If you use one of the standard graphical desktops (Gnome, KDE, …) you don’t need to explore all of the config files. The most important settings should be in a settings program.
And programs should (mostly) come with sane default settings anyways. Debian adds a few. So the usual way (for beginners) is to start with the defaults and change around stuff once you want to customize something, and starting with the software you use the most (like an text editor, …). The standard GUI software (like your browser, LibreOffice) has GUI settings dialogues anyways.
Yes just install something that never breaks, has a graphical appstore with the correct sources, and a good GUI.
I would say try Fedora Silverblue from Ublue.it. it updates automatically (at least it should), and all your apps can be installed from your software store.
In fairness, I frequently forgot my steamdeck root password, because the need to use it was so few and far between. If you’re always in game mode, then there’s almost 0 reason that I’d need my password.
You don’t have to edit the config files, if that’s what you mean. Generally speaking you should never need to edit any of them except in very unusual cases.
The config files are generally specific to apps and they can get transferred between distributions.
It’s actually common practice to take your /home with you too a new distro, it to put it on a separate partition so it’s still there after you reinstall the system partition. The app versions might be a little different and sometimes they’re may be small glitches when you do that but for the most part it works very well.
The only dot dirs you might care about is .cache which you may want to empty every once in a while (if you run out of space on /home). There’s also trash, if you use that, but that usually has its own widget on the desktop so you can explore or empty it.
For whatever reason, many of the editors mentioned here never worked for me … like OpenShot, ShotCut or PiTiVi were really unstable the last time I tried (might be a distro or DE thing). Also I found it hard to cut precisely when they worked. Lightworks, Da Vinci, Cinelerra, I had a hard time getting them to run. Maybe that changed in the meantime.
I ultimately stuck with Kdenlive, which is stable enough and allows for reasonably precise cutting.
Sorry I’m new to the networky world of things, could someone explain what TLS and DNS (seen it in settings here and there) are, and the differences between them.
Yeah dot files are config files, and usually apps have one. And yes, you would have to explore each program to see what the settings do.
You picked Debian now, just be aware that all software is very old and when you read docs for programs, you probably have to read about older versions instead of the current one.
I’m going to reframe the question as “Are computers good for someone tech illiterate?”
I think the answer is “yes, if you have someone that can help you”.
The problem with proprietary systems like Windows or OS X is that that “someone” is a large corporation. And, in fairness, they generally do a good job of looking after tech illiterate people. They ensure that their users don’t have to worry about how to do updates, or figure out what browser they should be using, or what have you.
But (and it’s a big but) they don’t actually care about you. Their interest making sure you have a good experience ends at a dollar sign. If they think what’s best for you is to show you ads and spy on you, that’s what they’ll do. And you’re in a tricky position with them because you kind of have to trust them.
So with Linux you don’t have a corporation looking after you. You do have a community (like this one) to some degree, but there’s a limit to how much we can help you. We’re not there on your computer with you (thankfully, for your privacy’s sake), so to a large degree, you are kind of on your own.
But Linux actually works very well if you have a trusted friend/partner/child/sibling/whoever who can help you out now and then. If you’ve got someone to help you out with it, Linux can actually work very very well for tech illiterate people. The general experience of browsing around, editing documents, editing photos, etc., works very much the same way as it does on Windows or OS X. You will probably be able to do all that without help.
But you might not know which software is best for editing photos. Or you might need help with a specific task (like getting a printer set up) and having someone to fall back on will give you much better experience.
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