Most operating systems mostly work find something that has a release cadence you like and is close to what you want then you will have to customize it to fit your needs
Linux Mint is definitely the right choice here in my opinion. I installed it for my parent’s on their older laptop when they were having issues running windows. They were blown away by how fast it was and how they could do all of their usual tasks (i.e browsing, financing, basic games, etc.). It will be a great first experience for you!
The only thing I would maybe hesitate about with POP! OS is the big upcoming switch to the COSMIC desktop, which is is brand-new and a bit untested. But also System76 are a really solid company and seem to know what they’re doing so it’ll probably be fine.
It’s probably been said, but Ubuntu or one of its variants is really the easiest way to go. Canonical has devoted a great deal of effort to making things easy and intuitive, and a complete novice should be able to get a fully functional system set up within 15 minutes.
Its not advised to install steam os on non steamdeck devices. Pop os, nobara and Garuda I believe come configured for gaming out of the box and are pretty uptodate.
Ubuntu actually worked for some people, who, for example, had trouble with PopOS! and getting highest refresh rate on multiple monitors. So yeah, if Ubuntu doesn’t work, try Zorin OS, and if that doesn’t work, try Manjaro, and if Manjaro doesn’t work, there so many more to try out!
I’m already starting to migrate my small office. Two PCs done, a handful of others to go. I have probably three that I’ll run Windows 11 for software compatibility, and another three Mac’s for different software.
Who remembers “Windows 10 will be our last operating system’?” I remember. Fuck Microsoft. Fuck Macs too though.
Distrochooser is not a good resource for newbies IMO. There are too many questions, many of which are misleading or hard to understand (NOBODY taking this knows what systemd is)
Many answers are misleasing: “I want a distro that is supported by game publishers” for example implies each distro has its own game compatibility, this is NOT the case.
And when you’re finally done it recommends too many distros, many of which are irrelevant, niche, or flat out not recommended anymore (PCLinuxOS?!?!)
When someone asks for a distro, please just run a random number generator to choose between ZorinOS, PopOS, or Linux Mint. If someone is only gaming, maybe include Nobara too.
Exactly! Many of the criteria included aren’t all that good for new users, and neither are the suggestions. It’s not really a good resource for experienced users either.
Yeah, I disagree. It’s the least subjective resource I can find as nobody asks the questions on that questionnaire here. I’d much prefer it if people used distrochooser and then shared their answers (e.g distrochooser.de/en/d5b60b6e6134/), wrote some extra stuff e.g “I want NVIDIA support because I want CUDA” or something, and based on that, we recommend distros. Instead of the herd mentality of “duh, linux mint stoopeed”
One of us could probably put that together pretty quickly lol
But if we did want to build a new distro recommender… Maybe there are like 5 or so questions that would be relevant.
Just off the top of my head some possibilities:
If you’re a beginner, Mint is a good choice. One could argue Ubuntu (noobs don’t gaf about snap if they even know what it is). I think noobs would want good GUI tools and a very popular, very polished distro. So issues are infrequent but finding answers is easy.
Into gaming? There’s a few distros that come up like Nobara. (I’ve seen Manjaro mentioned but idk).
If you want something that looks kinda like macos there’s Endeavor. Does anyone recommend that one these days? I don’t usually see it mentioned.
Idk.
You’re probably right, an rng that chooses between a few distros might be better lol
I like distro chooser, but the analysis seems off. It always recommends some mainstream distro that I end up hating after extended use. I’ve finally found one I like, but it was through brute force, not from some list somewhere or from asking in forums.
Start looking at the desktop environments and use a virtual machine/live usb to try them out. For something similar to Windows I’d recommend KDE plasma or Cinnamon, both can be tried out using KDE Neon or Linux Mint.
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