Serious question from someone who is in this situation: What the best os for someone who want to switch from window 10 to Linux because of the eol? Is it really mint ?
I switched from Win10 to Mint, and am quite happy. You can get a lot of stuff done through GUI, so you can put off learning how to use the terminal a little. If you are worried about using it, I can recommend using ChatGPT. Helped me troubleshoot a lot of issues and learning a few tricks.
Kubuntu uses snaps as default and I’ve had some trouble with that. My dad is using Kubuntu and there are problems with how programs communicate. Mint is probably a better choice.
I’ll admit I’m biased because I think Cinnamon is ugly. Most people seem to like it and I get it. I just wish Mint hadn’t abandoned the KDE edition. Mint is definitely a great choice though.
First step: Decide on the so-called desktop environment. A shortlist is provided below. For a new user, this should be decisive when choosing between beginner-friendly distros.
Before going over to the next (and final) step, we need to set the stage for our contenders:
Versions of Linux Mint. Linux Mint has (rightfully so) become the face of Linux for beginners. Stand out feature would be how crazy popular it is; it’s a joy to look up your problem through a search engine and find solutions for it.
Images of uBlue. Where Linux Mint tries to smooth the rough edges of the “traditional Linux model” as nicely as possible, uBlue’s images can be referred to as revolutionary by comparison. The model strikes some (re)semblance to what you might know from your phone or chromebook. These images aren’t even close to reaching their full potential, but have already garnered/amassed a wide audience for how they (at least attempt to) solve some of Desktop Linux’ long-standing issues. Note that finding solutions for your problems might not be as straightforward. However, documentation is decent and they’ve been very helpful on Discord.
Final step: Pick the distro corresponding to your preferred desktop environment. The list found below (ordered alphabetically) isn’t trying to be exhaustive on desktop environments.
Cinnamon; Linux Mint Cinnamon Edition. This is their flagship and probably what people mean when referring to Linux Mint.
GNOME; Bazzite’s GNOME. If you don’t intend to game, then consider Bluefin instead.
KDE Plasma; Bazzite’s KDE Plasma. If you don’t intend to game, then consider Aurora instead.
My first foray into Linux was through what you’d refer to as immutable Linux; shortly after the release of Fedora Kinoite. I’m literally the embodiment of the antithesis to your statement.
It is very new
This is factually true. So I can’t simply deny that. But being more precise is helpful:
Fedora Atomic, the family of distros that enable uBlue, has been in the works since 2014. This eventually culminated into the release of Fedora Atomic Workstation in 2018, which was the name of Fedora Silverblue before the name change.
The first commit of uBlue as a project happened over three years ago.
They will get a little more respect from me when they stop trying to target programmers and gamers. Because of course everyone uses Steam and VScode. It just feels very much like it is being run by young edgy programmers. It is the same group that is trying to force crappy “dark mode” everywhere.
What’s the bigger program is the lack of internet knowledge about how to fix problems. With Ubuntu and Debian there are tons of stack overflow pages on all of the various issues. Sure things have changed over time but it still the most documented distro. I can look up “how do I fix X Linux Mint” and I will get an answer. With the Bazzite immutable base almost all of the help online will be useless.
So in short I wouldn’t recommend something like Bazzite. Immutable Linux requires that you understand Linux under the hood. Also I am strongly against distros that need to market themselves as gaming.
Bazzite started as a project to resolve some of the issues that plague SteamOS:
Mainly out of date packages (despite an Arch base).
The lack of a functional package manager.
Issues pertaining to persistence of installed software across updates. (Reinstalling that obscure VPN software you spent an hour trying to get working in SteamOS isn’t fun.)
Like, SteamOS is a pretty cool operating system that allows both Linux enthusiasts and Linux newbs to enjoy playing (most of) their favorite games on Linux. But the former may find it too restrictive, while the latter may want to import that experience over to other devices. Bazzite aims to be that solution. Were it not for the success of the Steam Deck (and by extension SteamOS), such pressing need wouldn’t even have arisen. So Bazzite isn’t trying to target gamers as “an easy way to attract users” (or whatever the insinuation may be); its raison d’être is to address SteamOS’ limitations.
