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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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)
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
If you do ANY gaming at all: Bazzite KDE
If you don’t: Fedora KDE
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
Amazing, thank you so much. I’m going to check it out right now!
Linux Mint and maybe Fedora
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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!
I’ve been using Pop!_OS, and I’m quite pleased. I would definitely recommend it for Linux newcomers.
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.