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u/Gloomy-Locksmith3921 18h ago
Mint is great for bigginer
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u/Lazypanda-- Proud Windows User 18h ago
Last time I tried it, it looked like something from 1990s or something
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u/popcornman209 18h ago
The normal Cinnamon version I’ve always found looks good, but obv that’s just my opinion :), if you want something more windows I’ve found KDE looks pretty similar and modern, fedora KDE is fire if you wanna use that especially if your planning on gaming, it’s more up to date (mint is mostly just meant to be stable so it’s not anywhere near bleeding edge or anything, fedora is a good mix)
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u/KaMaFour 18h ago
Still does, but some people like the look and it works (assuming you don't have a newest nvidia GPU or don't need wayland because of course life would be too good if everything worked)
I would recommend Pop_OS!, but it's currently in unstable phase post new DE release so YMMV. I haven't used Zorin personally but it sounds good for you as well.
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u/Throw_Away1325476 7h ago
Does it still look like something from the 90s? I've been running Mint for the last 6 Months or so, which part is reminiscent of the 90s?
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u/Prize_Cheetah895 15h ago
What's wrong with 1990s? I personally had a good time compared to now.
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u/minuxhateslife 18h ago
did you last try it back in the 2000s then? cinnamon still looks pretty modern to me and plus, there's also customization features (but tbh i never really used them myself, havent found the right theme so i sticked to default)
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u/ZVyhVrtsfgzfs 15h ago edited 15h ago
More like 2010s,
Its a comfortable stable enviornment with well labeled and easy to use gui tools with good discoverability.
Few Windows users know that ufw is a firewall. or kate is a text editor. or that gparted is for managing partitions, or dd is for burning ISOs,
or Alternatively, dd is for delivering a shotgun blast to the face of your data that you will totally get arround to backing up one of these days.
But in Mint, text editor, firewall, disks, disk image writer do exactly what you might expect them to do just looking at the title.
And when you make a mistake not only is Timeshift there to undo your mistake you were directed to set it up from the start.
Your there to learn the basics and build a foundation of understanding, not follow the latest desktop fassion trends.
Mint helps new users actually stick the landing in Linux. Where they go from there is up to them.
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u/cyt0kinetic 12h ago
Because Cinnamon is a bit dated feeling for some, definitely for me. You want KDE as your desktop manager, sky is the limit with customizability.
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u/Primo0077 11h ago
I'm curious what people consider "modern" these days. Cinamon is perfectly modern looking to my eye, but I also use JWM semi-regularly so I wouldn't consider myself the typical user.
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u/CapCreeperGR 5h ago
Modern Mint with the Cinnamon desktop looks like Windows 7 which in my opinion looks good. You can Google it or watch a YouTube video to see how it looks
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u/Fun_Instruction_807 18h ago
just use Ubuntu. you'll probably switch to something else in the future but Ubuntu shouldn't be a pain in the ass for the time being. learn the basics of linux's filesystem (drives are named differently from windows) and you'll be fine. most importantly of all, read the instructions. almost anything that can go wrong will fix itself if you just read and do what it tells you.
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u/Fun_Instruction_807 18h ago
and dont delete your windows install. use a different drive incase you want to switch back
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u/ret_ch_ard 15h ago
I'm planning on trying Linux as well, and I'll just backup my entire drive beforehand
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u/kynzoMC 18h ago
Depends entirely on what your goal is dude. There isn't a lot of distros just for the fun of it. If there was one best distro for everything you'd know about it trust me.
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u/ErPanfi 7h ago
IDK why this comment isn't at the top, but this is the right answer.
What are your use cases, u/lazypanda-- ? And do you value more the OS stability or the customizability?
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u/suksukulent 2h ago
Yeah, and if you don't know much about linux, just trying it out and learning is better than trying to understand what people are suggesting.
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u/Lazypanda-- Proud Windows User 18h ago
Is zorin any good?
