Alright, peeps, I want to build Linux on my new PC and need some help with that. On my old PC, I had kubuntu installed, which I liked (at least until downloading Skype fried most of my installers and rebuffed all attempts at deinstallation). When installing kubuntu, I had a lot of help (and by a lot, I mean my friend did like 90% of the work) but as I don’t see them quite as often and I would like to be a little more self-sufficient this time around, I implore thee, Linux users of Hexbear. So here are some general questions:

  1. Which distribution is right for me?

I have some experience with MINT and kubuntu. I really liked the KDE environment of kubuntu and generally preferred it to MINT. My friend uses archlinux, but they also warned me that arch requires a bit of expertise and isn’t necessarily user firendly. It looked really cool, though. I am willing to learn, but I generally suck with computers. I will mostly use my PC for basic programming tasks and data analysis (mostly python using jupyter, but I would like to learn some basics in C++), similar work related tasks (using TeX-Studio, the pdf editing functions of programs like okular, Libre office on rare occasions etc.) and the occasional Minecraft session.

  1. Where can I find useful resources for learning about a given distribution?

Keep in mind that I suck absolute shit at computers. I know how to access/use the basic functions of the terminal and how to superficially navigate the PC, but anything beyond that is magic to me.

  1. Y’all got any good wallpapers?

A FALGSC themed wallpaper that doesn’t burn your eyes out due to being perdominantly red would be cool.

  • throwawayish
    1·
    1 year ago

    Which distribution is right for me?

    Step 1: Take a look at the most popular desktop environments: Cinnamon, GNOME, KDE Plasma and Xfce. If possible, consider even booting up a so-called live-usb and/or VM for some proper testing.

    Step 2: Pick either one out of Fedora, Linux Mint, openSUSE and Pop!_OS as long as they provide a Flavor/Spin of your favorite desktop environment (which you should have found out by now (See Step 1)). While not exhaustive, the following might help you out:

    • If you have an Nvidia GPU, then just use Pop!_OS. Unless you really, but like really hate its GNOME implementation.
    • Linux Mint and Pop!_OS are arguably the most newbie-friendly out of these. This doesn’t mean that Fedora or openSUSE are hard by any means. (Heck, I started my Linux journey with Fedora.) However, both Fedora and openSUSE are known for their great adherence to FOSS. Therefore, some decisions related to initial setup might not have been taken with a focus on making it as user friendly as possible.
    • If security is your highest priority, then consider either one of Fedora or openSUSE with GNOME/KDE Plasma. It’s not like the others are security nightmares, however Fedora and openSUSE are known to take security more seriously than the others do.
    • Both Linux Mint and Pop!_OS are distros that are based on LTS distros. As such, the base system will not change a lot until you upgrade to the next big release; which happens once every two years. Fedora, is able to change more considerably between its major releases; which happen once every half year. On the other hand, openSUSE Tumbleweed doesn’t really hold back updates at all; there’s an (almost) constant stream of updates. Though openSUSE also offers distros with a ‘more stable[1]’ release cycle; the likes of Slowroll and Leap come to mind.

    Where can I find useful resources for learning about a given distribution?

    Consider asking it here. We’ll do our best to answer. Furthermore, DistroWatch.com is a great resource.

    1. Stable, in this context, refers to slow to no rate of change while running software. So, in this context it isn’t used to convey breakage etc.