There's More Distros in the Sea...

[DatNOBoi]

Software plebeian here, so excuse the ignorance.

I've always wanted to switch to Linux, but due to various circumstances that wouldn't even give me the time to learn how to do so, I couldn't. Now that I'm no longer a victim of said circumstances, I've learned much more about Linux than I thought I would have.

And I gotta say- the entire Linux "community" is schitzophrenic as hell. Good lawd...

This was quite the learning experience, lemme tell ya. First, I learn that there's many distributions of Linux. Secondly, I learn about the whole "free software" thing (the ideology of which is definitely right up my alley, so I hope we can all agree on at least that matter). Then, all of the distros got a crowd of fanboys and fangirls talking about how each one is the best on the planet. They must've forgotten that little "...for me" bit at the end of that sentence.

I'm told Ubuntu (and its "flavors") is great for beginners to Linux before some internet Rambo shoots me an arrow with a note attached that reads something like, "Nah, bruh, Linux Mint is a bajillion times better, son!" So I wander to Linux Mint's little jank ass candy shop and some stressed-out commercial jet pilot's like, "Young man, I've had plenty of operating systems on my ancient computer, but she had to go. That's when I realized I can wipe my tears on Gentoo." After I visit Gentoo's discount aisle, the Three Stooges spin some yarn about how they could run Haiku on a calculator. I then realize that Haiku isn't even a Linux distro and I'm left hovering between overwhelmed and confused.

Now, I'm hearing that Ubuntu's not well liked by the Linux community at all. You know what? I ain't gotta listen to anybody.

So yeah, I'm gonna go get a stack of CD-RWs, partition my hard drive, and install the latest Ubuntu version on my computer so I can at least get my foot in the door before yet another troglodyte smashes my pinky toe in with his club while repeating the words "Ubuntu bad" over and over again.

Rant over. In conclusion, I'll be your local noob until further notice. Or when I'm finally fed up with the BS, smash my head with a hammer, and magically get Savant Syndrome. Whichever comes first. I'm predicting the latter, but in a much dimmer light.

 

[DaMummy]

Nah, bruh, Linux Mint is a bajillion times better, son!

 

[mcobit]

That is the fun with Linux: Get yourself some distros, play around with them then choose your favorite.


It's all about the personal preference.


I myself set up an Ubuntu notebook for me and after installing everything I need, I stayed with it even though some powerusers and fsf followers don't like it.


Linux mint is just a fork of Ubuntu anyway and tries to fix some stuff people don't like about Ubuntu. Ubuntu itself is a fork of Debian linux with newest packages. So if you want to stay with that, feel free to do so.


Gentoo is for the purists with a lot of time who want full control and every bit of customisation and optimisation. That's fine, too. Why not? It's free, open and customizable.


There is a Distro for every one. You will need to find your favorite and get away from the thinking that somebody dictates what is the best for you.

 

[Pickle]

I'm told Ubuntu (and its "flavors") is great for beginners to Linux before some internet Rambo shoots me an arrow with a note attached that reads something like, "Nah, bruh, Linux Mint is a bajillion times better, son!" So I wander to Linux Mint's little jank ass candy shop and some stressed-out commercial jet pilot's like, "Young man, I've had plenty of operating systems on my ancient computer, but she had to go. That's when I realized I can wipe my tears on Gentoo." After I visit Gentoo's discount aisle, the Three Stooges spin some yarn about how they could run Haiku on a calculator. I then realize that Haiku isn't even a Linux distro and I'm left hovering between overwhelmed and confused.

Then a pickle comes along and tells you opensuse is all the rage.

 

[Thorgan]

Gentoo or LFS... *manly tears*

 

[TrashyMG]

Then a pickle comes along and tells you opensuse is all the rage.

I'm gonna let you finish, but Red Hat Fedora had one of the best distributions of all time.

 

[WizardStan]

Red Hat Fedora had one of the best distributions of all time

Had being the operative word there.

That is the fun with Linux: Get yourself some distros, play around with them then choose your favorite

And if that distro stops being suitable to your needs you can go back and play with anything new that's come along.

 

[TrashyMG]

Had being the operative word there.

Well I could of picked any number of distributions, I was just aiming to do a Kanye West "let you finish" meme.. Well and it did kind of fit.

 

[Ziz]

Pffft... Debian!

 

[EvilDragon]

ArchLinux here

 

[moxie]

Manjaro, Mint, Ubuntu or Ångström, depending on device. Why limit oneself needlessly?

 

[ekianjo]

OpenSuse is my main distro. I have also mint on a laptop.

 

[Hồng Thất Công]

Super Zaxxon forever!

 

[Baleg]

I'll try giving you my (totally subjective of course) opinion on this with hopefully useful comments.

Having tested a few distributions over the years, I keep coming back to Debian. It's just "stable" and if you're not looking for the latest software around (but are happy with a tested version that is known to work) then you'll be fine with it.

Ubuntu is indeed great for beginners, or used to. I used to like it, but had the feeling that over the years the quality went down. Still, you'd be ok giving it a try and if it installs without hiccup by all means stay with it until you're ready to try something else.