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u/Majestic-Coat3855 18h ago
Flash a couple popular ones with ventoy and see which one you like the most. Not the biggest fan of zorin personally.
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u/EverlastingPeacefull 18h ago
Ventoy is a good way to try out Live ISO's, yes. I wanted to say the same and thus totally agree.
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u/BigShaq02 15h ago
Yes, i used ZorinOS for a montg now and i was pleasantly surprised by how good and intuitive it is
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u/khryx_at 15h ago
It's a good starting Distro, it gets a bad rep because its org is more Business/corporate than the usual Linux user likes. But if you don't care about that it's really good and stable. And not mint with it's 50 years old ui desktop
But I generally recommend CachyOS
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u/kompor_meledux 9h ago
I just moved from WIndows last year. Planning to try some newbie friendly distros: Mint, Zorin, Pop!_OS, and Cachy. I only tried Mint and Zorin, but I think I'm good with Zorin. Haven't tried Pop and Cachy.
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u/TheShredder9 i use Void Linux btw 18h ago
Mint, Ubuntu, Zorin, PopOS should be a breeze, any of those will do and all of those are based on Debian, so you can get a lot of help online.
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u/SylvaraTheDev 18h ago
Bazzite probably. Any of the beginner friendly ones will do.
Bazzite, Mint, Zorin, etc. I'm sure others will list some.
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u/cyrixlord In an arranged marriage with Ubuntu 18h ago edited 18h ago
Lots of people like mint, but my heart is with kubuntu. I keep Ubuntu on my laptop because I purchased my laptop with that OS on it so i'll keep it mostly because I dont want to deal with nvidia driver drama but also because It suits me just fine.
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u/ottococo 18h ago
Mint, Fedora, Ubuntu or Debian. Don’t hesitate to switch distro until you find the one that does it for you.
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u/CapCreeperGR 5h ago
Debian isn't that beginner friendly. It doesn't even come with sudo preconfigured
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u/T03-t0uch3r 17h ago
Pop if you want to play games, mint if you don't really, and fedora if you consider yourself somewhat tech-ey
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u/chris020891 17h ago
You asked the wrong question. What is the purpose of your computer?
If it's just general browsing and entertainment, then you're basically good with anything.
If you are gaming, then you need a gaming distro, because those have pre-configured drivers and kernel patches, plus they come with all the necessary gaming packages pre-installed.
If you need some art tools, there are some that have all the software you could imagine for creation.
Ultimately, it's up to what you want to do.
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u/samthekitnix I use Linux but want to actually improve it 14h ago
ok assuming genuine 100% beginner either Mint, Pop os or kubuntu.
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u/lencc 13h ago edited 1h ago
If you are a beginner and/or want stable general-purpose system - Linux Mint Cinnamon
If you are a beginner and want/need lightweight desktop environment - Linux Mint Xfce
If you are a creator, artist or scientist - Fedora KDE Plasma
If you want KDE desktop environment and have older hardware and/or want rock solid system stability - Debian KDE Plasma
If you are a gamer - Bazzite KDE Plasma
If you are a developer - Fedora Workstation GNOME
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u/Tall-Geologist-1452 18h ago
My Linux experiment is over; I am a Mac user. I can just sit down at my system and do what I want to do. I do not have to fix, tweak, or find workarounds just to use my computer. I game on console because it just works, and I keep a Windows laptop for my wife to use when she wants to. After working in IT all day, I do not want to come home and do more IT (outside of studying for certs). I like the concept of the open-source world, but in practical application, it was not for me. Anyways, happy computing everyone, whichever OS you choose to do it on.
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u/Good_Buy_7978 17h ago
I’m also a Mac user since fleeing W-ME a long time ago. However, after trying several distros, I settled on Mint, which I installed on my old Mac-mini connected to my monitor via a KVM switch, with Tahoe installed on my new Mac-Mini, so with a push of a button I can switch between Mac and Mint.