Regarding the targeting of programmers, you could be right on that. But I suppose it’s fine as VS Code’s inclusion (and other goodies) is only confined to the respective -dx images. I regard Bluefin (and Aurora; its KDE Plasma spin-off) as the opinionated distro its maintainers like to use for themselves (i.e. programmers). I’d argue this actually makes it suitable for most people. But your average Linux user is a lot more sensitive towards ‘bloat’. So it’s definitely not for everyone.
It just feels very much like it is being run by young edgy programmers.
I guess my reply would be that I simply don’t feel that way. And factually, it’s being worked on by people that work (or have worked) at places like Canonical, Red Hat and (even) Microsoft. So, while that doesn’t necessarily dismiss them as being “young edgy”, it does make it easy to trust and be confident in their proficiency and competence. I wonder what other distros are maintained by such a star ensemble.
It is the same group that is trying to force crappy “dark mode” everywhere.
This is probably some meme or meta joke/reference I didn’t get. Please feel free to enlighten me.
What’s the bigger program is the lack of internet knowledge about how to fix problems. With Ubuntu and Debian there are tons of stack overflow pages on all of the various issues. Sure things have changed over time but it still the most documented distro. I can look up “how do I fix X Linux Mint” and I will get an answer. With the Bazzite immutable base almost all of the help online will be useless.
I admitted to as such in my first comment. But, what if, instead of looking up questions in your favorite search engine, you visit their support channels and get the exact answer within a couple of moments? This last bit has been based on my own experience*.
Immutable Linux requires that you understand Linux under the hood.
Instinctively, I just absolutely have to disagree on this. The most clear-cut counterexample would be how NixOS -the granddaddy of immutable atomic distros if you will- doesn’t adhere to many Linux conventions (including FHS). Therefore, “understanding (traditional) Linux under the hood” might have even been detrimental and wasteful for the many things you’d have to unlearn.
Beyond the overlap in Linux 101 that most distros adhere to and/or the basics everyone should know about their operating system, could you please demonstrate how “understanding (traditional) Linux under the hood” becomes necessary with atomic distributions?
And you could stay in mint for years and barely have to use bash, and when you do there is a well stocked forum, so it is sometimes even easier than windows to troubleshoot.
Such a decisive question. I wouldn’t say there’s necessarily a “best”. Mint is an EXCELLENT choice. So too would be Fedora (Fedora KDE edition I’d recommend for most) or OpenSuSe Tumbleweed.
Just pick what looks decent to you and give it a shot.
mint is good, pop!os is also good, i use and recommend endeavouros as arch-but-easy. tbh just about any popular distro these days is prolly gonna do fine for the average user.
RIP your inbox lol. Like others have said though whatever you choose test it out booting off a USB first, fwiw I’d vote try FedoraKDE, but more importantly I’ll add this:
Whatever you choose it will be different and it will be an adjustment in some capacity, and that’s ok! And don’t be scared of the terminal, always keep back ups just in case but you really can’t fuck up tooooo bad unless you’re using sudo and then just be real careful. Watch a few youtube videos on something like “linux terminal basics” or “bash basics” and follow along like you’re taking a class, it’ll really help you get familiar with it. It’s a great thing to know how to use, these days if I know how to do it through the terminal I usually will instead of puttering through a gui honestly.
I recommend Linux Mint with the default Gnome/Cinnamon desktop. I think it’s the most “Windows-like” (You can add other desktops later on without having to reinstall anything. KDE Plasma is really nice). The installer found all my hardware for me and set it up, including my network printer. It installed my nVidia drivers (even gave me a choice of several with a ‘Recommended’ one at the top).
