Ask Slashdot: What's The Easiest Linux Distro For A Newbie?

joseph Kramer -- a long-time user of both Windows and MacOS -- comes to Slashdot with the ultimate question: I've been lurking here for years and seen many recommendations for a Linux flavor that works. What I'm really looking for is Linux that works without constant under-the-hood tweaking (ala early Windows flavors, 3.1, 95/98). Does such an OS exist? For the record, I am not an IT tech. I just need something to work with the mechanical equipment it controls. Any recommendations?
When it comes to Windows and MacOs, he describes himself as "fed up with their shenanigans." So leave your best answers in the comments. What's the best way for a newbie to get started with Linux?

Comments

Mint

[Anonymous Coward]

The answer in my opinion is Mint, there shouldnt be tons of constant fiddling... However it is important to understand, Linux is still very much a power-user operating system... So far i havent seen any distro worth its salt that does alot of hand holidng.

Re:Mint

[hambone142]

I third Linux Mint. Just put it on a disc and boot from the disc to give it a try (or a flash drive). You don't even have to load the OS to try it. If you like it, you can dual boot it with Windows or overwrite Windows.

I installed it both ways on two laptops and I really like it. The user interface is similar to Widows so it should be pretty intuitive.

Re: Mint

[Anonymous Coward]

What is with this obsession of Linux users to want everyone to be "advanced users"?
It's precisely because of that, that Linux doesn't have a bigger marketshare, because of the Terminal that obsessed linux fans refuse to get rid of and the toxic community.

Re:Mint

[present_arms]

Mint is a fine start. also think pclinuxos too, it's actually made to be simple and like mint you can have a variety of desktops disclamier: pclinuxos user and the person behind the trinity desktop version

Re: Mint

[daedalus2097]

Because then it wouldn't be leet enough for them and they wouldn't be able to pick up chicks with their hax0r terminal skillz.

This is one of the things that annoys me too. I use Mint the whole time, and while it is lovely and user-friendly 95% of the time, I still find myself Googling for solutions to strange problems like not being able to save a custom resolution setting, only to find dozens of condescending forum posts on similar subjects pointing out that I obviously hadn't run [insert several cryptic terminal commands] before trying to do what I wanted to do.

Re: Mint

[Ol Olsoc]

Because then it wouldn't be leet enough for them and they wouldn't be able to pick up chicks with their hax0r terminal skillz.

This is one of the things that annoys me too.

Ain't that the truth! As much as I love Linux, when I have a problem, it becomes a real pain in the ass.

One group I have to deal with has twice now come out like crocodiles on a wildebeest to me when I reported a problem. In both cases, I've reported problems with updated distros and their software, and was called stupid, to go learn how to use Linux because it was obvious I never used it before, mismanaging my dependencies, and on and on. Then the distro producers put out a new distro. And it works. I was right, there was an issue with the distros - although the software should be more forgiving. Crickets chirping except for one guy who still said it was my fault.

The thing that is sadly hilarious is that this software comes out for Windows, OSX and Linux.

The first two, you click and install, and get to work. The Linux version is hours of screwing around. I enjoy compiling software, but mystery dependencies and inconsistent installs is a real pain in the ass.

And exactly like these folks want it to be. They like 1999, and don't want to leave it. The goal is to do work, not simply get the software to work.

Otherwise, Mint with Snynaptic to hit the software repositories is pretty good. If the software you need can be picked up through the repositories, you can bypass the ancient computing hell.

Re: Mint

[Ramze]

Why should that make you wonder? I "love" my jeep, but I have AAA, know a great mechanic, and I don't even change my own oil. I can change a tire and put gas in the vehicle... but the reason I love it has nothing to do with servicing it myself. I didn't assemble the thing myself, nor do I care to know how the parts all fit together. I just want it to work and if/when something needs maintenance or a recall, I want an alert and easy-to-follow instructions... even if those instructions are to get someone else to service it.

I can't speak for the grandparent post, but for me, that's how it is for Linux. I like what it DOES for me, and I like that it isn't backed by any singular for-profit company that wants to display ads on my machine or mine my personal data for profit.

If/when Linux becomes completely point-and-click or touch-screen / voice only input for settings and servicing, it'll finally reach desktop and tablet ubiquity. Android got a lot of things right that Linux has yet to figure out... Android is technically Linux w/ its kernel, but it's definitely not the same OS as Ubuntu... and it really shows from its market share in everyday user interface land.

