Linux

You always start with Linux Mint. This is the way.

Mint is my go-to linux newbie distro suggestion.

Pop!OS. It is maintained by a company called System76 who make Linux computers. You might think about getting one if you want a new computer. Support the cause!

This is universally regarded as the best distro for beginners and veterans.

You should try Linux Mint. It's a good distribution for new Linux users. It's easy to understand, has a good community with plenty of solutions for all types of problems and it is not too specific.

Gaming with Steam on Linux works without any major issues except when it comes to games that intentionally made run on Windows only due to their DRM. I suggest using the Flatpak variant of Steam so you won't clutter your system with too many weird dependencies.

I'll second Mint. It's got a similar layout to Windows, so eases you in, and everything just works.

l'd say Linux Mint or Fedora as a distro.

And as a desktop environment (which I think will influence your Linux experience far more than the distro pick) I'd pick KDE or Cinnamon or if you want to go old school XFCE (which is little easier on the resources) (all three stick to a more traditional desktop paradigm, so the switch from windows wont be as awkward)

luckily you can switch the DE pretty easy. you can just install them on your distro of choice and use them side by side if you'd like to try them out (generally speaking, you can choose which DE session you want to use on your login screen)

Linux Mint is definitely the right choice here in my opinion. I installed it for my parent's on their older laptop when they were having issues running windows. They were blown away by how fast it was and how they could do all of their usual tasks (i.e browsing, financing, basic games, etc.). It will be a great first experience for you!

Like most others have stated here, I'll also add my recommendations for Linux Mint.

I have helped most of my family, relatives and several friends move and familiarize themselves with Linux Mint, especially those that do almost everything within the web browser (shopping/email/Facebook/youtube/travel reservation/etc…). Since I already was their goto tech support, I showed them around on Linux Mint and they pretty easily got going as everything was intuitively similar to Windows. All was point and click (after my initial setup with their network, peripherals, printer and some basic automatic updates configuration), no terminal voodoo magic for them.

For the younger ones I typically set them up with Pop!OS and Steam and they are ready to jump without me having to explain much. Sometimes, I had to install and help setup a server (Minecraft) so they can play with their friends.

Personally, I use a mix of LMDE (Linux Mint Debian Edition), Alpine Linux, TrueNAS Scale, OPNsense and VMware ESXi/Workstation/vSphere for virtual machines.

Mind you, I would not recommend VMware as I am currently evaluating my transition options toward XCP-ng with Xen Orchestra or LXD/Incus or something else entirely.

Personally I use Debian stable but I'd recommend starting with Ubuntu if you are new. I'm using linux fulltime since 2008 if that makes any difference.

The reason is you are guaranteed to find support for a program if there is a linux version.

Most of the instructions online have specific Ubuntu instructions.

The default install is quite user friendly.

You will have access to more packages than many other linux distros. You still have flatpak too if your desired package is not in the Ubuntu repository ( or snap store).

You can always pick a different one later once you have some experience under your belt.

Doing this you will be able to become familiar with APT the Debian package manager. Used in Debian, Ubuntu, Mint, Raspbian and other Debian derivatives.

Getting the concepts here you can then just learn the differences if you switch distro such to an RPM (Different package format) based distro such as fedora.

In short use Ubuntu for now. Experiment and read up about it so you can build your knowledge. We are a community that like to share and learn. Also as a general rule backup your files before you install it and after you have set it up how you want. You can easily just copy the whole home directory for this 😉

The distro doesnt matter but it should not get in your way. They can all be made to look and act the same for the most part. The focus should be on knowledge. Linux is like digital Lego you can pick and choose the parts you like and layer them together.

Linux mint for sure

I'll comment and agree with most of the people who have already commented who recommend Linux Mint. It's very good for beginners. Alternatively, you can also take a quiz found at distrochooser.de to get an idea of which distros may be right for you.

PopOS or Mint. Easy peasy.

General computing: Mint, PopOS

Gaming: Nobara,PoP OS

Wait, when is Windows 10 hitting end of life? If Windows 11 doesn't support devices without aTPM, that's a huge swath of insecure machines.

Linux Mint, 100%. Most of your configuration will have a GUI and their flagship Cinnamon desktop is made to look similar to Windows 7.

Definitely Linux Mint. Literally the best out there whether new to Linux or an advanced user.

Just FYI, you could also switch to Windows 10 IoT LTSC for longer support (2029 IG)

Linux Mint

You have a lot of options

-Linux Mint: the default choice, nothing wrong with it, however not the best when it comes to gaming or if you have multiple monitors with different resolutions and refresh rates.

-ZorinOS: Looks good, but can take some time to get used to it and doesn't have the multi monitor issues of Linux mint, however it is on the heavier side of Linux distros.

-Fedora/Nobara: the 2 are basically the same with one another, but nobara is more gaming-focused. They will also take some time to get used to how they work, but are in my experience generally snappier and more responsive.

No matter which distro you choose, remember, don't think of Linux the same way you think of windows, think of it as desktop android, as in you download stuff from the distro's app store and not off of the internet, unless necessary.

I'm a Linux mint user for my main system and am no beginner. As others have said, it's friendly to both beginners and advanced users, it's good to see you've made that choice.

That being said, don't stop there. Whether it's in a virtual machine or some old laptop, also try one of the "from scratch" systems. I went with Gentoo and that is the root of where a ton of my Linux knowledge started. It's my favorite distro simply because it has that history for me. You'll find everyone has their own favorites for their own reasons, so be sure to explore and find the one that you enjoy and helps you learn.

I'd second Mint as well (I've used it for many years now). Out of interest, what games are you thinking of? Most of them should work out of the box, but with some there can be issues especially with multiplayer ones.

