This year totally is the year of Linux, guys!
Trust me!
Don’t need it to be the year of the Linux desktop for me to switch to use it myself.
The only way Linux ever becomes viable for the mainstream is when there is a single distribution that covers every feature and is as streamlined and user friendly as possible.
- No command lines ever for anything
- huge software compatibility
- hardware compatibility of the newest and oldest of hardware
- easy troubleshooting even your nan can follow
- and most of all: every Linux user agrees it is the best Linux distribution (unless you are into niche stuff)
So until even you guys can agree on one distribution being the best, it will not be the year of the Linux ever.–
So, Ubuntu 10+ years ago? For normie usage you don’t need to worry about any of those things. It comes with firefox.
I worked in a PC repair shop until a few years ago. Most people didn’t want to buy MS office. Most of what they did is in a web browser. But most people that came in to buy a boot USB wanted a windows one rather than Linux, either way I just copied what ever ISO they wanted to it. Copy/paste doesn’t cost anything.
Disclaimer: when I say “bullshit”, I do not mean “you are brainless fool”, I only mean “this idea is so ridiculously wrong it is time we put it to rest at last”
No command lines ever for anything
This annoys me so much I literally registered to answer: bullshit. Stop with that strawman, will ya all, Linux enthusiasts
easy troubleshooting even your nan can follow
Same level bullshit. Watch win (and mac?) being hell to debug
every Linux user agrees it is the best Linux distribution
Bullshit. See Win XP times with many custom-made “flavours”. That did nothing to make windows less popular
when there is a single distribution
Bullshit number one. Linux will become major thing as a result of people pushing back against corporate wall-gardening and spying and/or when it starts coming pre-installed (see Android phones for the latter). All the scary-command-line whining is just elitist bullshit
Hell people still argue about the best version of Windows lol (I miss XP and 7) people will never agree on a single Linux distro
I was going to make a crack about you inventing MacOSX, which is at least “Linux adjacent”, but I don’t know how to work without a command line on either Windows or Mac. Some functionality is just so much more inconvenient or even impossible through the GUI, even on those
“How do I do X on Mac”
“First install homebrew, and then install this plugin”
50 plugins later
“There, now I can finally use the GUI”
So Macs run Gnome now?
Does this apply to Windows as well? Haha
For Linux to go mainstream is simple. Have Linux be default on every computer sold in stores.
Something like 99% of people who go to a store and buy a laptop, does so because they need a device to access their online bank or watch funny videos on YouTube. Maybe check their mail and open a PDF or two.
I think it doesn’t occur to most people to even consider what OS to use on a computer. They just use the computer.
It seems like what you want is a tablet.
I used Linux on and off over the years and will probably switch back to using it when Windows 10 is no longer supported. Linux will never be mainstream but the user base would grow if every Steam game ran on Linux seamlessly. That’s probably never going to happen, though. There will also never be “the one” distro to rule them all. Mint and Ubuntu come pretty close.
It’s honestly getting there. The major barrier at this point is kernel level anti-cheat, which is a bad idea people shouldn’t be using anyway.
year +1
Can anyone recommend a very beginner friendly Linux OS for someone who only knows what Linux is but doesn’t have experience with it and has never used anything but windows? Even Apple’s OS is confusing to me. But windows is trying to force this most recent terrible update every time we turn on the computer, and I’ve had enough.
Pop! _OS, provided you know how to find specific wifi modules (drivers) for laptops like Macbook or Broadcam devices in general.
I’ve got some documentation somewhere on the topic let me see if I can find it.
In any case for now I suggest looking it up, it can be installed on literally anything. I installed it on multiple Macbooks using Ubuntu WiFi drivers (both free and non-free WiFi modules) to gain full functionality Wifi-wise.
For the most part “wl” will be available for your device (foss wifi module) so for most devices you’ll be fine right outta the box. And, in the event bluetooth is missing, by installing “blueman” for Bluetooth capabilities.
