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First time Linux user – Best distro to start?

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  First time Linux user – Best distro to start? Oguz Kaan Ocal <oguzkaanocal3169@hotmail.com> - 2026-03-16 18:48 +0300
    Re: First time Linux user – Best distro to start? ram@zedat.fu-berlin.de (Stefan Ram) - 2026-03-16 16:06 +0000
      Re: First time Linux user – Best distro to start? Oguz Kaan Ocal <oguzkaanocal3169@hotmail.com> - 2026-03-17 08:27 +0300
        Re: First time Linux user – Best distro to start? "David W. Hodgins" <dwhodgins@nomail.afraid.org> - 2026-03-17 11:28 -0400
          Re: First time Linux user – Best distro to start? "Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> - 2026-03-17 22:02 +0100
          Re: First time Linux user – Best distro to start? Daniel70 <daniel47@nomail.afraid.org> - 2026-03-18 20:26 +1100
            Re: First time Linux user – Best distro to start? Borax Man <boraxman@geidiprime.invalid> - 2026-03-20 12:57 +0000
              Re: First time Linux user – Best distro to start? Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2026-03-21 00:24 +0000
                Re: First time Linux user – Best distro to start? Borax Man <boraxman@geidiprime.invalid> - 2026-03-23 12:03 +0000
                  Re: First time Linux user – Best distro to start? Daniel70 <daniel47@nomail.afraid.org> - 2026-03-24 19:38 +1100
            Re: First time Linux user – Best distro to start? "Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> - 2026-03-24 12:52 +0100
      Re: First time Linux user – Best distro to start? Borax Man <boraxman@geidiprime.invalid> - 2026-03-17 12:03 +0000
    Re: First time Linux user � Best distro to start? "s|b" <me@privacy.invalid> - 2026-03-17 14:51 +0100
    Re: First time Linux user – Best distro to start? "german newsgroup." <usualsuspectrider@gmail.com> - 2026-04-19 16:13 +0200

#4837 — First time Linux user – Best distro to start?

I haven’t used Linux since I got a computer. I’m thinking of switching 
to Linux. Which distro should I use?

Regards.

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#4838

Oguz Kaan Ocal <oguzkaanocal3169@hotmail.com> wrote or quoted:
>I haven’t used Linux since I got a computer. I’m thinking of switching 
>to Linux. Which distro should I use?

  Want that Windows vibe? Go with Linux Mint or Zorin OS. Need the most
  community support? Ubuntu is where you want to be. Looking to lock in
  stability and wrap your head around Linux fundamentals? Debian is the
  call. Into gaming or dealing with NVIDIA cards? Pop!_OS is the way to
  go.

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#4839

On 16.03.2026 19:06, Stefan Ram wrote:
> Oguz Kaan Ocal <oguzkaanocal3169@hotmail.com> wrote or quoted:
>> I haven’t used Linux since I got a computer. I’m thinking of switching
>> to Linux. Which distro should I use?
> 
>    Want that Windows vibe? Go with Linux Mint or Zorin OS. Need the most
>    community support? Ubuntu is where you want to be. Looking to lock in
>    stability and wrap your head around Linux fundamentals? Debian is the
>    call. Into gaming or dealing with NVIDIA cards? Pop!_OS is the way to
>    go.

Thanks!

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#4842

On Tue, 17 Mar 2026 01:27:33 -0400, Oguz Kaan Ocal <oguzkaanocal3169@hotmail.com> wrote:

> On 16.03.2026 19:06, Stefan Ram wrote:
>> Oguz Kaan Ocal <oguzkaanocal3169@hotmail.com> wrote or quoted:
>>> I haven’t used Linux since I got a computer. I’m thinking of switching
>>> to Linux. Which distro should I use?
>>
>>    Want that Windows vibe? Go with Linux Mint or Zorin OS. Need the most
>>    community support? Ubuntu is where you want to be. Looking to lock in
>>    stability and wrap your head around Linux fundamentals? Debian is the
>>    call. Into gaming or dealing with NVIDIA cards? Pop!_OS is the way to
>>    go.
>
> Thanks!

For any new linux user, they should find someone they can contact when they can't get the
system to boot.

The distro the new user should use is the one recommended by the person they will turn to
for help. Same with which desktop environment to use. Use the one the support person is the
most comfortable supporting.

Once they are comfortable with linux, then they can learn more by experimenting with other
desktop environments and then other distributions.

