So i was surprised today when my fiancee told me she was thinking about switching over to linux. Surprised because she is absolutely not technically minded, but also because she was weary about having Microsoft AI slop forced on her PC every update. ( i’m so proud!)
Now i’ve used a little linux but i’ve always been a holdout. Won’t stop me from moving someone else over but i have too much going on in my setup to deal with that right now. So i’m not super versed but i was able to give her the basic rundown of what distros are, concerns when switching, what may and may not be available, shes still on board so we’re doing this! Knowing her she would like to not have to transition too much, whats something fairly hands off and easy to learn. I’ve heard some good things about mint from hanging around you nerds the past few years but also some not so good things, any suggestions?
next concern is what kind of transfer process is this going to be? i have some spare HDD’s so we can try and get everything ported over but i’m so busy with school right now i can’t quite allocate the time to really deep dive this.
Any help is appreciated, cheers!
Always great to see more people curious about Linux, especially when the motivation is escaping ms-bullshit…
If she wants something that just works but still feels polished and professional, I’d actually give openSUSE a look. Leap is rock-solid and perfect for people who want a stable system that behaves consistently and doesn’t demand much maintenance. Tumbleweed, on the other hand, is rolling release, so it’s always up to date but still surprisingly reliable thanks to openSUSE’s testing process.
Both use YaST, which is one of the best control panels in the Linux world. You can do a lot with YaST, like manage users, partitions, updates, drivers, and networking all from one place without ever touching the terminal.
Mint is also a fine choice as well…
I would suggest whatever you pick, it should be a similar base to what you run or are most familiar with.
If you run something Debian based, you should recommend something Debian based. Fedora, Arch, etc.
The same is also true for desktop environments, if you use KDE, recommend KDE. If you run something not necessarily beginner friendly, recommend what you’re familiar with.
At some point you’re going to be asked questions, so the more familiar you are, the better for both of you.
I think Linux Mint would be a good first distro.
I recently learned about a project called Operese. It is a Windows to Linux migration tool that also sets up Kubuntu. Kubuntu is Ubuntu with the KDE desktop environment instead of the GNOME desktop environment. I don’t know how well that tool works since I never tried it but it looks promising.
There is also a new project called Winboat that is meant to make it easier to install and use Windows software such as Adobe Photoshop
Mint is a good jumping off point
Zorin OS is better
Isn’t Zorin very out of date?
I’ll be honest I tried zorin and it looked too much like MacOS for my tastes
I think Zorin OS 18 based on Ubuntu 24.04
was released just few days ago?will be released tomorrow. Also Zorin OS uses heavily modified Gnome Wayland session which is by many standards more “modern” and “leading edge” than X11 Cinnamon session. The desktop environment is by far the most significant thing an average Joe user will be affected by. If their packages are bit older they won’t notice as much.
So you know basically as much as her. You guys can experience it together how great.
I wouldnt say that, I have been on and off with Linux, never a main rig setup, but my most recent stuff is spending hours trying to get certain things to run on my steam deck which I was told absolutely could not run on my steam deck (I showed them)
Hannah Montana
It’s dead simple. It is a meme. They may find that funny and humor and novelty help beginners ease into new environments.
https://hannahmontana.sourceforge.net/ but you should install something else as the main OS
Just set this as the first thing to boot and then teach them to remove it
I have been taking the wrong approach with beginners telling them gentoo is the endgame, but I have seen the light and can only say thank you for showing me the way
depending on preferences, alternatives could include UwUntu or Nyarch
omnixy, a NixOS fork of omarchy (which aims to serve the best defaults) that isn’t maintained by a fascist
I have been thinking this for a while too and it’s a toss up between Fedora and Debian for a regular user and if you are gaming then something like PopOS or Bazzite I would want someone non-techy using something that is not a rolling release distro like Arch.
start with something simple that’ll teach the basics of Linux – like LFS
I’m a fan of the uBlue distros Bazzite (gaming), Aurora (KDE), and Bluefin (Gnome and software devs). Other than that, Mint, Fedora, or Pop beta if you want to try the new Cosmic desktop
The distro I find easiest to recommend to folk in my life looking to move to Linux is the distro that I’m using/most familiar with, because it makes it easier to help them out if they run in to an issue.
I use CachyOS, and previously, I was trying to support Mint etc, but having zero experience with the way the way Mint handles packages, with its default apps, update process etc, I found myself having to research an OS I don’t use, and offer 2nd hand advice. I moved them over to CachyOS, and even though technically, it’s not as beginner friendly, my day to day familiarity with it meant that it was easier to help out when troubles arose.
I’m currently in the inverse situation - was an active Mint user, but I’m running into gaming-related roadblocks due to Mint’s update philosophy, so I might be jumping to CatchyOS.
Any of the large, easy to use distributions should work just fine. I’d recommend a popular distribution because it’ll be easier to get help online. So consider Mint, Fedora, OpenSuse, Ubuntu and maybe Pop!_OS.
