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 i come from windows 10 and i always find i need windows on atleast 1 device, and put linux on the “outdated” devices, but i keep hoping around, i cant seem to make up my mind.
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)
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.
Fedora
debian. friendly and large community, no weird antifeatures like ubuntu
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
Hannah Montana Linux
Install Linux mint, never think again
Learn basic desktop Linux? Mint. Learn how Linux works and really interested in more of the ins and outs? Arch (Artix if you want systemdless) Learn how Linux works in great depth and are very committed? Gentoo.
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.
The “want to learn” is gonna carry a lot of weight here but I think and arch based distro like cachy works well for this. Cachy was my first distro and I really wanted to learn so it gave we a working starting place from where I could tinker and replace parts one at a time until they fit my liking. If I were to reinstall today I’d do plain arch since I know what I want and don’t need Cachy’s defaults anymore. Obviously everyone has their preferences but I think cachy is a really solid approachable distro for beginners, there’s a reason it just passed steamOS to claim the throne of most used distro on the steam hardware survey
An alternative to this kind power users who want control and learn everything, would be EndeavourOS instead CachyOS. I wouldn’t recommend anyone starting with bare Archlinux, but depending on the person it could be the right choice, but its hard to know who the person is you recommend it.
Yes that reason is fanboys, and trashtubers
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
Arch
(this is a joke, do not use Arch unless you crave pain)(I use Arch, btw)
(I use Artix, btw)
do arch people actually say this? :p
I’ve been on Arch or Arch based systems for 13+ years now. It used to be an incredibly annoying joke. I mostly saw it used to mock Arch users. But since Arch is more accepted now it seems to have morphed into a (mostly) funny meme. I never ever said it until this year though lol.
Well, I am an Arch people, and I did say it, lol
(tho it is only as a joke, lol)they say it on reddit, the same place where people post photos of their desktop and refer to it as ‘ricing’
eh, i think arch is the more usable of the “diving deeper” distros. arch, gentoo, and lfs(if you can call that a distro) are good for trying to understand the deeper parts of the system.
i use cachy btw
You’re thinking of Gentoo.
Gentoo is the BDSM of 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
I use and recommend CachyOS. PikaOS is cool too. So try either of those. I hear good things about Fedora as well. Whatever you do, use something with the KDE desktop environment. It’s the best.
