I would say dual boot so you can use windows when you can't figure something out
this post was submitted on 04 Sep 2024
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Or run Windows in a VM if you need it.
To me, Endless OS seems to be the best fit for you; install it once and you never ever have to give it a second glance for troubleshooting or whatsoever. It achieves this through using "a read-only root file system managed by OSTree with apps installed using Flatpak.". This translates to:
- The most important system-related files being protected from change by yourself and others.
- Ensurance that your base installation is exactly the same as the one tested and used by its developers. And thus an (in-)direct quality control and maintenance by the very people that work on it.
- As the base system is not changing beyond what is provided by the devs, installation of applications is relegated to flatpaks (see Flathub for the App Store).
- Flatpak is a packaging format that doesn't interact with the base system to install software; think of it like how applications are installed on your phone. With this, you can still install software you need without compromising changes to the base system.
It depends! You'll get a lot of recommendations. And they're probably good recommendations. But there are most certainly Distros out there that are very simple. I would suggest you don't be afraid to Distro Hop until you find one that you really feel at home on.
If you're looking for something that's simple, out of the box, and out of your way, I'd avoid anything Arch based. Ubuntu or Debian based Distros will have the most documentation and therefore minimize the amount of time you spend looking for answers, however, Fedora based Distros, in my experience, are rock solid and sit comfortably between stable and the bleeding edge.
Yes, it's easy. BUT:
- buy Linux-compatible hardware. While you might technically be able to get something to run by fucking around, it's just better to bit Linux-compatible hardware. If something doesn't work, it doesn't work, put it on a shelf and try again in six months.
- If you're dual-booting windows, know that windows occasionally nukes the boot loader, so that only windows loads. This happens irregularly, like every 2-5 years. A Linux friend can help fix it, or you can follow instructions online (you need an empty thumb drive to do it).
Sometimes, when dual booting Windows and Linux, especially on the same drive, the Windows installation just breaks. Sends you to automatic repair only for it to not work.
I learned this the hard way.
I actually tried linux (Fedora) this past weekend; I had fewer issues installing and using it as a day to day computer, than I did with Windows. Tried out Gnome and KDE both, preferred gnome but UI scaling (for my shit vision) was simpler out-of-the-box on KDE (about 125-150% was comfortable for me.) I found KDE a bit overwhelmingly customizable to start out with, and maybe a bit bloated.
The caveat to this was Gaming, in my case I did not have a good time with gaming (probably because I am trying to run at 4k and play a game dependant on Ubisoft DRM, as well as an older MMO that doesnt handle high DPI screens and ui scaling). Very frame-y at 4K, a decent amount of tinkering is/was required. YMMV, check ProtonDB as it is heavily dependent on what games you play, and heavily dependent on Steam. If you want to multi-box (without software, just alt-tab through windows) an MMO, I found functionally no information on how to open multiple instances of the same game to do so (which is why I mentioned the dependency on steam, which only seems to let you have one game launched at any given time)
Moving back to windows for gaming felt like a major downgrade as far as general computer work goes. Inside of an hour I had a fully functional, up to date, linux machine. Windows 11 took 1-2 hours to install and update itself, then another hour to install drivers, then longer to de-bloat and start disabling all the stupid shit from Microsoft. I'm sure I'll be doing that continuously for the next few weeks.
I found KDE a bit overwhelmingly customizable to start out with, and maybe a bit bloated.
I've said this kind of thing before; Gnome feels like it's trying to appeal to Apple users, "Look how simple it is, look how few settings menus there are, you use it the way we designed it to be used and only that way, nothing else works." They like their empty blank windows. The ideal Gnome utility app is a blank window with a single button in the title bar that says "Cancel." Featurelessness is their goal.
KDE always felt like the polar opposite of that to me. Every feature under the sun, sometimes twice. Nothing is consistent, nothing aligns quite right, they love their cluttered windows. The ideal KDE utility app is a window crammed edge to edge with text boxes, drop downs, radio buttons and check boxes that never opens quite big enough for all the elements in it. This one little utility app can do basically everything even remotely related to the task it's made for plus several other adjacent tasks, to the point it takes you a long time to find the one option you ever actually need in a sea of settings menus.
Cinnamon felt somewhere in between. Except where Gnome apps crept in with their hamburger menus and top bar UI, Cinnamon felt consistent and good looking without being an iPhone commercial, and their included utilities tended to have the functionality you needed and nothing you didn't.
I just recently built a PC, and to get the most out of an AMD GPU I'm using Fedora KDE instead of my long time favorite Mint Cinnamon, and I've already had to boot up my old computer once to use a Mint utility because I couldn't seem to get the job done in KDE. You know that USB stick formatter tool in Mint? Why doesn't every OS have that?
Just out of curiosity, how does Fedora KDE get more out of amd than Mint Cinnamon?
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Simple Answer: No
The moment you need to think about what distribution you need to choose from is where it'll stop any (dumb)user. Most people want a simple process with very little thinking.
If you are interested in learning linux and willing to take the time to understand the entire process that comes with it then yes.
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