The terminal has its place, but it should be a last resort. Windows and Macs have GUIs for just about every setting under the sun. Windows even has "fix me" buttons to click on Microsoft's site for various bugs so one can download a script and run it without ever touching a terminal session... though lately, the most common "fix me" type situations are even embedded into the OS in a troubleshooting section under Windows 10.

There's really no excuse for any help discussion to begin with "first open a terminal and type sudo...." anymore. It's 2017, and we have advanced AI with machine learning algorithms. Please, someone help the Linux community move into the mid 1990s with GUIs. It's really the primary thing that's holding back Linux desktop and mobile acceptance. Servicing Linux when something breaks should be very user-friendly and easy. Breaking things should also be more difficult to do. Self-checks and self-healing should be a regular cron job, updating video drivers should be simpler and there should be an easy option to revert to last-stable... rather than being greeted by a blank screen upon reboot if something broke.

TL/DR
I love an OS when it works like I want it to, but I hate that Linux takes little care in catering to average, modern computer users that are not IT workers. Things should just work, and when the don't work, they should be easy to fix w/ point and click.

ChromeOS

[kurt555gs]

It's linux. And there isn't any tweaking you need to worry about.

Re:ChromeOS

[serviscope_minor]

RMS was right.

He always said we should refer to it as GNU/Linux to avoid confusion. Here the OP is likely referring to GNU/Linux, but you're directing him at something which has the Linux kernel but does not behave anything like normal GNU/Linux.

Re:ChromeOS

[AmiMoJo]

Your ad-hom was modded insightful. It's not.

RMS is right about a lot of stuff. Sometimes it took 20 or 30 years for him to be proven right, but he saw it coming and didn't have to resort to logical fallacies. That's insight.

Re:ChromeOS

[grep -v '.*' *]

RMS is also an opinionated boomer hippie asshole.

RMS: "Flattery will get you nowhere."

Slackware

[phantomfive]

and if you want the best user experience, install it from floppies.

Control/command ?

[dargaud]

What do you mean by:

I just need something to work with the mechanical equipment it controls

Apparently you just don't need a run of the mill desktop linux distro, but some special purpose to control some hardware, right ? The good news is that all linux systems are more or less equivalent for that. The bad news is: what is you equipment ? Does it support Linux ? Do you need to write software for it or are you provided drivers ? If the latter you should ask your hardware provider what they recommend, not us.

Gentoo

[fredgiblet]

Obviously.

Debian

[dwywit]

Just Debian, no derivatives.

I've had the least trouble with Debian. Mint just doesn't seem to like me, and I don't like Ubuntu.

Building Gentoo from source was fun, Fedora just didn't feel right, FreeBSD wouldn't even work in Virtualbox, and I've yet to experience the pleasure of Slackware.

If this is to control manufacturing/industrial equipment, you really should be employing someone with skills and experience. /advice

Just use Ubuntu

[Njovich]

You say you don't want to spend time tinkering. As we don't know what specific software/hardware you will run, only general advice can be given. So generally speaking, if you go with the flow and use the most used distro, that will maximize chances that any 3rd party software you use will work with it. Even if something goes wrong, you have the largest chance of being able to Google your way to a solution. So, then consider Ubuntu (or another mainstream Linux distro).

Re:Just use Ubuntu

[thegarbz]

Second vote with justification:

Ubuntu is primarily designed to be easy.
Ubuntu has one of the best explained manuals for a beginner on the internet, covering really how to do simple things to get a system working. I often look to other manuals to tweak or do something else, but something as simple as installing a printer the Ubuntu manual is fantastic.
Ubuntu is based on Debian which is an incredibly solid foundation for an OS.

A few other flavours exist like Mint, but they mostly arose from some design decisions that pissed off Ubuntu users earlier on, and are now easily customised away.

Same answer since always

[houghi]

The best one is the one the person uses you are going to ask for help. e.g. if you have a cow orker that uses Debian, and he is somebody that will be helping you, use Debian.

When I started I had nobody to ask and Google did not exist yet, so what I did was try out several of the large distributions at the time and the one I likes/Worked was S.u.S.E. (Now openSUSE).

So take a weekend and try out several of them. If you can not make a weekend available, you won't like changing OS and you will be a User (nothing wrong with that), not an admin on your own machine. Ask why you want to move to Linux and find a pre-installed system or let somebody else install it. As you won't tinker with your system, but just have it working, that would be the best solution.

