Pretty much any distro can do any of the things Windows/Mac users are hoping a computer can do. So just pick one and stick with it. Once you’re familiar with Linux, the benefits/drawbacks of each distro will become clearer, and you’ll be able to make an informed decision. People will tell you “Arch is more lightweight than Mint” but compared to Windows/MacOS, all Linux distros are going to feel blazingly fast and lightweight. The only decent advice is, if you are just starting out and you have an Nvidia GPU, use a distro that sets that up for you automatically. It’s not super complicated to set up, but it’s definitely going to feel like a foreign experience the first time.
I don’t have time to mess around with Arch or customizing things. I tried a couple live boots and went with Mint. Spent 2 hours picking a theme, wallpaper, and menu icon. Boom, done.
Hey can y’all help me out? I wanna start switching over, but I need a beginner friendly distro that can work well with my 2070 super for gaming. I need something simple to set up or I’ll get ADHD paralysis and never do it.
I’d also love if it worked well with my Valve Index, but if that still has a lot of issues across the board I may still have to dual boot :c
Mint. It started as the beginner friendly distro and it’s becoming the “main” distro as of late.
FreeBSD of course.
Don’t forget Biebian
The One I’m Using :tm:
That one.
I don’t use arch btw
i only use this linux
Shame on all of you for not knowing Hanna Montana Linux is the best possible OS ever.
I thought that it’s a fact everyone using Linux just instinctively knew.
Toss up between Slackware, Gentoo or Linux From Scratch. Learn the hard way.
LFS is a distro in the sense that a cookbook is a buffet
Best way to learn Linux? Make your own distribution and libraries.
Its the only way to learn linux, since if you try to find any help or info all you’ll find is shit from 15 years ago thats horrifically out of date and not relevant.
it is OBJECTIVELY linux mint. Why? Because.
this comment was written on June 2025. So as of this day Mint is fabulous. And if I were to save a single distro from a burning building of all the popular distros, i would grab mint twice.
I know I know, there are many good distros, even texhnically better ones. But having used Mint as a secondary dual boot to my primary Windows, I have felt that Mint has been least annoying and actually worth retaining and updating and maintaining.
Mint is great I use it on my desktop and laptop and have been for years (I switched when Ubuntu has that unity desktop period). For Linux it’s the most “it just works” distro for me. My second choice would be manjaro, but mint also has the advantage that there is so much help for Ubuntu you can find online, that usually also works for mint.
I freaking love Linux Mint. I use it for myself because despite being the “easy” distro, it is still Linux. (Or as I like to call it, GNU plus Linux, lol) But you are still allowed to use the terminal, compile your own code, fiddle with your system, run docker, and generally do what you want with your computer without it bogging down to load ads for services that are already running in the background bogging it down more whether you pay for it or not. And since it is based on debian/ubuntu/apt, users benefit from that popularity when they look up how to do something.
I love it just as much for the non-power users. It is how I will allow my parents to keep their perfectly good laptop that collects dust instead of spending a thousand bucks on a new win11 laptop to collect dust.
Long term I assume that I will end up on Arch or a derivative, mostly thanks to Valve, on top of it being a good project to learn on.
The one you fucking feel like using. God, stop trying to make tribes mandatory.
Never heard of it. What packaging system does Tribes use?
The wrong one, obviously!
I’m tempted to commit to pretending that “Tribes” is a Linux distro that we’re all worried will gain too much popularity and hurt the ecosystem…
SHAZBOT!
Well, it’s built to use Ooga, but it’s also set up to be able to handle Booga as well. It depends on the driver set you need to load Fire and Club.
I prefer Ook! Ook! over Ooga.
I feel like there’s a lemmings reference to be made here but I’m tired. Internet, do your thing.
*Except for beginners
Try a beginner distro, and when you’re done with the tutorial, go ahead and install your arches or nixes, IDC
SteamOS was my tutorial and today I run Arch on my main system. But I like learning and I like the fact that I can build my own system and choose my own components. I understand that Arch is not for everyone but for me it’s perfect.
Steamos is a great introduction… If you touch desktop mode of course.
Personally I recommend Linux mint, or even KUbuntu or Cinnamon Ubuntu (gnome is not meant for windows refugees so better not show it yet)
Also, fuck GNOME. When I tried Ubuntu in 2009 it was GNOME that made me hate Linux until I learned that KDE Plasma was a thing.
GNOME is horrible. Looks pretty, but it’s opinionated approach means that nothing works as expected and you have to relearn how to use a stupid window manager.
Never ask a woman her age.
A man the length of his penis.
And Someone who posts memes like this how long they had to dig to get to this ancient stereotype.
Right? I’ll talk about my salary all you want. I think it’s great to know where you stand against others when negotiating for a new job or a raise. Especially since unions aren’t really a thing in my profession.
Don’t talk about my penis. If I want you to know, you’ll know.
oh god I’d be so so happy if someone asked me that! Whenever I say i use Linux people look at me funny 😭
Yeah man. The amount of times I have to shoehorn into the conversation, that I’m using Arch btw. is tiring.
Would be so much easier, if they just asked.
Are you using Arch btw?
Yes, ackshually.
Thanks for asking.