The LibreOffice suite is already included, which should take care of your productivity needs. (It recognizes and can read/write MS-Office documents). Thunderbird will take care of your email needs.
There’s also a utility called TimeShift, which works like Windows System Restore. Since you’ll be making a lot of changes the first month or so, it’s a great way to undo any screw-ups. Make sure you create a Restore Point before you do any serious fiddling. Even if you make your system unbootable, you can boot from a Linux Mint flash drive and run TimeShift that way, too.
Gaming is awesome. Steam has a native linux client, which uses a version of Wine called Proton, which has all the settings needed to run your games. Basically, everything I bought on Steam under Windows, runs in Linux. (NOLF 1 was the only game I couldn’t get to completely work. No music, I think the game uses DirectPlay for music, which no games seem to use anymore).
Serious question from someone who is in this situation: What the best os for someone who want to switch from window 10 to Linux because of the eol? Is it really mint ?
Whatever you pick, first test it by running it from a USB drive first.
I switched from Win10 to Mint, and am quite happy. You can get a lot of stuff done through GUI, so you can put off learning how to use the terminal a little. If you are worried about using it, I can recommend using ChatGPT. Helped me troubleshoot a lot of issues and learning a few tricks.
Mint is fine, Kubuntu is also great.
Kubuntu uses snaps as default and I’ve had some trouble with that. My dad is using Kubuntu and there are problems with how programs communicate. Mint is probably a better choice.
I’ll admit I’m biased because I think Cinnamon is ugly. Most people seem to like it and I get it. I just wish Mint hadn’t abandoned the KDE edition. Mint is definitely a great choice though.
First step: Decide on the so-called desktop environment. A shortlist is provided below. For a new user, this should be decisive when choosing between beginner-friendly distros.
Before going over to the next (and final) step, we need to set the stage for our contenders:
Final step: Pick the distro corresponding to your preferred desktop environment. The list found below (ordered alphabetically) isn’t trying to be exhaustive on desktop environments.
I wouldn’t go uBlue personally. It is very new and I don’t like the focus. Don’t go straight to immutable Linux.
My first foray into Linux was through what you’d refer to as immutable Linux; shortly after the release of Fedora Kinoite. I’m literally the embodiment of the antithesis to your statement.
This is factually true. So I can’t simply deny that. But being more precise is helpful:
Could you be more elaborate 😜?
They will get a little more respect from me when they stop trying to target programmers and gamers. Because of course everyone uses Steam and VScode. It just feels very much like it is being run by young edgy programmers. It is the same group that is trying to force crappy “dark mode” everywhere.
What’s the bigger program is the lack of internet knowledge about how to fix problems. With Ubuntu and Debian there are tons of stack overflow pages on all of the various issues. Sure things have changed over time but it still the most documented distro. I can look up “how do I fix X Linux Mint” and I will get an answer. With the Bazzite immutable base almost all of the help online will be useless.
So in short I wouldn’t recommend something like Bazzite. Immutable Linux requires that you understand Linux under the hood. Also I am strongly against distros that need to market themselves as gaming.
deleted by creator
Thank you for the reply! And apologies for the late response*.
First of all, I owe you another apology for the deleted comment; I was still in the process of cooking and accidentally sent the undercooked message.
As per its README (I’m paraphrasing):
Bazzite started as a project to resolve some of the issues that plague SteamOS:
Like, SteamOS is a pretty cool operating system that allows both Linux enthusiasts and Linux newbs to enjoy playing (most of) their favorite games on Linux. But the former may find it too restrictive, while the latter may want to import that experience over to other devices. Bazzite aims to be that solution. Were it not for the success of the Steam Deck (and by extension SteamOS), such pressing need wouldn’t even have arisen. So Bazzite isn’t trying to target gamers as “an easy way to attract users” (or whatever the insinuation may be); its raison d’être is to address SteamOS’ limitations.
