Hey all, I’ve been thinking about making the jump from Windows to Linux as my daily-driver and I’ve been struggling on what distro to use.

On my laptop I’ve been using Fedora’s KDE Spin for a bit but I can’t say I really like KDE all that much. I took that Distrochooser test and 9/10 of the suggestions were all Ubuntu-based or Arch-based for some reason lol.

I would prefer a distro that “just works” but I’m not scared of having to troubleshoot or fix things. I guess I’m just looking to see what everyone else uses and what you all recommend. Thanks!

  • Kory@lemmy.ml
    29·
    10 months ago

    Linux Mint and Pop!_OS are the most recommended beginner friendly distros that “just work” in my experience. That being said, before you install, you can try out the look and feel here: https://distrosea.com/

  • SavvyWolf@pawb.socialEnglish
    27·
    10 months ago

    Imo Mint is the gold standard for a Distro that just works and meets the needs of most people.

      • Tippon@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
        5·
        10 months ago

        What would you suggest is a better distro for a new Linux user? I’ve found Mint to be great out of the box, and only needs minor tweaks if you want the Microsoft fonts, for example.

      • SavvyWolf@pawb.socialEnglish
        5·
        10 months ago

        I mean, just in general.

        Besides Fedora (maybe) I’m not sure other non-deb distros really are recommended for new users.

        Besides that, like it or not, nowadays most software is distributed as deb files (until Flatpak fixes it). Using something not debian based requires learning how to port .deb files or use manual dependency resolution for tarballs.

  • agent_flounder@lemmy.worldEnglish
    11·
    10 months ago

    Nothing wrong with Fedora Gnome. I’ve been using it for several months (well ok technically Nobara but I decided to try vanilla Fedora recently and it’s about the same). Prior to that I had been using Mint / Cinnamon for a decade and it’s a good choice too.

    But truth be told the Gnome simplicity / minimalism has been growing on me. I wished it were more customizable but whatever.

    Fedora is a very very mainstream distro, too, so help is easy to find if anything goes haywire.

    PS: nobara is great for gaming but the big gotcha for me was that updating from the shell prompt requires a somewhat involved set of commands. If you use a simple dnf update you’ll break something like I did. Which is why I decided to give Fedora another go. If you choose Nobara, just use the (slow) GUI updater.

    The other commenter who mentioned installing and using Gnome tweaks, etc. nailed it. Do that. :)

  • hperrin@lemmy.world
    10·
    10 months ago

    I highly recommend Fedora (just the regular Gnome version). I used to be all Ubuntu, but they’ve shoved snaps down everyone’s throats to the point that I simply cannot recommend it to anyone, especially newcomers.

    Fedora has been working really well for me. You’ll probably want to play around with Gnome Tweaks to get the maximize and minimize buttons back, and install the Gnome extension “AppIndicator and KStatusNotifierItem Support” from the Gnome Extensions website. Those I would consider the essential post install steps.

    After that you’ll have a rock-solid and enjoyable setup.

    • Glitchington@lemmy.world
      1·
      10 months ago

      I had to bail from Fedora when they pulled the video codecs from RPM. It may be fixed, but the threat of pulling a tool from the repository still lingers in my mind.

      • hperrin@lemmy.world
        3·
        10 months ago

        The video codecs are in rpmfusion, which is available as a checkbox called “Third Party Repositories” in the setup wizard.

        • d_k_bo@feddit.de
          1·
          10 months ago

          There was an issue in the past where the regular mesa-* packages and the mesa-*-freeworld were out of sync which resulted in no longer working DEs for many people if they updated at the wrong time.

          Is this still an issue?

          (I went back to the regular drivers since I mostly use VP8/9 anyway)

          • hperrin@lemmy.world
            1·
            10 months ago

            I have never had that issue. I’ve been on Fedora for a year, so it’s not been an issue since at least then.

        • Glitchington@lemmy.world
          1·
          10 months ago

          Ah, they were being pulled from RPM fusion at one point if I recall. It didn’t go through, but the fact that it was even being discussed told me all I needed to know.

