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 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.
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.
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)
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.
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 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!)
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.
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.
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.
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!
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?
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.
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 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 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..
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.
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.
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?
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.
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)
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.
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
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
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
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 👍
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.
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.
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
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
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.
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'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.
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.
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
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.
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.
Thats an excellent advice!👍👏 Ubuntu-based distros, namely Zorin, Mint, Pop OS are best, in particular for nvidia owners. I am not sure anymore about Ubuntu itself due to the snap drama.
@@UbuntuPersonNoMint I respect your personal opinion. I find snaps slow and annoying. A lot of knowledgeable people propose Mint and Zorin to Linux beginners, so i had some reasons to say that. I am happy you are happy with ubuntu.
@@sheldonkupa9120 until those beginners find problems with mint and end up going Ubuntu which fixes the problem. I've seen noobs explaining their migration stories in RUclips videos and it just further shows mint isn't all sunshine and rainbows as mint fan boys want to trick people into believing. I've used that junk and recommended to people before but not any more..
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.
@@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’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
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.
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.
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.
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
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
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.
It’s kind of funny because as I was watching the video again I realized I had not looked at the Xfce options much recently and Xubuntu is definitely not the best looking option. Mint has one, Zorin has it in their lite mode, MX and more lol so oops my bad lol
You've got title wrong! Ought to be "Ready to try Ubuntu". This vid just feels biased. I get 10s for Fedora, and you even didn't mention whether was it Workstation or any other Fedora Spin. I'm terrified with this level of ignorance.
It doesn’t matter with version of Fedora, they all suffer the same issues of needing extra steps. Fedora is my daily driver and has been for like 4 years now and I also contribute to it but just because I don’t think it’s beginner friendly (which is not even debatable) that must mean I’m just so ignorant lol
Hahahahaha!!!! Its this guys video, he should do what he likes, and what the majority of people like. People don't really use Redhat/Fedora flavors. They don't trust that Corporation, IBM. But you do, good for you.
Hello Michael, I hope all is well. I am actually an old subscriber but I deleted my channel and now I am back with a new channel. May I ask is there any Linux certifications that you may suggest. I am coming from a windows background (sorry to mention the dirty word!). I have been using ubuntu for some time. I am taking some online course and I feel I know some/much of the basics. Canonical has 3 certifications CUE.01 Linux Quick Certification (QC), CUE.02 Desktop Quick Certification (QC) and CUE.03 Server Quick Certification (QC). I am thinking of doing CUE.01 just as I am learning it, having a cert would be useful. Could be worth doing video on this in the future on the topic of linux certs. Thank you as always
APT is slow in what way? PPAs are outdated (15year old tech) that is recommended to avoid unless last resort. Snap is not proprietary. The snap store is but that’s the only thing, the format itself is not proprietary. Flatpak is supported just not out of the box but is supported.
@@michael_tunnell I just think that it is so close to Debian that you still have to deal with hardware issues (especially if you have newer stuff)... it comes with a LOT of bloat that you will eventually have to learn.. for me, there are better options for the absolute beginner.
“I just think that it is so close to Debian that you still have to deal with hardware issues (especially if you have newer stuff)” MT: well this is partially true, but Debian updates hardware support every 2-3 years where as Ubuntu does it every 6 months, even on the LTS. This can still be a problem for some people who have super recent hardware and that sucks but it’s not anywhere near as bad of a delay that Debian has. “it comes with a LOT of bloat that you will eventually have to learn” MT: could you please clarify what the bloat is in your opinion? “for me, there are better options for the absolute beginner” MT: what do you think are better beginner options?
Had my finger on the downvote button just waiting for you to say Mint 😂 . Ubuntu is fine but I would recommend a rolling distro like Manjaro for new users . Set it and forget it plus no hassle with PPAs and apt list BS. Just open the store and get what you want. Wait , no . you fell into the Mint lie 🤦 People are just repeating what someone said 10 years ago. Mint is abandonware.
@@RenderingUsernix is interesting but they have been taken over from the inside and by some libtard politics ousted the lead dev who was responsible for making it what it is. There is plenty of software that doesn't work on nix due to its semi immutabile nature and file structure being so different . It is not a good representation of linux for new users. And it is falling off due to above complications.
@@Beryesa.Opensuse struggled with the DDoS issue as well . this was an issue that happened years ago now. You are getting bad information from reddit AI bots who do not have current information. This is the problem with this video to begin with. This video is relevant 10 years ago but not accurate today.
Arch user here!! Manjaro is not Arch, no real Arch user, would use such a fake/Forgery. Install Arch from scratch 3-4 times, then you can claim to be an Arch user.