For most if not all Windows devices (amd64, amd86, intel, NVidia, etc) it can be installed in one fell swoop.
Best part, you can encrypt your data using the same password you use to login. It’s one of the first things you see before confirming the installation to your device.
And the installer is intuitive and really user-friendly.
In terms of DE’s it is as versatile as Ubuntu, it is after all, compatible with most - if not all, Ubuntu repositories.
You can use the default DE GNOME to make your device look like Windows Vista.
You can, alternatively use KDE Plasma to make it look like it’s Windows 7 using the sddm display manager.
It’s as versatile as any other distro but with an easy installer, you literally just press buttons. Obviously you’ve gotta wipe the data on the drive. So here’s to hoping you’ve either made backups or, have made peace with the death of that drive.
In any case, failing drives are as easy to fix as telling the drive to ignore the damaged sectors.
Pop!_OS is like Ubuntu if it had Debian’s stability IMO. It’s been fantastic thus far and I highly recommend it. They also have very extensive documentation!
Mint.
I’ll be very honest with you. It’s not fancy, it’s not snazzy computing. It’s simple, designed with a graphical interface in mind, and a good operating system for someone who A) does not know Linux, or B) does not want to fiddle.
I’ve been using Pop!_OS, and I’m quite pleased. I would definitely recommend it for Linux newcomers.
The best that I can think of that fits those requironments would be Linux mint. When downloading you can select between 3 different Editions, whose only difference is the desktop, all this boils down to is how it looks, so just select whatever looks best to you.
Now something to keep in mind when switching to linux; while you will be able to do all that youd want on a PC on linux, some software that you might use and be accustomed to (like the adobe suit) might not be supported on linux (like the adobe suit) so youd need to find alternatives. Linux was designed around terminals, ‘cmd’ on windows, so while you can do most in a GUI, you will more often than not find tutorials using said terminals. And unlike on windows with guis, terminals have both direct system access, as well was expect you to know what you are doing, so read what it prints, its important.
Talking by experience, the one distro that let me just install it, then use my computer without to care about what distro it was using, was Fedora Specifically the XFCE spin
As already said, Mint is the only sane choice for the common user. The only thing I’d add is to select the MintDE edition which is built off Debian instead of Ubuntu.
You won’t notice any real difference between either variant but you should encounter fewer issues on the Debian version.
While I agree philosophically and would prefer the Debian based version. I personally have had issues with it, myabe it’s my Nvidia graphics.
So for a beginner I would reccomend the version that is considered the “main” version at the moment. Currently it is still Ubuntu based afaik.
Can’t confirm, I’d strongly recommend the default version for fewer problems and support of PPAs. While it’s technically better not to use something related to Ubuntu for moral reasons, for beginners I’d strongly suggest not putting unnecessary obstacles into your own way.
Ubuntu is one of the easiest distro to get into Linux in my experience.
I am currently running Linux Mint and it had a lot of issues one both my machines (laptop and PC). Never had these issues with Ubuntu. I am waiting to finish my client’s project before I am dropping Linux Mint.
@PagingDoctorLove @mugdad1 I’m thinking Ubuntu, Mint, or MX Linux. But any Linux will be at least a little different from Windows. It’s not hard to get used to, and it’s worth it.
If you do ANY gaming at all: Bazzite KDE
If you don’t: Fedora KDE
Fedora gnome and i game fine.
As do I! I have been a Fedora GNOME user for the past three years now, and I love it. Gaming won’t necessarily be impacted by using Fedora as opposed to Bazzite, after all Bazzite is just Fedora with some stuff on top. And that’s my point: if you are a more advanced user then you’ll appreciate not having those things on top and being able to customize your system more to your liking, and be aware of what things you’re installing because you’re doing it manually (as opposed to having them bundled with the system), but those things will make the experience smoother for a newcomer who’s afraid of making the jump, as OP is. Because yes, having pre-installed drivers, pre-installed compatibility layers and a set-up dialog when you first boot the system that allows you to install all basic software will make it easier, even if it’s not needed. Plus, Bazzite is atomic, which Fedora isn’t, and therefore harder to break (or rather, easier to repair, by just returning to the last working image, which should be as easy as selecting it on start-up)
And my recommendation of KDE as opposed to GNOME was because I think it is more similar to the experience someone would have coming from Windows, not necessarily related to any problems with gaming
Mint is the way I went (13 months ago). Linux Mint Debian Edition in particular.
