I have used linux in a past job (I did not set it up), so im not a total noob with linux. But I am far from an expert. I bought a tablet that had a flavor of linux on it and found myself woefully unprepared trying to navigate the tablet. I was planning to use it for DnD for pdf reading, but it apparently wasn’t capable of that bcz it was a rather custom OS. With windows 10 support being dropped by Microsoft in the next few months, I want to transition my desktop to Linux, and I thought I’d get a headstart on that. I have a windows 11 laptop (and I hate it), but im kinda stuck with it for now. So, in the spirit of I am a noob who isn’t quite a noob, what do ya’ll recommend? p.s. I used Ubuntu for a bit way way back in high school
Desktop environment will be the most impactful for you. I recommend picking a distro with KDE Plasma, which will feel like the best version of Windows you’ve never seen before.
If you are almost exclusively gaming and don’t want to fiddle much, Bazzite.
If you like to fiddle: OpenSUSE Tumbleweed or Fedora. If you want more Ubuntu compatibility, Kubuntu.
There are lots of options and it’s hard to go wrong. Bazzite is special in that the system is immutable, so everything needs to be run as a container.
with a usb drive (live usb) you can boot most distros without making changes to your actual system, try that and see which you like the most.
you’ll probably break your install a bunch of times anyway so don’t feel like your choice now is permanent
Oh, thats a solid idea! Thanks for the suggestion!
Also, spinning up VMs and practicing setting up your programs is a great way to get used to things and know what to expect.
If you want to do UI customization, be sure to look up some videos on how to do it for your chosen Desktop Environment (like Gnome, KDE Plasma, Cinnamon, XFCE, etc.).
That’s why I always recommend openSUSE. It automatically makes snapshots when updating so you always have working point to go back to.
Meanwhile timeshift:
I think the usual consensus is Linux Mint (and its a solid distro) but I think the best advice is not to be afraid of trying different ones and finding out what works best for you.
Adding to this, I’m a new Linux user, and I’m distro hopping a bit. I started with Mint, now I’m currently using Bazzite (basically Fedora Kinoite with some drivers and apps preinstalled for gaming to basically be plug and play), but I find rpm-ostree to be more confusing than whatever Ubuntu is based on so I might switch to another Ubuntu-based distro. It’s fun to discover what you like best though, so OP if you’re reading this, that’s my advice as someone in the same boat as you. Bounce around and see what works best.
Are you suggesting distrohopping to a new user? For shame! (Use virtualbox)
I’d recommend mint too, but testing stuff around with ventoy or just live-usb images is a good way to get to know what you like and what you don’t.
I was thinking more booting to a few from a usb and playing around.
There is not really one best distro out there - or else there would only be one distro. But for someone new you will find basically any mainstream/popular distro good enough for your usecase. The best one for you will come down to personal preference and will likely - at least at the start - be centered on which desktop environment you like the most. KDE will probably feel more like Windows. Though gnome I think tends to be the default on most distros. You will find popular distros have multiple flavors with various desktop environments as well. Your best bet is to download a few and put them on a usb and try them out before installing. That will give you a better idea of what you want.Or just pick one and go for it if you don’t care that much - it will probably be good enough.
Just FYI, your question was reposted https://lemmy.world/post/31875892
If you are familiar with Ubuntu still I recommend you fallback to that or if you hate canonical and telemetry then use mint. Honestly bro it depends on what you wanna use it for.
Generally:
Noobs -> popos, Ubuntu, mint, Devs -> fedora, Ubuntu (ease of access), debian Power users -> Arch, Nix, tails, (a bunch of other distros ig since any distro can be used in a powerful way tbh) Neckbeard -> Gentoo, LFS (not really a distro tho but amazing for learning)
But seriously speaking it’s your choice bud. All Linux distros work amazing and are all the same to the kernel. You can always install multiple distros on an ext. SSD if you can’t decide.