Linux Mint as mcobit said is very similar to Ubuntu. I've never tried it myself but it could be a good alternative for you (flip a coin if you can't decide).

ArchLinux I tested too. It has some nice concepts for advanced users, but I wouldn't recommend it. 10 years ago I'd have been very happy trying to make it all work as best as possible. But after running into troubles every second update I wouldn't recommend it for a beginner who wants to discover Linux without getting scared immediately (again, maybe I just had bad luck).

SuSE, Gentoo or Mandriva I tested so many years ago that my experience wouldn't be relevant any more. I installed a few days ago OpenBSD (yeah, not technically Linux, but whatever) but that would be better for a server, not your case.

There is my (limited) experience. To summarise: it doesn't make a big difference if you chose Ubuntu or Linux Mint for example. The only difference you will notice (at first) is in the desktop manager. Ubuntu now uses this "Unity" which looks more like a Mac interface. If you chose a distribution with KDE (Kubuntu for example), then you'll feel more at home if you come from a Windows world. XFCE will remind you more of Windows XP. Gnome I haven't followed recently but I believe it is a bit between Unity and KDE (the noise you hear now is all the Gnome users crying in pain from reading my message). There are many more of course (Enlightenment, fluxbox, ...) but I'd stick to the main ones for a start.

So there it is: just go for one arbitrary distribution (with a "mainstream" one you can't get it wrong) and don't listen to the fanboys. Once you're getting familiar with Linux try installing another desktop manager (Gnome if you were using KDE, XFCE instead of Unity, ...). Decide for yourself what you prefer. Later try other Linux distribution based on the current trend / your friends / the name of the Distro / whatever. It doesn't matter. You'll end up with Debian anyway

 

[comradekingu]

If you follow up with feedback we can help steer you in the right direction. Keep noting to development what your take on things are as a novice user and try to help solve things.

 

[DatNOBoi]

That is the fun with Linux: Get yourself some distros, play around with them then choose your favorite.


It's all about the personal preference.


I myself set up an Ubuntu notebook for me and after installing everything I need, I stayed with it even though some powerusers and fsf followers don't like it.


Linux mint is just a fork of Ubuntu anyway and tries to fix some stuff people don't like about Ubuntu. Ubuntu itself is a fork of Debian linux with newest packages. So if you want to stay with that, feel free to do so.


Gentoo is for the purists with a lot of time who want full control and every bit of customisation and optimisation. That's fine, too. Why not? It's free, open and customizable.


There is a Distro for every one. You will need to find your favorite and get away from the thinking that somebody dictates what is the best for you.

Well, that certainly cleared up confusion pertaining to WHY those distros exist.


Don't get me wrong; the ability to choose what I want is a main draw to Linux for me, but some of these people get carried away.

I'm told Ubuntu (and its "flavors") is great for beginners to Linux before some internet Rambo shoots me an arrow with a note attached that reads something like, "Nah, bruh, Linux Mint is a bajillion times better, son!" So I wander to Linux Mint's little jank ass candy shop and some stressed-out commercial jet pilot's like, "Young man, I've had plenty of operating systems on my ancient computer, but she had to go. That's when I realized I can wipe my tears on Gentoo." After I visit Gentoo's discount aisle, the Three Stooges spin some yarn about how they could run Haiku on a calculator. I then realize that Haiku isn't even a Linux distro and I'm left hovering between overwhelmed and confused.

 
Then a pickle comes along and tells you opensuse is all the rage.

How long before a jar of jalapenos tells me to try elementaryOS?

ArchLinux here

Elitist!

Manjaro, Mint, Ubuntu or Ångström, depending on device. Why limit oneself needlessly?

A fair point, good sir/madam!

OpenSuse is my main distro. I have also mint on a laptop.

Mint's nice, but I feel like dual-booting the PC with Ubuntu and Linux Mint is kind of redundant, considering I can just get LXDE.a

I'll try giving you my (totally subjective of course) opinion on this with hopefully useful comments.

Wait..."subjective" opinion? Hmm...


You know what? I won't dwell on that. Continue.

Having tested a few distributions over the years, I keep coming back to Debian. It's just "stable" and if you're not looking for the latest software around (but are happy with a tested version that is known to work) then you'll be fine with it.

I like shiny!


Of course, I also like functionality. I'm well-aware that Debian's extremely stable, which is something I quite like. A finished product being advertized as such. However, I'll just take baby steps before actually going to Debian.

Ubuntu is indeed great for beginners, or used to. I used to like it, but had the feeling that over the years the quality went down. Still, you'd be ok giving it a try and if it installs without hiccup by all means stay with it until you're ready to try something else.

I keep hearing this talking point of Ubuntu being not of high quality as it used to be, but I'm not seeing clear evidence of this.


Not that I care much. As someone who just switched fresh off of Windows 8 to Ubuntu, I'm not disappointed.

Linux Mint as mcobit said is very similar to Ubuntu. I've never tried it myself but it could be a good alternative for you (flip a coin if you can't decide).

