Linux

Linux Mint

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!

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.

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

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)

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.

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!

Linux mint for sure

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.

Pop OS, it's just brilliant.

I'd recommend POP!_OS. Very easy to install and use and most games I've tried to play work without any problems.

PopOS or Mint. Easy peasy.

Fedora with KDE

Advantages:

• Most software has a version for it, this is not the case for e.g. OpenSUSE. The software is also usually quite new (unlike Debian).
• You can boot into older system versions if an update failed so you’re never stuck with a broken system.
• It doesn’t push snaps down your throat unlike Ubuntu and comes with Flatpak by default.
• A very customizable interface that is quite similar to Windows 7/10 by default with tons of useful features.
• Not a point release like Debian that requires a certain level of manual migration to upgrade to a newer version.

Downsides:

• Slightly less popular than Debian-based distro’s and thus has less info on it online.
• Rolling release so you will have to update very often.

Linux Mint is mentioned a lot in this thread, but it’s one of the few distro’s I’ve never used before so I won’t advise in favor of it.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

General computing: Mint, PopOS

Gaming: Nobara,PoP OS

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

Linux Mint

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

Another day another switching post. We need a new community for these posts.

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.

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.

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

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'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'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.

This is not distro specific advice but: when starting out you can use a virtual machine like VMware to test drive Linux without having to repartition your drive. VMware is free for individual non commercial use.

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.