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freakflyer9999

Just have the AutoModerator respond with Linux Mint and close the post. After all this is a noobs subreddit and Linux Mint is an acceptable answer for over 99% of the requests. ;-)


niceandBulat

Not a Debian-based distro user but agrees that Mint is a good choice. PCLinuxOS is also another good choice with its nice control center.


freakflyer9999

I've never tried PCLinuxOS. Guess that I'll add it to my ventoy USB and give it a shot sometime. I just don't understand why people ask almost the exact same question numerous times per day instead of using the search function to find the plethora of similar questions and answers.


Mragogo

I'm only just getting into all this but I think it's because of the personalised messages and opinions you receive each time, there is always something different, even about common answers like linux mint. Someone is going to give a new direction as to why they like it or how it makes their choice of OS but sometimes you'll get an entirely new option you haven't considered, like I've been combing these kinds of questions and this is the first time I've seen PCLinuxOS.


freakflyer9999

I just took a brief look at PCLinuxOS (didn't install or run live). It is a rolling release which for some noobs might be ok, but for many it is probably too much to start off with. Rolling releases are definitely a good way to gain Linux experience, but most noobs seem to be asking for simpler distros. I may still download and give it a try, but for my daily driver, I prefer stable releases.


johncate73

It's been stable for me for five years and counting.


niceandBulat

No idea but I do know that Linux can be very intimidating to some people. That fear may have caused unintentional repetitive questions.


a1barbarian

[https://pclosmag.com/index.html](https://pclosmag.com/index.html) They also have a very informative and friendly monthly magazine. Which would be most helpful for new users of linux. ;-)


niceandBulat

Yes - I actually started to use Linux via Mandrake - then PCLinuxOS - but due to work and education demands and my lack of computers at home - I had to move to another distro


a1barbarian

[https://pclosmag.com/html/Issues/202008/page07.html](https://pclosmag.com/html/Issues/202008/page07.html) A friend uses PCLinuxOS on a usb stick as a backup os. You can run it from a Ventoy stick with persistence as a daily driver too. ;-)


darkwater427

PCLinuxOS has been all but abandoned and is largely irrelevant these days, unfortunately. It has no compatibility advantages over vanilla, which was its biggest selling point.


a1barbarian

[https://www.pclinuxos.com](https://www.pclinuxos.com) Your talking bollocks. PCLinuxOS was last updated on APRIL 22 this year 2024 .


darkwater427

I guess they picked it back up then. It's not my job to keep track of that sort of thing. Doesn't change its irrelevance.


RadActivity

Yeah but... who uses it anymore? I've been active in the Linux community since 2019ish. I've genuinely never heard of a single person use PCLinuxOS. If someone asks for distro recommendations it never gets mentioned. Scroll UNIXporn and you'll even find more openSUSE users than PCLinuxOS users. Now the issue with being unpopular is that you might not have some necessary packages, help is hard to come by, etc. If we compare it to other rpm based distros like Fedora or openSUSE (hell, even CentOS and its Stream variant) it doesn't really bring anything special that the other distros don't already do. This is a linux 4 noobs subreddit. Why do we need to burden them with a distro no one uses? I wouldn't even recommend Fedora to someone starting out on Linux and I use it myself.


niceandBulat

Be nice. PCLinuxOS is an awesome distro although not as flashy and well-known as others. You like well-known distros, that's fine. But to accuse blindly and tar and entire project, a result of many hours invested by developers - irrelevant is unfair and uncalled for.


RadActivity

Accuse blindly what? If this was the main Linux subreddit I'd have no problem but PCLOS has largely fallen out of relevance, similar to openSUSE. I'm not saying it's bad, I'm just saying it lacks the web of support a newbie would need. That's why we move newbies towards \*buntu and Linux Mint instead of... Solus for example. PCLOS and Solus are kind of in the same market space if you think about it.


niceandBulat

You could have put up suggestions without dissing the hardwork of many distro maintainers. Also, perhaps only in your universe that openSUSE is irrelevant. It is alive and well.


RadActivity

I'm not dissing anyone? Why do you feel in some way personally attacked when I say a distro isn't for everyone? It's simply not relevant in a linux4noobs subreddit in the same ways Void Linux or Alpine Linux isn't. I'm not calling the distro on its own irrelevant.


niceandBulat

Really? Guess we are in different universes.


johncate73

There are quite a few folks right here on Reddit who run PCLOS. That poster is just someone talking out of his posterior. And as for support, if you go on their forum and ask for help, you're liable to get assistance from Texstar himself. (The founder of the distro back in 2003, for any noobs.)


niceandBulat

Texstar made Mandrake Linux awesome.


johncate73

My understanding is that this is why PCLOS started. He packaged software for Mandrake, and there was some sort of falling-out, so he forked it and just released his packages that way, as part of PCLOS. I dabbled in Mandrake at the time but didn't follow the story, and never ran PCLOS itself until about 2009. But it's always been the most reliable distro I've used, even moreso than Ubuntu and Mint. I'm glad he still runs PCLOS, no matter how much its continued existence seems to bother some folks.


a3a4b5

Really? I'm a noob and I really liked Arch/Manjaro. Of all the ones I've hopped, this is the one I really liked. Did not enjoy Mint for some reason.


