Hi everyone, I am planning to install linux on my friends laptop and I am not sure which distro to install for them.

The options I am considering:

  • Fedora: I have it on my PC and since I will be the first person to be asked, I thought it would be best if I know the distro well
  • Mint: is a default suggestion, but I am not sure if it is different enough from the Windows look that one does not expect it to behave the same as Windows
  • Ubuntu: most widely available in forums, etc. And a good starting point in my opinion

What do you guys think?

EDIT: Thanks for all the suggestions, I think I’ll stick with Fedora and let them try Gnome, KDE and Cinnamon :)

  • HubertManne@piefed.socialEnglish
    1·
    5 months ago

    while the recent overposting of the latest update of zorin has been annoying it is still my recommendation because it is an out of the box distro. so after install you can burn a disk, watch a dvd, play a wav or mp3, make a document, rdp to a windows host, and it even has wine with play on linux installed so you can doubleclick windows programs and they are likely to run. its basically an ubuntu respin and its lts. its great for beginners but its not great for experts as its opposite of bleeding edge and experts tend to want less is more where its whats needed and they will add anything else with apps of their choosing. its also not a gaming distro. great for the beginner or the lazy (like me)

  • AmanitaCaesarea@slrpnk.net
    1·
    5 months ago

    Desktop Enivorements > distro (when it comes to beginners)

    Can’t go wrong with any user friendly distro like zorin, mint, fedora, pop_os, anduin, debian, bodhi… the list goes on and on.

    Focus on desktop environment, do you like Kde Plasma, Gnome, Cinnamon or even Cosmic?

    If u truly want something different from winbloat go the tiling window manager route. Arch + Hyprland. Garuda or Cachy are both nice for a more beginner friendly arch experience(not really recommended for beginners, but i read in of your other comments that u want something more different from Windows)

  • EuroNutellaMan@lemmy.world
    1·
    5 months ago

    Fedora, specifically the DE you are using.

    I normally go with Mint as a recommendation but generally speaking you must understand these people will ask you for help for any small issue, so it will be a lot easier if you use the system yourself.

    Now, I use ArchBTW with KDE, and I would never recommend arch to a new user (KDE is a good choice tho), meaning I normally recommend Mint (from experience I know noobs love it), so I am in this awkward situation where I have to provide tech support to mint users usually (tho TBF so far only 1 person and the real issue is that his laptop is dying but he hasn’t come to terms with it) and it is sometimes annoying because I don’t know the settings layout and all that stupid GUI shit (I love using the CLI a lot if you couldn’t tell)