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  • PopOS or Linux Mint. Both just work. The Atomic idea is nice, but still too soon for complete beginners or the lazy (not a pejorative).

  • If you need secure boot on current (like intel gen 10+), Fedora Workstation. If you don't need secure boot, Linux Mint.

    Fedora has the easiest way to make secure boot just work, it will even dual boot fine on the same disk although you should still backup the m$ partition if you actually need it. Fedora can do secure boot even with Nvidia.

    Ubuntu can do some of the secure boot stuff like Fedora does, and there is the advantage of the stable kernel if you have Nvidia.

    Note that "stable" as a label has nothing to do with its intuitive meaning like alpha/beta/testing/crashing etc. It is a term for servers and people that want to run very specific setups that will not require human intervention on embedded devices and servers. If you want to game or use the latest sw "stable" might be a pain. However, if what you are running is not kept up to date with the latest packages and libraries, a stable release may be the only way to run your stuff.

    Overall these are the biggest factors on current hardware; secure boot yes/no, and up-to-date software needs yes/no.

    • Which of these would you suggest: Debian, Ubuntu, Pop!_OS or Linux Mint?

      • Mint is easy mode, but has no secure boot shim implemented. It makes gaming accessible.

        Pop is made for System76 and does some stuff funny IMO, and is like Mint with no secure boot if you are not running 76's proprietary bootloader on their hardware

        Ubuntu is easy but has its quirks (most are fixed by Mint which is based on Debian/Ubuntu)

        Debian is hard mode and is an advanced distro. There are a ton of tools that are unique to Debian. It is used mostly for people running their own servers and custom purpose machines from home or work. It is also the primary distro for hacking hardware and reverse engineering stuff that has no other way to create Linux kernel support.

        Every distro has some things that they are specialized for. You can do almost anything with any of them, but it will depend on your skill level. Something to keep in mind here is that Linux is not a consumerism branding contest. We are not choosing our frivolous teams. This is the place where everyone can learn. While beginners and users are welcome, you will find many aspects of Linux are the study and thesis projects for many computer science students. All levels are present here. This is why so many options exist.

      • I'd go with Mint. They have thought out 99% of the things a user might ask for in a DE, along some basic admin configuration stuff you might need. It's the best out of the box distro.

      • @PoliticallyIncorrect

        My all-time favourite is Kubuntu.

        Installation and use is as easy as it gets.

        @j4k3

    • Linux Mint works fine with secure boot

  • What are you trying to build? A work laptop that you're going to take on trips, a gaming computer, a server? Something else?

    For you, what is too much hassle? Are you a new Linux user or an experienced user with no spare time? What are you accustomed to doing when you install an operating system and what do you expect to be preinstalled?

    What is your favorite colour?

    • Experienced Linux user, but I was just wondering what people think about this, I believe I'm going for Ubuntu, I'm not exactly the kind of guy who will fall on malware anyway, I need something pretty easy to use, configure and working stable WO errors, as my experience I'm tired and have no time to fix shitty OS things.

      I will use it as desktop in a NucBox.

      • Ubuntu isn't my favorite, but I used xubuntu for many years. A lot of noise gets thrown around about Snaps, but from an end-user perspective they tend to work fine unless you have very low system constraints. Better than adding a half-dozen repositories that may or may not be around for long. A lot of developers work to make sure that their software runs well in Ubuntu and the LTS releases tend to be a good long-term option if you don't want any significant changes for a long time.

        Even with their regular releases, I daisy-chained upgrades on an old Core2 laptop for something like seven years without any major (computer becomes a paperweight) issues. Sometimes (like with Snaps) Ubuntu insists on going its own way, which can result in errors/shitty OS things that don't pop up in other distributions. I've had to deal with some minor issues with Ubuntu over the years (broken repositories, upgrades causing hiccups, falling back to older kernels temporarily), but I think that you'll get issues like that regardless of what distro you pick.

  • If you want an elaborated answer you will have to share the hardware you want to install it on.

  • I've put kubuntu on a couple of machines now and I'm pretty happy with it.

  • Ubuntu if you're used to Mac, Zorin (based on Ubuntu) or Mint if you're more used to Windows.

    Never used Pop OS but I hear that's another that works well out of the box.

  • I would highly recommend fedora kinoite, it's immutable so the system doesn't break without you trying very hard, well configured out of the box, and uses flatpak for apps so the system can be stable and the apps can be updated regularly!

    • Fedora is way to cutting edge to be stable. Especially when it ships Wayland by default.

      • Kinoite is extremely stable due to it's immutability, if we mean stable to mean "unbreaking" rather than not updated.

        Wayland is also the better choice for new people unless they have nvidia, in which case, it will be the better choice once explicit sync is supported in xwayland and nvk is the default.

  • Ubuntu and its derivatives are quite solid. My favorite ispopOsS which has grown to have a nice identity for itself.

  • A lot of folks would recommend Ubuntu as a start but it’s very bloated af so starting on Linux Mint or Zorin/Elementary OS (if you want a windows/macos experience in your distro) would be a great start imo

  • If you have to ask it probably means the answer is one of the following:

    • Mint
    • Ubuntu
    • Pop!_os

    In that order. Mint will be most likely the answer if your hardware is pretty normal. Ubuntu will be the answer if you're willing to give up some security and privacy for east of use (pro-tip: if this is your mentality I'd recommend a different OS and dual booting while you learn). Pop!_os will be the answer if you don't need super up to date software and want all your hardware to work because you have something odd

    Personally I would strongly advise towards Mint. I used to direct people away from it but I've learned this was a bias I had against them for mishandling a security thing a long time ago that they've since become leaders in the security space for general use Linux operating systems.

  • If you use CJK input methods, I would suggest Fedora which it has the simplest way to add a input

  • you just described zorin.

    • Surprised it's not being suggested more here

      • Because it's unimaginably slow on updates

      • Im not sure but I have a suscpicion linux folks don't like its thing about being windows like as possible. Personally anything to get folks to uptake foss is great in my book. I actually use portable apps and would like to get farther away from it. Im going to look into the q40s thing suggested here as that might be a perfect next step.

204 comments