Regarding the targeting of programmers, you could be right on that. But I suppose it’s fine as VS Code’s inclusion (and other goodies) is only confined to the respective
-dximages. I regard Bluefin (and Aurora; its KDE Plasma spin-off) as the opinionated distro its maintainers like to use for themselves (i.e. programmers). I’d argue this actually makes it suitable for most people. But your average Linux user is a lot more sensitive towards ‘bloat’. So it’s definitely not for everyone.I guess my reply would be that I simply don’t feel that way. And factually, it’s being worked on by people that work (or have worked) at places like Canonical, Red Hat and (even) Microsoft. So, while that doesn’t necessarily dismiss them as being “young edgy”, it does make it easy to trust and be confident in their proficiency and competence. I wonder what other distros are maintained by such a star ensemble.
This is probably some meme or meta joke/reference I didn’t get. Please feel free to enlighten me.
I admitted to as such in my first comment. But, what if, instead of looking up questions in your favorite search engine, you visit their support channels and get the exact answer within a couple of moments? This last bit has been based on my own experience*.
Instinctively, I just absolutely have to disagree on this. The most clear-cut counterexample would be how NixOS -the granddaddy of
immutableatomic distros if you will- doesn’t adhere to many Linux conventions (including FHS). Therefore, “understanding (traditional) Linux under the hood” might have even been detrimental and wasteful for the many things you’d have to unlearn.Beyond the overlap in Linux 101 that most distros adhere to and/or the basics everyone should know about their operating system, could you please demonstrate how “understanding (traditional) Linux under the hood” becomes necessary with atomic distributions?
Mint is the best to start tbh.
And you could stay in mint for years and barely have to use bash, and when you do there is a well stocked forum, so it is sometimes even easier than windows to troubleshoot.
Such a decisive question. I wouldn’t say there’s necessarily a “best”. Mint is an EXCELLENT choice. So too would be Fedora (Fedora KDE edition I’d recommend for most) or OpenSuSe Tumbleweed.
Just pick what looks decent to you and give it a shot.
mint is good, pop!os is also good, i use and recommend endeavouros as arch-but-easy. tbh just about any popular distro these days is prolly gonna do fine for the average user.
Anything Arch based has a higher chance of breakage. The trade off is that you get very new packages frequently
RIP your inbox lol. Like others have said though whatever you choose test it out booting off a USB first, fwiw I’d vote try FedoraKDE, but more importantly I’ll add this:
Whatever you choose it will be different and it will be an adjustment in some capacity, and that’s ok! And don’t be scared of the terminal, always keep back ups just in case but you really can’t fuck up tooooo bad unless you’re using sudo and then just be real careful. Watch a few youtube videos on something like “linux terminal basics” or “bash basics” and follow along like you’re taking a class, it’ll really help you get familiar with it. It’s a great thing to know how to use, these days if I know how to do it through the terminal I usually will instead of puttering through a gui honestly.
I recommend Linux Mint with the default Gnome/Cinnamon desktop. I think it’s the most “Windows-like” (You can add other desktops later on without having to reinstall anything. KDE Plasma is really nice). The installer found all my hardware for me and set it up, including my network printer. It installed my nVidia drivers (even gave me a choice of several with a ‘Recommended’ one at the top).
The LibreOffice suite is already included, which should take care of your productivity needs. (It recognizes and can read/write MS-Office documents). Thunderbird will take care of your email needs.
There’s also a utility called TimeShift, which works like Windows System Restore. Since you’ll be making a lot of changes the first month or so, it’s a great way to undo any screw-ups. Make sure you create a Restore Point before you do any serious fiddling. Even if you make your system unbootable, you can boot from a Linux Mint flash drive and run TimeShift that way, too.
Gaming is awesome. Steam has a native linux client, which uses a version of Wine called Proton, which has all the settings needed to run your games. Basically, everything I bought on Steam under Windows, runs in Linux. (NOLF 1 was the only game I couldn’t get to completely work. No music, I think the game uses DirectPlay for music, which no games seem to use anymore).