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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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Following is a good resource for a distro decision https://www.privacyguides.org/en/desktop/ If you ever want to know more about something like firewall, bkuetooth, etc. use wiki.archlinux.org/ but only use arch if you want a very steep learning curve.
It doesn't matter too much which distro you choose. It's all linux.
Nvidia or AMD? If Nvidia I would especially suggest pop_OS, but really, either way that distro is great.
I believe the biggest difference between Linux distributions for beginners will be the DE (desktop environment), you can change it in any distro you choose, but usually there is a DE that is optimized or customized as standard for each distribution. Some DE are very different from the Windows interface. I highly recommend using Cinnamon, Mate or KDE, the transition from Windows to Linux will be smoother in my opinion. The DE also includes a suite of applications such as an office suite, browser, administrative and customizable tools, which will also impact your experience. As other said before Linux Mint is a great option, it is stable and friendly. There is LMDE which is Mint with Debian under the hood instead of Ubuntu if you care about use a non-enterprise based distro, but that is another discussion.
Zorin is designed with windows users in mind. It's very polished and it helped me make the transition.
I started of on Linux Mint, had a couple of niggles with it so I thought 'let's be a spoony and get Ubuntu.' Got on pretty well with Ubuntu but there were a few minor things about Gnome I didn't like. I'm now on Kubuntu and it's the Goldilocks zone for me. It's been about 18 months now since I abandoned Windows 7.
you've got a lot of answers, but as someone who started playing around with Linux recently I would say it's probably better to start familiarizing yourself with some command line operations in windows now.
Do some things like, use the terminal to search for and open programs you need, delete files, even write some basic text documents.
yes, you'll have to do some googling to work out how to do these things (and why it didn't work) - and now you're on the path to linux!
Maybe you'll even find a way to install a command line browser to look up the answers.
The Windows command line is nothing like the Linux one. It's much less pleasant to use too.
I dont know OPs history. I grew up trying to play Theme Park from the command line in DOS without knowing what "IRQ" meant before google even existed to look it up.
If you've only ever used GUIs, even knowing
cd ..
ls
might be very alien.
Maybe you're right, the jump from pure GUI to the Windows CLI is probably a much bigger paradigm shift than between these two CLIs. I was mostly worried about OP getting discouraged from ever dabbling in CLI due to the Windows one being terrible.
I'm impressed there isn't yet anyone who's suggesting arch btw and dead serious about it.
But Pop!_OS without a doubt.
I’d say go with kde as you DE. Personally I like opensuse tumbleweed.
Opensuse gives a lot of „windows like“ features like control panel etc.
Depends. Whatever choice you pick - go with Plasma (KDE) desktop. Most of below choices have alternative desktop flavors that offer Plasma instead of Gnome.
If your goal is to play games - something like Bazzite might work.
If your goal is to have a desktop experience with some gaming, something like NobaraOS or PopOS would work.
If your goal is only desktop experience - ubuntu will work.
If your goal is to learn and have super awesome Linux desktop - Arch Linux.
Personally I am in Arch Linux for the past decade. Tried many different ones and Arch Linux is the only one that simply "just works" for me. Not suitable for beginners.
If you're a gamer, I recommend Pop!_OS. Everything works out of the box, plus extra compatibility for Nvidia cards. It took me a second to get used to the UI, but now I can't go back.
If history repeats itself Windows 10 is not going to die until the next good Windows floods the market
You can always start sooner and dual boot on Linux Mint to get familiar test your usecases. I have been dual booting and haven't logged into Windows in over 6 months. Gaming is pretty good for many games on Linux.
Im going to try out Nobara when they move to plasma 6 and also EndeavourOS. One of those will suit my needs for gaming.
Agreed, Nobara is the best for those with Nvidia hardware who are leaving windows.
please please please avoid an LTS (long term support) distro for desktop use, especially if gaming. this includes Linux mint which is based on Ubuntu LTS. the packages are painfully old and cause problems playing the latest games, particularly where they don't work out of the box with lutris/proton/wine etc. LTS is great for servers and workstations but not end users
experienced users can make any distro work including LTS but it's extra overhead for new folks
OP, this is terrible advice. Do not follow! Unless you run into a problem with Ubuntu LTS or distro based on it that you and the community cannot solve and it's due to the LTS, stick with LTS. The vast majority of users are on LTS which is why there are tested solutions for most common problems you might run into. LTS releases last for many years so once you solve a problem, it's likely you won't have to solve it again for a long time, unless you decide to make your life more interesting by upgrading or changing the OS. Non-LTS releases last for 9 months or so, then you're thrust onto a new set of changes and bugs that may or may not hit you, with much fewer comrades to test them and find solutions for. As a new user, if you're going with Ubuntu or Ubuntu-based OS, stick to LTS. You'll have enough hurdles to cross getting acquainted with the OS itself.
my lug tries to help people trying to run lutris on old LTS versions and for one example we ended up having to tell them to use some .deb for lutris since ubuntu shipped a broken lutris version for a year or whatever users should always be able to depend on their package manager alone instead of side loading content. even had instances of their version of wget or curl being incompatible with winetricks and gitlab and githubs apis
Most of the top answers are good so I will emphasize something that others have mentioned as well, which is that one of the lovely things about Linux is that your GUI, your window manager or desktop environment (different things I know, don't @ me) is up to you.
My personal favorite is xfce, but obviously a lot of people like KDE, Cinnamon, and Mate (mah-tay). There's of course a whole world of options beyond those, when you're choosing a distribution, go to the distro's website, and look at the screenshots. If they have different versions for different desktop environments or window managers, look at all the screenshots. Try to pick one that has a look and layout that looks comfortable to you.
Also backup your home directory. And remember you can always distro hop.