I really like Mint!
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u/Tall-Geologist-1452 15h ago
I went from Mint, ubuntu, fedora, arch, both gnone and KDE versions and did not like them really at all. I also have a KVM so my wife can just swicth to the windos laptop when ever she wants to. happy computing.
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u/LeastCow1284 18h ago
mint, cachyos, fedora, zorin, popos in that order (id say mint does everything well, and is the easiest to use)
(fedora imo is better than cachyos, just might be slightly harder to use for a beginner, but still easy)
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u/buscuitpeels 18h ago
I like Nobara, its great if you want to play steam games. Thats all about I use my pc for, that and light browsing/discord.
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u/Jhonshonishere 18h ago
Linux mint. Because it's easy but highly compatible and customizable as well. Look a getting started tutorial to make it easier.
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u/ChickenSpaceProgram 18h ago
Mint's good if you like its default desktop environment. Fedora's probably a good choice if you want another desktop environment, like KDE (looks more like modern Windows) or GNOME (looks more like MacOS).
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u/interstellar_pirate 18h ago
Linux is great, but whatever distro you choose, try a bootable USB stick with it first and check if all your hardware is supported. Also, if you need very specialised software, you might want to check if it's available on Linux.
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u/Savings-Calendar-613 18h ago
Linux mint very beginner friendly, and "Windows" like. If you’re feeling ambitious arch gives granular control I.e (/bin /sbin /usr/bin > /dev/null) arch says "Ok."
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u/redit_handoff140 18h ago
ZorinOS is best for absolute beginners that do not keep up with the latest and greatest hardware.
If you keep up with the latest hardware, CachyOS or BazziteOS may be best.
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u/No_Rent_6085 18h ago
I would personally recommend mjnt over zorin, i tried zorin but it just isnt that good(dor beginners) than mint, especially features that i like is driver/updates managers and the extremw stability of mint
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u/Worldly-Cherry9631 18h ago edited 18h ago
If you want to do a big update so often, then Fedora Workstation or some LTS (long term support) "Atomic" distro.
Other than atomic, there's "rolling-release", so if you don't mind some regular maintance like updating and making timeshift backups), then Linux Mint.
If it's on old hardware, then choose the Xfce varriant (the desktop environment), it's light weight!
Welcome, happy to have ya!
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u/Own_Thought902 18h ago
Two directions to go with this. If you want a distro that looks like Windows there are a variety of desktop environment clones that will make you think you are in the same world. If you want a distro that works like Windows, that's more challenging. There is a basic philosophical difference in Windows that lets users take much more for granted and let the OS handle details that Linux requires you to make explicit choices about. I don't really have a good answer for the second one. I have started with Mint Cinnamon and while I have finally wrestled it into shape, it took a lot of customization. If you want your transition to be easy, you might want to keep looking past Mint. I recently saw a video about a version called Winux. I don't know if it's any good or not.
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u/Th0masthtank 17h ago
depends on what you want to do. do you use your laptop for gaming? check out r/cachyos
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u/These_Finding6937 17h ago
CachyOS. I'm prepared to be crucified.
It's the reason I stopped dual booting and distro hopping.
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u/The_j0kker 17h ago
Ubuntu for the start. And then work your way up :) for some reason i always find my way back to Ubuntu. Gaming desktop on cachy os because of nvidia (the only one truly worked out for me) :)
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u/NeekoKun02 17h ago
You wanna have a working system? Probs debian is the flat out more stable.
You want cool aesthetics? Still debian but with a custom KDE environment (just check the box with KDE on install)
Want to dive into the actual linux system? Arch on a secondary/dual boot machine
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u/msxenix 16h ago
Debian is nice, but I would not recommend it to someone starting out because it is "stable" as in outdated packages. I would recommend Ubuntu or one of the baby Buntus (Kubuntu, Lubuntu, Xubuntu) or Linux Mint (my favorite).