I think the main consideration should be which DE (desktop environment) she’d like to use. IMO the main contenders would be:
- KDE - Very configurable, nice looking, a bit heavy.
- Gnome - Simple and very opinionated, so not very configurable, a bit heavy.
- Cinnamon - Should feel familiar to Windows users, a bit faster than KDE and Gnome.
- Cosmic - A middle ground between Gnome’s simplicity and KDE’s configurability, pretty fast.
- XFCE - Very fast and light-weight, fairly configurable, but not very flashy.
Based on which DE she prefers, I’d suggest getting a distribution that comes with said DE by default, for the best possible integration. How do you figure out which DE she likes best? Put Ventoy on a USB stick along with a few different Linux ISOs. Ventoy wil let you choose which one to boot from a menu. You could get the following ISOs:
- Fedora or Ubuntu with Gnome
- OpenSUSE with KDE
- Linux Mint with Cinnamon
- Pop!_OS with Cosmic
- Mint or Ubuntu with XFCE
Download an ISO for each, install Ventoy on a USB stick and copy the ISOs to the stick. Boot into each ISO and play around with the desktop for a bit. When she’s figured out which DE she prefers, install a distribution that comes with that desktop.
Suggesting anything with gnome should come with a penalty of having to fist fight a Canadian goose and it’s henchswans.
Unfortunately, Linux Mint devs are transphobic.
I’ve not noticed Cinnamon being any faster than KDE. I’d recommend KDE for someone coming from Windows.
I’m on KDE as a former Windows and Mint user and it’s really annoying. Especially the text editor Kate. All the hotkeys are different than Windows/Mint, there’s no notepad equivalent and only a notepad++ equivalent, the GNOME text editor doesn’t match the theming, and I had to settle on Mousepad for my replacement.
I had to do a lot of customization to get the system to behave like Windows, particularly the panel. Maybe with ZorinOS it’s better.
there’s no notepad equivalent and only a notepad++ equivalent
I believe you’re looking for KWrite.
Thank you, that’s exactly what I’ve been looking for. Wasn’t bundled with Kubuntu (or maybe it was but I uninstalled it because I thought it was Wordpad) and didn’t come up when searching for it in the Discover app, but after going to the official site and opening a link in the Discover app I got it installed.
Now to look up how to clean up the start menu so searching for a text editor doesn’t give me the uninstalled Mousepad or it’s separate settings app (I did it with a 5 second duckduckgo search).
Dunno if kubuntu comes with it, but do you have an app called “main menu”?
I mean from what you’re telling me I’d imagine cinnamon, but now that you mention It, wasn’t there a website dedicated to showing off the different desktop environments?
For distros, not desktop environments. You can choose DEs for distros though. But there it is: https://distrosea.com/
Cinnamon is a great choice. It’s the default on Linux Mint for good reason.
Not really possible, because how a desktop feels or what can be configured it’s hard to show on a website. Especially how you can visually adapt it. And what you can configure in general. Running it from a live USB takes like 5 minutes.
For example KDE is also very close to Windows, but can also be configured to behave more like a Mac. Visually most desktop environment can be themed. Cinnamon just got additions to be able to theme gnome apps globally I think? If you want to use a central dock like a Mac and have running apps at the top, that’s just a master of setting that up on KDE.
Mint
Even as an EndeavourOS user, I concur: Mint. Why? Cinnamon is hands down the best desktop environment. Beginner friendly default without blasting features in one’s face with configs all over the place, yet intuitively customizable for experienced Linux users.
This means she will be able to freely use it without your help, but you will be able to easily fine tune it to her preferences as well.
⚜︎ arscyni.cc: modernity ∝ nature.
This is the first I would suggest as well. As much as I like other distros, Mint has the appearance, capability, stability, and settings combination I would want as a new user
Specifically Linux Mint Debian Edition
correct
What about Slackware? Not popular anymore?
Yep I don’t think it’s that popular anymore. I see Fedora or Pop-OS recommended a lot lately. And Mint.
It was just a just a joke. Slackware is a dinosaur.
Mint.
No war. I don’t use it, myself, but I’ve set up a couple family members and over þe past several years have gotten two tech support calls: one about connecting to a WiFi printer, which required only me telling þem how to get to system preferences; þe oþer because þey’d bought a new laptop which came wiþ Windows 11 and þey wanted help installing Linux (which þey were used to) on it instead.
I can recommend Debian or Fedora. They are both mature distros that are pretty easy to install and generally work well with minimal fuss and are easy to maintain. I often see Linux Mint recommend, including in this thread. I’ve never used it so I can’t speak to it. But I have every reason to believe it’s a solid choice.
As for transfer process, since you mention using spare disks, NTFS filesystems are supported and you may be able to just copy files off of them. I don’t know if bitlocker is supported.
Well quite obvious: as the name “Debian” was coined to celebrate the union between Debra and Ian, makes it a de facto choice! ;)
They split up :-(
I think Ian later died
