So i was surprised today when my fiancee told me she was thinking about switching over to linux. Surprised because she is absolutely not technically minded, but also because she was weary about having Microsoft AI slop forced on her PC every update. ( i’m so proud!)
Now i’ve used a little linux but i’ve always been a holdout. Won’t stop me from moving someone else over but i have too much going on in my setup to deal with that right now. So i’m not super versed but i was able to give her the basic rundown of what distros are, concerns when switching, what may and may not be available, shes still on board so we’re doing this! Knowing her she would like to not have to transition too much, whats something fairly hands off and easy to learn. I’ve heard some good things about mint from hanging around you nerds the past few years but also some not so good things, any suggestions?
next concern is what kind of transfer process is this going to be? i have some spare HDD’s so we can try and get everything ported over but i’m so busy with school right now i can’t quite allocate the time to really deep dive this.
Any help is appreciated, cheers!
Mint
Specifically Linux Mint Debian Edition
Even as an EndeavourOS user, I concur: Mint. Why? Cinnamon is hands down the best desktop environment. Beginner friendly default without blasting features in one’s face with configs all over the place, yet intuitively customizable for experienced Linux users.
This means she will be able to freely use it without your help, but you will be able to easily fine tune it to her preferences as well.
⚜︎ arscyni.cc: modernity ∝ nature.
My last experience with Mint might’ve been 10 years ago. The outdated packages so common among Debian-based distros back then made me switch to something else. I don’t know what’s the current situation, though.
Three correct answers:
- Mint
- Fedora
- Pop
And a few incorrect answers:
- Ubuntu
- Arch
- Ubuntu again
- Really, don’t go with Ubuntu
Pop is such a cool project but it’s been kinda broken for me both times I’ve tried it, and then add to that what happened with Linus tech tips where him being dumb combined with pop having not fixed a major and obvious packaging issue that completely broke his system has kinda just left me with the impression they’re not super on top of the ball
I hope that’s changed, I want them to be successful, especially with cosmic
Another incorrect answer: Manjaro
https://github.com/arindas/manjarno
If you want Arch but a bit easier, just install EndeavourOS.
Who even uses normal arch anymore.
All the cool kids use endeavour or cachy. Which is like calling Ubuntu, Debian.
Nah all the cool kids are on Omarchy now.
Ah yes, arch but fascist.
pass
Damn, I’m 2 months into my first Linux experience and went with Ubuntu Studio since I use my PC for freelance audio/music/art and it’s promoted as great for creatives. It took a lot of work to get my audio working without ALSA and more work to get smaller things working right. I’m concerned if I switch distros I’ll have to do it all again and I barely remember what I did to fix things haha. Think I’m stuck with Ubuntu. Didn’t realize it was so looked down on.
Ubuntu Studio is great, but absolutely not for beginners. Ubuntu Studio isn’t the same thing as Ubuntu, too. They change a lot from the base Ubuntu.
Oh ok, I didn’t know that. I thought it was just Ubuntu with pre installed programs and a low latency kernel. I’ve been enjoying the learning curve, even though it’s been frustrating at times I’ve learned so much in the last 2 months and love it haha
What about Ubuntu flavors? Or Debian?
Not for beginners.
Unfortunately, Linux Mint devs are transphobic.
As a general rule of thumb, I usually recommend Linux Mint to beginners. The installation and update processes are easy and intuitive, and there is a ton of software available, as well as good support if you know how to do web searches properly. The main trick is to try and remember that a paradigm shift needs to happen here. Linux is not Windows. It doesn’t work like Windows, and it has different aims and priorities. She will also need to be prepared to learn a bit and be slightly more hands-on with her computing. The learning curve with Mint is comparatively gentle, but it does exist.
This is all very broad and general, but I hope it helps. Good luck to the both of you. I hope you are satisfied with whatever you decide on.
Fedora is pretty cool.
Linus Torvalds uses it, so you could say it’s the canonical distribution.
Second on fedora, have been using it as a daily driver for over a year and ot has been pretty solid.