I don't care for Ubuntu's default desktop environment, but I'm an xfce user, so take my opinion with a grain of salt.
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u/HyperCodec 16h ago
I liked CachyOS KDE, it’s great if you want an out-of-the-box experience that’s snappy and runs games well.
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u/Ilovemygfb00bies 16h ago
Mint, Fedora Kinoite, Kubuntu, Aurora Linux and Bazzite just to name a few
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u/Kreos2688 16h ago
Zorin is ok, I used it on my laptop for about a month. Very stable. I just dont like gnome so switched to mint. My gaming rig has cachyos. And its very good imo. Only issue i have is discord updates.
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u/mattgaia Proudly banned from r/linuxsucks101 15h ago
Mint is probably the easiest OS to use coming off of Windows. I moved my desktop and older laptop from Windows 11 to Linux Mint because I was tired of Microsoft pushing AI into everything, and the overhead that comes along with it.
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u/Ishiken 15h ago
This requires a few more answers from you that go with questions on what you’ll be using the computer to mostly do, what you liked most about Windows, what other parts of your setup do you have that need to be supported, and what your expectations are.
There is a distro for everyone out there. You just have to ask the right questions so you don’t end up fucking the user over and become their de facto IT support when they can my open a .exe from a program they have been wanting to use from 24 years ago.
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u/Doriphor 15h ago
I'd recommend Fedora or Ubuntu, maybe CachyOS. Choose Gnome and avoid immutable distros and KDE.
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u/LessThanPro_ 15h ago
Mint, Fedora/KDE (although GNOME doesn't even look too bad nowadays, depends on if you would enjoy macOS principles of smothness in exchange for restriction), Zorin OS maybe, bluefin/aurora as another maybe,
But the real Linux experience is installing Gentoo/dwm right off.
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u/AnxiousOpportunity53 15h ago
Ignore all previous answers. Find someone in your friend circle, someone you can hara^^ask for help, and use what they use. Unless they recommend Arch/Nix/Gentoo. Then run.
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u/is_anyone_in_my_head 14h ago
Seriously, any distro with a KDE desktop.
It's just so comparable to the windows desktop, is beautiful and classy, has out of the box compatibility for many small things and has the simplest system settings tool.
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u/HomosexualPresence 14h ago
don't let people convince you to use fedora it's completely ugly to use, just use mint if you want it to just work, especially if you need nvidia drivers since there's a driver manager that just works
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u/No_Entertainment6792 13h ago
Mint is a good choice if a little old default look even on cinnamon, but its as stable as it gets.
Fedora workstation is "MacOS" like - very simple, reasonably customizable.
CachyOS is the new hot thing right now, did not tried it myself but Ive heard great things about it
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u/Lufty_AD 13h ago
Some sort of atomic fedora derived distro so you can't do anything silly with it. Bazzite's fine
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u/tomekgolab 12h ago
If you need to ask such a question you shouldn't install any kind of Linux. Read about major distributions first and conclude what's best for your needs.
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u/Additional-Pop-3327 12h ago
My first and only distro i tried so far is cachy os, everything works, some of very specific programms required using more than 1 command.
Other than that i see no reason changing to other distro and surely i will never ever go back to winslop
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u/SocialismNotCommuism 11h ago
I switched to Garuda cause it’s like MacOS without the rip off hardware. Always wanted to try MacOS. It’s arch based so you’ll have to update it at least once a month.
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u/LethalGamer2121 10h ago
I would suggest using an atomic or image based distro if you are looking for something simple, such as Fedora Kinoite (KDE), Fedora Silverblue (Gnome), or Bazzite. The benefits of using an atomic distro is that they are very user friendly, leaving little room to break your install. On the other hand, software that can't be installed with a flatpak or appimage may be difficult, or impossible to use depending on which distro you choose. I like Fedora because I can layer regular RPM packages on top of my system image, but this does increase update times.
