I’m looking for something my sister can use, but I don’t want her to face trouble when needing to change major releases, like debian or ubuntu do. So I’m thinking a rolling release distro could be of great help for this.

Being as vanilla as possible is a nice to have.

Ideally, she shouldn’t be dealing with config files though. So even though Arch or some derivatives like Manjaro would fit, they require users to investigate for the proper configurations and such, and as mentioned, she’s a non tech person. If there would be something Arch based, but having safe configs by default, and pretty much requiring to keep updating the SW often, that sounds fine, but I’m not aware of any. Having a graphical SW updater/upgrader should be required as well…

It shouldn’t matter much, but I believe KDE would be the best DE option for her, offering what she might need to feel like windows.

I was thinking of KDE Neon, but I’m not sure how ubuntu major releases are handled, neither how it is for a non tech person to go and add SW, not officially covered by KDE repos, neither if its “plasma discover”, or its upgrade on the air tool works for other things, rather than just KDE stuff upgrades… Maybe kubuntu might as well be an option, but major upgrades might be as user involved as the ubuntu ones…

If you’re wondering, I’m using Artix, and I 've used for quite some time before, Arch, Debian (unstable) and SourceMage. I’m honestly not familiar with something that might help my sister move from windows. She once told me someone helped her try ubuntu, but she didn’t feel comfortable with it… Any suggestions are welcome.

  • Dessalines@lemmy.ml
    8·
    4 years ago

    For a beginner rolling release, I’d go with manjaro (probably KDE). It doesn’t require any more configuration than any other distro. It has graphical updaters and software centers.

    • je_vv@lemmy.mlOP
      2·
      4 years ago

      Could someone just live with what the distro offers as configs? Both, functionally, and safely? On Arch and Artix, to make things work, usually configs are required to be modified, and even further if one needs more secure/safe options… I’m wondering if that’s not the same on Manjaro… Thanks !

      • Dessalines@lemmy.ml
        4·
        4 years ago

        Manjaro works out of the box, there’s no need to do any extra config, its a very beginner friendly distro.

      • Aglow@lemmy.ml
        3·
        4 years ago

        I picked Manjaro Plasma KDE as my first distro and I’m pretty sure it doesn’t require any tweaking. If your sister is in fact not a tech person, then she won’t do any tweaking at all - it already has great pacman GUI, and almost every app a casual user would need: browser, office, mail client, steam and cantata.

  • Nevar@lemmy.ml
    6·
    4 years ago

    I wouldn’t recommend rolling release as it introduces too many potential fixes needed. I have both of my 60+ year old parents on Linux Mint Cinnamon edition. This looks closest to windows so the transition should be easy for her. Linux Mint also has an easy upgrade wizard for new releases. She can stay on the LTS stream which will last for 5 years. You only need to help her upgrade every 5 years, which is pretty decent.

    It also uses Debian and Ubuntu based, so it will have all the packages she needs. I would stay away from anything too linuxy for a non technical user, and a rolling release is definitely linuxey. Try Linux mint and set up auto update in the settings.

    • je_vv@lemmy.mlOP
      2·
      4 years ago

      I understand what you’re saying. Perhaps I’m too use to Arch/Artix, and don’t realize major issues with it. To me, the problem is when the time comes to upgrade, given no longer having support, and not being around to help, since we live in different countries… It’s a coincidence I can try helping her this year…

      • Nevar@lemmy.ml
        2·
        4 years ago

        Well, you should try to visit her once every 5 years 😝 also you should check this video out, it’s probably something your sister can follow along with while you video chat with her if she has any questions. https://youtu.be/LYnXEaiAjsk But to each their own of course. I use manjaro KDE and Linux Mint Cinnamon and I run into way more required manual fixes with Manjaro on the updates or with the Arch community repos. I use LM for work and Manjaro for fun/home entertainment. But I also grew up on Ubuntu so I’m more comfortable with Debian commands in terminal.

  • marmulak@lemmy.ml
    62·
    4 years ago

    To be honest I’m not sure if rolling release is the best thing for regular people, because I feel such distributions favor updating over stability, although I know it’s not a 1:1 correlation. Rolling release could still be used to make intentionally stable distributions.

    I would still probably recommend something like Ubuntu LTS release, because you mentioned that it has to be “vanilla for non-tech individuals”, which I mean pretty much just means Ubuntu. LTS gives you something like five years of support, which is almost like “never” having to upgrade it. Also upgrading an installed system is not that difficult when it eventually does have to be done, or you can just do a fresh install.

    That being said there are probably some user-friendly rolling distros out there. Maybe Manjaro? I am looking at the top distros at distrowatch.com, and this description of Manjaro (currently one of the most popular distros on that site) seems to fit the bill:

    Manjaro Linux is a fast, user-friendly, desktop-oriented operating system based on Arch Linux. Key features include intuitive installation process, automatic hardware detection, stable rolling-release model, ability to install multiple kernels, special Bash scripts for managing graphics drivers and extensive desktop configurability. Manjaro Linux offers Xfce as the core desktop options, as well as KDE, GNOME and a minimalist Net edition for more advanced users. Community-supported desktop flavours are also available.

