You’re about to take your first steps in the wonderful world of Linux, but you’re overwhelmed by the amount of choices? Welcome to this (I hope) very simple guide :)...
This article was written in the sense of bashing gnome but yet some points seem to be valid. It explains the history of gtk 1 to 4 and the influence of gnome in gtk. I’m not saying gnome is bad here, instead I find this an interesting to read and I’m sharing it.
Why on Earth are these nonsense blog rants constantly upvoted here?
It is essentially an unlettered rant that conflates the author’s UI and toolkit preferences with an objective view.
It doesn’t even provide a useful comparison to the evolution of QT to provide for a meaningful reference of its implied assertion that the evolution of GTK is too rapid for devs.
It has a really great selection of polished layouts OOTB that can make GNOME look very familiar to whatever the user is used to.
Also has some other great tweaks around WINE for beginners, and a more easily accessible Nvidia option in install media.
I don’t use it myself, but I would suggest it is ideal for someone who is a basic computer user who wants to mostly web browse and use home office tools. It really is ultra-polished.
Yes this could mostly be replicated with extensions and themes, but honestly, unless you have strong feelings about your OS, which most people don’t, it is not worth messing about with this (particularly when installing for others) when Zorin is available; it can be a headache to have to maintain such comprehensive layout changes through extensions and themes without breakage throughout upgrades. It also has the benefits of being based on the very actively developed GNOME, compared to something with a smaller team like Cinnamon, namely much better Wayland support, and in my view more polish.
Hi! I’m seeking some advice and sanity check on hopping from Ubuntu to Fedora on my personal PC. I’ve been using Ubuntu LTS for almost two years now, switched from Windows and never looked back. But I cannot say I know Linux well. I use my PC for browsing, some gaming with Steam (I have AMD GPU), occasional video editing,...
Fedora is on a six monthly cycle just like non-LTS Ubuntu; neither distro is on a yearly release cycle. The previous release is just supported for an extra six months, for one year of support per release for Fedora.
Fedora itself isn’t rolling but the kernel and mesa packages do roll between releases, and it is more bleeding edge than Ubuntu generally.
It’s an Ubuntu-derivative using Gnome, but with a large number of tweaks to make it very user friendly out of the box. They have a variety of pre-made layouts in a beautiful theme that can pretty well replicate Windows 7, 10, 11 and Mac layouts among others, as well as a clear option to include Nvidia drivers OOTB in install media, and a better WINE experience for example.
It supports wayland just fine.
In my view it has all the benefits of Mint without many of the drawbacks stemming from its custom DE.
I personally don’t use it, preferring Gentoo or Fedora, but I think it is a very good choice for beginners or those people who only use a computer for web browsing and home office use.
I would definitely recommend installing it in a VM or liveUSB and trying it out. It won me over, when I thought it would just be another themed distro.
As others have stated, as long as you are using a distribution with reasonably modern (and maybe frequent) updates of the kernel and mesa stack, it doesn’t matter much. The updates of these two packages are what will provide updated hardware support and performance improvements.
Steer clear of Nvidia. It can work on linux, but is a pain due to Nvidia not providing proper open-source driver support. I also highly recommend ensuring you have an intel chip if you need wifi, as realtek and broadcom can be a bit variable in terms of support and stability for wifi.
Wayland is also preferable in my view, due to its significant benefits over X11 - it is more secure, makes your computer much smoother, and supports modern niceties like better multi-monitor support, gestures, lack of tearing, HDR (in the future), etc.
This segues into my next point. It makes more difference what DE you use when gaming - GNOME currently doesn’t support VRR on Wayland (appears to be coming in next release at least experimentally), while KDE does. So that is something to think about. I would stick to either of these two DEs as these are the only two that are both user friendly for beginners, and have excellent wayland support. Cinnamon, MATE and XFCE all do not yet support Wayland.
I would steer clear of distributions that are not established, and/or only have very small or single person teams (as this has potential security, stability and support implications) and would recommend Fedora. Fedora has a bleeding edge mesa and kernel (that roll between releases), but stability elsewhere with a solid community behind it and a dedicated security team, built on cutting edge technologies throughout. If you need VRR I would use the Fedora KDE spin. OpenSUSE tumbleweed is also a great choice.
