I think Ubuntu is a great choice. It was my first exposure to computers when my dad gave me a Dell D600 laptop with Kubuntu on it when I was little. It was like discovering Narnia to me.
I really think that Canonical is doing a great job. Ubuntu is great for beginners. Years ago, it was the first distro that turned me into a Linux fan. Yes, there are some controversies about Ubuntu, but not for beginners. Another thing I want to mention is the toxicity of the Linux community. Friends! Please be kind to newcomers! We need to expand the Linux world, not make it a closed garden. Thanks for the video.
That mostly comes from the old Arch guys, they do not like Newbies. ..We must get Linux to the 10% market share, to get better software for the Adobe and MS Office users etc. Who use these Apps for work and Business as an Industry Standard.
@@STONE69_ Totally agree. I use Linux professionally because, in my opinion, it suits me best as a DevOps. My daughter uses Fedora and likes it very much, even though she's not a technical person at all. It's great that she has her dad as a consultant. What if she asked someone in the Arch Linux community forum about some basics?
I like that you mentioned lightweight distros. Reviving old hardware is one of the best selling points for Linux, as it lets people experiment more freely, without risking breaking their main computers. I have an ancient dual core relic from 2012 myself which has come in handy more than a few times since I revived it with Linux Lite a few years ago (yet another great distro for beginners due to its comprehensive OS manual and newcomer friendly forum).
I am using a dual core from 2007 I rescued from a scrap yard with upgraded ram, SSD, video, and power. Now running Linux Mint and it meets my needs well. I have been using it for 10 years now and still running strong.
I started with Ubuntu 8.04 and used it until Ubuntu 10.10, then moved to Sabayon, then Linux Mint and after that I switched to Arch Linux which I'm using right now, BTW.
I'm new to Linux. I started on Mint and then actually switched over to Zorin Pro for better Wayland support. I'm pleased with it, and I'm liking the Mac OS feel.
Hey..you are good ! After trying many other channels...it's refreshing to hear a clear and concise presentation, without being sidetracked with events in somebody's personal life. Right to the point, as well.
Nice! First I’m happy to hear that you enjoyed your first experience with Linux especially with that version of Kubuntu. I contributed a lot to the 18.04 release of Kubuntu. I upgraded the look and feel of the distro, changed a bunch of default settings, added new keyboard shortcuts and some other things with the help of one of the devs (Rik) and I especially like to hear your experience because it confirms that my contributions were well received 😎😁
In my opinion, you can't really go wrong with any of the recommendations in this video. I've tried them all, and they're all good in their own way. However, as a long time Linux user, I don't think Linux people really get Mac at all. Almost none of the recommendations really have a Mac vibe. And that's because Mac is more than a dock, it's more than the Finder. It's also the global menu. And the way programs use it. The closest recommendation to having that is probably Ubuntu Mate with its global menu turned on. Or maybe a flavor you didn't recommend, Ubuntu Unity, based on the old Unity desktop. These come closer to having the various components that make up the Mac experience, without being actual copies.
Arch-based distros are extremely buildable, Fedora-based distros have the best stability after fully setting it up and Debian-based distros are the most versatile when it comes to most computers as even some of the oldest computers can run a lightweight Debian distro. Ubuntu-based distros may be the most user-friendly when it comes to install and setup but everything else is simply better for the user other than that and Ubuntu itself is Debian-based. If you want the easiest to set up distro but are familiar with managing files and going through patches, programs and other advanced user things on Windows, BazziteOS and EndeavorOS would definitely be the way to go imo (would recommend a GParted Live USB/Ventoy for any of these distros in case you need to write on or manage partitions since most built-in partition managers on distros are either slow or simply bad)
@@michael_tunnell Thanks for the great video! I started using Linux as a daily driver with Ubuntu Hardy Heron (8.04), and it definitely set me in the right direction, so I really appreciate your perspective! I've used Arch and Gentoo as well, but now I'm happily a Fedora Silverblue/Kinoite user! (Silverblue + Plasma packages really, I like to play around with the DEs, and KDE/Plasma 6.1 is amazing!)
came here right from your reddit comment man. this is such a perfect video to get started for understanding Linux distributions. I'm definitely getting Zorin or Fedora :)
I agree that Tumbleweed is great and the rollback stuff is dope! But this video is aimed at absolute beginners who are not familiar with Linux at all and unfortunately I think the barrier to entry for Tumbleweed is just too high to recommend for them
@@michael_tunnell I respectfully disagree, Michael, even after trying Mint, Ubuntu, Endeavour and Manjaro...I would say Tumbleweed is perfect for newbies...install, update when necessary, and if you don't know what you doing, don't do it (but this one applies to every distro, I guess)...I have to say that Tumbleweed suits my needs (mainly writing, browsing, listening to music via VLC and doing a few lightweight tasks)...can't complain. But to each their own. Cheers and great video as usual!
@@michael_tunnell Agreed. I love Tumbleweed and have been using it for over a month on an old HP 8200 Elite SFF with 20 GB DDR3 RAM, an SSD, Core i5-2400, and 1050 ti but of course I'm an intermediate Linux user of 9 years and very tech-oriented. I'll even put it on my future AMD 7000 series build most likely.
Pop used to upgrade yearly, skipping the .10 versions but they recently decided to stick to the latest lts so they could focus in cosmic.i can't wait to see what they do with that desktop!
Yep! The ublue images are great! I also really like, that they don't even call themself a "distro" they do all these great modifications and the user is ready to go, while staying as close to upstream as possible.
I’m running bazzite on my main system, it’s not even fair to say it’s just for gaming since you can do everything with it. It won’t be any less performant at games just because you also have visual studio, libre office and krita on it.
@@sebastianbauer4768 Ja ich auch. Passt einfach alles perfekt! Gaming ist großartig und für die meisten Sachen nutze ich Flatpaks. Alles andere mache ich halt in meinen Distrobox containern oder per homebrew.
This video is awesome. I love the podcast plug at the end. Doing all the leg work for me. Now when I am asked "What linux should start with?" I can send them a link to this video.
Ubuntu was my first distro in 2017, when I joined an Ubuntu group at our library, which btw uses Ubuntu on all pc's in our city, 17 libraries serving 350.000 people. I ditched Windows entirely a few months ago and went with Ubuntu 24.04 LTS Pro. I can game and everything else I need with this edition of Ubuntu. Great and much needed video. Thanks Michael.
@@louisfifteen aight, just plain old debian 12 works fine since im only doing development, very boring but i can be 100% sure my things work like i want for years to come before needing to update
I moved from mint to fedora, partially because I really wanted to use kde but also because fedora gives you all the new technologies without, sacrificing stability at all, I could be wrong but no distro manages to do that. But the video is right you have to do some steps after a new fedora installation and they are dumb because they political, why do you have to install propriety repos and codecs and configure dnf on the terminal??? why not offer at least a gui for beginners :P But other than that I now am fedora fan, I think is worth to stomach those initial configurations they do not take more than 15 minutes following a guide.
I am waiting for pop os cosmic desktop to get released and become completely stable, i think once it's ready it will become the best distro for beginners as it will have its own Desktop Environment with modern looks, it will also revive the idea which ubuntu adopted with unity desktop!! Linux mint is best, but the only problem is that the cinnamon Desktop is not modern and attractive, whereas cosmic will be.
I started in the past with ubuntu breezy and switched to kubuntu, after jaunty antilope I started distrohopping and landed on linuxmint,Lubuntu and arch linux until now... And I think as a good start with the Ubuntu or linuxmint..
I feel like the best first distro is whatever your penguin-loving friend recommends, they will know your use case scenario and can help you with getting used to your new OS. Without a penguin-buddy, videos like these are quite helpful! Personally, I started on Ubuntu 12 (remember ndiswrapper?), moved to Mint, then settled on Arch with Plasma. It's what I show people who are curious since it's very friendly in appearance, and firing up Steam and clicking play like they already do makes folks quite a bit more comfortable!