Regards, Dave Hodgins

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#4843

On 2026-03-17 16:28, David W. Hodgins wrote:
> On Tue, 17 Mar 2026 01:27:33 -0400, Oguz Kaan Ocal 
> <oguzkaanocal3169@hotmail.com> wrote:
> 
>> On 16.03.2026 19:06, Stefan Ram wrote:
>>> Oguz Kaan Ocal <oguzkaanocal3169@hotmail.com> wrote or quoted:
>>>> I haven’t used Linux since I got a computer. I’m thinking of switching
>>>> to Linux. Which distro should I use?
>>>
>>>    Want that Windows vibe? Go with Linux Mint or Zorin OS. Need the most
>>>    community support? Ubuntu is where you want to be. Looking to lock in
>>>    stability and wrap your head around Linux fundamentals? Debian is the
>>>    call. Into gaming or dealing with NVIDIA cards? Pop!_OS is the way to
>>>    go.
>>
>> Thanks!
> 
> For any new linux user, they should find someone they can contact
> when they can't get the system to boot.
> 
> The distro the new user should use is the one recommended by the
> person they will turn to for help. Same with which desktop
> environment to use. Use the one the support person is the most
> comfortable supporting.
> 
> Once they are comfortable with linux, then they can learn more by 
> experimenting with other desktop environments and then other
> distributions.
> 
> Regards, Dave Hodgins

Absolutely! I have said this myself sometimes. :-)

-- 
Cheers, Carlos.
ES🇪🇸, EU🇪🇺;

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#4844

On 18/03/2026 2:28 am, David W. Hodgins wrote:
> On Tue, 17 Mar 2026 01:27:33 -0400, Oguz Kaan Ocal 
> <oguzkaanocal3169@hotmail.com> wrote:
>> On 16.03.2026 19:06, Stefan Ram wrote:
>>> Oguz Kaan Ocal <oguzkaanocal3169@hotmail.com> wrote or quoted:
>>>> I haven’t used Linux since I got a computer. I’m thinking of 
>>>> switching to Linux. Which distro should I use?
>>> 
>>> Want that Windows vibe? Go with Linux Mint or Zorin OS. Need the 
>>> most community support? Ubuntu is where you want to be. Looking 
>>> to lock in stability and wrap your head around Linux 
>>> fundamentals? Debian is the call. Into gaming or dealing with 
>>> NVIDIA cards? Pop!_OS is the way to go.
>> 
>> Thanks!
> 
> For any new linux user, they should find someone they can contact 
> when they can't get the system to boot.
> 
> The distro the new user should use is the one recommended by the 
> person they will turn to for help.

WOW!! What an amazingly, LOGICAL, piece of advise for a Beginner .... 
for a beginner at anything!!

> Same with which desktop environment to use. Use the one the support
> person is the most comfortable supporting.
> 
> Once they are comfortable with linux, then they can learn more by 
> experimenting with other desktop environments and then other 
> distributions.
> 
> Regards, Dave Hodgins
-- 
Daniel70

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#4845

On 2026-03-18, Daniel70 <daniel47@nomail.afraid.org> wrote:
>> 
>> For any new linux user, they should find someone they can contact 
>> when they can't get the system to boot.
>> 
>> The distro the new user should use is the one recommended by the 
>> person they will turn to for help.
>
> WOW!! What an amazingly, LOGICAL, piece of advise for a Beginner .... 
> for a beginner at anything!!
>

This is the best answer...

If you have someone helping you migrate, or know someone who will be
your tech support, using the distro THEY know makes all the difference.

Likewise, if you are helping someone move to Linux, and you are going to
help them, just get them to install a distro YOU know well, perhaps the
one you use yourself.

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#4846

On Fri, 20 Mar 2026 12:57:19 -0000 (UTC), Borax Man wrote:

> Likewise, if you are helping someone move to Linux, and you are
> going to help them, just get them to install a distro YOU know well,
> perhaps the one you use yourself.

Choosing a Linux distro is like buying a car (without the monetary
cost). There is a bewildering variety of choice, but they each address
a different market segment.

Or, to put it another way, if you’re looking for something modest,
that will handle the weekly shopping and maybe an out-of-town trip or
two, and the friend you’re asking advice from owns a tricked-out,
down-low, souped-up brrm-brrmobile with aftermarket spoiler ... let’s
just say your daily driver may end up being a bit more exciting than
you expected.

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#4847

On 2026-03-21, Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:
> On Fri, 20 Mar 2026 12:57:19 -0000 (UTC), Borax Man wrote:
>
>> Likewise, if you are helping someone move to Linux, and you are
>> going to help them, just get them to install a distro YOU know well,
>> perhaps the one you use yourself.
>
> Choosing a Linux distro is like buying a car (without the monetary
> cost). There is a bewildering variety of choice, but they each address
> a different market segment.
>
> Or, to put it another way, if you’re looking for something modest,
> that will handle the weekly shopping and maybe an out-of-town trip or
> two, and the friend you’re asking advice from owns a tricked-out,
> down-low, souped-up brrm-brrmobile with aftermarket spoiler ... let’s
> just say your daily driver may end up being a bit more exciting than
> you expected.