Linux Mint is the windows 7 experience of linux. It gets out of the way so you can work. It also has the best in-OS help tools. It’s also a bit more conservative in terms of newest features, so it’s a lot more reliable.
If she does PC gaming, you might want to look at Bazzite rather than Mint. It’s a lot better equipped for non-technical people to start gaming. It’s basically a preconfigured Fedora linux, so it’s got a solid foundation. It’s also something called an immutable distro, which basically means it’s more difficult to break as the core OS is “read only” (to simplify).
In terms of migrating, best to avoid dual booting off a single disk. Microsoft keeps breaking Linux installs (probably on purpose). So best to install a second SSD.
Before you migrate, have her make a list of software she uses and the hardware she has. Best to post that on a forum like this to have more experienced people look for possible issues.
When it gets to migration day, if bitlocker is disabled, you can access your windows data from linux.
Also get her on Lemmy and asking questions directly. The best thing you can teach a low tech person is how to get help.
Unfortunately, Linux Mint devs are transphobic.
Any of the large, easy to use distributions should work just fine. I’d recommend a popular distribution because it’ll be easier to get help online. So consider Mint, Fedora, OpenSuse, Ubuntu and maybe Pop!_OS.
I think the main consideration should be which DE (desktop environment) she’d like to use. IMO the main contenders would be:
- KDE - Very configurable, nice looking, a bit heavy.
- Gnome - Simple and very opinionated, so not very configurable, a bit heavy.
- Cinnamon - Should feel familiar to Windows users, a bit faster than KDE and Gnome.
- Cosmic - A middle ground between Gnome’s simplicity and KDE’s configurability, pretty fast.
- XFCE - Very fast and light-weight, fairly configurable, but not very flashy.
Based on which DE she prefers, I’d suggest getting a distribution that comes with said DE by default, for the best possible integration. How do you figure out which DE she likes best? Put Ventoy on a USB stick along with a few different Linux ISOs. Ventoy wil let you choose which one to boot from a menu. You could get the following ISOs:
- Fedora or Ubuntu with Gnome
- OpenSUSE with KDE
- Linux Mint with Cinnamon
- Pop!_OS with Cosmic
- Mint or Ubuntu with XFCE
Download an ISO for each, install Ventoy on a USB stick and copy the ISOs to the stick. Boot into each ISO and play around with the desktop for a bit. When she’s figured out which DE she prefers, install a distribution that comes with that desktop.
I’ve not noticed Cinnamon being any faster than KDE. I’d recommend KDE for someone coming from Windows.
I’m on KDE as a former Windows and Mint user and it’s really annoying. Especially the text editor Kate. All the hotkeys are different than Windows/Mint, there’s no notepad equivalent and only a notepad++ equivalent, the GNOME text editor doesn’t match the theming, and I had to settle on Mousepad for my replacement.
I had to do a lot of customization to get the system to behave like Windows, particularly the panel. Maybe with ZorinOS it’s better.
I mean from what you’re telling me I’d imagine cinnamon, but now that you mention It, wasn’t there a website dedicated to showing off the different desktop environments?
Not really possible, because how a desktop feels or what can be configured it’s hard to show on a website. Especially how you can visually adapt it. And what you can configure in general. Running it from a live USB takes like 5 minutes.
For example KDE is also very close to Windows, but can also be configured to behave more like a Mac. Visually most desktop environment can be themed. Cinnamon just got additions to be able to theme gnome apps globally I think? If you want to use a central dock like a Mac and have running apps at the top, that’s just a master of setting that up on KDE.
It was distrosea I was thinking of
Suggesting anything with gnome should come with a penalty of having to fist fight a Canadian goose and it’s henchswans.
Unfortunately, Linux Mint devs are transphobic.
Mint is a good jumping off point
Zorin OS is better
Isn’t Zorin very out of date?
