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I'm working on a distro recommendation flowchart/ list for newcomers and need your input please! (Post is not only this picture btw and is mainly text) (feddit.de)
submitted 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) by Guenther_Amanita@feddit.de to c/linux@lemmy.ml
39 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

We often get the same question with

"I'm new, what distro do you recommend?"

and I think we should make a list/ discussion on what is our pick for each person, and just link that post for them to give them an easy recommendation.

So I made a quick flow chart (will get polished as soon as I get your input) with my personal recommendations. It is on the bottom of the text, so you see the rest of the text here too.

I will also explain each distro in a few, short sentences and in what aspects they do differ and what makes them great.

Here are my "controversial" things I want to discuss with you first, as I don't want to spread nonsense:

Nobara

I don't know if we should recommend it as a good gaming distro. In my opinion, it's a highly insecure and experimental distro, made by one individual. I mean, sure, it gives you a slightly better experience ootb compared to vanilla Fedora, but:

  • As said, it's made by one single guy. If he decides to quit this project, many many people will just stop getting updates.
  • There are many security-things, especially SELinux, disabled.
  • It's severely outdated. Some security fixes take months until they arrive on Nobara.
  • It contains too many tweaks, especially kernel modifications and performance enhancers. Therefore, it might be less reliable.

I think, Bazzite is the way superior choice. It follows the same concept, but implements it in way better fashion:

  • Just as up-to-date as the normal Fedora, due to automatic GitHub build actions.
  • No burden of maintenence, either on the user or the dev side.
  • Fully intact security measures.
  • And much more.

Immutable distros

I'm a huge fan of them and think, that they are a perfect option for newcomers. They can't brick them, they update themselfes in the background, they take a lot of complexity compared to a traditional system, and much more. Especially uBlue and VanillaOS are already set up for you and "just work".
If you want to know more about image-based distros, I made a post about them btw :)

VanillaOS

It's the perfect counterpart for Mint imo. It follows the same principle (reliable, sane, easy to use, very noob friendly, etc.), but in a different way of achiving that.

The main problems are:

  • The team behind it isn't huge or well established yet, except for the development of Bottles.
  • They want to do many things their own way (own package manager, etc.) instead of just using established stuff.
  • The current release (V2, Orchid) is still in beta atm.

I see a huge potential in that particular distro, but don't know if I should recommend it at this point right now.

ZorinOS

I think, for people who don't like change, it's great, but it can be very outdated. What's your opinion on that distro? It looks very modern on the surface and is very noob friendly, but under the hood, very very old.

Pop!_OS

Same with that. Currently, there's only the LTS available, since System76 is currently very busy with their new DE. I don't know if we should recommend it anymore.

I made the list of recommendations relatively small on purpose, as it can be a bit overwhelming for noobs when they get a million recommendations with obscure distros.
Do you think that there are any distros missing or a bad recommendation?

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[–] iAvicenna@lemmy.world 0 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

Are you kidding me with the pink font on pink boxes? Or is that a sync glitch? Cant read most of the text

[–] Guenther_Amanita@feddit.de 0 points 8 months ago

It's a glitch, and also outdated.
It was just a sketch, and the "real" post is out now :)

[–] bloodfart@lemmy.ml 0 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Is your computer weird or old (<x86-64v1, arm, etc) branch.

You’d be amazed how many 32 bit systems or core systems are out there. People have tons of arm shit now too…

[–] Guenther_Amanita@feddit.de 0 points 8 months ago

What distros would you recommend for those use cases?

[–] acockworkorange@mander.xyz 0 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Debian and OpenSUSE Tumbleweed should be in there somewhere.

[–] Guenther_Amanita@feddit.de 0 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Do you think that those are great beginner distros?

I think TW is a very good distro, but not specifically for beginners. In your opinion, what redeeming qualities does it have for that use case, compared to other, more well known distros out there? I especially think that the rolling release is not needed for the beginning.