    Also in the top ten, EndeavourOS claims to be the same thing. I just did a quick Google to make sure, and you also get rolling release with:

    • OpenSUSE TumbleWeed
    • Solus
    • Sabayon

    I’d probably narrow your choices down to the three, Manjaro, OpenSUSE TumbleWeed, and Solus. I know them to be popular and major, well-established distros. Obviously Manjaro has the Arch base, and SUSE stands on its own merit. Solus too I have heard a lot of good things about, so maybe it’s perfect for the end user.

    • Bilb!@lemmy.ml
      42·
      4 years ago

      Yeah, I think I would suggest Manjaro KDE Plasma with flatpack source enabled, and the AUR should be used sparingly. Any time I had trouble with upgrades (rarely) it was due to installed packages from the AUR.

      • Dreeg Ocedam@lemmy.ml
        31·
        4 years ago

        Rolling release doesn’t mean bleeding edge. I could be rolling release while still retaining updates and doing testing. I don’t know much in terms of stability of other distros, but I found myself having very few issues with Arch while I have had a lot with Ubuntu (though it may be biased by the fact that I used Ubuntu while I was quite inexperienced).

        I think it should be possible to build a good rolling release distro that requires much less manual maintenance and has a much easier install process than Arch though.

  • developred@lemmy.ml
    3·
    4 years ago

    So I’m thinking a rolling release distro could be of great help for this.

    I don’t understand this reasoning. Updating won’t be as hard, but the likelihood of something breaking each day is much higher.

    • je_vv@lemmy.mlOP
      2·
      4 years ago

      Well, being on Arch/Artix for so long, that perhaps I’m used to dealing with some nuances every once in a while, but to me that leads to less problems than having to do major upgrades, particularly if I’m not around to help with it. We live in different countries…

  • Omie5rau@lemmy.ml
    2·
    4 years ago

    I would put her on Debian or Fedora with Cinnamon or KDE desktop. Upgrading those is easy, and Fedora or Debian(Testing) has already quite up-to-date software, if she needs very latest for some reason then use Flatpaks(should be easy with kde discover). I would not recommend Arch based distros as pacman does not hold your hand. Also they add questionable sponsored software (manjaro), they also host non-free software that breaks Linux workflow and does/can do bad stuff.

  • je_vv@lemmy.mlOP
    2·
    4 years ago

    Wow, thanks a lot to all, for all recommendations. I think there’s enough guidance to start looking for and thinking about options. Thanks again !

    • je_vv@lemmy.mlOP
      2·
      4 years ago

      Well, it’s not just the appearance, it’s also getting the non tech users little involved, like just updating once a week or every other week, or once a month, and not having to deal with configurations he/she doesn’t understand at all. Provided what the distro offers is safe for such cases…

      In my mind, yes, as a DE, KDE is the way to make it feel like windows…

  • Ephera@lemmy.ml
    2·
    4 years ago

    openSUSE Tumbleweed does a lot of the things you mention here.

    It’s got automatic OS snapshots, so if an update should break something, that can be rolled back relatively easily.
    And it has YaST, which is a graphical configuration tool for all kinds of system settings.
    And they’re the distro that puts the most effort into KDE with tons of automated testing and such.

    I will say that those OS snapshots don’t cure everything. I’ve had my dad on Tumbleweed for the past year and it has largely been perfectly fine, except that his printer drivers broke twice. And if he doesn’t notice right away, maybe doesn’t tell me right away, then it’s almost impossible to find the correct snapshot to roll back to.
    Also, you do want to update at some point, so you do have to solve it properly at some point, if it doesn’t get fixed by an update.

    And YaST and those snapshots are not built with the dumbest possible user in mind. So, she may not be able to roll back such a snapshot on her own. Or she could manage to shoot herself in the foot by tweaking kernel parameters in YaST (although my experience is that non-technical users are quick to back away from things they don’t understand.

    You could also consider openSUSE Leap (their non-rolling release). They’re really fucking resilient with such larger upgrades (the package manager is nearly unbreakable and again, those snapshots are a nice fallback). I regularly do dumb shit, like side-grading between Leap and Tumbleweed, and it only broke my system once so far, which was after it told me that it can’t do it and I told it to go ahead anyways.

  • Lowey@lemmy.ml
    1·
    4 years ago

    PopOS for Mac comers(window user can use if you install dash to panel extension) ZorinOS for windows

  • federico3@lemmy.ml
    21·
    4 years ago

    Debian is designed to be upgradable in-place and does that very well. You can use Stable, Testing or Unstable depending on preference between stability VS having more up-to-date software.

  • jiminycricket@lemmy.ml
    1·
    4 years ago

    IMO Solus Budgie is the most user friendly distro that I know of for non-techie people with Linux mint being a close second. I think others have already mentioned Solus in the comments, just thought I’d add a second vote :) My mom is using a Solus machine and my high school sister is using Linux mint. Neither is a techie.