Hello all,
I would like to transition my GF to linux.
To make the switch easy I’ll go for Ubuntu, but what would be the most windows-like desktop ?
Thank you!
Edit : thank you everyone, I’ll go with Mint instead then 👍 Thanks for the help!
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Can confirm. I persuaded my wife to switch to Linux some 10 years ago. She’s still using Linux to this day, but I’ve been her tech support for all these years. On the bright side, I’ve become very good at troubleshooting
That’s some good sense advice indeed, thank you.
I will think it through
it’s now you’re fault and you need to fix it. Even if you fix it, needing that help is still frustrating.
written from experience, i assume 😅
Out of the box, KDE has the most similar look and feel as Windows. That said, I do believe Linux Mint has Windows themed DEs that go one step further
Go Kubuntu if you want Ubuntu and Windows-like. Otherwise, Mint is a solid choice for a Windows user too, I believe Mate and Cinnamon both are very similar UI to Windows. Sadly Mint only does LTS versions now, but maybe that’s for the best if your GF isn’t super into tech?
You can install the 6.2 kernel on mint through the upgrade manager gui. It’s just a couple of clicks.
On the other hand Mint has a reputation for “just works” because the defaults are indeed LTS
Why do you want to get your girlfriend mad at you?
I’d say KDE since it offers fully working Wayland already.
What difference would this make to a new Linux user? Basically none, right?
No screen tearing never. My laptop saw a significant battery life boost (basicly doubled) when I switched DWM into DWL but I don’t know exactly why.
And because Wayland is the future and xorg decrepatec, why you’d recommend xorg for anybody since they must swtich at some point and I doubt even the most basic user can make that transition 100% flawlessly.
Lack of screen tearing is a good point if it makes a difference on that person’s hardware.
My thought wasn’t so much about recommending xorg (or not), more about whether the user would even be aware what that meant, or care at the point when they start using Linux. Kind of like launching straight into a flame war about systemd. In theory they (or their distro) should be able to switch the backend without the user noticing
My dad also made the switch to mint cinnamon about 3 years ago and I only had to fix things once for him (which was something in partitioning/fstab he or the installer messed up), he has successfully updated and maintained the system for 3 major releases yet and is even happier with Linux on his home laptop than with windows on his work laptop
Edit: he’s not really tech savvy or something, he’s a teacher by profession
KDE is more similar to windows, Gnome is maybe closer to MacOS.
But generally, KDE felt always a bit “super user” to me, and I found the amount of customizability and features more overwhelming than useful. Gnome is simple, clean, and I prefer it for that reason.
Linux Mint is the way to go. It’s by no means a clone of Windows(yuk) but has a “start button”, vertical menu with apps listed and a bottom taskbar. So it should be very easy to use and get used to.
There’s some themes for cinnamon that make it close enough to windows 10 styling.
This is my Linux Mint Cinnamon dressed up as Windows XP. How much more Windowsy would you like it ;-)
I’d give her Linux Mint with Cinnamon/MATE instead.
I’de rather go with Linux Mint Cinnamon or Nobara with their custom GNOME DE
Well cinnamon and plasma are good options, those de are widely available. Zorin os was a quick select option that lets you go from windows 7 to windows 10 to mac with a wimple click.
KDE Neon or Linux Mint will be your best betnfor a Windows-style layout. Just keep in mind it still isn’t Windows so stuff will he different
If you must use ubuntu, you’ll ultimately be tied to the desktop environments that ubuntu offers. Personally I don’t think ubuntu works well, especially outside of their gnome offshoot Unity DE. If you must use ubuntu I would say install kubuntu which has KDE Plasma on it. KDE Plasma is highly customizable, quite pretty and pretty easy to use.
Check this distro in a VM first https://www.linuxfx.org
Not linuxfx, it’s a joke
It looks like a joke, but it’s actually scaring
Why scaring?
Cause it offers onedrive too. With latest wine it could replicate and replace win for real