For Debian, same thing. I mean, especially since the newest release, it's definitely a better ootb-experience than it was before, BUT:

  • the installer (first impression) is very ugly and needlessly complicated
  • Zorin has a similar release schedule, but looks better by default (Debian is very vanilla) and has some very useful tools for beginners specifically.
  • Debian is relatively lean, which might be good for intermediate and advanced users, but for noobs, I quite like the idea of "bloat", aka a lot of pre-installed software.
[–] dream_weasel@sh.itjust.works 0 points 8 months ago (1 children)

BTW you got a bunch of weird distros no one has heard of and you don't have the champion of distros. "Do you know how to read and follow directions and do you like the stack overflow answers that are the shortest -> arch"

[–] Guenther_Amanita@feddit.de 0 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

What do you mean with weird distros?

TuxedoOS is basically the same as Pop or Mint.
Based on Ubuntu, but without Ubuntu shit (Snaps, etc.), focused on newcomers, and with KDE.

And Fedora Atomic (Silverblue, Kinoite, Bazzite, uBlue, etc.) are the same. They're the immutable versions of Fedora. Silverblue is the Gnome variant, Kinoite the KDE one, uBlue a community project with some QoL-tweaks, and Bazzite is the gaming variant.
Nothing weird there. I basically only provided a small bunch of identical distros with other DEs.

[–] BradleyUffner@lemmy.world 0 points 8 months ago (1 children)

You need to seriously up the contrast on those colors. Pink text on a slightly lighter pink text block is virtually unreadable.

[–] Guenther_Amanita@feddit.de 0 points 8 months ago (1 children)

The graph was just a quick sketch in my note-taking app Logseq.

I mainly wanted to know if the flowchart made sense. When I do it properly, I'll use a different software :)

[–] BradleyUffner@lemmy.world 0 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

I'll let you know if it makes sense when I can read it 😁

Right now this is literally what I see:

[–] Guenther_Amanita@feddit.de 0 points 8 months ago

I'm very sorry! This is just a sketch for discussion, the final version will look WAY better and be more legible :)

[–] toastal@lemmy.ml 0 points 8 months ago (1 children)

My prefered OS is missing. Must be a bug. Plz add NixOS kthx

[–] Guenther_Amanita@feddit.de 0 points 8 months ago

Already done in the final version ;) But you won't be happy, I've put it into my "pain"-category :D

[–] sibloure@beehaw.org 0 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Something I don't see mentioned often is what OS they are coming from. Linux mint is often recommend and assumes they are coming from Windows. MacOS users will probably feel more at home with a Gnome DE.

[–] Guenther_Amanita@feddit.de 0 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I think Mac users feel better with KDE. Gnome is too unique to compare it to either Windows or Mac.

If you move the dock to the top and add another dock on the bottom, you basically have the UI from MacOS.

You can replicate everything else with a few clicks too.

[–] sibloure@beehaw.org 0 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Very nice. I did not know that. I came over from macOS and Gnome felt very natural to use due to its similar UX approach but I understand others may differ. I may give KDE another try to test it out what's new since I used it last.

[–] Guenther_Amanita@feddit.de 0 points 8 months ago

I mean, Gnome often gets compared to MacOS and KDE to Windows, but I find it to be only similar on the surface.
In reality, Gnome is totally unique in its own way and KDE has nothing to do with Windows, being more similar to Mac than anything else, especially after minimal customisation.

[–] rufus@discuss.tchncs.de 0 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

What about recommending something like MX Linux if someone has an old laptop lying around and wants to revive it, and get into Linux this way?

And the question "Win 7 was the last good version" made me laugh. I remember the old times. All the viruses on XP... but it used to crash way less that it's predecessors. Vista which was super slow and annoying. Feels like they're making some progress since 7. (Okay, now they're adding more and more data collection and annoyances to it.) But if I look back to Windows 7... I'm not feeling nostalgia 😆

[–] Guenther_Amanita@feddit.de 0 points 8 months ago

Good idea. I've never used it or saw it recommended that much.

Can you tell me more about it?

Do you think there's a big need for laptops with way less than 4 GB RAM? I'd say no, because there are barely any this old devices around, and most people here ask for their gaming PC or a mid range laptop.

I'm just afraid people tend to overestimate their need to choose a "lightweight" distro and then complain that it feels old and barebones and that "Linux sucks, I go back to Windows because Steam behaves weird".

Can you tell me your experience and provide more information?