I've been using Linux for years and this morning I completely borked my system because my expectation of a clean install was that all my programs, customizations, settings etc would be retained. I upgraded from Mint 21.3 to Mint 22 but wanted a clean install to make sure there was no crap left on my system from all the previous updates. Now I have to figure out how to reconfigure samba networking between my Linux box and my MacBook Pro, work out what software I've lost and reinstall and reconfigure it all. Before the upgrade I backed up the home folder and etc. I was led to believe that was all I needed to do. 😢
@@michael_tunnell I've got Synergy up and running so I can control both computers with the same keybrd & mouse, SyncThing so stuff I'm working on on the desktop is synced to the MacBook in case I need them when I'm out, and Samba is now working to streaming files that are on the desktop, to my TV via the MacBook. All that remains are lots of little tweaks and bits of software I won't know I've lost until I remember I need them. 😊
Yeah any system config won’t survive an upgrade the way you did it since they are in /etc instead of your home folder. It’s one of the reasons I have preferred rolling release distros for close to a decade now, few release based distros manage updates of major releases well. Frankly I’d only trust Debian and even there I would wait for the first bug fix release before upgrading. If you’re interested in trying one of them out there are plenty good choices these days. You could try them in boxes(the VM application) for example. Arch is well known and recommended but can be overwhelming, especially the installation. They have the best documentation wiki by necessity. Opensuse has three rolling distros these days, slowroll, tumbleweed and microos(immutable). They do a lot of automated testing and are generally more stable than arch imho, not to mention they have among the best default installation bar none. Their btrfs layout for rollbacks is a work of art. Fedora atomic desktop are technically not rolling but the releases are fast, some packages like the kernel do roll and they switch the base system as an image when upgrading between releases, specifically avoiding /etc and /home to prevent the issue you had. Finally manjaro and cachyos are based on arch but try to make it more palatable. They completely take the pain out of the installation of arch and both offer a wide array of DEs.
@@sebastianbauer4768 I backed up the etc folder. But when I copied it back into the new etc folder there was some kind of error. I'm not at my computer and I don't remember what the error was, just that it didn't do what I expected. Besides all the applications I'd installed were gone.... It's ok now, I've mostly rebuilt the system how I had it, even with some slight improvements 🙂
@@SeanClarke lots of room for errors sadly. One that comes to mind is loosing all the file attributes like owner and group depending on how you did the backup. There could also be symlinks in etc leading to other parts of the system that are immutable, well in theory, haven’t checked in a good long while.
I had tried Ubuntu but got bummed out with my mouse freezing at startup every time but Linux Mint based on Ubuntu does not have that problem, so I am using it now. However I was using Blender and now find I can no longer launch it in any version leaving me bummed out again and looking for help with this issue.
I'd go with Q4OS. Based on Debian, and if you use the Trinity desktop, you get a familiar windows-loooking desktop. Trinity is a continuation/fork of the old KDE 3+ desktop.
For people coming from Windows. I like #1 Linux Mint OS Cinnamon, #2 ZORIN OS, #3 Tuxedo OS KDE, #4 Kubuntu OS KDE. All operate Similar to having the Windows flow/vibe.
me, who used linux for 20 years, when I think about distros: there are only maybe like two distros that actually matter and they're not even that different, who cares about distros. me looking at simplified video about distros for beginners: there are many distros, but just use ubuntu, it's that simple! btw here is 20 versions of it, 18 of which have the familiar windows vibe (but they're all different)
11:07 Nobara actually ships it that way and has an gnome and KDE version, Nobara is Fedora bases and mainly gaming focused however although it still works like a normal OS unlike bazzite which is exclusively for gaming
Ubuntu was my first and I guess it's the one I recommend (that or Linux Mint, depending on how open they are to sonething different than Windows), simply because it's rather well supported and it's easy to find help if you need it.
I'm fedora user. But whenever people ask which distro is recommended for newcomer, I always answer Linux Mint. It's have simple UI similiar to windows which is good for people who just move away and adapt to linux, and most importantly: DRIVER MANAGER. I've tried some distros and most of them require to install manually but in Linux Mint, you can do it all almost without touching terminal.
There's also Tuxedo OS, which is basically Linux Mint with the removal of snaps in favor of Flatpaks and with KDE Plasma, and newer versions of Plasma than Kubuntu at that.
@@cameronbosch1213 Never using it before. I prefer distro with huge community, so when I look for a problem I can easily got it's fix. For non ubuntu mint, we already have lmde which I have problem with driver so for now I still sticks with linux mint (ubuntu) for my main recommendation.
Glad to hear it, Linux is better by far in my opinion but SteamOS is currently only available for the Steam Deck, supposedly it will be released for other use cases but right now it’s just the Steam Deck.
For lightweight distros AntiX deserves a mention. Lately it has become more user friendly, enough to recommend it for beginners. I have a 16 years old laptop still running thanks to AntiX. Only 2gb of RAM and a core duo 1.8ghz CPU. I've tried other distros on it (Linux Mint MATE) and it was good, but AntiX consumes even less resources. Less than 180mb of ram at startup! AntiX also comes with A LOT of useful apps after installation.
I think antiX is a great option for lightweight distro but I don’t know if it can be classified as beginner friendly. I do plan to make a video on lightweight distros and it will be included for sure 👍
Mint is so simple and gets you up and running in no time, I love it not just for my own workstation but especially as a beginners choice. Kubuntu and openSUSE with Plasma is cool and all but it can be overwhelming. Plus openSUSE is difficult to handle with GeForce graphics cards.
Everyone is saying that openSUSE is the most stable rolling release distro on the internet. I like screenshots from kde and have been trying mint for a while but I personally don't like cinnamon's look and feel (can't set it to a true dark mode, just gray themes)
@@dimii27 KDE Plasma is basically openSUSE's main desktop. If Tumbleweed is too much for you, there''s Slowroll too which updates like every 2-3 months save for security updates which get rolled out asap as it should be. Otherwise, Flatpaks make it really easy to even run more stable releases like Ubuntu LTS or Debian in some cases.
Whilst I wouldn't recommend starting with Gentoo, I did actually start with Fedora (which was an AWFUL distro at the time) and then my second distro was Gentoo. I've never looked back... and no I don't "constantly tinker" with it. I use it as my daily driver at home and work.
@@danielpicassomunoz2752 When you 'compile' stuff on Gentoo, it's more like your just using a regular package manager - but it does take longer depending on what your installing. If you haven't updated your machine for a few months sometimes this can take a few hours to complete - so I usually fire it off and then go to bed. But if you do it once or twice a month it shouldn't take long at all. A lot of people seem to think that your doing the compile yourself, but it's all been battle tested by the Gentoo peeps. They figure out how to build it - us plebs just install it using their builds. It's not as hard as it sounds. The documentation is exceptional (which was very appealing to me) and I have a far better understanding of what to do if something goes wrong for having 'jumped into the deep end' with Gentoo. Just my two cents. Your milage may vary. Don't be sad if it doesn't install the first time (took me three goes when I was a n00b) - and no it won't have a shiny desktop out of the box once it's up and going - That's an additional install. Most customisable distro there is apart from Linux From Scratch - probably why Google used it as the basis to build ChromeOS.
Do you know of any wireless cards that I can use to print with? I am trying to use Mint 22 Cinnamon. I bought one, but there are no drivers for it for Linux.
A wireless card to print? I’m not sure what you are trying to do. Wireless Card means WiFi hardware so please clarify. Most of the times Linux comes with drivers so there’s no need to install but once I know more about what you’re trying to do then I might have a suggestion
That helpful, thanks. I especially like the mention of the lighter distros. I have PCs that won't upgrade to Windows 11. One might run a fairly full fat Linux. One that would struggle. And one, that used to run XP, already struggles with Ubuntu 22:04. I assume that the lighter distros all run Steam?
Lol, I just got rid of my windows partition after 10 months of dualboot and 7 months of not using windows. Searching for a good distro. I am experiencing frame drops on chromium based browsers and even firefox on linux. I am trying to fix it. I just noticed it a few days ago. When I mistakenly turned on stats for nerds. I have changed some distros but this problem doesn't seem to go away.
I have a windows laptop that I use for work. Emails, social media posts and general web browsing. I’m tired of the bloat and spyware. Haven’t used Linux since the early 2000s and not sure what distro to use.