I’d recommend Ubuntu. I’ve never tried Mint like others have suggested, but one of the strengths of Ubuntu is that it’s one of the more popular distros, which means if you want to install a program, it probably has an easy install version for Ubuntu/Debian, or specific instructions, or just a lot of people online who have had the same errors as you and can give you suggestions when something starts causing issues
Without a doubt, the most user-friendly distro is Linux Mint. Although, if you are a gamer, you might appreciate a distro like Bazzite more, since it comes with everything you will need for gaming pre-installed.
Endeavour OS. It may be a bit more hands on than something like Ubuntu/Fedora but there are ways less abstractions, better document and community support that makes it simpler over all.
Pick up a note-taking application like Joplin or something and write down solutions to problems and you’ll be fine.
I’d recommend against Ubuntu/Fedora/Mint etc. tbh, they are simpler on the surface but there are no ing parts that make it more complex when things break.
Play around with distrobox and docker too, that makes a lot of stuff easier.
Oh god, please do not do what Hawk just said (No offense Hawk). The “a bit more hands on” means you’ll have to learn to use half of the GNU Utils (command line commands) to feel comfortable. If even Mac feels confusing you’ll NOT feel comfy on Endeavour.
The most easy one is Mint. It might not be the one with the most modern tech under the hood, but it’s pretty much the greatest start as a “normal user just wanting things to work” you can get without immediate help by someone knowledgeable. The community is also extremely friendly and there’s a plethora of tutorials for things on Mint on the web (also many how-to’s for Ubuntu apply on it, and it’s compatible with any downloadable software for Ubuntu (.deb packages, those are basically install files - some companies still prefer to offer their stuff this way).
As context, Endeavour OS is based on Arch Linux. That community expects you to become comfortable with the command line. Endeavour is more of a buffer to it than a remedy, it’s definitely aimed at more advanced users and those who like a more steep learning curve.
If you’re perhaps also in for new hardware, may I also suggest taking a look at companies like Tuxedo Computers, System76 or Slimbook? If you buy from them you get their tested systems on tested hardware including customer support. Extremely valuable for newcomers.
You can find a list of hardware vendors here. (The blogpost is a little bit outdated, you might find it useful nonetheless. Ignore the distro recommendations in it though, I gotta redo the thing eventually)
This is based on my experience teaching at university, Your mileage may vary. This is what I found to work the best for first year students.
Sounds like a fair recommendation to students given the nature of Arch with almost zero bounding boxes to navigate around, I’d absolutely not recommend it to average users who do not look for a deeper learning experience though. In my experience most people want their tool to work in a comfortable way, in this case being the PC. The experience of downloading something from the AUR using “just one command” might be a positive one for many, but for people who aren’t into technology to at least some degree using the CLI in any way is, more often than not, at least uncomfortable.
OP mentioned Mac being confusing to them, so I wouldn’t assume them wanting the student experience with Linux but rather smooth-sailing.
Mint, some people will criticize me for sugesting it but I belive it’s the most user friendly distro that you can just search an error on google and get a solution instantly since it’s so widespread. I was going to say Ubuntu but they have made some questionable decisions regarding ads.
Amazing, thank you so much. I’m going to check it out right now!
Why would anyone criticize Mint as a suggestion? It’s easy to use and stable. I have been using it on my main pc for abut a year with barely any issues (i had more problems on windows). I have tried other distros: mutable, immutable, rolling etc but I always come back to Mint if I want things to just work.