[–] GenderNeutralBro@lemmy.sdf.org 0 points 8 months ago (1 children)

A few suggestions:

  • Start with a question of the user's technical proficiency. This is probably the biggest deciding factor for picking a distro, since some lean heavily toward technically-adept audiences and some are designed for people who've never used a computer before.

  • Include questions on device type, such as desktop/laptop. Using Linux on a laptop typically requires more research.

  • Instead of asking about Windows specifically, maybe ask "which OS are you most comfortable with?" with arrows for different versions of Windows, macOS, iOS, Android (and even Linux?).

  • Make every endpoint self-contained and unambiguous, with at least one concrete recommendation. Avoid vague statements like "use what you want", and avoid referring to other branches of the flowchart. If it makes sense to converge with other branches, use a labelled arrow to point to that branch instead (this will probably require curve support in your design tool to be legible).

  • Write each box in the form of a question, and label the arrows with answers to that question. I honestly have no idea how to read the "gaming focused" box because it has two bullet points and no indication of what each arrow means. I also can't tell how to read the "general purpose/gaming" box without reading down both paths. And why does the Bazzite box point to popOS? What does this mean? Clearer labels would help.

  • The red endpoints on the left could be in a single box, since they follow the same path. Alternatively, add more questions to that path to meaningfully differentiate each option. Same with the two clusters of blue endpoints on the right.

  • Be more explicit in the terms for use cases, since "general purpose" is a bit vague (I would consider gaming to fall under "general purpose", myself). You could have paths for e.g. "web browsing and office work", "gaming", "media creation", "software development or scientific computing". Some of these paths might converge later, and that's okay.

  • Move the "This is too complicated" box up top. It's funny and probably more useful there as a kind of "TL;DR". Since it's not related to Nvidia, its current placement is odd.

[–] Guenther_Amanita@feddit.de 0 points 8 months ago

Thank you for your very valuable and helpful criticism!
I like especially your "what OS are you the most comfortable with?"-question, that one is very great!

The rest is also very well thought out, I will implement it as best as I can! :)

[–] trustnoone@lemmy.sdf.org 0 points 8 months ago (1 children)

You forgot "I want those cool socks" for arch Linux :P.

I think it's also worth noting that not everyone's coming to Linux for an easy time. Or essentially sometimes people are looking for the full experience like I did when I was younger. So it might be worth including path ways for those who want to compile everything themselves or even run so minimalist they essentially just using a terminal.

[–] Guenther_Amanita@feddit.de 0 points 8 months ago

I quite like your idea, but I'm very afraid that if I also include Nix, Arch, Gentoo, etc., we increase the chance that some "I just want to play some games and do my school stuff"-person decides to go the route of frustration and pain.

I think we should mainly focus on "just works" and beginner friendly choices to give a good first impression, and if that's too lame for them, they can always go the other route.
But those cases are relatively rare I think?

I don't want to make the list of choices too big, as that could be overwhelming.

What do you think of including them completely separate and as honorable mentions with a big disclaimer?

[–] junezephier@lemmy.sdf.org 0 points 8 months ago (1 children)

while i find the colours you chose appealing, a bunch of the font colours are too close to stand out well over their backgrounds? there are a few that are genuinely hard to read-- some better contrast would help a lot also, the vertical column is a bit weird to follow? like, what's the process of going down after being asked about windows versions to get to gaming preference? it's a weird way to have the path work. even if you just put something like "i don't particularly care about windows" as the third option would help a little, i think?

sorry that's mostly about your graphic, and not the actual recommendations, lol

[–] Guenther_Amanita@feddit.de 0 points 8 months ago

The graph was just a quick sketch in my note-taking app Logseq.

I mainly wanted to know if the flowchart made sense. When I do it properly, I'll use a different software :)

[–] d3Xt3r@lemmy.nz 0 points 8 months ago (1 children)

ZorinOS

I think, for people who don't like change, it's great, but it can be very outdated. What's your opinion on that distro? It looks very modern on the surface and is very noob friendly, but under the hood, very very old.

It's great for people who have simple requirements and older hardware. Basically for folks who just want to use a PC for basic computing tasks like Web browsing, emails, document editing, printing/scanning etc. The thing about Zorin is that it uses a traditional UI/UX which is easily to navigate for non-technical people, and it's stable enough that you almost never run into any issues (assuming you're sticking with standard distro packages and config).