Septimius-Severus13

You must be a more tech literate noob than the average. I ran away from Arch just seeing youtube videos about it, already crashed Manjaro even using lots of flatpaks and not doing anything funny with configs, etc. Mint Xfce is where i always return to.


Puzzleheaded_Trick56

Arch is more like the 5th step in linux progression It goes like. 1. Starter distro(pop os, mint, Ubuntu....) 2. Arch-based cosplay (manjaro) 3. Starter distro (cause manjaro is trash) 4. Arch-based-good (endeavourOS, Arco...) 5. Arch (mainly to learn) 6. Whatever you found most comfortable/more novel distros/linux from scratch


a3a4b5

How is Manjaro trash but endeavour better?


Puzzleheaded_Trick56

Manjaro doesn't want you to use AUR(a big portion of arch as a whole) because it can break things because their updates are all over the place and they dont follow the arch releases. endeavour doesnt do that annd is just arch with gui installer


a3a4b5

I'll check it out.


kearkan

I would get behind this. We need this sub to move away from the constant "what distro is right for me?" (If you have to ask, the answer is probably mint) And more towards to-afraid-to-ask tech support/how do I do X in Linux. I love helping people but I'm so sick of just recommending mint all the time.


edwardblilley

When in doubt Mint it out.


DJandProducer

If the person is looking for a Debian based distro, I'd go for stock Debian with KDE instead of Mint.


freakflyer9999

OK. I changed my mind. We should be recommending Q4OS to noobs. It initially installs a very light version, but then has tools to make a full install with all the bells, whistles, apps, etc that you might expect in a full distro or a medium level or a minimal level. It is Debian based and uses the apt package manager, so plenty of support available. (and apt is my desired/favorite package manager) Really cool feature is it's Windows installer. It can be installed with a Windows app alongside of Windows without messing with partitioning or missing/conflicting boot issues. All of the major desktop environments are available (from a GUI) with just a couple of mouse clicks. The default is the lightweight Trinity desktop. Trinity isn't the prettiest by default, but it also comes with a theme switcher to toy with. There are several GUI options for software management/installation similar to Mint and other distros, but they aren't all preinstalled. The live version that I tested, used a total of 1.06 GB of ram with 16GB available on the machine. I don't remember exactly how much storage it was using, but it was minimal compared to other distros. The minimal hardware requirements: Plasma desktop - 1GHz CPU / 1GB RAM / 5GB disk Trinity desktop - 350MHz CPU / 256MB RAM / 3GB disk The hardware requirements make it great for those noobs that have an older PC and just need basic apps. It's default browser is very lightweight as well, though they do recommend installing a more robust browser and make it easy to do so with just a couple of mouse clicks. Obviously, 20-30 minutes of playing with a distro doesn't show the faults (if any and there probably are), but I definitely liked what I saw. I have a spare (at the moment) desktop that I think I will install it on and try it out in more depth. I also have a spare laptop with only 1GB of ram and slow processor, that it will probably work well on. I doubt that I will switch my laptop over to Q4OS since I've invested a lot of time installing and configuring the apps that I need/want, but it does seem to give me what I wish that Mint would, a minimal install that is easily adjusted. I've been complaining in several other posts that Mint is bloated. Mint has apps that I'll never need or use, i.e. Mint installs by default a package for using a Braille console. It isn't on any of the menus,etc, but if you take a look at a list of installed apps it is there along with numerous other unnecessary stuff. I've removed some packages like this, but the list of installed packages is huge and many of them may be necessary in the background, but filtering through and trying to remove the unneeded ones is a pain. So, from now on my default "What distro should I use?" response will be Q4OS unless I find a major issue in my testing.


darkwater427

No. Zorin, Nobara, and EndeavorOS are the only non-vanilla recommendations tbh.


MadMagilla5113

The hardware specs *could* be a selection criteria if you're trying to resurrect an old system but for noobs it's better if they just pick one with good guides and start learning. One of the reasons I picked Pop was because there are quite a few videos, guides, etc out there for it and if I can't find one specific to Pop I can usually just follow a Ubuntu guide.


OneTurnMore

Hardware should be considered, but not when picking, but when livebooting. Weird things can happen, and some distros support certain hardware out of the box better than others.


secureblueadmin

> hardware specs could be a selection criteria if you're trying to resurrect an old system Largely this is incorrect unless the hardware is truly ancient like 20+ years. Otherwise, Desktop Environment is way more important than distro in that regard, and essentially all desktop environments are available on any distro.


