overview for ratemisia

New Linux user, here is my use case. Distro recommendations? in c/[email protected]

[-] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago

It definitely helps that I'm on very compatible hardware (all AMD) :-) But I was also lucky not to have any of the installation hiccups many seem to, just make bootable drive with Rufus/Balena, launch from in BIOS, profit - maybe some people have a green thumb for their distros of choice, who's to say?

New Linux user, here is my use case. Distro recommendations? in c/[email protected]

[-] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago

The only two draws that are really pulling me away from Mint are my taste for a rolling release model and my preference to learn the terminal if it's there. I'm no power user just yet, but I'm determined to learn to use the tools available to me in the Terminal for if/when my GUI tool inevitably breaks. Having a fallback is always nice.. but dual booting into EndeavourOS or Manjaro is a good motivator to get acquainted with the terminal, and quick, which is a level of effort I'm not at all opposed to and for knowledge I see as very helpful; knowledge I feel I'd take much longer to get in a distro that's well-cloaked in GUI like Mint. Taking this advice in stride, though; I'll certainly be hanging onto the foothold I have in Mint until I get confident with Arch-based and can personally assess my options with my own experience in both, whenever that (hopefully!) happens. :-)

New Linux user, here is my use case. Distro recommendations? in c/[email protected]

[-] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago

I've taken a good look at Endeavour, and it might be a winner for me! Admittedly, the terminal focus might be a bit much for me to start out, but it seems a lot more approachable than bare Arch, and I got comfortable with pacman and the other basics in an evening of messing with it in a a VM (with the Arch and EOS docs both being very helpful!) It just might be the push I need to let go of my reliance on GUI left over from Windows :-)

New Linux user, here is my use case. Distro recommendations? in c/[email protected]

[-] [email protected] 7 points 1 month ago

Great points, all in this thread! Yes, I'm aware of GNOME extensions, and I'm considering sticking with Mint more seriously now, given the response. I think the broader point here is very sage advice, and most users at this point in their Linux journeys, including me, need to hear that. I do intend to try out other distros in a VirtualBox VM for at least a week or so before nuking my current Mint install - however long it takes for me to be sure it's a better fit than Mint, which I imagine that many candidates won't be. For instance, I've decided from a quick try at Arch in a VM that it's still a good ways over my head - and may never be right for me, which is fine. I can say I've tried it now, and trying different things is good. Such is the nature of the beast! :-)

I'm not expecting a huge difference between my Mint Cinnamon and something like Manjaro KDE Plasma (the most interesting option to me right now.) I'm a tinkerer at heart, though, and while I'm not experienced enough with Linux yet to appreciate the differences for what they are, I do fancy myself the kind of person to care about those things... as soon as I figure them out, that is. :-)

While I understand now that I'm unlikely to see much of a UX change by hopping distro - thanks all! - I'm now mostly interested in an Arch-derived distro like Manjaro because I feel like its rolling release model is better suited to my personal tastes than Mint and the Ubuntu umbrella's stable releases, good as Mint has been to me. It's largely a preference thing for me, though, and I'll be investigating further before deciding whether it's what I want.

New Linux user, here is my use case. Distro recommendations? in c/[email protected]

[-] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago

Most of my library is on Steam, so I'm not too worried about whether my games will run. It mostly means I'm more interested in rolling distros like Arch for their latest support, I guess. :-)

New Linux user, here is my use case. Distro recommendations? in c/[email protected]

[-] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

That's along the lines I was thinking, too! Using terminal regularly on Arch isn't a deal breaker for me, I'd like to hone my Linux-fu anyways :-) Definitely a leading option for me, and I'll probably be trying it out to see if I'm smarter at Terminal than I think I am.

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New Linux user, here is my use case. Distro recommendations? (lemmy.world)

submitted 1 month ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

47 comments fedilink

Update 1: Thanks for all the responses! I've gotten a lot of very good comments saying I should stick with Mint, and that's sitting comfortably in my top two picks right now. Between new distros, I'm most interested in Arch's rolling release model, as it provides some benefits for me for reasons I didn't really get into here. I'll be considering Manjaro Plasma as my leading "new" pick, and am considering EndeavourOS and rolling releases of other distros as other alternatives. I'll mostly be weighing my options between sticking with Mint Cinnamon, switching to Manjaro Plasma, and setting up my Mint install with Plasma for now. Many thanks to those that have responded, and to any new commenters, feel free to add your own thoughts!

Update 2: After trying out EOS, Arch, Manjaro, OpenSUSE Tumbleweed and Universal Blue, among many other options, I've come to the decision that I'm okay with sticking to Mint for now on my main desktop and setting up UBlue Aurora on my work laptop, but might consider switching to Kubuntu or Fedora if I want something similar at work and at home (one of my main draws away from Mint was that it didn't offer a KDE option), or to OpenSUSE Tumbleweed if I must have a rolling distro for some reason. Thank you all for your guidance, and happy distro hopping!

Hey all! I've lurked here for a while and not really posted anything, but here goes.

Title says most of it. I'm a hardware nut with a little programming background knowledge, who built my own beefy desktop about 3 years ago. I started on Windows 10, but I made the switch a few months ago and haven't looked back. I was worried about how much trouble I might have with Linux given my limited software background, and picked more beginner-friendly distros to start out. I toyed with Ubuntu for the first couple weeks before switching to Mint, and I've now been a happy Mint user for several months with no big hiccups. I'm a little bolder and wiser now, though, and I feel like I can still get more out of Linux by jumping to a more unstable and tweakable distro. I was hoping you'd have some suggestions - and knowing the nature of the Linux community, lots of options to consider. :)

Here's what I'd like in a distro:

Tweakable. I like having lots of settings, and one of the things I liked most about Mint was how much more customization I could get than Windows. I like config and setting things up to my unique tastes, and knowing that many people say this is a weaker aspect of Mint, I'm interested in what other distros have to offer.
GUI-friendly. I'd like to learn the Terminal, but I'm not confident enough in it just yet to use it for everything. Making my GUI look good and setting it up to fit my tastes are also important to me, and I liked Cinnamon's slick UI/UX features like Hot Corners and panel applets. I don't necessarily want something that imitates Cinnamon OR Windows, or even need anything outstanding in a UI, but having something more than Spartan would be much appreciated.
Well-documented. I'm still new to Linux; I'll need a lot of help getting used to its quirks. I've been interested in Arch because of what people say about its documentation. A good wiki to follow and readily available answers for my nooby questions may be the deciding factor on whether I stick with a distro and spin/flavor/etc or move on.
Reasonable gaming compatibility. My library is small, I don't play a lot, and all the games I'm serious about run with only a couple hiccups on Mint with Proton, Lutris, and Mesa. Most of what I do is browse the Internet, write in LibreOffice or equivalent, check my email in Thunderbird or equivalent, and maybe open GIMP or a game once in a while. I'm not so serious about how my games run, I just wouldn't want to daily drive a distro that's handily much worse than Mint for gaming, and would prefer a rolling distro or one with frequent updates, so I have the latest drivers. Anything significantly better for gaming is a plus, not expected. I've been interested in Nobara and Arch for different reasons, but I'd like to look at all my options before I pick one, including other distros I haven't heard of or looked into. Thoughts?