Bjarne Verschorre

Prenote

There are a few things I want to mention:

• This was inspired by a post from a friend of mine, called "Actually good distro recomendations for beginners^↗". I thought it was a great post and wanted to write my own version of it. There will probably be some overlap between the two posts, but I will try to make it as unique as possible.
• This is my personal opinion with my experience switching full-time to Linux after using Windblows for my entire life.
• Everyone has different needs and preferences, so what works for me might not work for you. Everyone also has different hardware, so some distros might not work as good as others on your machine. Trail and error is the best way to find out what works for you.
• I (of course) have not tried every single distro out there, so I can’t speak for all of them. I will only talk about the ones I have tried and have experience with.

Why this post?

As Ash^↗ mentioned in his post, every single website just shills the same distros over and over again. Everything feels AI generated or just garbage thrown together to get some ad revenue. These are my personal recommendations for beginners, based on my experience and what I think is important for a beginner to know.

Distros to avoid

“Gaming distros”

There is almost no reason to use a “gaming distro” over a regular distro. They are usually just bloated with software you don’t need or want, have weird themes and icons, and sometime just not beginner friendly.

Arch and Arch based distros

Arch is not a beginner friendly distro. It’s not even a beginner friendly distro for people who have been using Linux for a while. This would also go for distros like Manjaro^↗, EndeavourOS^↗, Garuda^↗(A “Gaming” distro), etc.

Any “specialized” distro

This would be distros like Kali^↗, Tails^↗, Parrot^↗, etc. These distros are not meant for daily use, but for specific tasks, they are more like tools than operating systems.

Anything not (based on) Debian or Ubuntu

Seeing as Debian and Ubuntu are the most popular distros, it’s easier to find help and support for them. Most software is also made for Debian based distros, so you will have less compatibility issues.

Things you should know before switching

Linux is not Windows

This is the most important thing to know. Linux is Linux. I was very perficient in Windows so I thought I would be able to pick up Linux in no time. I was wrong. Linux is a completely different beast. They function differently. The only thing you could do to learn it is to use it.

You will have to use the terminal

The terminal is your friend. It’s not as scary as it looks. You will have to use it at some point, so you might as well get used to it. As a beginner you will probably use GUI tools more, but for quickly installing software or troubleshooting, the terminal is the way to go (9/10 you can just copy-paste the commands you find online).

Compatibility

Not all software is available for Linux. Make sure the software you rely on is available for Linux. You can check AlternativeTo^↗ for alternatives.

• If you are a gamer, make sure the games you play are available for Linux, you can check the ProtonDB^↗ for compatibility.
• Arist, editor, etc. Make sure the software you use is available for Linux. Adobe software is not available for Linux, but there are alternatives like GIMP^↗, Krita^↗, Inkscape^↗, etc.
• Make sure certain hardware you use is compatible with Linux. Things like GoXLR, Elgato Stream Deck, etc. might not work on Linux. Or even software you use for controlling your hardware might not be available for Linux.

Do not pick for the looks

This is a mistake I made when I first started using Linux. I picked a distro because it looked cool thinking that that distro is the only that could look like that. If you know what you’re doing you could make anything look like anything.

My recommendations

Desktop Environment

The desktop environment is what you see when you boot up your computer. It’s the GUI of the OS. If you’re coming from Mac, you might like GNOME^↗, if you’re coming from Windows you might like KDE^↗ or Cinnamon^↗ (based on GNOME) which is more stable and more usable in my opinion.

Distros

I’m just going to straight up recommend these:

• If you’re coming from macOS: Try Ubuntu^↗ which uses GNOME^↗ and is Debian based.
• If you’re coming from Windows: Try Linux Mint^↗ which uses Cinnamon^↗ and is Ubuntu based.
• If you’re having troubles because of your NVidia GPU: Try Pop!_OS^↗ which uses GNOME^↗ and is Ubuntu based.

That’s it. I’ve been using Linux Mint^↗ for almost a year or two now and I’ve loved it.

Honorable mentions

• Debian^↗: it’s stable but very outdated and kinda barebones which isn’t the best for beginners.
• Zorin OS^↗: it’s a great distro for beginners but it’s pretty restrictive in the free version.