So i was surprised today when my fiancee told me she was thinking about switching over to linux. Surprised because she is absolutely not technically minded, but also because she was weary about having Microsoft AI slop forced on her PC every update. ( i’m so proud!)
Now i’ve used a little linux but i’ve always been a holdout. Won’t stop me from moving someone else over but i have too much going on in my setup to deal with that right now. So i’m not super versed but i was able to give her the basic rundown of what distros are, concerns when switching, what may and may not be available, shes still on board so we’re doing this! Knowing her she would like to not have to transition too much, whats something fairly hands off and easy to learn. I’ve heard some good things about mint from hanging around you nerds the past few years but also some not so good things, any suggestions?
next concern is what kind of transfer process is this going to be? i have some spare HDD’s so we can try and get everything ported over but i’m so busy with school right now i can’t quite allocate the time to really deep dive this.
Any help is appreciated, cheers!
Here are some tips once you have chosen:
You can change your desktop environment later.
If you do your install with seperate partitions for /home and others, leave 10% unallocated. Also make /bin about 15gb and /boot about 1.5gb. When you eventually run out of space, you can use KDE Partition manager to add the unallocated space to the partition you need, even if you set up encryption (gparted doesn’t play well with encryption). You can install Partition manager as a package, you don’t need to use KDE Plasma.
Using a drive mirror is a good idea. Maybe use it the second time you install.
If you want to use a cool filesys like zfs, just use btrfs for now (licensing issues). Ext4 will also work for desktop user needs.
If you go with Debian, you can add repos to your /etc/apt/sources.list file. But it is a one-way trip, so before adding sid, consider running your program in a vm. Non-free non-free-firmware and contrib are fine
There are two “just works” distros I recommend to new users: Bazzite or Fedora.
Start with Bazzite. It is familiar and has lots of guardrails so it’s nearly impossible to break.
If you decide you want more control over your system later, switch to Fedora KDE.
If you decide you want even more control and flexibility, consider CachyOS or OpenSUSE Tumbleweed.
You will see Mint recommended a lot, but I don’t like it. The default desktop — Cinnamon — is very Windows 95, and I much prefer KDE Plasma, which doesn’t work well on Mint. Mint also has driver issues with newer hardware. But if you like retro and your hardware is older, give it a try.
Avoid Pop_OS right now. It’ll probably be amazing in a year, but the new Cosmic desktop (currently a beta) has a lot of annoying bugs with common linux GUI packages.
Bazzite, i tried arch and then realized the whole wiki was like a uni level symposium and was burning through steps, kept doing instead of understanding, etc…
It’s probably amazing, but since my only interaction with linux back then was being forced to use it at uni and windows, I really wanted a good experience of what linux could be. I needed it to work out of the box and be unbreakable, so I went with bazzite.
It’s great, and I am digging the immutable aspect even if it broke my brain for any dev work, but once you learn how to use an immutable system (still figuring it out tbh) it’s solid, easy, and works great.
Really wished there was more resources on immutable systems for newcomers though XD
I think you will eventually get tired of all the workarounds needed for immutable systems. Its a nice idea but full of pain when actually wanting to use the computer to do actual work.
But its ok! Everyone tries different things in the Linux world and we all just enjoy the ride.
What’s the adjustment like with immutable systems?
Its not particularly crazy, most things can be installed via flathub. If something isnt there, install it through distrobox (you can install things through the AUR, packages like rpm and deb, etc). And if that doesn’t work, install the app directly through rpm-ostree (only thing I did this with was a vpn app, you can point to a .rpm file for this). I use flathub for the vast majority of things, I think I only have two apps installed outside of it.
What’s great is nothing ever breaks this way. Ever. It all works. Broken upgrades haven’t happened to me after a year of using this, meanwhile I had plenty on debian and small distros like manjaro, mint, cachyos, nobara.
LFS
Personally, I don’t think anyone new to Linux at this point, who isn’t tech-minded, should be pointed to an X11 environment. So until Mint devs have ported Muffin into a Wayland compositor, I wouldn’t recommend it. They’re used to a shiny experience visually, so I’d go with Plasma 6 running on Fedora or OpenSUSE Tumbleweed.
Yeah I think mint advice is extremely dated, Bazzite or base Fedora is the way to go
Just straight up Bazzite to be honest.