Nah. Just reinstalled Win 11 again. I'm not up for this copying command lines off random web pages, to paste in that so damn sh!tty terminal whenever the stupidest problem pops up. You get things like this done with a single click of a button everywhere else. Linux has a 2-4% global PC use for a reason, and I know this might seem unbelievable to everybody with nothing better to do, than type in the Linux terminal out of mom's basement, but it's exactly the Linux terminal 😐. I kid you not!
You don’t need to use the terminal practically ever these days, the amount of times you might is drastically lower than it used to be. Also the terminal is 1000x faster to do things in than dealing with random interfaces like the registry in Windows, that’s why it’s used by some people. You can do so much with it and do it all super fast. Sure it looks technical but it’s not even remotely as bad as the labyrinth of the Windows registry. Also the reason Windows is popular is not because it’s good, that’s been evident for decades. The reason it is popular is because Microsoft has spent $billions of dollars on marketing and creating partnerships with educational institutions and companies to effectively force their system onto people. This was good business strategy but it doesn’t make Windows a good system at all. I’m sure you probably hate it most of the time and the only reason you use it is because you have some specific software that you want to run, not anything positive about the OS itself.
@@michael_tunnell I really don't wanna deal with the Linux terminal (like 96-98% of the human population). Do the same with it Google did, making Android, add stuff like Wine, Bottles, Proton, etc out of the box, and I guarantee you I won't be the only to switch in an instant! Till then, I'm just a normie, like the 96-98%. Shoot me for it!
again, you dont actually have to use the terminal most of the time. I think you had a bad experience and are now classifying the entire platform as if it is all that experience and there arent differences. There are differences and lots of them, for example you said "add stuff like Wine, Bottles, Proton, etc out of the box," well that's exactly what some distros do like Nobara Linux for example.
@@michael_tunnell Moms teach us to not say anything, if we don't have anything nice to say, but we all know what Ms. Cooper is up to down at those trailer parks, alright. Seriously, I hope things change for the better, but as reality proves, you still can't be certain of anything, dealing with Linux, even when it comes to a stupid app removal. And it's not just me. It's some 96-98% of home computer users. It's a wonderful concept, and many people fall because of this concept alone, but until something real gets done with the, as if, literal gate keeping of the system through these so ridiculous complications, a cool concept is all it's ever gonna be. Like I said, the 96-98% just want the thing running. They'll sooner buy a whole Mac with MacOS, than learn the damn Linux terminal. The terminal is for the mechanic, when most Marthas don't even know how to flip open the hood of their Toyotas. It's gonna remain just a concept, cause it's not practical and reliable enough for the common customer. At least make troubleshooting GUIs, cause to expect people to be looking up on web pages for command lines to copy and paste in the Linux terminal is just ridiculous.
@@michael_tunnell Maybe you guys find searching for command lines all over the internet to copy, and paste in your beloved Linux terminals so wonderful, but that's just you. 96-98% of computer users don't wanna have nothing to do with that. Stuff like Power Point is a big enough pain in the ass for them.
POP is unfinished and locks users into cosmic 🤷♂️ Just use Manjaro and choose the desktop you like. When Cosmic is ready , it will be on Manjaro. Elementary? This video would be relevant 8 years ago. Things have changed. Elementary fell off . Ubuntu LTS was the least bad of all your suggestions.
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 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.
Thank you so much 🙂 and welcome to the community, stick around 😎
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.
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
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)
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.
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 😎👍
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!)
I'm a long time user of linux and find your recommendations solid.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 😎👍
Absolutely superb video ❤. Really well presented Michael, great job 👍
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!
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?
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 use Bazzite for Gaming
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.
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 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 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..
That was great Michael, a nice intro!
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.
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
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?
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.
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)
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’ve moved from manjaro to fedora. Overall better experience and the community is nice.
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
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 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.
Why doesn't Destination Linux show up when I search RUclips for just "Linux" filtered for this week?
Great question! RUclips seems to be against good content I guess
Very helpful.
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 think LFS is best to start with, you learn so much about Linux, just by installing it.
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
Xubuntu with Arc dark and Papirus icons. Dark but not to dark to give Xubuntu a more modern look.
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 👍
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
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.
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
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.
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
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
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 RUclips browser like yew tube , ytfzf
I would still recommend PopOS to most users.
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
Take a shot every time he says vibe
I wouldn't recommend Ubuntu, Linux Mint or Zorin are much better choices.
Why are they much better choices?
Universal Blue & Bazzite FROM Fedora Silverblue 👌
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.
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
Amen brother!
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.
Top notch =)
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.
The new Pop!_OS Cosmic alpha release is August 8.
I recorded this a couple a weeks ago that is why I was vague about it in the video lol
Thats an excellent advice!👍👏 Ubuntu-based distros, namely Zorin, Mint, Pop OS are best, in particular for nvidia owners. I am not sure anymore about Ubuntu itself due to the snap drama.
