Linux

Mint for most users. OpenSUSE for more technically competent users.

Linux Mint. It was specifically created for this use case. It just works. That's it.

debian. friendly and large community, no weird antifeatures like ubuntu

I suggest Linux Mint, it just works. I have moved over 10 people to it in the last 2 years. Basically, giving life to their old laptops. Never heard a complaint! Here's the latest one, my niece: https://mastodon.social/@eugenialoli/117304062578785444

Fedora

Install Linux mint, never think again

Hannah Montana Linux

The “want to learn” is gonna carry a lot of weight here but I think and arch based distro like cachy works well for this. Cachy was my first distro and I really wanted to learn so it gave we a working starting place from where I could tinker and replace parts one at a time until they fit my liking. If I were to reinstall today I’d do plain arch since I know what I want and don’t need Cachy’s defaults anymore. Obviously everyone has their preferences but I think cachy is a really solid approachable distro for beginners, there’s a reason it just passed steamOS to claim the throne of most used distro on the steam hardware survey

To friends I usually recommend the distro I run myself, as I'm most familiar with it and troubleshoot it the best.

If it's someone who won't get constant tech support from me, I'd probably go with Mint.

As a power user Ubuntu sucks, but if you've never used Linux before it could also be a good starter distro. The vast amount of tutorials online are made for Ubuntu.

I'd say Mint as many others. But any major distro (except Arch) would do the trick if you're willing to learn.

Learn basic desktop Linux? Mint. Learn how Linux works and really interested in more of the ins and outs? Arch (Artix if you want systemdless) Learn how Linux works in great depth and are very committed? Gentoo.

Arch
(this is a joke, do not use Arch unless you crave pain)

I started my wife on fedora about 10 years ago, and my kids have grown up using fedora

If you want to go rolling, try Tumbleweed or Slowroll from openSUSE, the former is right on the bleeding edge and the latter rolls a bit behind. They get a lot more testing than Arch so are less likely to have problems. The advantage of rolling is that you don't have a periodic big update. If rolling doesn't rock your boat, try Fedora or Mint. Fedora is more up to date.

The thing that will influence how you feel about a distro more than anything is the choice of desktop, so try a few out, at least Plasma, Gnome, Xfce, and Cinnamon. They can all be made to look different to a greater or lesser extent.

Edit: You can even test 100s of them out on distrosea.

People keep saying Mint, and now that it runs on Wayland at least they will be able to watch a movie without screen tearing. But I do feel like KDE Plasma is a much better first impression, since it doesn't look like a desktop from 2013 (no offense), and has so many customization options that showcase the freedom of a linix desktop.

So for gamers, Bazzite, otherwise Fedora KDE or something

I use and recommend CachyOS. PikaOS is cool too. So try either of those. I hear good things about Fedora as well. Whatever you do, use something with the KDE desktop environment. It's the best.

CTT had a video about it I found quite nice: https://youtu.be/hnNjFysodRo In shortv

• if you want to game: bazzite
• if you are a power user: cachy
• for office/regular computer usage: mint

Everyone has their preferences. That's why there isn't one answer. The problem is almost every distro compares themselves to Windows, and so they all have the same "pros" from that perspective. Personally I have 2 recommendations, and I'll tell you which ones and why:

1. Zorin: Makes a good mesh of familiarity and ease of use. They maintain a database of different apps and will automatically point you to the most appropriate option. They greatly simplify the process of installing and using WINE. I happen to just like GNOME (looks more modern than KDE), and I like their modified version of it. Comes with a lot of what I consider "obvious" tweaks "out of the box" so you don't have to figure out how to implement them. Their GNOME is also super outdated though, so some extensions don't work.

2. Bazzite: If you want a console/PC hybrid, this is probably the best way to get it. If you just want a desktop gaming PC you can get that also. Either way it comes with a lot of gaming utilities pre-installed. Best of all is their "Bazzite Portal" which makes a bunch of common apps and tweaks that are otherwise complicated to install, easy, with the click of a button. There's also an app for updates that upgrades everything all in one place, with the click of a button, and also will run automatically in the background if your system is idle.

But if you need support I hope you're comfortable using corporate shithole platforms like Github, Discord, and Reddit, because if you don't want to, they don't give a shit.

I'd go for bazzite. Clean, stable, user-friendly, gamer-friendly.