Fedora by itself is too Puritan for stuff not fully foss in their default repos
Not a mint user myself, but I have helped a friend install it. The install script at the time would silently crash if it had issues with the network card name. Researching it I found that this had been reported 8 months before my friend ran into it, and a PR submitted, but was not even looked at for a month after. Sure, these are all (largely) unpaid volunteers, but if your objective is to be beginner friendly, stuff like that really shouldn’t be left sitting for so long.
I second the atomic Fedora ones with Plasma. Very stable system, updates run automatically like she is used to, and the Bazaar software center is a great and well organized central repository for flatpaks.
Coming up on 10 years since I switched from windows to Linux. I tried Ubuntu and absolutely hated it, so much so that I switched back to windows at first. But I kept reading and tried ZorinOS, and that got me comfortable with Linux, it was a little buggy but I could understand it.
After a few months with ZorinOS I switched to Linux Mint and have been running Mint for 9 years. Recently my 76 year old mother who has trouble with some basic computer stuff said she’d like to try Linux and asked me to help her, I made a live USB of Mint for her to try and she told me “I can understand this, it’s like windows 7!”. If she can get Mint, I feel totally confident recommending it to new users.
Yeah I think mint sits in a sweet spot there for people who want that window 7 experience.
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Nice username, lol.
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Agreed, I wasn’t even looking for the Win 7 experience, I was just still getting the hang of Linux and Mint was repeatedly recommended everywhere I looked. At this point I’m just comfortable with Mint and so I stick with it, and since I value reliability of cutting edge, it gives me what I need in a computer.
Yup and it will never slow down with time or start to annoy you with ads or tracking like every windows version in existance.
If the general public understood how they should spend a few days learning a basic Linux distro… That would be great.
Yep, I ran Mint on a system 76 laptop for 8 years. Just retired it because the hardware is starting to give out, the OS is still running strong.
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Always great to see more people curious about Linux, especially when the motivation is escaping ms-bullshit…
If she wants something that just works but still feels polished and professional, I’d actually give openSUSE a look. Leap is rock-solid and perfect for people who want a stable system that behaves consistently and doesn’t demand much maintenance. Tumbleweed, on the other hand, is rolling release, so it’s always up to date but still surprisingly reliable thanks to openSUSE’s testing process.
Both use YaST, which is one of the best control panels in the Linux world. You can do a lot with YaST, like manage users, partitions, updates, drivers, and networking all from one place without ever touching the terminal.
Mint is also a fine choice as well…
Fedora Silverblue (GNOME) or Kinoite (KDE) are great for a “hands-off” OS. They are atomic so very hard to accidentally fuck up the system. Apps are installed easily via the GUI software center. I tried both when I switched to Linux and found I loved the simple but powerful and delightful-to-use experience of the GNOME desktop.
Yeah I have two Linux machines, the laptop which is my tinkering machine and the desktop that other people use that I’m not allowed to break, and I run Kinoite on that one because it’s pretty hard to do anything to mess it up. At least I haven’t managed it so far lol.
Distro:
- First choice: Mint Cinnamon
- If the GPU is very shitty: Elementary OS (Mint Cinnamon expects a basic level of GPU performance)
- If Mint/Elementary are too simple: Fedora KDE
Process:
- For fully switching: Obtain an external hard drive, copy the contents of the Windows partition(s) to it and install your preferred distro so that it takes over the entire computer. This is the most stable way.
- For dual booting: Buy an SSD for Linux, disconnect the Windows drive and install your distro of choice so that it takes up the entire space. Reconnect the Windows drive afterwards and set boot priorities in UEFI.
One More Tip: Don’t frontload them with information, but teach them one thing: How search for and install packages through the GUI (Mint Software Manager/Elementary Store/KDE Discover). Tell them that it’s more like a smartphone apps and downloading software from websites should be a last resort.
LMDE for future proofing and stability. Sort of a comedy option, but it’s my distro of choice. As easy as Mint, as stable as Debian. I just don’t trust Ubuntu and since it’s a Debian based distro, why not take one more step…
Mint has basically contained bad decision making by Ubuntu and individual versions are supported for 5 years. The average computer lasts 6 before replacement.
Mint is fairly future proof I think.
Oh, I agree, nothing wrong with mint. I just like the fact that the LMDE version is Debian based and works with everything I’ve thrown it at.
Figure proof of they ever decide to switch away from Ubuntu and mainline LMDE. Probably won’t happen, but makes me feel better anyway :).
Fedora. I would not have said that two years, but I am blown away by how easy and up to date it is.
And I am normally an Arch person.
I also supprised myself a few years back when I ditched Arch Linux (after 10 years) for Fedora! I now use Fedora Silverblue, but would also reccomend having a look at the uBlue variants for different flavoring.
