I’m replacing a couple of really old PCs at work with slightly less old PCs and I know they don’t meet Windows 11 specs without workarounds. I’m thinking about taking the leap but I need printer support to work. Otherwise something like open office and a web browser will do what I need. What distro should I start with? I don’t have time to find a perfect fit.
Probably linux mint. Everything tends to work out of the box and function the way you’d expect. If you’re used to windows then cinnamon will have a familiar feel to it. I like xfce myself, but I move things around to make it feel like windows 95.
It needs testing to ensure you get what you need, but I found printer support worked better on Linux for my obscure printer. If you setup a CUPS server then distros will automatically find the networked printers.
SUSE/OpenSUSE also has a very good GUI printer admin with lots of automatic setup and auto driver downloads…makes it so easy.
I just have a single network printer I need to access from all of our computers. A Sharp mx-4071’if memory serves. I figured it out on Linux Mint in about 10 minutes so I’m pretty happy with that.
I’m loving KDE’s Neon distro that’s based off Ubuntu. I’ve not had to do much faffing around to get it the way I want it and anyone that has used Windows should be comfortable using it. KDE Plasma feels very polished and streamlined.
Debian is solid and will come ready with office and web apps. You might want to check out if drivers are available for your printers though. You can always try it out on a live USB.
2024 YEAR OF THE LINUX DESKTOP
I’m replacing a couple of really old PCs at work with slightly less old PCs and I know they don’t meet Windows 11 specs without workarounds. I’m thinking about taking the leap but I need printer support to work. Otherwise something like open office and a web browser will do what I need. What distro should I start with? I don’t have time to find a perfect fit.
Open office is a dead project, avoid at all costs. LibreOffice or OnlyOffice are active.
Probably linux mint. Everything tends to work out of the box and function the way you’d expect. If you’re used to windows then cinnamon will have a familiar feel to it. I like xfce myself, but I move things around to make it feel like windows 95.
It needs testing to ensure you get what you need, but I found printer support worked better on Linux for my obscure printer. If you setup a CUPS server then distros will automatically find the networked printers. SUSE/OpenSUSE also has a very good GUI printer admin with lots of automatic setup and auto driver downloads…makes it so easy.
I just have a single network printer I need to access from all of our computers. A Sharp mx-4071’if memory serves. I figured it out on Linux Mint in about 10 minutes so I’m pretty happy with that.
I’m loving KDE’s Neon distro that’s based off Ubuntu. I’ve not had to do much faffing around to get it the way I want it and anyone that has used Windows should be comfortable using it. KDE Plasma feels very polished and streamlined.
Debian is solid and will come ready with office and web apps. You might want to check out if drivers are available for your printers though. You can always try it out on a live USB.
Every year is the year of the linux desktop lol
fr this time i swear