My elderly parents have been using Zorin for several years now and they've never had a issue. The only time they called me was to help install their new printer last year (which was reasonably easy to install), and that was it.

So I'd recommend Zorin for anyone who has very basic computing needs, and they are not using a brand new/high-end PC.

[–] Guenther_Amanita@feddit.de 0 points 8 months ago

Alright, thanks!
I see it very similar. Zorin was my first distro too, and has been the best first Linux impression I could have got at that time.

It looks very modern, and I don't think the outdated packages from the LTS are a huge concern for most (not techy) people.

[–] catloaf@lemm.ee 0 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

This is unreadable on a light background.

"Use anything" is unhelpful for people who are looking for specific recommendations.

Mentioning other nodes goes against the whole point of a flow chart. Use the arrows.

[–] Guenther_Amanita@feddit.de 0 points 8 months ago

Thanks for the feedback!

[–] KISSmyOS@feddit.de 0 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I know people will disagree, but the correct answer to "I'm new, what distro would you recommend" is Mint. No list required.
It's a capable, easy to start with, general purpose distro that works like Debian, one of the Linux gold standards, under the hood.

It has its flaws, but it gives you a fully functional system with everything an average user can expect from Linux, by clicking "Next" a couple of times. And it's never really the wrong option no matter what you want in a desktop system, freeing newcomers from the overwhelming options that are out there.

So use Mint until you know which distro fits you better.

[–] acockworkorange@mander.xyz 0 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Unless you want to play modern demanding games. Not so modern and not so demanding ones play fine on Mint though.

[–] KISSmyOS@feddit.de 0 points 8 months ago

Where's the difference to other distros for this?

[–] Johanno@feddit.de 0 points 8 months ago

You need to limit the options.

Linux systems

  • Debian (stable, almost no bloatware, user unfriendly, apt)

  • ArchLinux (unstable, bleeding edge software, user unfriendly, pacman)

  • RHEL/ Fedora (semi-stable, newer software, relatively user friendly, dnf)

Then at max list 3 Systems that derive from each main OS.

Like

Debian: Ubuntu, Mint, PoP!OS ArchLinux: manjaro... Fedora: Nobara...

Where each should be user friendly to use. Also explain what stable means, like that unstable doesn't mean shit breaks on a regular basis but rather it can sometimes happen. Normal desktop users don't need the stability of Debian. But it is nice to have if you can live with outdated software (if it isn't already on flatpak).

[–] eager_eagle@lemmy.world 0 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I think beginners spend too much time and effort on the "choose a distro" quest. Choosing a DE is far more important than that.

[–] Pantherina@feddit.de 0 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Just that you need a Distro packaging that DE. I chose KDE and never switched, but I hopped distros as they where either too old, or broken, or unstable.

5.27 on Kinoite is pretty great though. Would recommend and I think Kubuntu etc. staying with it do the right thing.

Plasma 6 works pretty well too though, so it was many many KDE problems. But as switching DE was no option, I hopped Distros.

[–] avidamoeba@lemmy.ca 0 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

Canonical bad etc. but IMHO any distro recommendation chart for new users that lacks Ubuntu LTS is not credible. Downvote away.

[–] Pantherina@feddit.de 0 points 8 months ago

Ubuntu and KDE was a horrible experience for me. They theme GNOME like hell which is very controversial too. Their snaps are basically a one-company-project nobody really likes.

[–] Pantherina@feddit.de 0 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Okay, nice so far

  • TuxedoOS has nvidia drivers
  • Budgie, XFCE, Mate, LxQt in the "old but traditional" desktops; all will switch to wayland and no longer really fit

I would also add the category

  • "I want a stable experience without many changes and accept old bugs that are not fixed for an eternity" (Debian stable, Almalinux, Rockylinux, Opensuse Leap, *Ubuntu LTS & derivatives)
  • "I want new updates with the latest and greatest but breakages" (Arch, Gentoo, Fedora rawhide, opensuse tumbleweed, Debian testing?)
  • "I want something in between" (Fedora, Opensuse slowroll, Ubuntu)