Just wondering as ive been told many os’s online and then told to not use certain one aswell, i feel confused on what linux os to try someday. i come from windows 10 and i always find i need windows on atleast 1 device, and put linux on the “outdated” devices, but i keep hoping around, i cant seem to make up my mind.
People keep saying Mint, and now that it runs on Wayland at least they will be able to watch a movie without screen tearing. But I do feel like KDE Plasma is a much better first impression, since it doesn’t look like a desktop from 2013 (no offense), and has so many customization options that showcase the freedom of a linix desktop.
So for gamers, Bazzite, otherwise Fedora KDE or something
To friends I usually recommend the distro I run myself, as I’m most familiar with it and troubleshoot it the best.
If it’s someone who won’t get constant tech support from me, I’d probably go with Mint.
As a power user Ubuntu sucks, but if you’ve never used Linux before it could also be a good starter distro. The vast amount of tutorials online are made for Ubuntu.
Linux Mint. It was specifically created for this use case. It just works. That’s it.
And it’s still great once you know what you’re doing. If you just want your computer to work, Mint is a fantastic option.
Hannah Montana Linux
I’d say Mint as many others. But any major distro (except Arch) would do the trick if you’re willing to learn.
If you’re willing to learn arch will (probably) work too
The learning curve is steep and the terminal reliance is too much for people who are not used to it. Once you get used to the terminal then… yes
Fedora
On older PCs use Linux mint but I don’t recommend it on newer PCs I have saw a lot of problems with them
Red Star OS
Debian based systems for systems you need more stable. Generally not a big concern for me unless you are setting up servers or really depend on specific software.
I wouldn’t recommended Ubuntu, I would recommend something like mint if you’re going that route. But Ubuntu is a safe feeling first choice and i get why people chose it. If you google a problem and just add the word Ubuntu generally speaking the google result or even googles ai summary has got you covered pretty good.
If you are more into gaming I would suggest something like bazzite, cachyos. Often they handle drivers for you super easily and comes with things like game scope too. Often you want more bleeding edge operating systems for gaming/newer hardware as updates seem to happen more frequently and with more noticeable improvements in the past 5 years.
If you just need a basic computer the choice doesn’t really matter all that much its just kind of what looks good to you. You said its just for older computers so something like mint would be a fine choice in this scenario.
Generally speaking you are either picking a arch based system or a Debian based system. And all the distros are kind of the same, they just give you preinstalled software, technically you can pick any and get the features you wanted yourself.
Hopefully I didn’t confuse you more or give you too much decision paralysis.
I suggest Linux Mint, it just works. I have moved over 10 people to it in the last 2 years. Basically, giving life to their old laptops. Never heard a complaint! Here’s the latest one, my niece: https://mastodon.social/@eugenialoli/117304062578785444
I started my wife on fedora about 10 years ago, and my kids have grown up using fedora
Anything but Ubuntu, honestly. I have a few friends who chose Ubuntu as their first distro and after using it for a couple of weeks went back to Windows. Some of them still refuse to give Linux a second chance.
I’m really curious why though. Was it raw Ubuntu with the default Gnome based DE or Kubuntu? I started with Manjaro and went back to windows a while back. Now I’m on Kubuntu and loving it. I think the main difference is that there’s so much more support and whatnot with Ubuntu.
Mint for most users. OpenSUSE for more technically competent users.
I think OpenSUSE is a great choice for anyone who wants to actually learn Linux, which is what the OP asked for.
openSUSE is good as long as you have an AMD GPU. For users of NVIDIA GPUs, openSUSE is a headache because of the constant mismatch between the open kernel modules and the rest of the driver packages. I had to use a script that checked whether the packages were matching each other before updating. Otherwise, the system could break for weeks until the drivers in the repository were updated.
Can you tell us more about this? I’ve been running tumbleweed with an nvidia GPU for a few months and the only issue I’ve run into was once recently, when the key for the nvidia repo had expired, preventing me from updating at all. I tried again the next day or two and it had been resolved. I would like to know what else to expect. I’ve heard of occasional issues with tumbleweed and nvidia driver versions before, but didn’t know if it was something that had been resolved.
Sure. I used openSUSE as my daily driver for a couple of years, and after switching to open-source kernel modules, a common problem was when the modules would be updated but their versions wouldn’t match those of nvidia-video or other NVIDIA packages. Or when the kernel would be updated but the kernel modules would lag behind (which happened even more often.) Because of this, some components would get updated while others wouldn’t, leaving you with dGPU drivers that didn’t work.
I had to roll back the system using snapper and lock packages until the problem was resolved.
This is how I roll (tumbleweed joke here) but the addition of NixOS on my wife’s computer because she needs it to be exactly how it was if the hardware changes. (She’s not good with tech and Windows was too frustrating for her, so it is Nix and Gnome DE)
CTT had a video about it I found quite nice: https://youtu.be/hnNjFysodRo In shortv
- if you want to game: bazzite
- if you are a power user: cachy
- for office/regular computer usage: mint
There are 3 answers and only 3 answers:
- New and casual users: Mint.
- Gamers: Bazzite.
- Power users: just try a bunch and see which one(s) you like, you people are exactly why there’s are so many distros.