Thanks for an informative video for someone wanting to switch over from Windows and Mac. I'd like to try Kubuntu but since it's based on Debian and Ubuntu, what about the privacy/security issues? How do they compare to Windows/Mac? While my boyfriend is alot more tech-savvy, neither of us is that familiar with Linux yet but would like to be. No point in leaving Windows though if more of the same with Kubuntu?! Thanks in advance for all helpful feedback!!
Welcome to the community, I’m glad you enjoyed the video. Kubuntu is totally fine when it comes to privacy and security. Ubuntu and Debian are also both totally fine. Your question suggests that you’ve heard there are issues with Ubuntu and Debian which confuses me because they are both solid. Debian is not beginner friendly but they respect user privacy, this is the default approach of most Linux systems. (There are some weird ones out there but that’s a topic for another time) Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Debian and many more are incredibly superior to Windows when it comes to privacy. Windows is a privacy nightmare so it’s not hard to be better than Windows lol but most Linux distros respect the users.
NVIDIA support is typically fine in most distros, the difference is that PopOS eliminates the process of installing the drivers but once you install them in practically any distro the support and performance will be the same. Also most distros have a installer tool to help you do that but not all of them
I'm late to this comment section, but MX Linux AHS (Advanced Hardware Stack) is the distro that finally cured my Nvidia Optimus woes a few years ago. Their Nvidia driver installer is easy to run, and once that's done, the AHS edition keeps those drivers (and the linux kernel) beautifully up to date.
9:53 Being they sell new hardware including both brands of CPU and both brands of GPU... I would be surprised to hear about hardware support problems. My Pop! OS install is on kernel 6.9.3
This is correct, they have updated hardware support which is great! (I mentioned this in the video) But I was saying that they don’t have the latest of everything because they are slow to update some software. This is due to the LTS base. So some software in the repo is untouched by System76 so it lags behind the same way it does on Ubuntu but of course the critical portion of hardware support is solid.
Could someone please make Wine easily connect to the USB ports? I use various simple windows software to access machines in my job, and they run on Wine, but they cannot see the USB ports, much less the USB to serial converter. *NO* working answers on the forums
lol but you don't think pop os is new user friendly when i satred on pop os and learned arch based off it. lol. but i do love you ,and your content is sold.
New User Friendly and Beginner Friendly are different things. A “new user” could be someone who is brand new to computers entirely and it can also be someone who loves to tinker and wants to learn from it. Beginner are users who are more of an average user who just wants to use the system and that’s all. This is who my video is for, so no I don’t think PopOS is beginner friendly. Also PopOS is not a great option right now since they are behind on base updates and building their own desktop environment which means the current version of PopOS is going to be very different to what it will be later. I would not recommend that because once they learn it then they just have to learn it all again
What distro do u recomme d for video gamers? i should explain further. as a windows user who wants to give up windows. for linux. and gaming is a must. i want a newbie friendly distro to pick. that isnt the most outdated in terms of drivers and kernal
This is a bit complicated because depending on your hardware it’s any of them. I am currently playing a game through proton on Linux Mint 22 and it’s working great. So it depends on what your hardware is and what games you play.
What is your hardware setup and which version of Mint did you install? Mint can’t block the BIOS unless it is bricked but that’s very rare so I think it is something else
Hey what distro would you suggest for developers looking for making linux their primary os (been using it for years but not as primary os), i need latest packages but with a stable system i am confused between endeavour os , opensuse, archcraft Open for other suggestions as well
It depends on what software you need and what hardware you have. With that said, I think Fedora is a solid option for that especially with Flatpaks and activating RPM Fusion repo. EndeavourOS is a great option but the Arch base can be problematic. openSUSE Tumbleweed is also a great choice because of the system snapshot feature so you can rollback if you need to. Personally I would lean toward Fedora more than the rest due to the stable system portion but depends on what hardware you have
I’ll second fedora, it’s a pretty decent mix between stable yet has new packages. I’m also testing opensuse slow roll on another system though I don’t have much to say about it yet, it just works and the packages are very recent. But frankly you can use anything you want and just do your development in a distrobox. For the development distrobox I’d probably prefer opensuse just so you don’t have to deal with distro updates which are just annoying, arch would probably also work fine in a box, really depends on what kind of development you want to do.
as a moderate user (meaning was a windows tech in the past, used linux in the early 2000s, but haven't in like 16-18 years) looking for the perfect newbie friendly stable desktop is turning out to be the fun "journey" Mint works great, but I don't really like Cinnamon. It's way too restrictive and missing features I really love from KDE Kubuntu uses a nice version of KDE with tons of features (I love KDE) but it's not AS easy as Mint is. Pop OS is cool for the Nvidia, but with Cosmic not out yet and me hating gnome (it's always been my least favorite even back in 2004) it's not what I'm looking for Nobara is cool and all, but way too unstable due to the fact that it's a 1 man passion project Ubuntu....well, snaps...and well. Gnome
It’s based on Arch and in my opinion anything based on arch is not going to offer true beginner friendly experience especially when the AUR gets involved
@@michael_tunnell I see. One thing good about Mint, all the answers to my question was one net search away. I have only been thinking about Manjaro because I like the idea of the rolling release. Of course I been using and learning Mint about three years. Good day.
Ubuntu with gnome desktop for Mac users. Linux mint with xfce desktop. Keeping the operating system as out of the box and stable and easy to use is what is best for beginners. I’d never recommend arch or Debian or others. I was a windows user since after soft and hard floppy disk drives. Arch is hard and unstable I’ve crashed every arch install in less than a month sometimes just hours after installing it. Debian has other issues.
I've been wanting to switch to Linux for a while now. I first became aware of Linux Mint and figured that was the way to go, but since I only use my PC for gaming I eventually became aware of Nobara. Is something like Nobara really that much better than Mint if all I do is game?
It really depends on which games you play because if the game works on Mint it will also work on Nobara so it's not really much difference. The difference is that Nobara does additional stuff for performance and lower latency stuff. They also preinstall certain gamer specific things like Steam, Lutris, and more so you don't have to do those things manually. You can learn more about Nobara and the main developer behind it because we interviewed him on my podcast, Destination Linux. Here is the link to the episode destinationlinux.net/370
@@fabioarturo Did you change the colours? I am asking seriously. I was really enthusiastic about Vanilla OS from the reviews and comments alone, and then the burning yellow and the huge icons took me by surprise in a bad way. I would give it a second chance if I could get rid of yellow from everywhere and reduce the size of icons.
In 2010 try it ubuntu on my pentium 4 was so laggy and got back to win 7 same day and forgot about Linux until windows 10 came out lot BSOD and decided to try linux but not ubuntu but mint run for like 7 days but feels like little outdated compare to windows software so start my research and went to try arch failed 3 time to install and give up and went to fedora worked like charm used for 1 month iand i was comfortable to now basics of linux then went to arch and successful install for 3 years stopped distro hop went DE hop on arch but newer reinstall it agine but now i got bored and went for gentoo running gnome for 1 week its very good but im still learning those flags and overlays so until i learn little deeply gentoo this name stays dont judge me😅
I wanting to try Linux but the more videos I watch to try to learn about these operating systems the more confused I get. I guess I will stay with windows.
It doesn’t have to be confusing though. I narrowed down the options a lot in this video but if you think it’s not narrowed down enough then let’s do that. What do you want it to look like? What hardware do you have to put it on? What do you plan to use it for? What applications do you plan to use?
Thanks for sharing your thoughts but the issue is moist people are not interested in experiencing a steep learning curve like Arch. Switching their OS is already a learning curve for them to deal with, Arch is not a good path for most people because the majority are not wanting such a path. Sure some people will enjoy it but most will not, which is basically what I said in this video. If someone wants to then go for it, but it’s not recommended. Arch team themselves agree since they say it’s made for intermediate or greater users.
Had to remove a faulty Wine installation off of Zorin (to be able to run some normal, non-caveman software), and even on Zorin, that damn terminal had to wake me up from the Linux dreaming!
@@michael_tunnell Well you gotta admit much of the free Linux software leaves a lot to desire, compared to free exe software. Fix the terminal issue, just like was done on Android, and I promise you success! Far more complicated problems get fixed with a few button clicks on every other system. Why does something so simple as removing a faulty Wine installation require f*ckery with that damn terminal again, even on the so "noob friendly" Zorin? Crap like this is ridiculous, and the reason why the 96-98% automatically run for the hills upon hearing the name "Linux"!