Well, my computer flipped the coin for me and magically had the Ubuntu image sitting on the desktop. Then again, I may waffle and try it out. I'd just like to stick to something for a while.

ArchLinux I tested too.

Uh-huh.

(Arch) has some nice concepts for advanced users, but I wouldn't recommend it. 10 years ago I'd have been very happy trying to make it all work as best as possible. But after running into troubles every second update I wouldn't recommend it for a beginner who wants to discover Linux without getting scared immediately (again, maybe I just had bad luck).

Well, EvilDragon seems to be enjoying it just fine. I know its appeal, but to me, putting Arch on my computer at this point in time is like trying to build the St. Louis arch; I don't know how to do that crap and it looks difficult.

SuSE, Gentoo or Mandriva I tested so many years ago that my experience wouldn't be relevant any more. I installed a few days ago OpenBSD (yeah, not technically Linux, but whatever) but that would be better for a server, not your case.

Cool.

There is my (limited) experience.

Wait, hold up! This is LIMITED experience?!?! WTF? Good gravy I could only imagine what a Linux master does...


...huh...


*peeks around forum*

Don't hack me, bro...

To summarise: it doesn't make a big difference if you chose Ubuntu or Linux Mint for example. The only difference you will notice (at first) is in the desktop manager. Ubuntu now uses this "Unity" which looks more like a Mac interface. If you chose a distribution with KDE (Kubuntu for example), then you'll feel more at home if you come from a Windows world. XFCE will remind you more of Windows XP. Gnome I haven't followed recently but I believe it is a bit between Unity and KDE (the noise you hear now is all the Gnome users crying in pain from reading my message). There are many more of course (Enlightenment, fluxbox, ...) but I'd stick to the main ones for a start.

I kind of wanted to get away from the Windows world, so here I am!


I might just try LXDE on top of Ubuntu just to play the ever living hell out of some games...if only I could find some games that need that amount of resources.

So there it is: just go for one arbitrary distribution (with a "mainstream" one you can't get it wrong) and don't listen to the fanboys. Once you're getting familiar with Linux try installing another desktop manager (Gnome if you were using KDE, XFCE instead of Unity, ...). Decide for yourself what you prefer. Later try other Linux distribution based on the current trend / your friends / the name of the Distro / whatever. It doesn't matter. You'll end up with Debian anyway

Good point, sir/madam!

If you follow up with feedback we can help steer you in the right direction. Keep noting to development what your take on things are as a novice user and try to help solve things.

Y'know, in the cold, cold world of computer technologies, it's really easy to forget that, when aggressive campers hiss at me from their little fires, developers are always here to sew me a blanket!

 

[DAP]

I used to like Ubuntu back when it used Gnome 2.0. Then for some inexplicable reason both Ubuntu and Gnome decided that they needed to convert their user interface to be tablet interfaces instead of the desktop interfaces they used to be.

For a while I used the Gnome Classic interface, but Gnome kept deleting features I used and started getting flakey.

I switched to Cinnamon, but on the update to Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu decided it just had to delete Cinnamon while I was installing the update using Cinnamon. The result was a crash that left my hard disk full of garbage (thakfully my home drive was on a different spindle, and I made a backup before I started the upgrade)

I'm now running Mint, and am mostly happy with it, but I really wish I could get click to focus working instead of the default click to front.

 

[DatNOBoi]

I used to like Ubuntu back when it used Gnome 2.0. Then for some inexplicable reason both Ubuntu and Gnome decided that they needed to convert their user interface to be tablet interfaces instead of the desktop interfaces they used to be.

For a while I used the Gnome Classic interface, but Gnome kept deleting features I used and started getting flakey.

I switched to Cinnamon, but on the update to Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu decided it just had to delete Cinnamon while I was installing the update using Cinnamon. The result was a crash that left my hard disk full of garbage (thakfully my home drive was on a different spindle, and I made a backup before I started the upgrade)

I'm now running Mint, and am mostly happy with it, but I really wish I could get click to focus working instead of the default click to front.

Sounds like a lot to go through just for UI. But don't mind me; whatever boats your float.

I personally like the Unity desktop. Nice and clean, and my wallpapers look phenomenal when accompanying  it. Hmm...

Now that I think about it, I can now see where the Ubuntu vitriol comes from. UI changes like this can be polarizing. Well...polarizing if you're a long-time user; I personally could care less. If it's better than Windows 8, then I'm game.

 

[ekianjo]

I personally like the Unity desktop. Nice and clean, and my wallpapers look phenomenal when accompanying  it. Hmm...

I don't find Unity to be very practical when I have many windows opened. It does not work well with it.  

 

[DatNOBoi]

I personally like the Unity desktop. Nice and clean, and my wallpapers look phenomenal when accompanying  it. Hmm...

I don't find Unity to be very practical when I have many windows opened. It does not work well with it.  

I haven't had a problem with many windows open. All it is, to me at least, is just having a bunch of windows open and alt+tabbing/clicking between them. Ain't nothin' to it. Gangasta rap made me do it.