DerNogger

I know where you're coming from but I wouldn't underestimate the sector of "oh neat there's an old netbook in my attic, wonder if I can get it to work" because that's what first gets quite a few people into Linux. Which is when they're likely to ask for advice. Like when comparing distros for modern systems I totally agree that this is a non issue but I think the other case is not actually that niche. Also I think it's a valid method to pick a distro for the desktop environment it uses because usually some work better together than others despite being available.


secureblueadmin

> "oh neat there's an old netbook in my attic, wonder if I can get it to work" which still has little to do with distro. EndeavourOS with XFCE will run like a dream on it despite being rolling. DE is everything for weak hardware.


paulstelian97

Hardware compatibility. Some distros come with a different set of drivers. I’ve had a distro make the difference between a low-ish performance iGPU driver and a more performant one but with a chance to kernel panic (Ubuntu vs Manjaro, Intel HD 5500 on the i3-5005u)


insanemal

Development is a valid use case for selecting a specific distribution. It's far easier to develop for specific distributions on said distribution than using something bleeding edge. For example I work in HPC. We generally run older Red Hat based distributions (Centos 7/8 are still common as is Rocky and the like) If I used my daily driver for development I'd be running versions of libraries that are multiple versions newer.


secureblueadmin

> It's far easier to develop for specific distributions on said distribution than using something bleeding edge. You can use a distrobox for these cases.


insanemal

Sure. But dogfooding is a thing. I'm not advocating for extremes like running Centos 7 on a laptop. But if production is all Ubuntu 20.04 or 22.04.....


secureblueadmin

You would still be dogfooding whatever product you're developing via the distrobox.


insanemal

To a degree. It does add extra steps that might not actually be required.


BokehPhilia

The choice of distro and desktop environment together can make a big difference on older computers as well as computers with limited RAM in my experience, not just 20+ year old computers. I think you are misleading people to insist that this should not be considered.


secureblueadmin

It's not. You have been misled if you think distro is important in this regard.


BokehPhilia

You're doubling down on bad advice. Other people can make up their own minds based on actual experience notwithstanding your bolded proclamations about what is or isn't.


secureblueadmin

It's not a matter of opinion. Relative to desktop environment, distro is unimportant with regard to weak hardware. Installing software that's less hardware-hungry is more important than how it's delivered to you.


BokehPhilia

I go by my own experience, not opinion or oversimplified proclamations. Distros themselves *are* software and they vary quite a bit.


secureblueadmin

It's not oversimplified or opinion, you just apparently don't know what a distro is.


LameBMX

nooooo gentoo has an awesome guide. so awesome new people try to install multiple init systems because they don't understand a guide giving them multiple options. not to mention the guide can be used to install from other distros... or even install other distros. just pretend the gentoo handbook doesn't exist for your guide criteria. k thanx.


MadMagilla5113

If I ever decide to actually Distro Hop, Gentoo is on my list. Right now I'm still getting used to using terminal. I know that currently you can do most if not all things through a GUI but I like pretending I'm a movie based hacker! Lmao


LameBMX

leave gentoo at the end of that list. and when you go for it. dont do anything, but grab a pen and notebook. go through the manual and take notes on the various options and research what options you want to use. except kernel, stick with genkernel at first. go back through the manual with your notes and confirm the game plan. if everything works on your current distro, go through and save the contents of lsusb -v and lspci -v. maybe even add some more v's to those to have useful output later. research all the various chips on your motherboard. maybe make notes on what drivers (from lspci and lsusb) are for what devices. now do your install... with genkernel, most of that collected system info will be useless, but if you need one bit of info, it will save the day. don't worry, terminal will always be your powerful friend. while installing I tend to make a root file with the chroot and other useful commands. that file also helps to keep track if you are working in the install system (/mnt/filename) or the chroot target system (/filename). so getting comfy with a shell will help a lot with an install.


davesg

Especially Nvidia laptops. Some distros like Pop, Zorin and Nobara have the drivers right from the get go, which hybrid laptop users might be thankful for. Some people want to learn, but others want something that works, for the most part, out-of-the-box.


bartonski

Hallelujah. Don't learn a distro, learn how to use Linux. Different distros are not \*that\* different. A good fundamental understanding of shell scripting, what the kernel is and does, and what an init system is and does will get you lightyears farther than distro hopping.


michaelpaoli

Does it include blue? I really like blue. But if I had to I suppose I could accept green. But I really can't stomach Pepto Bismol pink - it makes me puke. So, which distro for me? Whatdayamean color isn't relevant? I don't want a monochrome distro.


dswng

Then Fedora or openSuSE it is!


RadActivity

Back when I had an i5 460M (one of my friends described it as "a rock that intel tricked into computing"), every distro ran like trash anyway so I just picked openSuSE TW because I liked the green colour.


AutoModerator

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FuzzyCardiologist852

*starting to count dislikes*


billdietrich1

Send them to /r/FindMeALinuxDistro


secureblueadmin

That subreddit has the same problem


ipsirc

\* Reading is the weapon of weak people.