Could someone please make Wine easily connect to the USB ports? I use various simple windows software to access machines in my job, and they run on Wine, but they cannot see the USB ports, much less the USB to serial converter. *NO* working answers on the forums
I wouldn't recommend ubuntu because of snaps. the server is closed source and is hard coded to only use their servers and only allows one server. I can see ubuntu going closer to microsoft windows since recent snap forced approach. Ubuntu also once brought amazon spyware aswell. My recommention if you have to go the apt route - go to an ubuntu based anti snap distro or Debian.
I'm on ubuntu version from over 5 years ago 💀 So I never had to deal with this issue. Didn't know how big of a problem it was till I checked out a newer version a couple of days ago.
The Amazon spyware hasn't been a thing for a while now. But yeah, snaps legitimately piss me off. I'd try Tuxedo OS, which removes those snaps but is basically Kubuntu but more up to date.
I don't think new users should have to care about the snaps controversy. It's more important they get a user friendly, well supported distro where they can easily look up help for what they need. Worrying about snaps or flatpaks or x11 vs Wayland can come after that.
I’ve Found CachyOS to work well, it’s arch but a lot more stable and with slightly faster recompiled packages and, of course pacman (which I can’t live without) EDIT: And it has a gui installer with not only the basic desktop choices like gnome , plasma, xfce, but also twms like Hyprland and i3 with pre-setup configs that work pretty well, though I usually just replace them with my own
Ubuntu drove me nuts and drove me away from Linux for a long time before I came back and tried again... Manjaro KDE got me to stick with things, and distro hopped a lot, settling on Fedora, but I still hate Ubuntu.
@@michael_tunnell It was probably just not knowing anything and trying it out... I think a lot of it came down to GNOME, but everything just seemed so confusing and weird, I didn't get it. I had problems installing, getting some things working... Finding directions on how to do things, or what apps to use, but it all seemed complicated for no good reason. Even this video you use a lot of words I know now, but if I knew nothing I'd be confused even watching this. Its like information overload for someone who has never even tried it before. I gave up on it after a few weeks, and went many months before trying anything again because I thought that was just Linux... someone convinced me other distros are different. Manjaro KDE everything went smooth, things just worked... was that luck, or just having a bit more experience, or just KDE is a lot nicer or seemed more familiar than GNOME...? I don't know... but I was able to do everything I wanted and not even open a command line for months. It seemed a lot more straight forward and simple to someone used to Windows. I could ease in and learn things instead of a ton all thrown at me at once.
Thanks for clarifying, that’s interesting. I would bet it’s mostly likely the interface being so different and with KDE Plasma being so similar to Windows it was a lot easier to get used to the system.
I'm not a beginner, but I'll watch anyway. Back then, it was much easier. Server? Debian. Desktop? Ubuntu. That's it, that was all your option back then. (Off course I'm just exaggerating and joking.)
@@RenderingUser Snaps was not the only reason the reputation was going down. Remember Amazon issue? 32 bit libs removal, so many games would be unplayable with Steam? Developing Mir as an alternative to Wayland, so another split in eco system would happen (like snap and flatpak)? Many people was unhappy with the initial state of Unity Desktop (I loved it after a few versions)? There were a few more issues over the years. Snaps was only one of them, which itself had or have multiple issues on itself. And one of the reasons why I switched away from Ubuntu for the first time in 13 years!
@@thingsiplay honestly, I'm down for a alternative for wayland. I don't like some of the principles it holds. But everything else I agree with. I'm also currently running a 5 year old distribution of kubuntu rn. So I don't have to deal with snaps
@@RenderingUser While I can understand if you are unhappy with Wayland and would want an alternative it. I think it would be devastating for the entire Linux eco system, if we have to equally important Windowing Protocol (look at the problems with Xorg and Wayland, then add Mir into the mix). More complicated development and testing by devs, more complicated for end user, more incompatibilies and bugs, more distros, more useless fights of users. Mir was created as a mobile first protocol, back then. But the idea of an Ubuntu phone flopped and never came to fruition and Mir was abandoned. Later it was adopted by community and now it lives on as a Wayland display server or something like that. In the end, I think this is better for everyone. I'm all for options, but we also need some sort of standards and a base every option can live on. Even if you don't like Wayland, having Mir alongside would be catastrophic in my opinion.
After reading some post. I notice that Arch user are in propaganda. How a distro Who can crash at every update and use commande Line can be for newbie? Newbie have affraid of terminal. All the world know
I think Ubuntu is a great choice. It was my first exposure to computers when my dad gave me a Dell D600 laptop with Kubuntu on it when I was little. It was like discovering Narnia to me.
I really think that Canonical is doing a great job. Ubuntu is great for beginners. Years ago, it was the first distro that turned me into a Linux fan. Yes, there are some controversies about Ubuntu, but not for beginners. Another thing I want to mention is the toxicity of the Linux community. Friends! Please be kind to newcomers! We need to expand the Linux world, not make it a closed garden.
Thanks for the video.
That mostly comes from the old Arch guys, they do not like Newbies. ..We must get Linux to the 10% market share, to get better software for the Adobe and MS Office users etc. Who use these Apps for work and Business as an Industry Standard.
@@STONE69_ Totally agree. I use Linux professionally because, in my opinion, it suits me best as a DevOps. My daughter uses Fedora and likes it very much, even though she's not a technical person at all. It's great that she has her dad as a consultant. What if she asked someone in the Arch Linux community forum about some basics?
I like that you mentioned lightweight distros. Reviving old hardware is one of the best selling points for Linux, as it lets people experiment more freely, without risking breaking their main computers.
I have an ancient dual core relic from 2012 myself which has come in handy more than a few times since I revived it with Linux Lite a few years ago (yet another great distro for beginners due to its comprehensive OS manual and newcomer friendly forum).
I am using a dual core from 2007 I rescued from a scrap yard with upgraded ram, SSD, video, and power. Now running Linux Mint and it meets my needs well. I have been using it for 10 years now and still running strong.
I started with Ubuntu 8.04 and used it until Ubuntu 10.10, then moved to Sabayon, then Linux Mint and after that I switched to Arch Linux which I'm using right now, BTW.
why do these comments has searchable words (like on tiktok) on the comments
and why they only appear in incognito mode of the youtube lol
I'm new to Linux. I started on Mint and then actually switched over to Zorin Pro for better Wayland support. I'm pleased with it, and I'm liking the Mac OS feel.
Gnome?
Hey..you are good ! After trying many other channels...it's refreshing to hear a clear and concise presentation, without being sidetracked with events in somebody's personal life. Right to the point, as well.
Thank you so much 🙂 and welcome to the community, stick around 😎
I started out with linux on kubnutu around 2018, it still holds a special place in my heart.
Nice! First I’m happy to hear that you enjoyed your first experience with Linux especially with that version of Kubuntu. I contributed a lot to the 18.04 release of Kubuntu. I upgraded the look and feel of the distro, changed a bunch of default settings, added new keyboard shortcuts and some other things with the help of one of the devs (Rik) and I especially like to hear your experience because it confirms that my contributions were well received 😎😁
@@michael_tunnell thanks for an amazing first Linux experience!! 💖
Thanks for an amazing first Linux experience! 💖
Happy to have helped 😎👍
I'm a long time user of linux and find your recommendations solid.
In my opinion, you can't really go wrong with any of the recommendations in this video. I've tried them all, and they're all good in their own way. However, as a long time Linux user, I don't think Linux people really get Mac at all. Almost none of the recommendations really have a Mac vibe. And that's because Mac is more than a dock, it's more than the Finder. It's also the global menu. And the way programs use it. The closest recommendation to having that is probably Ubuntu Mate with its global menu turned on. Or maybe a flavor you didn't recommend, Ubuntu Unity, based on the old Unity desktop. These come closer to having the various components that make up the Mac experience, without being actual copies.
Garuda Linux KDE Dragonized edition also has a global menu.
Love this. You should create a video like this every year on your recommendations for new Linux users.