I’ll be honest I tried zorin and it looked too much like MacOS for my tastes
I think Zorin OS 18 based on Ubuntu 24.04
was released just few days ago?will be released tomorrow. Also Zorin OS uses heavily modified Gnome Wayland session which is by many standards more “modern” and “leading edge” than X11 Cinnamon session. The desktop environment is by far the most significant thing an average Joe user will be affected by. If their packages are bit older they won’t notice as much.
If you’re supporting it, then one you are familiar with would be my recommendation. If you’re both beginners, then Mint.
Well quite obvious: as the name “Debian” was coined to celebrate the union between Debra and Ian, makes it a de facto choice! ;)
Mint for Windows refugees
Fedora for Mac Refugees
My choice: Bazzite GNOME for Gamers, Children and Grandmas. It’s pretty, is damn indestructible and has a speedy app store with loads of cool free apps.
I’m not a child, gamer nor grandma but last time i tried mint a few years ago i literally cried, so it might be something for me
Bazzite keeps sounding better for her needs tbh
It’s truly a fantastic distro. Fedora atomic is very much an attempt at making Linux as easy and secure as Android. I recommend it for beginners and experts alike, truly awesome tech going on.
I’ve dabbled with a few different distros in VMs and laptops that I don’t use a whole lot over the years. I recently moved my main desktop to Bazzite and I love it. The built-in ‘ujust’ scripts, or whatever you call them, are fantastic. Setting up an 8bitdo pro 2 was a breeze. Getting new apps installed, even with distrobox, is really easy. I’m sold on ublue, probably going to move my work laptop to Aurora soon.
Distro:
- First choice: Mint Cinnamon
- If the GPU is very shitty: Elementary OS (Mint Cinnamon expects a basic level of GPU performance)
- If Mint/Elementary are too simple: Fedora KDE
Process:
- For fully switching: Obtain an external hard drive, copy the contents of the Windows partition(s) to it and install your preferred distro so that it takes over the entire computer. This is the most stable way.
- For dual booting: Buy an SSD for Linux, disconnect the Windows drive and install your distro of choice so that it takes up the entire space. Reconnect the Windows drive afterwards and set boot priorities in UEFI.
One More Tip: Don’t frontload them with information, but teach them one thing: How search for and install packages through the GUI (Mint Software Manager/Elementary Store/KDE Discover). Tell them that it’s more like a smartphone apps and downloading software from websites should be a last resort.
Always great to see more people curious about Linux, especially when the motivation is escaping ms-bullshit…
If she wants something that just works but still feels polished and professional, I’d actually give openSUSE a look. Leap is rock-solid and perfect for people who want a stable system that behaves consistently and doesn’t demand much maintenance. Tumbleweed, on the other hand, is rolling release, so it’s always up to date but still surprisingly reliable thanks to openSUSE’s testing process.
Both use YaST, which is one of the best control panels in the Linux world. You can do a lot with YaST, like manage users, partitions, updates, drivers, and networking all from one place without ever touching the terminal.
Mint is also a fine choice as well…
This really depends on her hardware specs and what applications she needs to use.
Without knowing any of that, I would suggest Linux Mint. It is desktop user focussed and a good general OS. It includes drivers and common software in their version of an app store.
Debian is my distro of choice, but is not ideal for a new Linux user.
I would suggest checking what apps she needs and making sure they are available on Linux, or that a close equivalent is. Any apps that will be replaced, try the replacement out on Windows first if available. For example Adobe Illustrator to Inkscape, or MS Office to Libre Office.
For data transfer:
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As others have said. Backup the current computer fully. This in probably best done on an external hard drive. Make sure you know how to reinstall windows and restore from the backup.
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Copy all her data onto a different external hard drive. This is not the backup. It is a separate drive.
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Make sure all the data is actually on the external hard drive and readable from a different machine. Ideally boot from a Lunx live USB and check that the data can be accessed from the external drive.
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Install her distro of choice.
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Copy her data from the external HDD to her user account’s home folder of newly installed Linux.
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Debian or Ubuntu because they’re stable and well-funded. Makes a lot of stuff easier.