Yeah I ran it up on distrosea and was surprised how intuitive it already looked
KDE works perfectly on the KDE version which is official now. Updates are straight forward, lots of software available.
Mint
Even as an EndeavourOS user, I concur: Mint. Why? Cinnamon is hands down the best desktop environment. Beginner friendly default without blasting features in one’s face with configs all over the place, yet intuitively customizable for experienced Linux users.
This means she will be able to freely use it without your help, but you will be able to easily fine tune it to her preferences as well.
⚜︎ arscyni.cc: modernity ∝ nature.
correct
What about Slackware? Not popular anymore?
Specifically Linux Mint Debian Edition
This is the first I would suggest as well. As much as I like other distros, Mint has the appearance, capability, stability, and settings combination I would want as a new user
My last experience with Mint might’ve been 10 years ago. The outdated packages so common among Debian-based distros back then made me switch to something else. I don’t know what’s the current situation, though.
Mint.
No war. I don’t use it, myself, but I’ve set up a couple family members and over þe past several years have gotten two tech support calls: one about connecting to a WiFi printer, which required only me telling þem how to get to system preferences; þe oþer because þey’d bought a new laptop which came wiþ Windows 11 and þey wanted help installing Linux (which þey were used to) on it instead.
Three correct answers:
- Mint
- Fedora
- Pop
And a few incorrect answers:
- Ubuntu
- Arch
- Ubuntu again
- Really, don’t go with Ubuntu
This is the best answer I’ve seen. But why aren’t more people recommending Pop Os! Pop Os is by far my favourite as a noob user. I’ve live booted all the popular distros and Pop Os has the nicest interface a everything works so smoothly.
Gentoo it is, then!
Ubuntu was really good when I was a kid. when I went to school like 10 years ago I had to have a windows computer for a while to run my school’s proprietary virtual clinical lab software and I was too busy studying and going to irl clinicals to worry about getting a dual boot running. I tried to go back once a few semesters in but it seemed really bloated compared to the Ubuntu I grew up with and I did mint for a bit but that computer kicked the bucket iirc and I didn’t have the time to set up another dual boot. Hubs is thinking we’re gonna have to switch soon and I’ve honestly been ready for a bit and think I’ll probably try mint again, but distrowatch says a lot of people are super into cachy so I was considering that. Will Probably still try mint first.
Ubuntu has started going off the deep end. They’ve been heading in that direction for a while, but they recently (I guess like 5 years-ish ago) hit this corporatey, money-grabbing, mentality that’s so completely opposite of what made Linux great.
The feel I get about it is 10 years ago, tutorials were written using Ubuntu because it was an easy distro to use and was a great platform for beginners, so people used that as their platform to teach. Now it feels like tutorials are written using Ubuntu because they’re being sponsored to. A lot of how-tos I come accros have the same vibe as watching a video animation tutorial that uses adobe and oh gosh, it’s also sponsored by adobe. Or a networking tutorial sponsored by Cisco. I’ve actually started just looking to see if another distro is acknowledged before I actually see what they have to say.
There’s a very different feel if you’re trying to set something up and a website has “if you’re in this family of linux, here’s what you do, or if you’re in this one, do this” versus “so you want to set up x in linux? Here’s how you do it in Ubuntu”. It’s as if no other distro exists.
Anyway, ignoring that rant. Linux is super stable these days, you can take pretty much any distro and you’ll be fine. I tend to gravitate toward the base distros, like fedora, opensuse, and Debian over Rocky, mint, etc. I haven’t come across one in the past five years that gave me any trouble, except when it came to updated nvidia drivers and wayland. In which case some distros were behind a month or two on getting those updated.
On the flip side, I use Ubuntu and I’m very happy with it. I didn’t like Gnome so I realised I could easily switch to KDE Plasma. It’s still miles better than Windows. Although I did have issues once installing Selenium, turns out it didn’t play well with snap packages which I didn’t know was there (I was using apt-get install)
Yeah, I switched to Ubuntu in 2008, and it was great for years, but lately it’s just been so awful.
When I was a kid (15-ish years ago) my laptop’s hard drive crashed. The repair place told my dad that something broke and it’s not compatible with Windows so they installed Ubuntu. Barely noticed the difference.
My advice would be to just give up on the dual boot (unless you still need it, and even then, maybe keep Windows on a machine maybe?).
I think the best way to go is full Linux immersion.