Good idea! I think I might just do that 😎👍
Arch-based distros are extremely buildable, Fedora-based distros have the best stability after fully setting it up and Debian-based distros are the most versatile when it comes to most computers as even some of the oldest computers can run a lightweight Debian distro. Ubuntu-based distros may be the most user-friendly when it comes to install and setup but everything else is simply better for the user other than that and Ubuntu itself is Debian-based. If you want the easiest to set up distro but are familiar with managing files and going through patches, programs and other advanced user things on Windows, BazziteOS and EndeavorOS would definitely be the way to go imo (would recommend a GParted Live USB/Ventoy for any of these distros in case you need to write on or manage partitions since most built-in partition managers on distros are either slow or simply bad)
The "Top Notch" reference and visual had me laughing for a while!
Well played!
Thanks! LOL! I said in the video genuinely but during the edit I thought of the joke so I had to 😆
@@michael_tunnell Thanks for the great video! I started using Linux as a daily driver with Ubuntu Hardy Heron (8.04), and it definitely set me in the right direction, so I really appreciate your perspective! I've used Arch and Gentoo as well, but now I'm happily a Fedora Silverblue/Kinoite user! (Silverblue + Plasma packages really, I like to play around with the DEs, and KDE/Plasma 6.1 is amazing!)
came here right from your reddit comment man.
this is such a perfect video to get started for understanding Linux distributions.
I'm definitely getting Zorin or Fedora :)
Awesome! I’m glad I could help 😎 … be sure to subscribe by the way
Found open suse tumbleweed to be pretty good the pre configured rollback feature is great and its been stable for me for the last 6 months.
Honestly, this. Before moving to Bluefin, I really liked how Tumbleweed never got between me and my job thanks to the easy rollbacks.
But not for newbi's in IMO.
I agree that Tumbleweed is great and the rollback stuff is dope! But this video is aimed at absolute beginners who are not familiar with Linux at all and unfortunately I think the barrier to entry for Tumbleweed is just too high to recommend for them
@@michael_tunnell I respectfully disagree, Michael, even after trying Mint, Ubuntu, Endeavour and Manjaro...I would say Tumbleweed is perfect for newbies...install, update when necessary, and if you don't know what you doing, don't do it (but this one applies to every distro, I guess)...I have to say that Tumbleweed suits my needs (mainly writing, browsing, listening to music via VLC and doing a few lightweight tasks)...can't complain. But to each their own. Cheers and great video as usual!
@@michael_tunnell Agreed. I love Tumbleweed and have been using it for over a month on an old HP 8200 Elite SFF with 20 GB DDR3 RAM, an SSD, Core i5-2400, and 1050 ti but of course I'm an intermediate Linux user of 9 years and very tech-oriented. I'll even put it on my future AMD 7000 series build most likely.
Pop used to upgrade yearly, skipping the .10 versions but they recently decided to stick to the latest lts so they could focus in cosmic.i can't wait to see what they do with that desktop!
Universal Blue has some nice flavors for Linux newbies. Bazzite and Bluefin are performant, pain free, and they are practically unbreakable.
There also Aurora-dx too as part of the universal blue
Yep! The ublue images are great!
I also really like, that they don't even call themself a "distro" they do all these great modifications and the user is ready to go, while staying as close to upstream as possible.
I’m running bazzite on my main system, it’s not even fair to say it’s just for gaming since you can do everything with it. It won’t be any less performant at games just because you also have visual studio, libre office and krita on it.
@@sebastianbauer4768 Ja ich auch. Passt einfach alles perfekt! Gaming ist großartig und für die meisten Sachen nutze ich Flatpaks. Alles andere mache ich halt in meinen Distrobox containern oder per homebrew.
Agreed, I put my mom on ublue 2 weeks ago and she hasn't had any issues. She's just asked me about using GSconnect and that is it
XFCE is a CLASSIC
For the lightweight ones, zorin OS lite is what I would recommend. Just one look at it and anyone will be able to see why
That’s a great suggestion ! I only mention it for the regular edition but the Lite version would be a great option for lightweight users
This video is awesome. I love the podcast plug at the end. Doing all the leg work for me. Now when I am asked "What linux should start with?" I can send them a link to this video.
Ubuntu was my first distro in 2017, when I joined an Ubuntu group at our library, which btw uses Ubuntu on all pc's in our city, 17 libraries serving 350.000 people. I ditched Windows entirely a few months ago and went with Ubuntu 24.04 LTS Pro. I can game and everything else I need with this edition of Ubuntu.
Great and much needed video. Thanks Michael.
you still on 24.04? or did you switch back to windows or sum?
@@verko-e Yup and loving it. Dual booting with Fedora 41 Gnome. What is your daily driver?
@@louisfifteen aight, just plain old debian 12 works fine since im only doing development, very boring but i can be 100% sure my things work like i want for years to come before needing to update
@@verko-e I understand completely what you mean.
That was great Michael, a nice intro!
I moved from mint to fedora, partially because I really wanted to use kde but also because fedora gives you all the new technologies without, sacrificing stability at all, I could be wrong but no distro manages to do that.
But the video is right you have to do some steps after a new fedora installation and they are dumb because they political, why do you have to install propriety repos and codecs and configure dnf on the terminal??? why not offer at least a gui for beginners :P
But other than that I now am fedora fan, I think is worth to stomach those initial configurations they do not take more than 15 minutes following a guide.
I am waiting for pop os cosmic desktop to get released and become completely stable, i think once it's ready it will become the best distro for beginners as it will have its own Desktop Environment with modern looks, it will also revive the idea which ubuntu adopted with unity desktop!!
Linux mint is best, but the only problem is that the cinnamon Desktop is not modern and attractive, whereas cosmic will be.
I started in the past with ubuntu breezy and switched to kubuntu, after jaunty antilope I started distrohopping and landed on linuxmint,Lubuntu and arch linux until now... And I think as a good start with the Ubuntu or linuxmint..
I feel like the best first distro is whatever your penguin-loving friend recommends, they will know your use case scenario and can help you with getting used to your new OS. Without a penguin-buddy, videos like these are quite helpful!
Personally, I started on Ubuntu 12 (remember ndiswrapper?), moved to Mint, then settled on Arch with Plasma. It's what I show people who are curious since it's very friendly in appearance, and firing up Steam and clicking play like they already do makes folks quite a bit more comfortable!
I've been using Linux for years and this morning I completely borked my system because my expectation of a clean install was that all my programs, customizations, settings etc would be retained.
I upgraded from Mint 21.3 to Mint 22 but wanted a clean install to make sure there was no crap left on my system from all the previous updates.
Now I have to figure out how to reconfigure samba networking between my Linux box and my MacBook Pro, work out what software I've lost and reinstall and reconfigure it all.
Before the upgrade I backed up the home folder and etc. I was led to believe that was all I needed to do.
😢
With you home folder files saved you can bring back your .config files for your configurations
@@michael_tunnell I've got Synergy up and running so I can control both computers with the same keybrd & mouse, SyncThing so stuff I'm working on on the desktop is synced to the MacBook in case I need them when I'm out, and Samba is now working to streaming files that are on the desktop, to my TV via the MacBook.
All that remains are lots of little tweaks and bits of software I won't know I've lost until I remember I need them.
😊
Yeah any system config won’t survive an upgrade the way you did it since they are in /etc instead of your home folder. It’s one of the reasons I have preferred rolling release distros for close to a decade now, few release based distros manage updates of major releases well. Frankly I’d only trust Debian and even there I would wait for the first bug fix release before upgrading.
If you’re interested in trying one of them out there are plenty good choices these days. You could try them in boxes(the VM application) for example.
Arch is well known and recommended but can be overwhelming, especially the installation. They have the best documentation wiki by necessity.
Opensuse has three rolling distros these days, slowroll, tumbleweed and microos(immutable). They do a lot of automated testing and are generally more stable than arch imho, not to mention they have among the best default installation bar none. Their btrfs layout for rollbacks is a work of art.
Fedora atomic desktop are technically not rolling but the releases are fast, some packages like the kernel do roll and they switch the base system as an image when upgrading between releases, specifically avoiding /etc and /home to prevent the issue you had.
