe files is as simple as just opening them. Zorin will either just run them or suggest a Linux alternative. Had no issues with that OS so far.
That said, Mint or Ubuntu are solid choices for beginners (and pros alike).
Came to say this : Zorin was perfect for me, especially for its elegant resemblance to Windows.
I think Linux Mint would be a good first distro.
I recently learned about a project called Operese. It is a Windows to Linux migration tool that also sets up Kubuntu. Kubuntu is Ubuntu with the KDE desktop environment instead of the GNOME desktop environment. I don’t know how well that tool works since I never tried it but it looks promising.
There is also a new project called Winboat that is meant to make it easier to install and use Windows software such as Adobe Photoshop