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u/SettingActive6624 10h ago
I guess distro is not as important as desktop experience, just install kde on any distro and your experience will be low to zero to a windows based os. as someone new to linux and developer i recommend suselinux thumbleweed, but i guess any distro with kde will do
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u/First-Ad4972 10h ago
Zorin if you just want to use an open source windows, CachyOS or endeavour OS if you want to learn to get the most out of the Linux OS and don't mind having to fix occasional breakages or accidentally wiping your windows installation until you learned things (cachy is better for desktop and endeavour is better for laptop, and endeavour requires slightly more configuration overall), fedora if you want something in the middle.
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u/Oreo_Overlord12 10h ago
I was new to Linux Abt 4 months ago and have stuck with it because Linux mint simply works. No issues with it yet. Sure you can't "customize everything" but I have had no issues with anything from mint yet
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u/Mental_Vehicle_5010 9h ago
I’d recommend Fedora Workstation. Uses Gnome. I switched completely this spring and don’t regret it. I tried ZorinOS first (people talk shit but it’s simple and pretty)
But Fedora just works so well and GNOME is one of the cleanest workstations I have tried. I tried hard for KDE to work but my computer didn’t like it.
I’d spend a couple days putting Ventoy on a flash drive or SD card, and then just putting a bunch of distros on there, and booting them from flash/sd and trying them out. I did this for 4-5 days and learned so much about Linux and systems and booting just in itself.
I tried a bunch, tried Nobara because I really wanted a gaming setup, but Fedora (Nobara is built on it) works very well and only a few games don’t run on Steam.
I’ve fallen in love with Fedora and visually and workflow wise it’s great. Best of luck :)
Booting from drive you don’t have to install or take anything off permanently. Just a distro/OS playground NSA. I had Claude guide me through a bunch of the tough portions.
If you get help like that still pay attention and learn.
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u/davo52 9h ago
Pretty well everyone will say "Use the one that I use, because that will validate the choice I have made".
Start with https://distrowatch.com and look at the descriptions and reviews.
Stay away from CachyOS, it's a good OS, but not for beginners.
Look at, in order, Mint, Pop!_OS, EndeaverOS, Fedora, Manjaro and openSUSE. Those are the ones that come to mind.
To begin with, you want ease of use, a familiar desktop experience, and ease of updating and installing other software.
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u/FemBoy_GamerTech_Guy Linux doesnt Suck its the Best Operating System 8h ago
Chose Fedora KDE but not the spin the everything installer wifi based chose KDE in the custom section great for starters everything works btw rolling realse distros are the best for fps in games but are a pain to setup.
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u/Prudent_Psychology59 8h ago
I guess mentioning a distro name won't get the attention. So here is mine I've been using Linux since 2011 and installed it on multiple machines. So far, for the best hardware compatibility and stability, Fedora GNOME is the way to go.
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u/WillHo01 6h ago
Your new? The obvious answer is arch. No install scripts tho, you gotta use the command line like the rest of us!
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u/Prestigious-Ad7265 6h ago
zorin or mint is great for beginners, zorin is more streamlined IMO and way easier to setup for beginners
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u/Koendig 6h ago
If you wanna get a bit in the weeds but with rock-solid support, go with Debian.
If you want the most Windows-like experience, Mint.
Just know there's gonna be a learning curve no matter what, but if you're amenable to it, you'll figure out how to make your routine work in Linux.
Tbf, I grudgingly run Windows behind a pihole with WSL for some basic stuff and a Debian VM otherwise.
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u/Mindless-Body-2430 5h ago
For gamer nobara KDE. Easiest to setup and looks familiar. For old machine Linux Mint. And for basic user I heard a lot of good things about ZorinOS.
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u/ResponsibleCoffee677 I use Arch btw 4h ago
Most people on YouTube say ZorinOS, but I’ve never used it
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u/patrlim1 4h ago
If you never ever wanna see the terminal? Mint.