The more important question is if you want KDE, Gnome or XFCE. And when you have decided on that, look at how to install new software and how upgrades are done.

I like YaST from openSUSE, because it is consitant for a lot of different things, not just installing software. You can also easily install XFCE, Gnome and KDE at the same time at the beginning to check them out.

I dislike Ubuntu for the main reason of how they handle root situations. Yes, I know you are able to change it, I just don't like how they treat it as default.

So try out several of them. https://distrowatch.com/?langu... will give an idea of popularity.

The easiest distro in my humble opinion

[truck87bp]

As a Teacher of Windows and Ubuntu to the elderly, Ubuntu Mate 16.04 is by far the best people friendly distro. It is so much like the 6.04-10.04 that we all used to love but with all the new bells and whistles. I get more complaints that Mint its a little harder to find stuff in. I'm close to 70 and don't program. Most of my students are older than I. Thanks to all of the Linux family everywhere for making life so great at our age.

Re:Elementary OS

[Sivaraj]

I second elementaryOS. It is very neat and clean UI and sensible defaults (most of the time). It is based on Ubuntu, so your have excellent package support. I have seen it working over 90% of the time with just default installation.

Some Linux veterans may feel a bit crippled since it has very limited customization options, but for newbies, and those who don't intend to fiddle with the system, but just use it, it is the best I have seen in a long time.

Re:You need the "golden unicorn" distro

[KozmoStevnNaut]

The best possibility is to find a version of Linux that does what you want it to, install it, then keep it far away from any and all internet connections. That is the only hope you have that it won't try to update itself, install new versions or discover that external stuff it expected to find has mysteriously been moved or deleted by the notional owner.

He was asking about Linux, not Windows 10.

Re:Yeah, well

[CronoCloud]

I changed my video card to one that had HDMI audio. If I want to use my fancy sound card, I need to prevent the system
from defaulting to the HDMI interface.

Your video card can output higher quality audio than your "fancy" audio card can, really.

(Mint 18.1) fails to make the old interface available in any of its configuration options. Blacklist the HDMI module? Now
I don't get any sound configuration interface at all. I fumbled around on the forums for days. Nobody had a solution that
that worked, much less one that a noob could grok.

pavucontrol, run it. If pavucontrol is not installed, install it, it has more configuration options and is apparently NOT installed by default in Mint 18.1 It will show BOTH your "fancy" sound card and HDMI audio and you can switch between them on the fly. In fact you can choose which output an application uses on an individual level. For example you could have XMMS outputting to HDMI, while rhythmbox is sending output to your "fancy" sound card.

IMHO pavucontrol should ALWAYS be installed by default on pulseaudio using systems

ChromeOS

[unixisc]

But that's where the bulk of usage is. In the last 2 decades, the only people who went Linux were those who knew and loved the various shells, programming environments, UIs and so on. Those who wanted something to simply work went the Windows or Mac route.

It's a different story today. While there's still no reason to go from Mac to ChromeOS if you've already sunk money into a Mac, people were unhappy first w/ Windows 8, and now Windows 10. But their choices - if they want to look at a Mac, they'll normally find it out of their budget - if they're not the Photoshop buffs but are just interested in email and websites. If they look at Linux, they'd have to be wary about what might not get recognized during the installation.

ChromeOS gives them much of their use case, and once it has the ability to run Android apps, they'd have a leg up over even Linux. Only thing - the Chromebooks currently in the market are vastly underpowered. It would be nice if ChromeOS DVDs were available, so that if one wanted to install it on an i7 w/ 8GB of RAM and 2TB of storage, one could, and not be restricted to those entry level toys. Another thing - not everyone wants to store everything on 'the cloud', so it would be nice if the OS allowed you to store your photos, music and the like locally, particularly if you're not using an 8GB SSD.

Just do it

[TimMD909]

Nike had the right idea: just do it. Pick a distribution. Use it. See if you like. If you don't, switch.

A very non-techie friend of mine installed Ubuntu 8.04 almost a decade ago and has only needed my help a couple times in that time period. Once he needed help with X config settings to hook up an old TV via HDMI. Another time it was a Comcast issue. Granted, my friend is on the high end of intelligence and he's not easily discouraged. His experience and lack of problems makes me believe Linux has been ready for the desktop for some time.