Looking to dip my toes into Linux for the first time. I have a 2016 Intel MacBook Pro with pretty solid specs collecting dust right now that I think I’m going to use. Research so far has indicated to me that the two best options for me are likely Mint or Elementary OS. Does anyone have any insight? Also open to other OS’s. I would consider myself decently tech savvy but I am not a programmer or anything. Comfortable dipping into the terminal when the need arises and all that.

@linux #linux

  • Gamey@feddit.de
    3·
    9 months ago

    It’s a fantastic distro to get started, I think the main advantage are various GUI tools for more advanced things that other distros usually require the Terminal for which can be a bit scarry at first. Elementary looks a lot more like MacOS and might be a little more familiar at first while Mint has a fairly similar layout to traditional Windows (7/10), keep in mind that nether of them is a copy tho and you will run into differences. I do think that Mint is the best beginner Distro because of those GUI tools but it can’t hurt to try both, almost all Linux distros have live boot to play with them from a USB stick first so you won’t have to actually install anything to check them out. In case you go for Mint make sure to pay attention to the welcome screen once you installed it, that guides you through a lot of stuff like configuring automatic backups and the driver manager to download potentialky missing drivers!

    • BolexForSoup@kbin.socialOP
      3·
      9 months ago

      @Gamey

      @linux

      While I would never say I’m proficient at it, I am ok at navigating via terminal commands and such. Following directions in particular isn’t an issue. But yes I would prefer to use a GUI when possible of course.

      • Gamey@feddit.de
        1·
        9 months ago

        The terminal is fantastic once you roughly understand what the commands you execute do but that requires a bit of experience and it’s great to have GUI tools for certain things. Modern Linux usually covers everything a normal user should need with GUI tools but there are always edge cases where you have to do something more advanced and I feel like especially those are tough to do in a terminal for new users which is why I appreciate Mint so much! It’s been quite a few years since I switched so many things are different by now but I moved back to Windows two times myself from Kubuntu and Manjaro before I discovered Mint so I never get tired to recommend it. Good luck on your journey! ;)