Another incorrect answer: Manjaro
https://github.com/arindas/manjarno
If you want Arch but a bit easier, just install EndeavourOS.
Pop is such a cool project but it’s been kinda broken for me both times I’ve tried it, and then add to that what happened with Linus tech tips where him being dumb combined with pop having not fixed a major and obvious packaging issue that completely broke his system has kinda just left me with the impression they’re not super on top of the ball
I hope that’s changed, I want them to be successful, especially with cosmic
You guys use Arch ??
btw
They didn’t say beeteedubs so clearly not.
Damn, I’m 2 months into my first Linux experience and went with Ubuntu Studio since I use my PC for freelance audio/music/art and it’s promoted as great for creatives. It took a lot of work to get my audio working without ALSA and more work to get smaller things working right. I’m concerned if I switch distros I’ll have to do it all again and I barely remember what I did to fix things haha. Think I’m stuck with Ubuntu. Didn’t realize it was so looked down on.
Ubuntu Studio is great, but absolutely not for beginners. Ubuntu Studio isn’t the same thing as Ubuntu, too. They change a lot from the base Ubuntu.
Oh ok, I didn’t know that. I thought it was just Ubuntu with pre installed programs and a low latency kernel. I’ve been enjoying the learning curve, even though it’s been frustrating at times I’ve learned so much in the last 2 months and love it haha
What about Ubuntu flavors? Or Debian?
While Mint is an Ubuntu-based distro, it tries to un-fuck the worst of Canonical. Other Ubuntu spins with a different desktop environment don’t do this, like Xubuntu, Kubuntu, etc. They end up as just Ubuntu on a different DE, with all the decisions made by canonical.
Base Debian might work, but afaik, is “not as beginner friendly” compared to Mint.
Two points: Mint has a Debian version (LMDE), but also base Debian, especially the KDE flavor, has made enormous gains in beginner friendliness.
Seconding LMDE. It’s Debian based rather than Ubuntu so no canonical to un-f. It’s my favorite distro. LMDE for desktop, vanilla Debian for servers.
Not for beginners.
Who even uses normal arch anymore.
All the cool kids use endeavour or cachy. Which is like calling Ubuntu, Debian.
Who even uses normal arch anymore.
Me, btw.
Nah all the cool kids are on Omarchy now.
Ah yes, arch but fascist.
pass
Cringe
Unfortunately, Linux Mint devs are transphobic.
Everyone hypes Mint but if you’re working with newish hardware you might have a bad time due to the drivers taking a while to mature and filter down through all the distros. If her rig is a couple years old it should work just fine though. I would also suggest trying out Kubuntu, Pop!_OS, PikaOS, and Zorin if that is the case.
If she is on brand new hardware then something Arch based is the way to go IMO. CachyOS, Garuda, and EndeavorOS are all Arch based distros that make setup easy and they’ve all worked great for me out of the box. Honestly if you have snapshots configured with timeshift or something being on a rolling distro isn’t as scary as it’s made out to be. Fedora is an option too as they get updates every 6 months, but there is a little extra setup to do after install like media codecs and proprietary drivers etc.
Cachyos was my personal pick and it’s working perfect for me so far.
If she’s a Windows refugee, Linux Mint.
If she’s a Mac refugee, fuck if I know.
If she’s a IBM OS/2 refugee, please let me know how to get the drugs she’s gotten. I want in.
GNOME is great for Mac refugees. Fedora might do.
Windows refugee: Linux Mint or Fedora KDE
Mac refugee: Linux Mint or Fedora KDE
PC gamer: Bazzite (or Linux Mint or Fedora KDE)
edit: fuck markdown, why do line breaks only work in pairs on lemmy, this is not a thing with markdown on discord so why here? it’s annoying
Discord does markdown differently than intended: it’s better for non-techies because hitting enter once is more intuitive than the alternative, but the standard way to insert line breaks in markdown is to type two spaces at the end of the line you want to break.
popos for mac refugee? it’s very macky
You know, I can see that.
Still, mac users use macs because they just want the computer to work.
And the Cosmic DE is rather new so can be a bit buggy from time to time. It might look mac-friendly, but its stability is still largely untested so caution may be advised before recommending it in my opinion.
Mint is the best for most users. But if you want a Mac style, Elementary OS is the correct answer for MacOS users. Here’s my latest screenshot of it:
Tbf, my current laptop looks pretty similar, and I’m running Bazzite with KDE.
Lol Linux is awesome
Ubuntu for a Mac refugee. Definitely Mint for a Windows refugee.
