linux mint
this post was submitted on 21 Mar 2024
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Seconded. I've been using it for years because it just works, but if I want to try to ~~break shit~~ do things myself I can.
Thirded. It just works. Even deployed to elderly relatives with wifi printers with no issues.
More specifically, Linux Mint Debian Edition. Canonical has been very weird, I would get the debian based branch
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Pop_OS or Linux Mint. Both just work. The Atomic idea is nice, but still too soon for complete beginners or the lazy (not a pejorative).
If you need secure boot on current (like intel gen 10+), Fedora Workstation. If you don't need secure boot, Linux Mint.
Fedora has the easiest way to make secure boot just work, it will even dual boot fine on the same disk although you should still backup the m$ partition if you actually need it. Fedora can do secure boot even with Nvidia.
Ubuntu can do some of the secure boot stuff like Fedora does, and there is the advantage of the stable kernel if you have Nvidia.
Note that "stable" as a label has nothing to do with its intuitive meaning like alpha/beta/testing/crashing etc. It is a term for servers and people that want to run very specific setups that will not require human intervention on embedded devices and servers. If you want to game or use the latest sw "stable" might be a pain. However, if what you are running is not kept up to date with the latest packages and libraries, a stable release may be the only way to run your stuff.
Overall these are the biggest factors on current hardware; secure boot yes/no, and up-to-date software needs yes/no.
Which of these would you suggest: Debian, Ubuntu, Pop!_OS or Linux Mint?
Mint is easy mode, but has no secure boot shim implemented. It makes gaming accessible.
Pop is made for System76 and does some stuff funny IMO, and is like Mint with no secure boot if you are not running 76's proprietary bootloader on their hardware
Ubuntu is easy but has its quirks (most are fixed by Mint which is based on Debian/Ubuntu)
Debian is hard mode and is an advanced distro. There are a ton of tools that are unique to Debian. It is used mostly for people running their own servers and custom purpose machines from home or work. It is also the primary distro for hacking hardware and reverse engineering stuff that has no other way to create Linux kernel support.
Every distro has some things that they are specialized for. You can do almost anything with any of them, but it will depend on your skill level. Something to keep in mind here is that Linux is not a consumerism branding contest. We are not choosing our frivolous teams. This is the place where everyone can learn. While beginners and users are welcome, you will find many aspects of Linux are the study and thesis projects for many computer science students. All levels are present here. This is why so many options exist.
Debian is hard mode and is an advanced distro. There are a ton of tools that are unique to Debian. It is used mostly for people running their own servers and custom purpose machines from home or work. It is also the primary distro for hacking hardware and reverse engineering stuff that has no other way to create Linux kernel support.
While I get it I don't agree with the first part. If you install Debian out of the box with GNOME it will work out just fine for the majority of people, usually it will work out better than Mint, Arch and whatnot because it is a finished and very reliable OS, not something targeted for experimentation.
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I'd go with Mint. They have thought out 99% of the things a user might ask for in a DE, along some basic admin configuration stuff you might need. It's the best out of the box distro.
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My vote is Linux Mint. I had installed it on a family members laptop and have been going strong for years without fault.
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Everytime I want a distro that just works I just roll with Linux Mint.
Being one of the most popular distro if something goes wrong is really easy to find how to fix it .
I think your best bet for this is one of the spinoffs of enterprise Linux: fedora or openSUSE. both are very solid ootb, and have starting configurations that are generally good.
The microos or silverblue variants respectively are really promising as well, but still have some caveats.
Fedora is not an enterprise Linux spinoff, it is an upstream to an enterprise Linux distribution. Neither of those support proprietary video codecs and other potentially patent encumbered pieces out of the box, with some work for proprietary drivers too.
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Mint, it's not the shiniest toy but it really does just work
If you have Nvidia, pop os has all that built in. My go-to is usually popos, or mint
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For me it is Fedora
Fedora atomic GNOME or KDE.
You don't mess with the system at all. If you look for something specific, you may find something here https://universal-blue.org/images/ .
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I use fedora for the nice OOTB experience, but if there's issues with parts of the hardware - I try Ubuntu. And if it works, I just install it.
Life's too short to deal with hardware blobs.
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Do live images not exist anymore? Pick a distro, burn an iso to a USB drive and boot it. See if you like it.
You're just going to get a bunch of personal preferences with such an open ended question.
And for 100% of distros someone will come and say: "except for this where you gotta do this and that but then it works fine".
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Pop os or Mint
It depends of your definition of "hassle".
I have 2 screens, I like to have the same panel on each screen, so when I use one in fullscreen, I can use the other one. So far, the only Desktop Environment that can give me that without too much difficulties, is KDE (even if I had to do it manually).
If you have the same use, maybe Kubuntu is a great choice. Tuxedo OS would be the same as Kubuntu, but you don't have to change the priority of the package manager, because the snaps are already disabled. ( they got another load of malicious softwares in the snapstore recently, and some snap might not be as good as .deb or flatpak).
If not, Linux Mint is an out of the box distribution. If your hardware is the most recent one, they have a "edge iso".
What are you trying to build? A work laptop that you're going to take on trips, a gaming computer, a server? Something else?
For you, what is too much hassle? Are you a new Linux user or an experienced user with no spare time? What are you accustomed to doing when you install an operating system and what do you expect to be preinstalled?
What is your favorite colour?
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Linux Mint definitely
openSUSE Tumbleweed is pretty comfy. Btrfs snapshots enabled by default so it's really hard to break it. I've been using it for about 8 months now and haven't had any big issues.
I tested out Ubuntu, Fedora, and Mint before landing on openSUSE. It by far has been the most stable. Especially when dealing with my Nvidia GPU and getting CUDA working.
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If you want an elaborated answer you will have to share the hardware you want to install it on.
I've put kubuntu on a couple of machines now and I'm pretty happy with it.
Pop os
Ubuntu if you're used to Mac, Zorin (based on Ubuntu) or Mint if you're more used to Windows.
Never used Pop OS but I hear that's another that works well out of the box.
It's Linux Mint Cinnamon. Unless you are trying to run your OS in a potato, then it's Linux Mint MATE.
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