Finally manjaro and cachyos are based on arch but try to make it more palatable. They completely take the pain out of the installation of arch and both offer a wide array of DEs.
@@sebastianbauer4768 I backed up the etc folder. But when I copied it back into the new etc folder there was some kind of error. I'm not at my computer and I don't remember what the error was, just that it didn't do what I expected.
Besides all the applications I'd installed were gone....
It's ok now, I've mostly rebuilt the system how I had it, even with some slight improvements 🙂
@@SeanClarke lots of room for errors sadly. One that comes to mind is loosing all the file attributes like owner and group depending on how you did the backup. There could also be symlinks in etc leading to other parts of the system that are immutable, well in theory, haven’t checked in a good long while.
I had tried Ubuntu but got bummed out with my mouse freezing at startup every time but Linux Mint based on Ubuntu does not have that problem, so I am using it now. However I was using Blender and now find I can no longer launch it in any version leaving me bummed out again and looking for help with this issue.
I'd go with Q4OS.
Based on Debian, and if you use the Trinity desktop, you get a familiar windows-loooking desktop.
Trinity is a continuation/fork of the old KDE 3+ desktop.
Just downloaded my first Linux
I liked mint more than Ubuntu basically they both are same but ram usage is lesser of mint
Absolutely superb video ❤. Really well presented Michael, great job 👍
For people coming from Windows. I like #1 Linux Mint OS Cinnamon, #2 ZORIN OS, #3 Tuxedo OS KDE, #4 Kubuntu OS KDE. All operate Similar to having the Windows flow/vibe.
I'm shocked you didn't mention MX Linux. New user focused, XFCE and KDE options.
The one that's being botted to the top of the list on distro watch? No thanks.
me, who used linux for 20 years, when I think about distros: there are only maybe like two distros that actually matter and they're not even that different, who cares about distros.
me looking at simplified video about distros for beginners: there are many distros, but just use ubuntu, it's that simple! btw here is 20 versions of it, 18 of which have the familiar windows vibe (but they're all different)
11:07
Nobara actually ships it that way and has an gnome and KDE version, Nobara is Fedora bases and mainly gaming focused however although it still works like a normal OS unlike bazzite which is exclusively for gaming
I’ve moved from manjaro to fedora. Overall better experience and the community is nice.
Ubuntu was my first and I guess it's the one I recommend (that or Linux Mint, depending on how open they are to sonething different than Windows), simply because it's rather well supported and it's easy to find help if you need it.
I'm fedora user. But whenever people ask which distro is recommended for newcomer, I always answer Linux Mint. It's have simple UI similiar to windows which is good for people who just move away and adapt to linux, and most importantly: DRIVER MANAGER. I've tried some distros and most of them require to install manually but in Linux Mint, you can do it all almost without touching terminal.
Why don't you recommend Ultramarine Linux?
@@martinpankov2736 Never use it before, might do some readings and checking now that you've mentioned it
There's also Tuxedo OS, which is basically Linux Mint with the removal of snaps in favor of Flatpaks and with KDE Plasma, and newer versions of Plasma than Kubuntu at that.
@@cameronbosch1213 Never using it before. I prefer distro with huge community, so when I look for a problem I can easily got it's fix. For non ubuntu mint, we already have lmde which I have problem with driver so for now I still sticks with linux mint (ubuntu) for my main recommendation.
@@cameronbosch1213mint has snaps removed and replaced with flatpaks
Very helpful.
I'm done with windows and plan on going with SteamOS with the next pc I build.
Glad to hear it, Linux is better by far in my opinion but SteamOS is currently only available for the Steam Deck, supposedly it will be released for other use cases but right now it’s just the Steam Deck.
Linux mint also offers a non-LTS version which is quite stable tbh. It is as expected based upon Ubuntu non-LTS.
Ubuntu used to be the best distro for Beginners, now I wouldn't recommend Ubuntu, Linux Mint or Zorin are much better choices.
Why are they much better choices?
For lightweight distros AntiX deserves a mention. Lately it has become more user friendly, enough to recommend it for beginners. I have a 16 years old laptop still running thanks to AntiX. Only 2gb of RAM and a core duo 1.8ghz CPU. I've tried other distros on it (Linux Mint MATE) and it was good, but AntiX consumes even less resources. Less than 180mb of ram at startup! AntiX also comes with A LOT of useful apps after installation.
I think antiX is a great option for lightweight distro but I don’t know if it can be classified as beginner friendly. I do plan to make a video on lightweight distros and it will be included for sure 👍
Mint is so simple and gets you up and running in no time, I love it not just for my own workstation but especially as a beginners choice.
Kubuntu and openSUSE with Plasma is cool and all but it can be overwhelming. Plus openSUSE is difficult to handle with GeForce graphics cards.
Everyone is saying that openSUSE is the most stable rolling release distro on the internet. I like screenshots from kde and have been trying mint for a while but I personally don't like cinnamon's look and feel (can't set it to a true dark mode, just gray themes)
@@dimii27 KDE Plasma is basically openSUSE's main desktop. If Tumbleweed is too much for you, there''s Slowroll too which updates like every 2-3 months save for security updates which get rolled out asap as it should be.
Otherwise, Flatpaks make it really easy to even run more stable releases like Ubuntu LTS or Debian in some cases.
Xubuntu with Arc dark and Papirus icons. Dark but not to dark to give Xubuntu a more modern look.
Whilst I wouldn't recommend starting with Gentoo, I did actually start with Fedora (which was an AWFUL distro at the time) and then my second distro was Gentoo. I've never looked back... and no I don't "constantly tinker" with it. I use it as my daily driver at home and work.
I'd like to try it... How often do you update (compile) stuff?
@@danielpicassomunoz2752 When you 'compile' stuff on Gentoo, it's more like your just using a regular package manager - but it does take longer depending on what your installing. If you haven't updated your machine for a few months sometimes this can take a few hours to complete - so I usually fire it off and then go to bed. But if you do it once or twice a month it shouldn't take long at all. A lot of people seem to think that your doing the compile yourself, but it's all been battle tested by the Gentoo peeps. They figure out how to build it - us plebs just install it using their builds. It's not as hard as it sounds. The documentation is exceptional (which was very appealing to me) and I have a far better understanding of what to do if something goes wrong for having 'jumped into the deep end' with Gentoo. Just my two cents. Your milage may vary. Don't be sad if it doesn't install the first time (took me three goes when I was a n00b) - and no it won't have a shiny desktop out of the box once it's up and going - That's an additional install. Most customisable distro there is apart from Linux From Scratch - probably why Google used it as the basis to build ChromeOS.
Why doesn't Destination Linux show up when I search TH-cam for just "Linux" filtered for this week?
Great question! TH-cam seems to be against good content I guess
Do you know of any wireless cards that I can use to print with? I am trying to use Mint 22 Cinnamon. I bought one, but there are no drivers for it for Linux.
A wireless card to print? I’m not sure what you are trying to do. Wireless Card means WiFi hardware so please clarify.
Most of the times Linux comes with drivers so there’s no need to install but once I know more about what you’re trying to do then I might have a suggestion
That helpful, thanks. I especially like the mention of the lighter distros. I have PCs that won't upgrade to Windows 11. One might run a fairly full fat Linux. One that would struggle. And one, that used to run XP, already struggles with Ubuntu 22:04. I assume that the lighter distros all run Steam?
Lol, I just got rid of my windows partition after 10 months of dualboot and 7 months of not using windows. Searching for a good distro. I am experiencing frame drops on chromium based browsers and even firefox on linux. I am trying to fix it. I just noticed it a few days ago. When I mistakenly turned on stats for nerds. I have changed some distros but this problem doesn't seem to go away.
Make Sure u have hw acceleration enabled. If needed use the h264fy extension.... Or rather use a terminal TH-cam browser like yew tube , ytfzf
I have a windows laptop that I use for work. Emails, social media posts and general web browsing. I’m tired of the bloat and spyware. Haven’t used Linux since the early 2000s and not sure what distro to use.