Many users will recommend Arch Linux systems, as this is the hotness, particularly as this is what SteamOS is based on. I wouldn’t recommend this even as a very happy Gentoo user, however, as relatively “pure” Arch Linux distributions (and Gentoo), will require you to follow notices on the website, and will require your knowledge and intervention at some point based on this notice; without your intervention, it will likely break your system. So as a beginner I would avoid Arch Linux and Endeavour OS.
Manjaro has had many too issues with the security and stability of their distribution to allow me to comfortably recommend it, and the Nobara and Garuda Linux teams are both too small for me to be comfortable recommending them. Zorin OS, Pop_OS and Linux Mint are all excellent workstation distributions, but their outdated kernels and software (they are based on a long-term support base) mean you may be either giving up some performance or hardware compatibility.
While I don’t mind BSDs, that would lead to even worse outcomes though in my view. Companies wouldn’t even have to release the source code, and they routinely don’t.
What we need is more copyleft to ensure companies contribute back to the communities they leach from, not less.
I think it is very interesting in terms of the easy deployment of specific environments, and in terms of writing recipes for new packages.
Having said that, outside of these two rather niche areas for home use, I think it is rather unintuitive and offers no real advantages over more established players that offer a more polished experience, like Fedora for workstation and gaming use.
You are describing a different scenario to myself here though.
There is nothing wrong with helping to direct people to the manual of course if it is genuinely of use.
There are many who are not as friendly as you in my experience who use these queries more a flex of their perceived superiority than any genuine attempt to be helpful.
It is these people who view arch as some sort of elite status symbol that makes them superior geniuses that are toxic.
However, I do think a small portion of the Arch community are. There seems to be a segment that is quite aggressive with RTFM, even where the wiki is unclear, or are otherwise very condescending or even aggressive to new users.
People also really need to stop recommending Arch to new users, especially those looking to move to Linux for gaming.
The GNOME Foundation is thrilled to announce the GNOME project is receiving €1M from the Sovereign Tech Fund to modernize the platform, improve tooling and accessibility, and support features that are in the public interest....
They are being downvoted because it is utter nonsense, spouted as authoritative fact.
Anyone who has ever used gnome seriously, knows that although it can be used for touch it is heavily keyboard oriented.
While not undermining the work of KDE devs who I have great admiration for, GNOME devs also work heavily on standards that benefit all of linux, and arguably do just as much if not more, as they are a very well resourced project.
"Help me choose my first distro" and other questions for beginners
You’re about to take your first steps in the wonderful world of Linux, but you’re overwhelmed by the amount of choices? Welcome to this (I hope) very simple guide :)...
A response to the "Boycott Wayland" article
Link to article: gist.github.com/…/9feb7c20257af5dd915e3a9f2d1f227…...
Is there any future for the GTK-based Desktop Environments? (ludditus.com)
This article was written in the sense of bashing gnome but yet some points seem to be valid. It explains the history of gtk 1 to 4 and the influence of gnome in gtk. I’m not saying gnome is bad here, instead I find this an interesting to read and I’m sharing it.
Preparing to move from Ubuntu to Fedora
Hi! I’m seeking some advice and sanity check on hopping from Ubuntu to Fedora on my personal PC. I’ve been using Ubuntu LTS for almost two years now, switched from Windows and never looked back. But I cannot say I know Linux well. I use my PC for browsing, some gaming with Steam (I have AMD GPU), occasional video editing,...
Zorin OS 17 Beta Released with Quick Settings, Spatial Desktop, and More (9to5linux.com)
What is the best distro for gaming?
I know gaming has gotten a lot better on Linux and I’m working on a new PC and I’m wondering which distro to try.
State of the Nvidia open source driver in late 2023?
Hi all,...
Firefox Is Going To Try And Ship With Wayland Enabled By Default (www.phoronix.com)
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Amazon Building its Own Linux-Based OS to Replace Android (www.omgubuntu.co.uk)
GIMP 2.10.36 Released (www.gimp.org)
Comparison between NixOS vs blendOS vs Vanilla OS: what to pick and why?
So I’ve recently taken an interest in these three distros:...
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GNOME Recognized as Public Interest Infrastructure (foundation.gnome.org)
The GNOME Foundation is thrilled to announce the GNOME project is receiving €1M from the Sovereign Tech Fund to modernize the platform, improve tooling and accessibility, and support features that are in the public interest....