P.S. I have used ubuntu professionally for about 7 years and while I don’t always like it, it is still a solid choice.
I’m going to second Linux Mint, I installed it on my grandma’s computers recently and she’s had no complaints in the last 6 months.
Other than trying to get her Epson printer to work (which I only found out about this morning because she uses it so little) so I’m going to try to get it to work for her tomorrow.
I did mention that I’d happily buy her a new printer but she’s insisting on keeping her current one. I’m praying I can get it working.
Linux Mint and maybe Fedora
I like Kubuntu tbh
I didn’t like Mint all that much.
If you have an old laptop you can try a few out and see what works, they’ll run faster than windows. If you’re on windows you might have access to Hyper-V Virtual Machine and then you can just run some Linux Distros in a virtual machine to see if they’re nice. You can even try moving some files into the VM and see if you can still work with them after a migration from windows.
Stick with something popular. People like to argue about distros, but beyond their package manager and some settings, it’s the same thing under the hood (not saying these difference are nothing, but still). For a beginner, or really for anyone just looking to use their system instead of tinkering with it endlessly, a popular, well supported distribution will do the job.
Ubuntu fits that bill, although they made some very weird decisions recently, so I’d suggest starting with Mint if you’re new to this. Most everything should work out of the box if you have common hardware, and there’s a decent community around in case something goes wrong.
I’d also advise jumping to anything too new, flashy, or promising stuff that should really, really not be distribution dependant. My position on things is that if there’s a common tool that’s available everywhere to do something, and some distributions decides to make “their own” which does the same thing but is very specific, that’s just wasting time. Hence the disdain for raw ubuntu, among other.
I’m still waiting for one of two things to happen:
- Windows 10 EoS
- Steam OS 3 official support for PC
Going to 100% Linux (currently dual boot for da gamez) within 24h hours from that happening
What do you expect from SteamOS 3?
From the system itself - stability and compatibility with my peripherals
I know that Proton is the thing allowing games to run smoothly on Linux, but the fact it’s an OS made specifically for gaming, used on a pretty popular handheld will give the devs more incentive to make their stuff well out of the box
Kinda same. Using windows only for League of Legends. Yes, I am hooked on that. Best thing I can do is find other games to take up some time. I just installed ZenlessZoneZero via sleepy launcher yesterday on my Mint install. Time to dive into those gachas!
I also did dual boot for ‘da gamez’… but then found that I’ve never had to boot into Windows for any game whatsoever. It’s been a few years now. So apparently I didn’t need dual boot after all.
Neither of those is going to happen…
Isn’t windows 10 end of support this year?
Also, didn’t Valve commit to SteamOS 3 for PCs at some point?
Steam os is going to be neither better or worse than anything else Linux based.
Yes, Windows 10 is EOL this year. However, if you are using it right now you shouldn’t have any issues with Windows 11. Windows 10 as it is right now is much worse than 11.
I dislike esthetics more than disfunctionality
Also Steam OS 3 is used by a pretty popular handheld, so devs are more incentivised to get their stuff running well out of the box
If you want Steam OS on a desktop, install Bazzite. It’s the closest your going to get and it’s great.
Can’t recommend it enough! I’ve tried Linux distros in the past but always found that there were hardware issues or certain programs didn’t work. Not to mention I essentially had to give up gaming. Linux was cool but I just couldn’t use it as my daily driver.
I switched to Pop!_OS last month and I’ve been blown away. The install was simple and straightforward and the only hardware that required special config was my gaming mouse that needed “libratbag” and “piper” to remap the extra buttons and adjust the RGB.
Other than that, all the programs I normally use like Discord, Dropbox, Steam, and every game I’ve tested so far work flawlessly. I don’t feel like I’m missing anything or had to give up something like I did before. I actually feel like I’ve upgraded since I’m loving the auto tiling window manager and multiple desktops that Pop!_OS has as options.