I hope this video helped but if you have any questions please feel free to ask them here and I’ll do my best to help
Thanks for an informative video for someone wanting to switch over from Windows and Mac. I'd like to try Kubuntu but since it's based on Debian and Ubuntu, what about the privacy/security issues? How do they compare to Windows/Mac? While my boyfriend is alot more tech-savvy, neither of us is that familiar with Linux yet but would like to be. No point in leaving Windows though if more of the same with Kubuntu?! Thanks in advance for all helpful feedback!!
Welcome to the community, I’m glad you enjoyed the video. Kubuntu is totally fine when it comes to privacy and security. Ubuntu and Debian are also both totally fine.
Your question suggests that you’ve heard there are issues with Ubuntu and Debian which confuses me because they are both solid. Debian is not beginner friendly but they respect user privacy, this is the default approach of most Linux systems. (There are some weird ones out there but that’s a topic for another time)
Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Debian and many more are incredibly superior to Windows when it comes to privacy. Windows is a privacy nightmare so it’s not hard to be better than Windows lol but most Linux distros respect the users.
I would still recommend PopOS to most users.
im still worried yet because of nvidia drivers, any suggestions for linux distro compatible with nvidia optimus besides pop os?
NVIDIA support is typically fine in most distros, the difference is that PopOS eliminates the process of installing the drivers but once you install them in practically any distro the support and performance will be the same. Also most distros have a installer tool to help you do that but not all of them
I'm late to this comment section, but MX Linux AHS (Advanced Hardware Stack) is the distro that finally cured my Nvidia Optimus woes a few years ago. Their Nvidia driver installer is easy to run, and once that's done, the AHS edition keeps those drivers (and the linux kernel) beautifully up to date.
9:53 Being they sell new hardware including both brands of CPU and both brands of GPU... I would be surprised to hear about hardware support problems.
My Pop! OS install is on kernel 6.9.3
This is correct, they have updated hardware support which is great! (I mentioned this in the video) But I was saying that they don’t have the latest of everything because they are slow to update some software. This is due to the LTS base. So some software in the repo is untouched by System76 so it lags behind the same way it does on Ubuntu but of course the critical portion of hardware support is solid.
Could someone please make Wine easily connect to the USB ports? I use various simple windows software to access machines in my job, and they run on Wine, but they cannot see the USB ports, much less the USB to serial converter. *NO* working answers on the forums
Top notch =)
lol but you don't think pop os is new user friendly when i satred on pop os and learned arch based off it. lol. but i do love you ,and your content is sold.
New User Friendly and Beginner Friendly are different things. A “new user” could be someone who is brand new to computers entirely and it can also be someone who loves to tinker and wants to learn from it. Beginner are users who are more of an average user who just wants to use the system and that’s all. This is who my video is for, so no I don’t think PopOS is beginner friendly. Also PopOS is not a great option right now since they are behind on base updates and building their own desktop environment which means the current version of PopOS is going to be very different to what it will be later. I would not recommend that because once they learn it then they just have to learn it all again
What distro do u recomme d for video gamers? i should explain further. as a windows user who wants to give up windows. for linux. and gaming is a must. i want a newbie friendly distro to pick. that isnt the most outdated in terms of drivers and kernal
Nobara was great before I switched to the Steam Deck :p
Garuda kde gaming edition
Garuda gaming dragonized build . My reply keeps getting auto deleted
This is a bit complicated because depending on your hardware it’s any of them. I am currently playing a game through proton on Linux Mint 22 and it’s working great. So it depends on what your hardware is and what games you play.
Watch a video on Regata OS, pretty much comes with everything you need for gaming, even a games Store.
hey thank you for the video, what dp you suggest a guy who is only using mail excel and safe bankinf?
You can use any distro with that list of tasks. I would recommend just choosing based on your personal preference of what the interface looks like
I still need a reliable way to install and run Fusion360 or I'm stuck with windows on this box. I have ubuntu on all my other systems.
There is also Linux Mint MATE and Linux Mint Xfce
Installed Mint. Now I can no longer get to the BIOS (dell inspiron laptop). Any suggestions? The forums are not clear on this...
What is your hardware setup and which version of Mint did you install? Mint can’t block the BIOS unless it is bricked but that’s very rare so I think it is something else
Hey what distro would you suggest for developers looking for making linux their primary os (been using it for years but not as primary os), i need latest packages but with a stable system i am confused between endeavour os , opensuse, archcraft
Open for other suggestions as well
It depends on what software you need and what hardware you have. With that said, I think Fedora is a solid option for that especially with Flatpaks and activating RPM Fusion repo. EndeavourOS is a great option but the Arch base can be problematic. openSUSE Tumbleweed is also a great choice because of the system snapshot feature so you can rollback if you need to. Personally I would lean toward Fedora more than the rest due to the stable system portion but depends on what hardware you have
I’ll second fedora, it’s a pretty decent mix between stable yet has new packages. I’m also testing opensuse slow roll on another system though I don’t have much to say about it yet, it just works and the packages are very recent. But frankly you can use anything you want and just do your development in a distrobox. For the development distrobox I’d probably prefer opensuse just so you don’t have to deal with distro updates which are just annoying, arch would probably also work fine in a box, really depends on what kind of development you want to do.
For developing nix os, it seems. Fastest would be cachyOS, with distrobox for stability stuff
I'd do a dual boot: personal use cachy os; nixos development stuff
Thank you all for suggestions I guess for now I will just dual boot fedora & opensuse
as a moderate user (meaning was a windows tech in the past, used linux in the early 2000s, but haven't in like 16-18 years) looking for the perfect newbie friendly stable desktop is turning out to be the fun "journey"
Mint works great, but I don't really like Cinnamon. It's way too restrictive and missing features I really love from KDE
Kubuntu uses a nice version of KDE with tons of features (I love KDE) but it's not AS easy as Mint is.
Pop OS is cool for the Nvidia, but with Cosmic not out yet and me hating gnome (it's always been my least favorite even back in 2004) it's not what I'm looking for
Nobara is cool and all, but way too unstable due to the fact that it's a 1 man passion project
Ubuntu....well, snaps...and well. Gnome
What about Manjaro?
It’s based on Arch and in my opinion anything based on arch is not going to offer true beginner friendly experience especially when the AUR gets involved
@@michael_tunnell I see. One thing good about Mint, all the answers to my question was one net search away. I have only been thinking about Manjaro because I like the idea of the rolling release. Of course I been using and learning Mint about three years. Good day.
Ubuntu with gnome desktop for Mac users. Linux mint with xfce desktop. Keeping the operating system as out of the box and stable and easy to use is what is best for beginners. I’d never recommend arch or Debian or others. I was a windows user since after soft and hard floppy disk drives. Arch is hard and unstable I’ve crashed every arch install in less than a month sometimes just hours after installing it. Debian has other issues.
I've been wanting to switch to Linux for a while now. I first became aware of Linux Mint and figured that was the way to go, but since I only use my PC for gaming I eventually became aware of Nobara. Is something like Nobara really that much better than Mint if all I do is game?
It really depends on which games you play because if the game works on Mint it will also work on Nobara so it's not really much difference. The difference is that Nobara does additional stuff for performance and lower latency stuff. They also preinstall certain gamer specific things like Steam, Lutris, and more so you don't have to do those things manually. You can learn more about Nobara and the main developer behind it because we interviewed him on my podcast, Destination Linux. Here is the link to the episode destinationlinux.net/370
I found this video through your Reddit comment link.
i hope it was helpful, be sure to subscribe :D
Oh Michael, Michael, Michael...
We all know Arch or Linux from scratch is perfect for noobs.
Just ask Jill!
Take a shot every time he says vibe
Most best Universal Blue and vanilla os I recommended. I use only GNOME 100%
I tried Vanilla OS recently and the yellow was hurting my eyes.
@@eeaotly not hurt my eye fine
@@fabioarturo Did you change the colours? I am asking seriously. I was really enthusiastic about Vanilla OS from the reviews and comments alone, and then the burning yellow and the huge icons took me by surprise in a bad way. I would give it a second chance if I could get rid of yellow from everywhere and reduce the size of icons.