I hate GNOME through and through, but it’s a very polished interface and resembles Mac in a lot of ways.
Ubuntu is heresy. Canonical hath turned against the users.
Also, I’m genuinely curious: why do you hate GNOME?
Nah, Ubuntu is perfect for a Mac user - they love the abusive, arbitrary decisions made by their OS designers lol
Yeah…
See, I used to like Ubuntu, but then Canonical had to ruin it for me by betraying the principles that Linux stands for.
Ubuntu is a shadow of its former self, and it saddens me. :(
I hate GNOME because it feels like an iPhone.
I don’t know much about what Ubuntu is doing but it surely can’t be that bad.
I hate GNOME because it feels like an iPhone.
That’s fair.
I don’t know much about what Ubuntu is doing but it surely can’t be that bad.
You would be surprised.
Oh, and I also hate that they’re actively undermining of theming.
That’s legit.
That sounds like a very specific user case, I’m using a laptop for teaching with a smallish screen so gnome actually improves my workflow and the visibility of the OS. I don’t need theming either. Gnome is really aimed at productivity imo.
I hate GNOME because it feels like an iPhone.
real
Ubuntu is gross, don’t recommend. It works until it doesn’t. Expect questions like “why doesn’t USB access work in chromium” and having to try to explain what snap is
If she’s a Mac refugee, fuck if I know.
She could consider Linux Mint with KDE Plasma. KDE Plasma feels very like modern Mac, only nicer, to me.
if you’re doing kde then i think debian would make more sense (their netinstaller is very good)
KDE is not a Mint supported DE and the KDE files are not in the Mint repos.
This can be made to work if you’re experienced but is definitely not a good idea for beginners. It will eventually break, and dependency hell is a thing.
For a KDE option suitable fir beginners, Fedora offers KDE as does Ubuntu, or there’s KDE Neon
Oh, that’s good to know! I’ve always installed KDE on Debian before, but I thought it was only because I just really liked Debian. Thanks!
Ooh that’s a good point. I mean, not Linux Mint because as thanksforallthefish said below it’s not a Mint-supported DE but I actually installed Arch (btw) with the KDE Plasma DE onto an old laptop I have and yeah it definitely gives early-2010s OS X vibes. :)
Unfortunately, Linux Mint devs are transphobic.
Is there a specific reason you are spamming the same single-line accusatory comment 7 times in this thread?
Combined with your account only being 10 days old if there’s not more substance to a spammed accusation like that I’ll just have to assume bad faith and block.
Linux Mint is the windows 7 experience of linux. It gets out of the way so you can work. It also has the best in-OS help tools. It’s also a bit more conservative in terms of newest features, so it’s a lot more reliable.
If she does PC gaming, you might want to look at Bazzite rather than Mint. It’s a lot better equipped for non-technical people to start gaming. It’s basically a preconfigured Fedora linux, so it’s got a solid foundation. It’s also something called an immutable distro, which basically means it’s more difficult to break as the core OS is “read only” (to simplify).
In terms of migrating, best to avoid dual booting off a single disk. Microsoft keeps breaking Linux installs (probably on purpose). So best to install a second SSD.
Before you migrate, have her make a list of software she uses and the hardware she has. Best to post that on a forum like this to have more experienced people look for possible issues.
When it gets to migration day, if bitlocker is disabled, you can access your windows data from linux.
Also get her on Lemmy and asking questions directly. The best thing you can teach a low tech person is how to get help.
Bazzite is atomic, not immutable
It uses an atomic update system on an immutable base. They don’t refer to the same thing, but you sort of need the one when you use the other for it to make sense.
Those are different?
Don’t forget to grab protonup-qt so you can easily install proton GE which has better .net support so more games work.
Thx for the tip. I just got a 5x FPS boost in a very poorly optimized sim game “war at sea” thing was chugging along at 5-6 fps when lots of ships were on the screen. Was maxing out all 32 threads on my 5950x. Now it’s running a cool 20% utilization.
Ah nice, sometimes different versions work better. GE is a must have for .net heavy games.
Thx for the tip, will give it a try.
I got it from the protonup app that is pre installed.
Unfortunately, Linux Mint devs are transphobic.
I have the deepest respect for my trans siblings - after all, the very first woman and humanity’s saviour were both trans. However, I googled “Linux mint transphobia” and couldn’t find what you’re talking about. I’d like to take your accusation seriously, so could you provide a source, or if that’s not possible, your story?
I too am fascinated by this assertion.