Ubuntu works better. Snaps are fine
@@UbuntuPersonNoMint I respect your personal opinion. I find snaps slow and annoying. A lot of knowledgeable people propose Mint and Zorin to Linux beginners, so i had some reasons to say that. I am happy you are happy with ubuntu.
@@sheldonkupa9120 until those beginners find problems with mint and end up going Ubuntu which fixes the problem. I've seen noobs explaining their migration stories in RUclips videos and it just further shows mint isn't all sunshine and rainbows as mint fan boys want to trick people into believing. I've used that junk and recommended to people before but not any more..
Solus Os look good and familiar too.
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.
Ubuntu Studio for creators
Spiral Linux 12 Bookworm KDE would be right behind Kubuntu and Linux Mint
im here from reddit
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.
linux lite is also a great windowish exp built off of ubuntu. the similarities to linux mint is close.
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’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 is like using anything version minus two. It was alright, but
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
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.
Answer is the Linux Mint.
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.
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
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
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.
Mint Cinnamon, Ubuntu, Debian!
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
Try this , you'll like it because it looks like butter , but it's actually coagulated pus
ACAUNTABUILITY CLUB!
where is nix?
In the hardcore not for beginners family
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'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
Oh Michael, Michael, Michael...
We all know Arch or Linux from scratch is perfect for noobs.
Just ask Jill!
Xubuntu looks really awful IMO. I can't understand why they chose such a retro style theme. Linux lite and MX do a better job in terms of appearance.
It’s kind of funny because as I was watching the video again I realized I had not looked at the Xfce options much recently and Xubuntu is definitely not the best looking option. Mint has one, Zorin has it in their lite mode, MX and more lol so oops my bad lol
You've got title wrong! Ought to be "Ready to try Ubuntu". This vid just feels biased. I get 10s for Fedora, and you even didn't mention whether was it Workstation or any other Fedora Spin. I'm terrified with this level of ignorance.
It doesn’t matter with version of Fedora, they all suffer the same issues of needing extra steps. Fedora is my daily driver and has been for like 4 years now and I also contribute to it but just because I don’t think it’s beginner friendly (which is not even debatable) that must mean I’m just so ignorant lol
Hahahahaha!!!! Its this guys video, he should do what he likes, and what the majority of people like. People don't really use Redhat/Fedora flavors. They don't trust that Corporation, IBM. But you do, good for you.
Yeah, Fedora isn't meant to be for beginners. It's a test bed for new technologies and for IBM's RHEL.
@@cameronbosch1213 yeah, then why for waste like 10 seconds of this video just to barely mention it 🥲
🐧🐧🐧🐧
Debian left in the dust LMAO
EDIT: I’m dumb lmao
Hello Michael, I hope all is well. I am actually an old subscriber but I deleted my channel and now I am back with a new channel. May I ask is there any Linux certifications that you may suggest. I am coming from a windows background (sorry to mention the dirty word!). I have been using ubuntu for some time. I am taking some online course and I feel I know some/much of the basics.
Canonical has 3 certifications CUE.01 Linux Quick Certification (QC), CUE.02 Desktop Quick Certification (QC) and CUE.03 Server Quick Certification (QC).
I am thinking of doing CUE.01 just as I am learning it, having a cert would be useful.
Could be worth doing video on this in the future on the topic of linux certs.
Thank you as always
Ubuntu fell off, apt is slow, PPA reliance is bad, snap is proprietary, no Flatpak, don't use it.
APT is slow in what way? PPAs are outdated (15year old tech) that is recommended to avoid unless last resort. Snap is not proprietary. The snap store is but that’s the only thing, the format itself is not proprietary. Flatpak is supported just not out of the box but is supported.
My unpopular opinion: Garuda Linux. Especially for gamers.
Terrible, it's simply visual noise and it's Indian, lol.
I feel like Ubuntu is not a great choice for beginners... I would never suggest it myself.
Why is that?
@@michael_tunnell I just think that it is so close to Debian that you still have to deal with hardware issues (especially if you have newer stuff)... it comes with a LOT of bloat that you will eventually have to learn.. for me, there are better options for the absolute beginner.
“I just think that it is so close to Debian that you still have to deal with hardware issues (especially if you have newer stuff)” MT: well this is partially true, but Debian updates hardware support every 2-3 years where as Ubuntu does it every 6 months, even on the LTS. This can still be a problem for some people who have super recent hardware and that sucks but it’s not anywhere near as bad of a delay that Debian has.
“it comes with a LOT of bloat that you will eventually have to learn” MT: could you please clarify what the bloat is in your opinion?
“for me, there are better options for the absolute beginner” MT: what do you think are better beginner options?
We're fine we don't need it to be too popular. they'll just ruin it like they ruined everything else.
...What?
@@cameronbosch1213
People tend to ruin things when they get too popular. sooner or later they'll ruin linux too just like they did Mac and Windows.
