hi,
I have had to use windows for a long time because of school (word and excel, the ms version, was like mandatory, tho free), and I have been interested in trying or at least learning linux more.
I tried once before on Manjaro but I messed up the install and I was having annoying issues with the graphics drivers with an nvidia card (having to manually change the settings for two monitors and the refresh rate every time i rebooted, for instance). That was around 4 years ago now though.
My main question was what distro I should try? I am fairly experienced so I know my way around things but not in linux, and I am okay with learning curves.
It seems like everyone has a different answer for this so I wanted to hear suggestions. Thank you
Stay with one of the big boys: Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora, openSUSE, then you’re golden. For NVIDIA users I guess I’d still recommend something Ubuntu based: Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Pop_OS!, etc because the drivers can be preinstalled.
On Fedora you need to install the NVIDIA drivers from rpmfusion, and on openSUSE you need an additional repo. It’s an extra step, but otherwise I’d strongly recommend one of these two.
OpenSuse Tumbleweed really is amazing. If I ever get tired of Pop, Tumbleweed is absolutely what I would consider as an alternative.
This actually makes me wonder if I made a mistake installing Arch for a machine of mine, or if I should go back to something like Debian. I know basic Linux knowledge but I don’t know if I should stay with Arch.
Arch is fine, it doesn’t take as much to maintain it as it seems. Just be sure to read the System Maintenance (especially “Upgrading your system”) and General Recommendations pages.
To be clear, Arch is also one of the big boys, just not my personal recommendation for beginners.
If arch isn’t getting in your way you should be fine. Arch is better suited for experts because to set it up, you’ll have to have some opinions on what internals you prefer, how you like things configured, and you’ll sometimes need to troubleshoot bleeding edge bugs that sneak in. Once you have it configured and rolling, it’s actually quite easy to maintain. The AUR is great for newbies as well - trying to compile random things off github is a good way to mess something up.
>nvidia card
Found the issue :^)
(On a serious note, I’d suggest giving a Fedora a spin since it’s been pretty rocksteady from when I used it. DNF was pretty slow but I heard that it has gone better over the past 5 years)
i wish i still had my 7970
IMO I like linux mint or fedora as good starter distros. They’re both stable and easy to use, but they’re not going to limit you if you’re an expert. KDE is my preference for desktop, but gnome feels better on a laptop.
Ubuntu is too forceful about snaps lately, and it gives me that classic “I don’t actually own my computer” feeling.
Manjaro getting borked is not unexpected - they’ve had a lot of problems, and generally your system will tear itself apart sooner or later due to their package holding. If you want manjaro done right, I’d recommend Garuda linux.
Seconding ‘not manjaro’, I’m currently using it and I’m probably going to start fresh on another distro soon.
Personally, I started with Mint Cinnamon. It’s a really good branching point for people coming from Windows. It keeps things nice and simple.
If you have some more tech know-how, are good at figuring things out and like customization, Kubuntu is a nice pick, since the KDE Plasma desktop environment has a lot of options. But it rally doesn’t hold your hand at all, so be ready to figure it out yourself.
Just remember though, at the end of the day, Linux isn’t Windows, no matter how much your desktop environment might look like it. You will have to learn a whole new OS, and your Windows knowledge only transfers superficially.
If you have the luxury I would suggest getting another cheap used computer and distro-hopping. Maybe get a cheap think-pad off ebay.
Honestly, just pick one that sounds interesting and install it as dual boot or on a secondary machine. I would recommend Pop OS for most people, but I ended up going from Kubuntu to Archcraft (also an interesting one to check out) to plain Arch with a fully custom setup. I have also tried Manjaro and Elementary OS, but never ran them as a full-time OS.
You will likely find good things and bad things about every one you try, and eventually find one you like. I prefer Arch mostly because of the AUR, but I have been really tempted to try Pop OS because of how much development has been going into it.
Regardless, don’t be afraid to search the Arch wiki for things, as it is a good reference even for other distros. Just know that you might have to use different package names than on the wiki.
There is an aspect to this that I’d like to mention, and that is you should consider the community of people around your distro, when makling this choice. There’s a point at which online guides won’t suffice, or you won’t know what what to Google, and you’ll have to reach out on forums or IRC or something, although i hear kids these days like Discord. I have long sense learned to pick my distros based on the people around them. I was Debian/Ubuntu foir years but switched when they started giving me bad vibes. Fedora has been great, i just wish there contributor documentation and onboarding was a bit better. And on community factors I’d recommend Gentoo over Arch any day and twice on Sundays.
this is a point I think most newcomers to Linux/Fediverse/Indieweb/etc. fail to grasp. To use these technologies, puts you in a far closer relationship to the people making/maintaining the software, then you would otherwise be. To Microsoft/Google/Random Cooperation. You’re just an inconvenient expense. You’re probably not even the primary customer. But to your instance admin, your linux distro people, you can be much more, and you’ll have a better experince if you at least pop by and say hello occasionally :)
Anyway sorry for the length of this response, tl:dr check the forums and chats before you pick a distro see how they treat people, see if you vibe because you’ll depend on those people to keep your stuff running
I’d definitely start off with one of the common, popular distros. Namely Pop!_OS, Kubuntu, since I know it’s fairly easy to install Nvidia drivers there. Also maybe OpenSuse Tumbleweed if you wanna try out what a rolling release distro is, without jumping to Arch. Then once you’re comfortable with that, then decide where you want to move on, if at all. I’ve been on Pop for over 4 years now, and I still love it. :)
Linux Mint Or eben Ubuntu can Be Quote Nice distros to start out with in My opinion.
As a tech-savvy person, I tried a few of the easy-to-use ones like Mint/Ubuntu/Fedora. I didn’t really like them. I then tried Arch after taking a “Distro Selection Quiz”, thinking “ugh, there’s no way this will be good right?” and it absolutely hit every expectation I had of Linux. I love the feel that the OS is in my hands to be configured however I want it. I can use old and reliable systems or bleeding edge tech ideas.
Once you get past the installation you can always install Gnome or something like it anyway to make it just like the easy distros.
Really depends on what you’re looking to do, if you are looking to try out new things and experiment I would recommend trying out Arch or Fedora. Those are good for testing and trying out stuff, if you’re looking for a stable desktop I would recommend Pop!_OS (what I’m using on my machine), Linux Mint, Debian testing, or Debian 12.
I would recommend staying away from Manjaro in the future because of their management and repository issues. I also wouldn’t really recommend Ubuntu because when I used it, it was very unstable and had a lot of issues (mainly because of Snap) which ended up rendering the OS unbootable and I had to reinstall.
I might get some flak for this but Ubuntu is my go to beginner distro. It has the most guides, a huge selection of apss can be installed by deb files so you don’t need the console for those, all drivers work well. Some people have issues with canonical and snaps but I really dont care that much
After booting up fedora for the first time, i simply can’t stop recommending it enough, it just works. Everything is so well integrated and thought that it became my go-to distro
My favorite go-to for new users is Fedora. It’s a community version of red hat Linux and i have to say the installer and built-in software should get you most the way through out the box.
My next recommendation is Vanilla Debian V12 Bookworm. I like Debian because it’s a rock solid distro that’s hard to mess up.
Besides the base OS, consider using either a KDE or Gnome desktop. Either should deliver a solid new user friendly UI.
thanks everyone
