Hi everyone, I am planning to install linux on my friends laptop and I am not sure which distro to install for them.
The options I am considering:
- Fedora: I have it on my PC and since I will be the first person to be asked, I thought it would be best if I know the distro well
- Mint: is a default suggestion, but I am not sure if it is different enough from the Windows look that one does not expect it to behave the same as Windows
- Ubuntu: most widely available in forums, etc. And a good starting point in my opinion
What do you guys think?
EDIT: Thanks for all the suggestions, I think I’ll stick with Fedora and let them try Gnome, KDE and Cinnamon :)
I think you are exaggerating a bit. I am an adult having Mint on my private computer. I am by no means an expert, but I don’t need to be. I write my own shell scripts, I ssh around in my network, I navigate from the terminal, I install stuff, I set up services. Is Mint really a wheelchair for you because it is based in Ubuntu LTS? Maybe I don’t understand enough about different Linux distros, but I don’t see how a distro can be “too easy”.
If you’re writing scripts and even just using ssh you’re already more technically inclined than probably 90-95% of Windows users.
Sure, I am a data scientist. I just dont understand the Mint-wheelchair metaphor.
IMO mint and Ubuntu make things simple in a way that keeps users from ever encountering something where they have to be aware of what the computer us doing. this means if something is happening that shouldn’t (malware, something misconfigured, steam being an asshole, etc.) they won’t know where to look. this is something windows and Mac do as well and it leads to the vast majority of people not knowing that they can make the software on their computer do what they say. if people dont know how to do that, corporations will (and do) take advantage of it. i probably am exaggerating a bit but I still think putting a new user on Ubuntu or mint is doing them a disservice.
Can you provide an example of a something misconfigured which is easier to manage with let’s say Fedora? I am genuinely asking, I don’t really know how other distros differ despite from Desktop environments and package managers/mirrors. If I have a problem with Linux I check man pages, stack overflow, the Arch wiki etc. How do other distros encourage you to to the same where Mint isn’t doing that? Is it because Mint provides more GUI options?
you misunderstand (or more likely I phrased it like an idiot). im not saying something like that is easier to manage on fedora. what I meant was that you would encounter minor things on fedora that would give you the chance to learn the skills necessary to fix or at least diagnose a bigger issue. on mint you wouldn’t see that and on Ubuntu you generally wouldn’t either (in my brief experience using each before settling on fedora as my main)