Win2Linux project that i’m working on. It should be an official part of KDE Eco initiative soon, if there’s no unexpected problems coming up. I’m running it on my private server for testing. It does not collect any information. Give me feedback on the design…
I already got that the font size is a little bit too large. Oh and some links don’t work yet.
Getting an SSL protocol error on that link.
some days ago switched to void linux. It’s awesome
still didn’t reach that level im stuck at arch level how do find void is it good and from which point
What made you choose Void?
I wanted to try something new and different than debian, ubuntu or fedora, but at the same time do not try something like arch. A few days ago at work I’ve mounted a VM with void linux and start reading its handbook , and wow, the OS is very intuitive, if you combine its practicity along fish you got a very handy system, but again, I tried because I wanted to try something different, I really didn’t try to satisfy a need. By the time, I should be able to tell if has the speed and performance to carry a selfhosted server; yesterday I started to migrate everything to void in my Lenovo Think Centre mini.
Nice. I hope it works out for you.
I’m a full-time Nobara daily driver since January 2024. It perfectly suits my gaming needs and also is working very well for my home audio production needs. Might have been better off with a slower moving distro for that stuff but so far so good!
This is why I use linux!
Yeah, but then someone does the same with systemd, am I right?
/ducks and runs
deleted by creator
Block the community. Block all Linux communities. Seriously. If it bothers you that much, save yourself the aggravation and just block anything Linux related. It’s pretty easy. I have several communities on my block list.
imagine going to a McDonald’s and complaining to the waiters about all the unhealthy food
Sir, this is a Wendy’s.
Dude, you’re literally in linuxmemes, ffs.
Bye!
“Android apps barely run on iOS, that’s why I go back to Apple :<”
Okay, bye. 👋
I’m so done, I’m out, forever.
Just out of spite I’ll be going windows again too
Hey this isn’t an airport, you don’t need to announce your departure.
Browse by ‘subscribed’ instead of ‘all’.
Block communities you dislike that you dislike this much.
Unlike ShitBook and TwitHeil, you’re the one curating your feed here and not some algorithm clickbait algorithm.
So glad I switched to Linux a year ago, so much bs from Microsoft for exactly this and it was too much bs.
the best time to switch to linux is a few years ago.
the second best time is now.
I switched a few years ago, and recently spun up a secondary Windows install because I was planning on checking out Game Pass. I couldn’t make it more than a couple hours, Windows 11 is a hot mess now and it felt really gross to see all the ads everywhere. Even the login screen isn’t free of them anymore!
I honestly don’t know how people use that shit, I wouldn’t force it on somebody I hated.
It is actually quite bad to use. If for whatever reason I needed a commercial OS I’d have to use MacOS at this stage.
Microsoft has really dropped the ball in terms of quality.
I switched a few years ago. I’ve been using windows for over 30 years. They changed a bunch of random shit I had used in the past. I figured I’d give it a shot.
I never went back. I’m not a coder. I don’t even like tech very much. I’ve been really happy with Ubuntu for years.
I wanted something that just worked. It has.
I installed Pop!_OS on a Thinkpad and made it my main work computer. It is the most boring computing experience ever. Nothing ever breaks. It just works.
I’m surprised how well my thinkpad was supported in the Fedora plasma spin. Everything just worked out of the box. No drivers were needed. Even the fingerprint reader works.
I thought it would just be for login, but even terminal will use it when I need to sudo.
How awesome!
It’s been my daily driver for years now. The two computers os have literally never failed, no software issues other than some bugs I myself introduced.
They say they’re the distribution for humans. Apparently, it is so!
The Steam Deck was the reason I changed. Used the Deck as my only PC for a couple of months and liked the experience so I changed.
I’ve had OpenSUSE on my PC for over a year now and really like it… But I’ll be honest, the move and troubleshooting problems for setup was a pain in the ass. But it’s stable and steady since I’ve gotten over setup pains.
I hear you. I spent a while switching to OpenSUSE too because it seemed so easy, I’ve installed OSs plenty!