Ubuntu is garbage, it's fine as a base with all the garbage removed, like the spyware Snap. Downvote here.
Had my finger on the downvote button just waiting for you to say Mint 😂 . Ubuntu is fine but I would recommend a rolling distro like Manjaro for new users . Set it and forget it plus no hassle with PPAs and apt list BS. Just open the store and get what you want.
Wait , no . you fell into the Mint lie 🤦 People are just repeating what someone said 10 years ago. Mint is abandonware.
Why arch? It's abandonware. Just use nix instead. You don't need to add an additional repo to get more than double the number of packages as the aur
Dude said no-hassle to the ddos distro
@@RenderingUsernix is interesting but they have been taken over from the inside and by some libtard politics ousted the lead dev who was responsible for making it what it is.
There is plenty of software that doesn't work on nix due to its semi immutabile nature and file structure being so different .
It is not a good representation of linux for new users. And it is falling off due to above complications.
@@Beryesa.Opensuse struggled with the DDoS issue as well . this was an issue that happened years ago now. You are getting bad information from reddit AI bots who do not have current information.
This is the problem with this video to begin with. This video is relevant 10 years ago but not accurate today.
Arch user here!! Manjaro is not Arch, no real Arch user, would use such a fake/Forgery. Install Arch from scratch 3-4 times, then you can claim to be an Arch user.
Nah. Just reinstalled Win 11 again. I'm not up for this copying command lines off random web pages, to paste in that so damn sh!tty terminal whenever the stupidest problem pops up. You get things like this done with a single click of a button everywhere else. Linux has a 2-4% global PC use for a reason, and I know this might seem unbelievable to everybody with nothing better to do, than type in the Linux terminal out of mom's basement, but it's exactly the Linux terminal 😐. I kid you not!
You don’t need to use the terminal practically ever these days, the amount of times you might is drastically lower than it used to be. Also the terminal is 1000x faster to do things in than dealing with random interfaces like the registry in Windows, that’s why it’s used by some people. You can do so much with it and do it all super fast. Sure it looks technical but it’s not even remotely as bad as the labyrinth of the Windows registry.
Also the reason Windows is popular is not because it’s good, that’s been evident for decades. The reason it is popular is because Microsoft has spent $billions of dollars on marketing and creating partnerships with educational institutions and companies to effectively force their system onto people. This was good business strategy but it doesn’t make Windows a good system at all. I’m sure you probably hate it most of the time and the only reason you use it is because you have some specific software that you want to run, not anything positive about the OS itself.
@@michael_tunnell I really don't wanna deal with the Linux terminal (like 96-98% of the human population). Do the same with it Google did, making Android, add stuff like Wine, Bottles, Proton, etc out of the box, and I guarantee you I won't be the only to switch in an instant! Till then, I'm just a normie, like the 96-98%. Shoot me for it!
again, you dont actually have to use the terminal most of the time. I think you had a bad experience and are now classifying the entire platform as if it is all that experience and there arent differences. There are differences and lots of them, for example you said "add stuff like Wine, Bottles, Proton, etc out of the box," well that's exactly what some distros do like Nobara Linux for example.
@@michael_tunnell Moms teach us to not say anything, if we don't have anything nice to say, but we all know what Ms. Cooper is up to down at those trailer parks, alright. Seriously, I hope things change for the better, but as reality proves, you still can't be certain of anything, dealing with Linux, even when it comes to a stupid app removal. And it's not just me. It's some 96-98% of home computer users. It's a wonderful concept, and many people fall because of this concept alone, but until something real gets done with the, as if, literal gate keeping of the system through these so ridiculous complications, a cool concept is all it's ever gonna be. Like I said, the 96-98% just want the thing running. They'll sooner buy a whole Mac with MacOS, than learn the damn Linux terminal. The terminal is for the mechanic, when most Marthas don't even know how to flip open the hood of their Toyotas. It's gonna remain just a concept, cause it's not practical and reliable enough for the common customer. At least make troubleshooting GUIs, cause to expect people to be looking up on web pages for command lines to copy and paste in the Linux terminal is just ridiculous.
@@michael_tunnell Maybe you guys find searching for command lines all over the internet to copy, and paste in your beloved Linux terminals so wonderful, but that's just you. 96-98% of computer users don't wanna have nothing to do with that. Stuff like Power Point is a big enough pain in the ass for them.
POP is unfinished and locks users into cosmic 🤷♂️
Just use Manjaro and choose the desktop you like. When Cosmic is ready , it will be on Manjaro.
Elementary? This video would be relevant 8 years ago. Things have changed. Elementary fell off .
Ubuntu LTS was the least bad of all your suggestions.
Ain't no way you're unironically recommending manjaro at this day and age. Did you forget to set your time back forward? 💀
So sorry, that you're Manjaro has been sinking so badly, why are people leaving that distro? they try it, then leave. Rinse repeat!! leave.