Finally making the transition from Windows to a Linux. I’m pretty sure it’s been asked several times but which Linux OS would you recommend a beginner to use? I’ve seen Ubuntu and Mint as a good start. Not looking to do much. Game here and there (not too worried about Linux compatibility), streaming, editing videos. If I break any rules. I’m sorry.
CachyOS?
I am a cachy user, and this is the worst possible advice. Arch based distros are not for brand new Linux users.
If someone has the competency to format a bootable USB Drive, potentially go into BIOS and change boot order and turn off SecureBoot, there is a basic level of computer literacy that exists. Pair that with KDE which is basically just the windows interface, Octopi and Cachy Update, where do don’t even need to run any console commands and just input your password. The ideas that Arch is scary and too complex are dated at this point with how some of these modern distros are packaged.
I guess I just don’t expect most beginners to want to read the breaking changes. Like when firmware packages recently changed, pacman paru yay and octopi don’t tell you about those breaking changes. You just get an error when you try to update. If you read the notes, you know to uninstall the old package, install the new ones, problem solved. What about using meld to merge pacnew? I don’t expect someone in their first week of Linux to figure it out. Even if they can learn it, I don’t expect a lot of users to want to.
Maybe I need to have more faith in people? I stuck to Ubuntu derived distros for about a year before I took on Fedora, and then eventually EndeavourOS where I learned the ins and outs of managing an Arch based system. I learned a lot, and I learned it gradually, which worked well for me, so I don’t try to throw other new users in the deep end of the pool.
I get where you’re hinting at and its difficulty is definitely overblown in the sense that some newbies may actually thrive on Arch. Thus, if anything, I’d propose that (very) eager-to-learn newbies should perhaps even consider Arch.
However, as long as this convoluted mess continues to be the expected ‘workflow’ for updates[1], Arch can not be considered beginner-friendly.
By contrast, a distro like Bazzite just defaults to care-free[2] auto-updates in the background; a pattern every noob recognizes from their phones.
Let’s not ignore that Arch expects you to update regularly. ↩︎
To be fair, if you’ve layered anything, then that might have compromised the integrity of upgrades. That being said, it’s a minor concern that mostly seems to be affect major system updates only. So that would mean you’d have to pay a bit more attention once every 6 months or so. Which, at least IMO, is very sane. And -again- only applies if you’ve actually layered stuff. It’s smooth sailing otherwise ↩︎
You’re wrong. Proof by counter example: SteamOS
EDIT: you can downvote me but you’re still wrong
Uh yeah that’s a bad example as most users will just use SteamOSes Big Picture?
“Your example proved me wrong so it is a bad example!” LOL
steamos users on the deck will rarely if ever interact with what arch linux makes arch linux, so yeah it is a bad example.
Cachy user here. Nope.
Anyone who says Cachy is good for a newcomer is taking their knowledge for granted. Most people getting into Linux for the first time are climbing several learning curves all at once. There are simpler distros that allow you to learn at a more reasonable pace.
The only time I would recommend CachyOS to a newcomer is if they have bleeding-edge hardware and aren’t afraid of a challenge.
+1 for cachy