Good choice. Linux mint is nice for people coming from windows

Fedora’s my favorite. It’s also the most secure without going straight to QubesOS, which is not beginner friendly.

You need to first understand what kind of interaction you expect with your OS. For this, you can start by considering what you use your OS for and currently what you do for your OS. e.g. Before I jumped to Linux, I was just starting to learn PowerShell on Win, because I saw a lot of places in my system where I wanted to use it. I felt consistently dissatisfied with the lack of things I could just tell the system to do, making me go to scripting. This way, I knew I won't have a problem with putting time into something that takes a lot of configuring. But since I was still new and wanted an easy start, I went with Manjaro KDE. It was based on Arch, but had a system of differed updates, giving me a feel of it being easier. Plus, it had a lot of customisations out of the box, some of which, I learnt from, when making my own configurations for EndeavourOS. EndeavourOS considers itself to be more terminal oriented, and it is possible to easily get a full-fledged tty system, just by selecting it in the installer. I chose KDE because I like changing the Appearance a lot, but you might want to look at other DEs depending upon your expectations.

Ubuntu has been shifting a lot to snaps, so if you want your computer to be snappy (the literal meaning), you might want to avoid it (ironically). But at the same time, if you want less configuration requirements and want to keep most of your exp outside the terminal, on top of finding it easier to install software from vendors' websites, you can consider it. If you are fine with putting in the minimal amount of brain usage it takes to understand the installation instructions of the website - and by that I mean, read the heading telling you which distro the copy-paste text is meant for (I know ppl too lazy to do that and trying paste an apt command into Red Hat) - I suggest Fedora/Linux Mint and a slew of others.

DE = Desktop Environment apt = Package Manager (kinda like an app store on terminal) used for Ubuntu

P.S.: If you choose an Arch-based distro, make sure you keep a backup OS that is in the Debian/Fedora tree. I keep a Debian KDE, mainly for older linux games, which ask for packages that have been long removed from Arch, but it is useful in case you break something. That way you won't have to wait for the time it takes to make a Live USB and can just restart.

I'm already starting to migrate my small office. Two PCs done, a handful of others to go. I have probably three that I'll run Windows 11 for software compatibility, and another three Mac's for different software.

Who remembers "Windows 10 will be our last operating system'?" I remember. Fuck Microsoft. Fuck Macs too though.

Hannah Montana Linux:

https://hannahmontana.sourceforge.net/

Personally, I think your choice of desktop environment have more impact to your day-to-day experience than your distro choice. If you feel at home with windows-like UI, try KDE Plasma. If you like minimalistic mac-like interface, then try Gnome.

I'll second the Pop!_OS recommendation that others have been posting. Don't get me wrong, Linux Mint is great, though I personally prefer Linux Mint Debian Edition over the Ubuntu-based one, but I think Pop!_OS is just as easy to use while presenting a different look & feel. Pop tends to support newer hardware as well: despite being stuck on an Ubuntu 22.04 LTS base until Cosmic is finished, System76 releases new kernels to support the hardware they sell. They're currently running kernel version 6.6.6, as opposed to Ubuntu's 6.2.0 (I think -- that's what server's on, at least).

I gave my wife, who "hates computers," a laptop running Pop!_OS when her Windows 10 one failed and, apart from the standard new PC complaints, I haven't heard anything Linux-specific. She runs two businesses on the thing; the only changes I made to the standard Pop!_OS software were to replace LibreOffice with OnlyOffice, and to replace Geary with Thunderbird.

What I suggest is to Nobara for gaming or Linux mint. Most distros are the same but depends on what comes preinstalled.

Nobara if you game.

Mate, why wait?,

Run to Linux, don't just run from Windows.

Start looking at the desktop environments and use a virtual machine/live usb to try them out. For something similar to Windows I'd recommend KDE plasma or Cinnamon, both can be tried out using KDE Neon or Linux Mint.

Everyone has different opinions. In the end the different versions, or distributions, are basically the same.

It starts with the Linux vernal, that as far as I know, handles communication with the hardware, and things like directories, storage, users, permissions. On top of that, every distribution creator puts a destropenvioment, like gnome or KDE (plasma?). Gnome is kinda like Mac is, KDE can be what ever you want, very customizable.

Than there is the package manager. Fedora for example uses yum or dnf (dnf is the new version I think) and Ubuntu uses apt. The package manager is like your app store, that you access over the command line. It is managed by the owners and ist mostly safe to download anything. (Installing Spotify would by 'sudo apt/dnf install spotify'. So pretty easy to use.

On top of that the distribution has preinstalled programs, like the browser, writing tools, and some useful apps

That is basically the only difference between distros. You can even get different spins of a distro. If you like fedora, get it with the KDE desktro envioment. It's all the same basically.

So put something on a usb drive and boot from that, try it out for a few minutes and than look at others. There are also websites that allow you to boot into different distros.

If you like something, just install it, maybe as a Dualboot first next to windows (best is on a different drive) and just try it out. If you don't like it, just jump to another one.

Linux can be a little bit pain sometimes, but in my opinion it's worth to invest the time. Have fun!

You should try a bunch and see what you really like! The beauty of Linux is there's so much out there that you'll almost definitely find one that gels with you.

A good place to start is Linux mint! The best way I can describe it is a blend of all the best parts of windows 7, 10 and 11 with very few of the downsides. You'll almost definitely settle in quickly and you might never want to switch as it's very full featured, snappy and well put together. It was designed for people wanting that Linux experience while still feeling familiar to windows users.

Another one to try if you love customisability is ZorinOS. There's a free and paid tier, both of which are excellent with the free tier offering layouts for old and new windows and Mac like experience and the paid tier (only around £30 for a lifetime licence) has layouts and customisability for absolutely everything else and extra tools and options for those that want more of that!