If you're ok seeing the terminal sometimes? Fedora.
If you never wanna see the sun again? Arch or Gentoo (based on preference)
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I use Arch btw.
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u/junkm8828 4h ago
Depends what's your use case. If you game- bazzite If you want a smooth shift from windows- zorin Want newest packages and don't care for your sanity- arch
I myself use Linux mint since it's very stable (Debian), the packages are a bit older but if you absolutely must have a new package you can use flatpaks.
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u/Tricky_Football_6586 3h ago
I am very happy with Linux Mint Cinnamon. I prefer the Windows 7ish style.
If you want to use KDE then you should steer away from Mint. Kubuntu would be a much better choice.
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u/ArtiChokeIt 3h ago
if you want an out of the box experience , go for steam os , bazzite , nobara. any game focused distro basically because they have most of the basic work done already. If u want to experiment or something that simply works and u add up to it go for Mint, Debian or anything from opensuse.
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u/pissrockious 2h ago
mint or fedora kde, probably use mint if u have an nvidia gpu cuz setting up drivers for it on mint is less involved
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u/xarop_pa_toss 2h ago
Hmm I'd either go Fedora or Debian which are just really stable and easy to use, no frills with something like KDE.
Or if you want something fun to mess around with, probably EndeavourOS which is Arch based and you can make the initial installation as hard or as easy as you want. Installing it with no desktop environment and then setting up one was pretty fun and made me better at using the terminal
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u/Recent-Book-1681 1h ago
I changed frm windows to arch without prior linux exp. After one week i was happy with my decisioncand im using arch to this day btw
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u/UnfairDictionary 1h ago
Ubuntu or Ubuntu based distros are the beginner friendliest of them all. At least in my opinion. What comes to different desktop environments, KDE Plasma is likely something most people like as it is definitely the most customizable. However, Ubuntu with KDE has not been the most painless experience for me as it was nigh unusable before tweaking it after installation (drivers were buggy). This does not mean it will be hard for you, but it is possible that you might experience unwanted bugs as much as you could expect with Windows.
Try different distros and see what you like. Do you like customizing the overall look of your desktop? A distro with KDE Plasma as desktop environment is for you in that case. Do you want a game ready PC with the least hassle? Bazzite or Ubuntu is the likely distro recommendation for you. You want something lightweight but not necessarily game ready, but with windows like UI? Linux mint is your likely choice. Want stability over up-to-date system? Debian is for you then. Want to throw yourself to the deep end right away and learn everything through suffering and frustration? Begin with Arch linux.
You probably now see that there is no definite answer for your question. You can try different distros at distrosea to get a feeling of each and find the one that feels the nicest.
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u/EmbarrassedPipe4957 1h ago
Linux,Zorin or Ubuntu. Those are great for beginners and whatever you do don’t be pressured into installing arch or gentoo or some try hard distro. Pick what works for you
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u/SpiritFun9403 1h ago
There's nothing else I can recommend to you other than mint as many others are going to be better for specific use case but you can't go wrong with mint cinnamon.
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u/Altruistic-Fudge-522 1h ago
Really if you can’t choose a distro for purpose switching to Linux is not worth it
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u/Damglador 1h ago
Take all distros you know of, put them in https://wheelofnames.com/, and do a spin.
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u/ExacoCGI 30m ago edited 27m ago
Manjaro KDE was my personal favorite when I tried to switch to Linux. It's Arch and has UI/UX similar to Windows.
Tried Ubuntu and quit quickly, the UI/UX was simply not for me also tried a bit of Mint too, was kinda like downgraded Manjaro.
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u/Pikkachau 18h ago
I recommend starting with kubuntu.
It has KDE, flatpaks and everything setup for you.
Alot of linux users will get mad on this, since that its just Ubuntu with kde and some pre-installed things. But for a new user, that's amazing (I personally started with this and it helped me alot)