In 2010 try it ubuntu on my pentium 4 was so laggy and got back to win 7 same day and forgot about Linux until windows 10 came out lot BSOD and decided to try linux but not ubuntu but mint run for like 7 days but feels like little outdated compare to windows software so start my research and went to try arch failed 3 time to install and give up and went to fedora worked like charm used for 1 month iand i was comfortable to now basics of linux then went to arch and successful install for 3 years stopped distro hop went DE hop on arch but newer reinstall it agine but now i got bored and went for gentoo running gnome for 1 week its very good but im still learning those flags and overlays so until i learn little deeply gentoo this name stays dont judge me😅
also i did watch your full video
Ubuntu Studio for creators
Spiral Linux 12 Bookworm KDE would be right behind Kubuntu and Linux Mint
Solus Os look good and familiar too.
linux lite is also a great windowish exp built off of ubuntu. the similarities to linux mint is close.
TIMESTAMPS!!!!!!
1st 0:00 UBUNTU (Best starter - but ...)
2nd 1:00 Window 10 / 11 Lookalikes
3rd ?:?? Mac (Apple) Style
4rd ?:?? Looks special - for REASONS
5th ?:?? OLD hardware
6th 12:00 Arch Avoid it
Universal Blue & Bazzite FROM Fedora Silverblue 👌
Linux mint is the best friendly Linux for everyone
I wanting to try Linux but the more videos I watch to try to learn about these operating systems the more confused I get. I guess I will stay with windows.
It doesn’t have to be confusing though. I narrowed down the options a lot in this video but if you think it’s not narrowed down enough then let’s do that. What do you want it to look like? What hardware do you have to put it on? What do you plan to use it for? What applications do you plan to use?
Manjaro is also very important
arch is better not trolling it just a learning curve that's all there are guides and all sorts
Thanks for sharing your thoughts but the issue is moist people are not interested in experiencing a steep learning curve like Arch. Switching their OS is already a learning curve for them to deal with, Arch is not a good path for most people because the majority are not wanting such a path. Sure some people will enjoy it but most will not, which is basically what I said in this video. If someone wants to then go for it, but it’s not recommended. Arch team themselves agree since they say it’s made for intermediate or greater users.
Ubuntu is like using anything version minus two. It was alright, but
Had to remove a faulty Wine installation off of Zorin (to be able to run some normal, non-caveman software), and even on Zorin, that damn terminal had to wake me up from the Linux dreaming!
What were you using Wine for? What was the purpose?
@@michael_tunnell To run the programs people actually want to run? Not that ugly, limited caveman crap?
I was asking for specifics but I get it you just want to be hostile. Have a nice day
@@michael_tunnell Well you gotta admit much of the free Linux software leaves a lot to desire, compared to free exe software. Fix the terminal issue, just like was done on Android, and I promise you success! Far more complicated problems get fixed with a few button clicks on every other system. Why does something so simple as removing a faulty Wine installation require f*ckery with that damn terminal again, even on the so "noob friendly" Zorin? Crap like this is ridiculous, and the reason why the 96-98% automatically run for the hills upon hearing the name "Linux"!
Could someone please make Wine easily connect to the USB ports? I use various simple windows software to access machines in my job, and they run on Wine, but they cannot see the USB ports, much less the USB to serial converter. *NO* working answers on the forums
Answer is the Linux Mint.
Amen brother!
I wouldn't recommend ubuntu because of snaps. the server is closed source and is hard coded to only use their servers and only allows one server. I can see ubuntu going closer to microsoft windows since recent snap forced approach. Ubuntu also once brought amazon spyware aswell. My recommention if you have to go the apt route - go to an ubuntu based anti snap distro or Debian.
I'm on ubuntu version from over 5 years ago 💀
So I never had to deal with this issue. Didn't know how big of a problem it was till I checked out a newer version a couple of days ago.
The Amazon spyware hasn't been a thing for a while now. But yeah, snaps legitimately piss me off.
I'd try Tuxedo OS, which removes those snaps but is basically Kubuntu but more up to date.
@@cameronbosch1213 Wait legit?
i might switch to tuxedo then. all ive wanted was kubuntu without snaps
I don't think new users should have to care about the snaps controversy. It's more important they get a user friendly, well supported distro where they can easily look up help for what they need. Worrying about snaps or flatpaks or x11 vs Wayland can come after that.
@@the-answer-is-42 snaps are slow to load up. Plenty of reason to care about it
try cachyos best gaming linux distro so far
I’ve Found CachyOS to work well, it’s arch but a lot more stable and with slightly faster recompiled packages and, of course pacman (which I can’t live without)
EDIT: And it has a gui installer with not only the basic desktop choices like gnome , plasma, xfce, but also twms like Hyprland and i3 with pre-setup configs that work pretty well, though I usually just replace them with my own
im here from reddit
god this comment section is awful, this is why i tell my friends i get to move to linux to never participate in the community
where is nix?
In the hardcore not for beginners family
Try this , you'll like it because it looks like butter , but it's actually coagulated pus
Ubuntu drove me nuts and drove me away from Linux for a long time before I came back and tried again... Manjaro KDE got me to stick with things, and distro hopped a lot, settling on Fedora, but I still hate Ubuntu.
What drove you nuts about it?
@@michael_tunnell It was probably just not knowing anything and trying it out... I think a lot of it came down to GNOME, but everything just seemed so confusing and weird, I didn't get it. I had problems installing, getting some things working... Finding directions on how to do things, or what apps to use, but it all seemed complicated for no good reason. Even this video you use a lot of words I know now, but if I knew nothing I'd be confused even watching this. Its like information overload for someone who has never even tried it before. I gave up on it after a few weeks, and went many months before trying anything again because I thought that was just Linux... someone convinced me other distros are different. Manjaro KDE everything went smooth, things just worked... was that luck, or just having a bit more experience, or just KDE is a lot nicer or seemed more familiar than GNOME...? I don't know... but I was able to do everything I wanted and not even open a command line for months. It seemed a lot more straight forward and simple to someone used to Windows. I could ease in and learn things instead of a ton all thrown at me at once.
Thanks for clarifying, that’s interesting. I would bet it’s mostly likely the interface being so different and with KDE Plasma being so similar to Windows it was a lot easier to get used to the system.
I think LFS is best to start with, you learn so much about Linux, just by installing it.
Mint Cinnamon, Ubuntu, Debian!
I'm not a beginner, but I'll watch anyway.
Back then, it was much easier. Server? Debian. Desktop? Ubuntu. That's it, that was all your option back then. (Off course I'm just exaggerating and joking.)
Sadly Ubuntu decided to nuke their reputation and reliability by forcing snaps
@@RenderingUser Snaps was not the only reason the reputation was going down. Remember Amazon issue? 32 bit libs removal, so many games would be unplayable with Steam? Developing Mir as an alternative to Wayland, so another split in eco system would happen (like snap and flatpak)? Many people was unhappy with the initial state of Unity Desktop (I loved it after a few versions)?
There were a few more issues over the years. Snaps was only one of them, which itself had or have multiple issues on itself. And one of the reasons why I switched away from Ubuntu for the first time in 13 years!
@@thingsiplay honestly, I'm down for a alternative for wayland. I don't like some of the principles it holds. But everything else I agree with. I'm also currently running a 5 year old distribution of kubuntu rn. So I don't have to deal with snaps
@@RenderingUser While I can understand if you are unhappy with Wayland and would want an alternative it. I think it would be devastating for the entire Linux eco system, if we have to equally important Windowing Protocol (look at the problems with Xorg and Wayland, then add Mir into the mix). More complicated development and testing by devs, more complicated for end user, more incompatibilies and bugs, more distros, more useless fights of users.
Mir was created as a mobile first protocol, back then. But the idea of an Ubuntu phone flopped and never came to fruition and Mir was abandoned. Later it was adopted by community and now it lives on as a Wayland display server or something like that. In the end, I think this is better for everyone. I'm all for options, but we also need some sort of standards and a base every option can live on. Even if you don't like Wayland, having Mir alongside would be catastrophic in my opinion.
@@RenderingUser Try Tuxedo OS KDE
After reading some post. I notice that Arch user are in propaganda. How a distro Who can crash at every update and use commande Line can be for newbie? Newbie have affraid of terminal. All the world know
They are not recommending Arch for newbies, they are just here to tell the world that they use Arch, btw.
ACAUNTABUILITY CLUB!