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Which distro for a non-technical windows user? (gehirneimer.de)

submitted 1 week ago by BentiGorlich@gehirneimer.de to c/linux@programming.dev

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Hi everyone, I am planning to install linux on my friends laptop and I am not sure which distro to install for them.

The options I am considering:

Fedora: I have it on my PC and since I will be the first person to be asked, I thought it would be best if I know the distro well
Mint: is a default suggestion, but I am not sure if it is different enough from the Windows look that one does not expect it to behave the same as Windows
Ubuntu: most widely available in forums, etc. And a good starting point in my opinion

What do you guys think?

EDIT: Thanks for all the suggestions, I think I'll stick with Fedora and let them try Gnome, KDE and Cinnamon :)

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[–] Chais@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Just commenting to actively discourage Ubuntu, as it does many things bad or just weird.

By that logic LMDE would be the only acceptable Mint flavour, since they can only gloss over so many of Canonical's missteps.
And if any gaming will be involved I'd probably steer clear of either of them, since the available graphics driver will likely be outdated rather quickly.

[–] stuner@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago

And if any gaming will be involved I’d probably steer clear of either of them, since the available graphics driver will likely be outdated rather quickly.

Ubuntu LTS (and therefore Linux Mint) gets updated graphics drivers between releases, so the situation is not too bad. I'd say it's good enough for most people. You only really have an issue if you want to buy a brand-new AMD/Intel GPU.

For comparison, Debian 13 (and LMDE) currently ships the Nvida 550 driver, while Ubuntu 24.04 ships the 580 driver.