Hey I’m cell and my bf of nearly 2 years asked me to switch to Linux because it’s “obv way better then windows” (his words xd) and until now I always said no. I didn’t wanna learn how to navigate through a new distro all over again. I gave it some thought and decided to make it his “Christmas” present that I’m installing Linux on my laptop :3 if any of you can give me advice on what type of Linux, like arch, I should install and what I should be aware of would really help!
I’m the Pop_OS hype guy, so that’s what I’ll recommend. Other great options are ZorinOs and Mint, if you dislike using a new interface.
Start with Mint, it’s the one that probably you’d be happier with if you’re a new user.
Okay guys a little update…my boyfriend found the post xD but I decided that I’m gonna do it with his help! But thank you all for helping me and giving me very helpful advice :P
If your doing this for him then why not just ask him to help you choose a distro and show you how it works?
It’s supposed to be a surprise :3 he doesn’t know I wanna do this. Until now I always said no to it that’s why xd
Well I’m not your boyfriend but I’d enjoy the act of sharing my knowledge and exploring distros with my partner much more than her telling me she went online to talk to a bunch of strangers about something I have an interest/knowledge of.
Also be aware that if this is your first time installing a new os you should assume you will lose all the files on your computer in the process, back up what you care about.
No worries haha he also talked with someone here where somebody posted something like “how to get my partner to switch to Linux” 😭I can assure you he won’t mind but yeah doing it together might be fun :) I got a lot of information and I’m sure he will be surprised about me new knowledge xd
You taking the inititive is 90% of the reward right there. Sharing is the best part of Tech.
I think anyone who talks like this “linux is obv way better then windows” should just be brushed off. If he cant give you the actual reasons why you may WANT to switch then I dont think you should switch just as a present.
Fedora with KDE desktop and non foss repo’s enabled is a good. Do not start with Arch unless you enjoy troubleshooting and learning and repeating the same steps over and over.
He didn’t say it like that xd I can’t remember his exact words but he had a better explanation for it. He used Linux for like almost 2 years now I think.
To answer around the question, I’d say the best way to give this gift is to work with them to get you set up! They might already have a favorite distro they want you to try, and working through it both together is a great way to spend time together.
Thats a really good idea :3 thank you! He said that Linux mint is good for new users so maybe I’m gonna do that with his help
Id recommend mint cinnamon. If you have any problems installing it, try Zorin
I installed zorin onto my son’s computer. So far it’s been pretty great.
Use Ventoy to put a few different distros on a USB drive. Boot them up and try them out! You just want something you vibe with. Most of the suggestions here will be fine.
Contrary to what others suggest, do not use Mint. You want a distro that offers the KDE Plasma desktop. I strongly recommend starting with Bazzite if you primarily play games or Fedora KDE if you want more personal control. You could always start with Bazzite and switch to Fedora KDE later if you decide Bazzite is too restrictive.
I mostly use my laptop for school or video editing. But I’m gonna inform myself a bit more but if you say mint isn’t good for that kind of stuff then I will find something else :3 thank you though!
Video editing with open source software is still a bit rough on Linux, Kdenlive is there, but you will probably have a much better experience with Davinci Resolve. They have native linux support and most distros are well supported.
Mint should be fine for that. What I think this poster is encountering is that Mint does not always run well on the latest and greatest hardware. The Mint team favours a well tested and older base.
Bazzite and Fedora are a bit friendlier to newer hardware, but not quite as bleeding edge as Arch bases Distros.
Remember that starting with Mint and migrating to something else a year later is a normal and healthy Linux journey, as is staying on Mint for years.
Welcome to having choice! And in my opinion, being an kick ass partner
I tried a few distro over the years. They all had issues. Mint was the first one that “just worked” without fucking a round with terminal.
Put it on my parents PCs and they had 0 issues.
Fedora and KDE have more “polish” but in my experience the tradeoff is bug hunting and terminal use. Not something I wanted to get into moving to a new OS.
While this is purely anecdotal, Mint is the only distro I have ever consistently run into major hardware support problems. Others seem to confirm that experience, especially with newer hardware.
In addition to that, I absolutely loathe Cinnamon and Mint does not natively support KDE by design. It’s an awful recommendation for new users because it feels outdated and clanky and they are far more likely to run into compatibility problems than Fedora, which has always worked out of the box for everything I’ve tried, and I have tried it on quite a lot.
My opinions are opinions, but I strongly feel that steering new Linux users toward Mint sets a bad first impression.
Instead of a distro, I’ll recommend a desktop environment: If you want to feel comfortable coming from windows, use a distro with KDE.
start with Mint, get your legs under you, after a couple weeks or so if you want to explore try something else. it’s as easy as that.
im lazy. I use zorin. Its pros are its easy, stable, and out of box. But its pros can be looked as cons. Well maybe not the easy part but its stable because it uses ubuntu lts which means its not using the latest linux kernel stuff. Then out of box can be looked at as great I have any program I need installed right away or it can be looked at as a bunch of bloat. Either way another thing is its not a gaming distro. If gaming is your thing then either use a gaming distro or you will likely want to dual boot one. Speaking of dual boot I recomend not dual booting windows. If you have an older laptop you upgraded from in the last few years then throw linux on the old one and be amazed at how well it runs and how your older machine seems better than your newer one.
As others have said, Linux Mint would be a good starting point. For UI and UX, it’s pretty unaggressive, specially for those coming from Windows, but it still doesn’t hide the technical part of the system.
Also its installation is pretty simple and without tricks. And if your boyfriend doesn’t care about removing the previous system, you don’t even need to tinker with partitions and the sort.
There are many special distributions designed for different purposes, such as gaming or being easy for new users. While I’m aware of their existence, I haven’t personally used them, so there’s not much I can say about them. If my list doesn’t appeal to you, don’t hesitate to look elsewhere. There’s a distro for every purpose and style.
However, Here are a few I can recommend for different kinds of users:
Debian: If stability is important, but you don’t mind the old packages, Debian is a good choice. It also has one of the largest package repositories.
Ubuntu: It offers excellent package availability and plenty of tutorials and forum posts. Many new users have already asked the questions you’ll likely have, making it generally easy to learn.
Fedora: While not as new as Arch, Fedora still offers very fresh packages. It requires very little tinkering when compared to Arch.
Arch: This is for demanding users who want to customise their system. You’re comfortable taking responsibility for your decisions and enjoy reading up on various topics. Having very new packages is important to you. This one is a rolling release distribution, so there are no big annual releases of the next version number. Just install the updates, and you’ll have the latest Arch.