But I like to partition and stuff, and have a lot of drives from over the years. Oh, what filesystem? Well geeze that might as well be an epic RPG’s “choose a name” screen!
Now it’s easy: Their perfectly fine default of BTRFS because snapshots and I might try dedup, thank you very much. Lol but I still feel like I had to wade through way too much to reach that conclusion.
Once it’s installed and configured though? Man, everything I throw at it is just fine. Love my Tumbleweed. Haven’t looked back in like 4 years. :)
Tumbleweed brotherhood ✊
It doesn’t get used or recommended enough.
Or macOS
idont think so mac is closed source
Removing Windows from your computer is like ridding your body of a terrible disease
Or when an insurance company CEO somehow transitions to an “unalive” state…
I was planning on switching this year anyways but windows filling out a driveiI configured specifically to not get any data and then complaining about it led to an early switch.
Well to be fair I was using Debian on a second computer for years, but now my main one also runs Fedora
I skimmed an article on enshittification yesterday
It mentioned Windows
Can something be enshittified if it was shit from the start?
It wasn’t shit from the start though, was it.
Back when Windows 95 was a new thing it blew everything else out of the water. Suddenly there was an operating system that even regular people were paying attention to and getting excited about, and it actually deserved the hype.
Windows was a product at that time, where Microsoft made their money by people purchasing the operating system. And so the incentive was to make a great product that people wanted to buy and use.
This was true all the way through the Windows XP and 7 days, and only with the release of 8 and especially 10 did we start to see things change.
Microsoft - who used to put so much effort into trying to prevent people installing cracked Windows - suddenly didn’t seem to care so much anymore about enforcing that. They’d realised that the true exploitable value was in the online ecosystem and the data, not the product, and that was the turning point for everything.
No this isn’t right. Windows XP was the enshitification.
Was it?
A lot of people hated XP because of it’s ‘childish’ visual design, but that’s not what enshittification is about.
Enshittificstion is when a service becomes progressively user-hostile by implementing patterns that exploit the user and their data for profit.
I used XP plenty, and I certainly don’t remember it pushing ads in the start menu, or trying to force me to register a Microsoft account, or constantly harassing me to sign up for paid subscriptions.
You may have personally thought it “was shit”, but it certainly wasn’t “enshittified”
Yes it was. Windows XP began the phone home for licensing. It also created a tiered system where things are kept from you unless you paid more, but they were not really clear about it. I remember needing a Corporate license to do some things we needed to do. This is also where they realldy fucked up with Active X and tying windows explorer to the system in such a way that made it harder not to use it. Home users could not actually admin local accounts, and security between then was basically non existant.
And then shortly after launch they began the push to get the users to use their home page, msn services, notifications for explorer to be the default browser. The media player started pushing their online services. Live ID became a thing.
If you complained that they had things you didnt want, like explorer, windows media player, windows messenger, etc: they did say you could run a utility to “remove” them. Except it didn’t. It removed the icons. So they started the flat out lying to the consumer with windows XP.
Edit: Now I remember, among other reasons, we needed corporate to stop forced updates.
Edit: I apologize for all the after post edits but the longer I think about it the more I think of!
What about the new “buy music online” feature? You could ONLY use Explorer to complete the transaction, no matter if you had a different default browser or not.
Joke’s on you Microsoft, I had already switched to Linux at the time.
You make a very good point and are clearly a lot more knowledgeable than me.
I’m going to rephrase. Windows 11 was shitty from the start. I can defend that statement, which we both agree with, to save my ego from internal bleeding.
They keep adding shitty things to it.
I agree, 11 definitely was shitty from the beginning.
With 11 Microsoft are not even attempting to “sell” the operating system anymore, but instead are dragging people to it kicking and screaming, while they desperately try to cling to Windows 10.
Tells you everything you need to know about whether it’s the consumer or Microsoft who are on the winning side of that “upgrade”.