When I started with Linux, I just bought a magazine which had a cover
disk, and used that.  Next distro, was one a friend had, when I found
the distro on the coverdisk didn't do something I wanted it to.  In
actually it could, I just didn't know about Linux enough to solve what
was a simple problem and I thought the distro itself was broken.

But I never really shopped.  I just used the first one I got, and stuck
with that for 20 years.  Most of what I wanted to do, could be done
within the same distro.  Want a light desktop environemnt?  A light
window manager?  Change the theme?  Usually no issue.  Change default
apps?  Easy.

Its like buying a car, but many brands are just reskins of others
brands and the overlap of features is huge.

Some distros, like Puppy Linux or Omarchy do try to do something quite
different.  These could actually be good first distros for some
people. But its really hard to make a recommendation to someone who
doesn't have any reason more than "I just want to use Linux and not
Windows".  Thats where I would just get them to use the one I can help
with, and which has great support.

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#4848

On 23/03/2026 11:03 pm, Borax Man wrote:
> On 2026-03-21, Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:
>> On Fri, 20 Mar 2026 12:57:19 -0000 (UTC), Borax Man wrote:
>>
>>> Likewise, if you are helping someone move to Linux, and you are
>>> going to help them, just get them to install a distro YOU know well,
>>> perhaps the one you use yourself.
>>
>> Choosing a Linux distro is like buying a car (without the monetary
>> cost). There is a bewildering variety of choice, but they each address
>> a different market segment.
>>
>> Or, to put it another way, if you’re looking for something modest,
>> that will handle the weekly shopping and maybe an out-of-town trip or
>> two, and the friend you’re asking advice from owns a tricked-out,
>> down-low, souped-up brrm-brrmobile with aftermarket spoiler ... let’s
>> just say your daily driver may end up being a bit more exciting than
>> you expected.
> 
> When I started with Linux, I just bought a magazine which had a cover
> disk, and used that.

Pick Me!! Pick Me! I forget which Mag it was but the OS on the disk was 
Mandrake 10.1 .... and about a fortnight later Mandrake morphed into 
Mandriva which, several years later, became MageiaLinux.

> Next distro, was one a friend had, when I found
> the distro on the coverdisk didn't do something I wanted it to.  In
> actually it could, I just didn't know about Linux enough to solve what
> was a simple problem and I thought the distro itself was broken.

Yeap. Been There. Done that!! In actuality, I just didn't know where to 
look/go.

> But I never really shopped.  I just used the first one I got, and stuck
> with that for 20 years.  Most of what I wanted to do, could be done
> within the same distro.  Want a light desktop environemnt?  A light
> window manager?  Change the theme?  Usually no issue.  Change default
> apps?  Easy.

Yeap .... unfortunately that Laptop died, sort of, and I STILL haven't 
gotten around to installing MageiaLinux 9.0 on this Desktop .... so it 
can then get updated to the V 10.0 which is about to go Release.

-- 
Daniel70

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#4849

On 2026-03-18 10:26, Daniel70 wrote:
> On 18/03/2026 2:28 am, David W. Hodgins wrote:
>> On Tue, 17 Mar 2026 01:27:33 -0400, Oguz Kaan Ocal 
>> <oguzkaanocal3169@hotmail.com> wrote:
>>> On 16.03.2026 19:06, Stefan Ram wrote:
>>>> Oguz Kaan Ocal <oguzkaanocal3169@hotmail.com> wrote or quoted:
>>>>> I haven’t used Linux since I got a computer. I’m thinking of 
>>>>> switching to Linux. Which distro should I use?
>>>>
>>>> Want that Windows vibe? Go with Linux Mint or Zorin OS. Need the 
>>>> most community support? Ubuntu is where you want to be. Looking to 
>>>> lock in stability and wrap your head around Linux fundamentals? 
>>>> Debian is the call. Into gaming or dealing with NVIDIA cards? Pop! 
>>>> _OS is the way to go.
>>>
>>> Thanks!
>>
>> For any new linux user, they should find someone they can contact when 
>> they can't get the system to boot.
>>
>> The distro the new user should use is the one recommended by the 
>> person they will turn to for help.
> 
> WOW!! What an amazingly, LOGICAL, piece of advise for a Beginner .... 
> for a beginner at anything!!

I just thought that the friendly support might be using a complex distro.

