First! Also, I wanted to continue the discussion over from this thread on the Other Site. Changing your OS is much harder than the other changes, I think, but it would still be good to include.
Linux Mint - My preference, since it’s the easiest for a new user to get into. I would feel confident teaching my grandparents how to use it
OpenBSD - This is the most secure, so anyone who is privacy focused would want this one. All linux distros are inherently more secure than windows (open source, don’t come packed with adware, etc.), but this is OpenBSD’s goal.
Then, you’d probably want a distro that works well on old laptops (why buy a new laptop if a 10-year old laptop can do the job fine?) Linux, in general, is a lot less resource-intensive than Windows anyways, but there are a few distros that are specifically built for old or tiny computers. Alpine Linux might be the smallest, but Lubuntu is probably better for user support. I haven’t done much with either of them outside of some VMs here and there, so hopefully someone else has some good experience with “light” distros and can chime in.
It’s real easy to get into the weeds on the “best” open source distro, so I’d recommend including one that’s user friendly, one that’s really secure, and one that’s really good at running on old/obsolete hardware.
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I would remove OpenBSD which, while being secure, was a PITA to use last time I checked. You can replace that with FreeBSD which is more geek-friendly.
My recommandations as usual are, in no specific order: Ubuntu, Linux Mint, and POP_Os which have all the required tools for most people and don’t require any kind of administration.
Linux Mint is fine if you’re coming from Windows but if you’re a Mac user something Gnome is probably more familiar
Um, okay. I’ve been running Linux Mint MATE for about 8 years.
Linux Mint MATE is the Gnome variety of Mint.
Cinnamon isn’t the only Linux Mint distro. You might be pleasantly surprised to try it out someday.
Mate is a Gnome 2 implementation not a Gnome 3
Oh, well you didn’t say you were Gnome 3 picky, you just said Gnome.
Well whatever floats your boat, I’m happy at least.
Gnome 3 has been out for almost 15 years, Mate in not LM or any other major distros default desktop.
I agree that folks should use what makes them happy but this thread was about easing the conversion to Linux.
Well, I started converting to Linux back in 2010, literally 15 years ago. Gnome 3 wasn’t even out yet when I started, so Gnome 3 isn’t even on my radar.
Honestly I don’t see how that would make it any harder to switch to Linux anyways. Like, what makes Gnome 3 so much better than Gnome 2?
Plus, Mate might be based on Gnome 2, but they also made some handy awesome improvements to it, like the program search bar.
Gnome 3 hit Arch in 2010 and Fedora in 11/12
Gnome 3’s layout is much closer to MacOS than Cinnamon or KDE
No one is disputing the quality or value of Mate.
I don’t get your point. I can totally customize Gnome 2 to have a vertical left side bar with large icon application shortcuts, been able to do that since 2010, probably before then even.
I don’t get the difference.
Ooo, that’s a good point! Could even have a few distros with Gnome to show how it changes on the infographic
I think Zorin deserves a mention. It’s a pretty polished Linux distro that’s designed to be easy for Windows users to adapt to. So it’s a good alternative option to Mint.
Edit: Also, I second Lubuntu as a good option for older or more resource limited systems.