    • danieljoeblack@beehaw.orgEnglish
      2·
      10 months ago

      As someone on the edge of making the change myself, I have been enjoying these posts because I have been getting to learn some of the different distros and there pros and cons. Lemmy isn’t insanely active right now, so you get a different group of perspectives with each iteration of the question.

      Maybe once lemmy gets bigger we can break off these sorts of questions into their own catalog but for now I think they are doing more good than harm here.

      Just my two cents tho, obviously you have the right to disagree :)

  • Lupec@lemm.ee
    8·
    10 months ago

    Since you want a just works deal, I’d go with a ublue based immutable distro, my favorite is Bazzite. You can pick between KDE and Gnome, and change between them cleanly at any point. User apps auto update in the background, your system also updates while it’s running and you only need to reboot to apply. If anything ever goes wrong, you have painless rollbacks. All that with up-to-date fedora packages and kernel.

    I’ve been running it on my deck for a while now and it’s never let me down so far, really pleasant experience. It generally keeps out of your way and takes care of the chores while still allowing you to mess around if you want.

    • Crozekiel@lemmy.zip
      5·
      10 months ago

      I second bazzite. Been running it on my gaming laptop for a few months now and loving it. My main desktop is running Garuda Linux, which I also absolutely love but I was weary of a rolling release arch based distro on my laptop which isn’t on and running 24/7 - tried manjaro on my laptop previously and it was broken more often than not. (although I am learning that is likely more a manjaro problem than an “arch-based” problem, it gave me a reason to try bazzite)

  • spittingimage@lemmy.world
    8·
    10 months ago

    Linux Mint is my daily driver. I enjoy tinkering, but I also want a distro that doesn’t need it when I get home from work and just want a vodka tonic and some memes.

    • BiggestBulb@kbin.run
      2·
      10 months ago

      I’m also a big fan of Mint for this, but also Fedora Kinoite. I can’t say I used Kinoite extensively, but I can say the bit I used it was far more stable than any other distro I used (and the backups-for-free approach really helped my anxiety lol)

  • joojmachine@lemmy.ml
    8·
    10 months ago

    Stick with Fedora, but give a shot to the Atomic variants (Silverblue, Kinoite, etc.) You can always switch DEs back and forth with one command. Even if you don’t stay with Fedora, it will help a lot for you to find the desktop environment that fits your workflow best (although I do recommend sticking with Fedora)

  • Dessalines@lemmy.ml
    8·
    10 months ago

    EndeavourOS is an arch-based distro that “just works”. I put it on a new machine recently, and the installer manages to let you pick a desktop environment, and still manages to be user friendly.

  • where_am_i@sh.itjust.works
    6·
    10 months ago

    None of those people have a slightest clue. Your options really are: ubuntu vanilla and maybe pop os.

    Everything else will very quickly require you to read through some obscure docs and bash your head against the terminal.

    Vanilla Ubuntu, not kubuntu/xubuntu/whateverbuntu is the only polished and documented distro. After a year or two of that you’ll be ready to consider this “what distro” question.

  • Ramin Honary@lemmy.mlEnglish
    6·
    10 months ago

    Distros that just work (although YMMV): Fedora, Mint, Ubuntu, Pop!_OS with the default desktop environments. I have been using Ubuntu and Fedora both (on different computers) for over 15 years now they each always get the WiFi and BlueTooth drivers right, neither ever has trouble with audio or video, they really just work, and they both are pretty well up-to-date with the latest stable versions of the biggest Linux apps in their repositories.

    I have been thinking of switching my Ubuntu computers over to Mint (Xfce edition, though Cinnamon isn’t bad), which uses the same base operating system package set as Ubuntu, but its ownership model is more collective and community-oriented. Fedora is also collectively owned, while Pop!_OS and Ubuntu are owned and operated by for-profit businesses – that doesn’t make them bad, it just might be something to consider.

    Also, if you don’t mind a shameless plug, I wrote a blog post on how to choose a Linux distro, so feel free to read if it pleases you.