-- 
Cheers, Carlos.
ES🇪🇸, EU🇪🇺;

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#4840

On 2026-03-16, Stefan Ram <ram@zedat.fu-berlin.de> wrote:
> Oguz Kaan Ocal <oguzkaanocal3169@hotmail.com> wrote or quoted:
>>I haven’t used Linux since I got a computer. I’m thinking of switching 
>>to Linux. Which distro should I use?
>
>   Want that Windows vibe? Go with Linux Mint or Zorin OS. Need the most
>   community support? Ubuntu is where you want to be. Looking to lock in
>   stability and wrap your head around Linux fundamentals? Debian is the
>   call. Into gaming or dealing with NVIDIA cards? Pop!_OS is the way to
>   go.
>
>

I helped someone install Linux on their desktop and laptop, because they
wanted to move away from Windows and Microsoft because they didn't trust
Microsoft.  They wanted to not have spyware, tracking, AI, etc.  This
person has no special knowledge or interest in computers.

I installed Linux Mint.  He's feedback, months later is its great, he's
glad he's made the switch and it works fine.  Just for browsing, Office
software, mail, etc.

I chose Linux Mint for him because the distro itself doesn't seem overly
political, because its easy to use, because it has a wide range of
software for it (being Debian based), and because, if he ever wanted to
use a differnt desktop, it can be installed.  Most important thing, was
that he could just install it, that he'd be able to use the software he
might need to isntall and use (Spotify, Zoom, etc), and it will be
supported and around for quite some time.

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#4841 — Re: First time Linux user � Best distro to start?

On Mon, 16 Mar 2026 18:48:40 +0300, Oguz Kaan Ocal wrote:

> I haven’t used Linux since I got a computer. I’m thinking of switching 
> to Linux. Which distro should I use?

Use Ventoy on a flash drive to live boot several distributions and make
up your mind. I think Linux Mint would be a good start.

You can always check <https://distrowatch.com/>

-- 
s|b

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#4854

u should use a distro with .deb packages.

a deb is a sorte of zip file only ! but it know where the install put 
the files...so is a sort of king zip !!

u can install and desinstall softs...


with this game, for me, to day, if a where you, use linux mint ! now u 
have the version 22.3

they are more and more server with the iso distro !!!



https://mirror.hb9hil.org/mint/stable/


here u have the "bordel"

https://distrowatch.com/

may be 4 thansound distro in the human galaxie !


read in alt.os.linux.mint

*
**

now with this century and PC, all want to be secure ! At home...

so, a example, i have a old tower PC, the graphic card a have
first, nvidia GPU...and, all work well, a tiny GT210 work fine
with " nouveau " driver...

the way boot is UEFI.

secure boot is off.

but, i do a uefi part format in fat32...i put and write well
the repertories...the files are in the good place...
i get only bootx64.efi (a quiet version shell uefi) and grubx64.efi 2.12
from the iso DVD linux mint 22.2.

so this time i don't use startup.sh files...beacause i respected the
séquence uefi boot...(BIOS, Part fat32, rep and files)

usualy, may be...u install your hard drive connected in sata and the
linux live is on a usb3.0 enclosure. i use this way. now, usb3.0, i
should find PC with native use 3.0.

but what append ? u have minimum 2 files...grub.cfg and...and...fstab !

so, if u need order for the kernel...put it in grub.cfg...i never 
desactivated "nouveau" acceleration ! realy...is the last way to startx 
fastly... 😉

the first and killed error is the uuid identification part in grub.cfg
and sure in fstab...why ? u know, the numbers is NOT the same if u boot
from a usb...and...the spec say...if u have a hard drive in sata, if the
sata is the ONE...this one is your hd0 for grub !

so...control with mint tool , use the live to control if boot is broken
control the uuid for the uefi part...sure...for the swap 
part...and...and the part where u have the Super Linux OS !!!

some example command syntaxe for the kernel

fsck.mode=skip pcie_aspm=off nvidia_drm.fbdev=1 quiet splash


but...u can have a surprise ! is the geek life u know ! don't
use quiet and splash first...step after step...control what u need,
control the nice and tiny line for grub... u don't see ro in this cfg 
isn't it ?


for fstab, we can see that for example

nofail,x-systemd.device-timeout=1ms


u can hunderstand why !!!



for END, they are no the same PC for ALL, and may be sometime they are
some specifics problèmes.

my partition choice is not yours part drive ! so see well if OS is on 
/dev/sda2 or /dev/sda3

etc,etc...

good boot ;


here they are me !!! :o)
https://postimg.cc/user/german_castro



*
**


good luck ?

-- 
Amicalement,

FreeMind Frenchy

German

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