There are 3 answers and only 3 answers:

• New and casual users: Mint.
• Gamers: Bazzite.
• Power users: just try a bunch and see which one(s) you like, you people are exactly why there's are so many distros.

Ubuntu or Mint is quite okay, I have used both of them in the past and set it up for a friend with little money, little time, and very little PC expertise. Worked perfectly for them for over 10 years without a problem.

Today, if you can get a little help with setting up, I'd recommend Debian stable with either GNOME or KDE. It is more stable and has longer and better long term security support, which did become more important.

Also, it is now easy to set up with disk encryption, which matters for keeping private data secure on Laptops which can get lost or stolen.

Wife of ten years, I stuck her on Ubuntu 16.04 back in the day. She ignored it and used a laptop. A few years later? Mint with Mate. She started on it long enough to set the background to the Windows 10 background, then went back to a Windows boot, since I dual booted. Last year, new computer, Fedora KDE, again dual booted. Haven't seen her in Windows yet. Me? I hop all over the place, but our HTPC and her laptop are now Fedora KDE.

Red Star OS

Anything but Ubuntu, honestly. I have a few friends who chose Ubuntu as their first distro and after using it for a couple of weeks went back to Windows. Some of them still refuse to give Linux a second chance.

My number one recommendation is Fedora. Extremely stable, popular (so there are lots of q&a online), easy on resources. If you go Debian please don't go Ubuntu, its buggy for some people (me included) and snaps are 💩. If you want Debian go Linux Mint, which is very beginner friendly.

If I'm forced to support it, Arch... It's really not that difficult to use, and I'll be damned if I have to remember all the Debian stuff 😂

CachyOS or PikaOS. Nothing Fedora-based for god's sake

If you want to learn Linux, install Gentoo. That'll give you a pretty good understanding of what's going on. It'll be an intense process though.

If you just want to install and use Linux, pick one of the usual suspects: Mint, Fedora, openSUSE Leap/Slowroll, whatever. If you come from Windows, picking KDE Plasma as your desktop environment (DE) is a good choice. Mint's Cinnamon should be good too. Picking a popular distro usually means troubleshooting is easier, since someone else out there most likely has the same issue you have, and documentation is more comprehensive.

Remember that many distros provide a live environment you can run from a USB stick. Try a couple with different DEs and see what fits your needs. Honestly, the distro doesn't matter that much, they all do the same thing, more or less. Maybe try to pick your DE first and then just go from there.

If you want a simple answer, pick Mint.

Debian with MATE desktop: Learn it, Use it, Love it.

Vanilla Debian or LMDE. Caveats are:

1. that you dont intend to seriously game on it, and
2. have at least 8GB RAM (for a smooth GNOME desktop experience).

Use system packages as much as you can and only use Flatpaks if you need the latest and greatest of a certain app (example being the LibreOffice suite for better document compatibility).

Learn how to backup your system with Timeshift and your data with Pika. You'll have a really wonderful system that you can will serve you well and at the same time be a good base to improve your Linux knowledge.

This is what worked for me when I first started. My workstation still runs Debian many years. Its rock solid and I have no reason to change to anything else.

My only regret its that I didn't move to Linux sooner. God luck on your journey.

Bazzite for people new to computers in general. CachyOS for long time Windows users.

start with debian if you want a stable release update style or arch if you want a rolling release update style

the vast majority of other distros are just nonsense stacked on top of one of those two

most of the big distros that isn't true for are corporate (open suse, fedora, etc.) and should be avoided unless you have a pressing and specific reason

save yourself a headache and just start with debian or arch. what you learn with one of those two will be the most transferrable and they both have huge (comparatively) communities with well developed resources for learning and troubleshooting.

Long time arch user, and I've recently switched to bazzite because maintaining an arch system reminds me too much of my actual job. Bazzite is great for daily use and has excellent support for gaming. I would recommend it as its update system makes it exceptionally hard to break your system and has built in stable rollbacks. As a new Linux user I would say just get stuck into either mint or bazzite. Try to learn more about how updating software works to decide between those, the, UI is entirely customizable and separate to the OS. The main Linux desktop UIs are gnome and KDE, both look nice and don't really need strong resources. KDE used to be really hungry but they've made it a lot leaner in recent years.