Linux for newbies, replacing windows 10

[Andrev]

I have an old notebook that cannot be updated to Win11, it has Win10.
Now is pretty much only used as media player, but it is working okay-ish still, so I don't want to retire it just because.
So... I was thinking this might the time to experience Linux, I would like some suggestion for a Linux distro that would be a gentle transition from Windows hahaha
This is the notebook.  it's pretty outdated but maybe it can work with something.
Like mentioned, mainly used as a multimedia player and web browsing, so I'm open to experiment.

Starting this learning curve...

[RONOTHAN##]

I will point out that for questions like this, you'll ask 10 people and get 11 different distros that are "the best," so take all these responses with a grain of salt and figure out what works best for you.

 

 

Generally, for swapping to Linux as a noob, your biggest concern should be documentation. Problems are inevitable when swapping to any new OS (the same thing would've happened if you switched to MacOS or ChromeOS, it's just that every OS has it's own set of quirks that you inevitably will get used to and not think about anymore), Linux arguably more so, and that will be on any distro. Your goal then will be to find one that if you Google the problem and the name of the distro, you'll likely get the answer near the top of the results page. The distro with that much documentation is usually good ol' Ubuntu. It's not a perfect distro by any means, but it's very well documented, most people know all of its quirks and features to be able to guide you through as you have questions (assuming a simple Google search doesn't get you there immediately), and it should be able to do everything that you need it to. 

 

There multiple different flavors of Ubuntu that would also work if you'd rather use one of them, things like Kubuntu, Linux Mint, Lubuntu, etc. that more or less change the default UI, but underneath are basically identical if you would rather use one of them instead (Mint isn't a straight UI change, but it's still very heavily based on Ubuntu that most guides will be completely interchangeable). 

[Eigenvektor]

54 minutes ago, Andrev said:

Like mentioned, mainly used as a multimedia player and web browsing, so I'm open to experiment.

Basically any modern Linux distro is good for that. Pick one you like the look of, try it out, see how it treats you.

 

As @RONOTHAN## said, under the hood, they're all Linux (the kernel), the main differences between distributions come down to:

• Default desktop environment, which can always be changed manually
• Default package management tools (the UI/CLI tools you use to update/install software)
• How current⁽¹⁾ its packages are

——————————

1) Distributions range from "stability is everything, updates happen very rarely" (e.g. Debian) to "updates are everything, stability be damned" (e.g. Arch) to everything in between. For example Ubuntu, a descendant of Debian, has major updates every six month. Meanwhile user facing software like browsers get updates as soon as they release. Then there's Manjaro, a derivative of Arch, which slightly delays updates to allow things to stabilize some more before hitting general users.

[EffeectFTW]

1 hour ago, Andrev said:

I have an old notebook that cannot be updated to Win11, it has Win10.
Now is pretty much only used as media player, but it is working okay-ish still, so I don't want to retire it just because.
So... I was thinking this might the time to experience Linux, I would like some suggestion for a Linux distro that would be a gentle transition from Windows hahaha
This is the notebook.  it's pretty outdated but maybe it can work with something.
Like mentioned, mainly used as a multimedia player and web browsing, so I'm open to experiment.

Starting this learning curve...

I would strongly urge to try something Debian based such as Ubuntu, as its got the most documentation and most linux desktop facing apps will have a Ubuntu support. And whilst the UI has some scary differences there is a lot of good stuff already baked in (like a normal looking network manager, multimedia codecs and much more).

 

There is Linux Mint and other debian adjacent distros but I think you ought to try Ubuntu first. Stick with 24.04LTS as its rather stable and doesn't have too many issues/misconfiguration issues out of the box, especially for your use case.

[Andrev]

Awesome guys, I know some of those words you mentioned here  

Yes even I know Ubuntu (the word) so I'll go to that one, definitely the "googleability" is a major pro, not ready to go on deep searches for every issue
I am familiar with macOS and it was a learning curve that I managed well, so I'm optimistic this will be the same, fingers crossed

Thanks!

[y0ur5h4d0w]

16 minutes ago, Andrev said:

Awesome guys, I know some of those words you mentioned here  

Yes even I know Ubuntu (the word) so I'll go to that one, definitely the "googleability" is a major pro, not ready to go on deep searches for every issue
I am familiar with macOS and it was a learning curve that I managed well, so I'm optimistic this will be the same, fingers crossed

Thanks!

if you need some help choosing, this is the BEST WEBSITE you can use, it tracks (almost) all linux distros and tells you if they are still mantained or not.

 

if you want my personal advice, for newbies ubuntu is "the best" just because almost 70/80% of the tutorials you find online are made for ubuntu since it's "more famous" (and arch i guess since it's both a meme and a really widespread distro considering all it's children)
 

https://distrowatch.com/

[pestermess]

I'll always recommend Linux Mint for anyone who's looking to switch from Windows 7/10/11. It's easy to use & traverse through. Basically the Windows XP / 7 start menu experience depending on which desktop environment you choose (XFCE / Cinnamon). Anything else would be a little tricky for some people I know.

[RollyShed]

The 60+ laptops I've done an installation on all have Linux Mint with Cinnamon desktop. My partner, Windows one day, Linux the next and no problems. Another user, she couldn't get her assignments done with Windows. Installed Linux, assignments done, got her qualifications and a job.

 

Some times I have to look at a Windows setup. What a mess and not logical.

PLUS, with Linux you don't have MS wiping your computer as they did in October 2018 to a million users.

[Lurking]

i always recommend MX Linux KDE. It will look close to W10. It is Debian-stable based (so, it isn't some experimental OS that will need updates or fixing all the time). It is very lean. and it has the MX tools that solve many problems with GUI you normally need the terminal for. 

 

And fractional scaling works (unlike the older Ubuntu/Mint etc.). This is a big one if you have any modern desktop setup or multiple monitors (especially of different size and orientation)

 

You could say Debian is the server OS for people that want to dig into typing commands and editing text files. And MX Linux is Debian for desktops and noobs. You also easily can backport newer kernels, and software (if you ever need that). I have used the MX 25 BETA (Debian 13)  for a while, and it is more stable and refined than many (allegedly) release versions.  

 

Here the MX tools that let you do all kind of things in GUI (you still can use terminal if you have very special needs...)

One really great tool is the ability to create an iso of your exact setup. I had created an iso of my setup, and could install that on a new PC and it worked exactly like the original PC. Even including my passwords (YT etc.) already working right after installation. If you take weeks to set up your system "just perfect", you can deploy the very same setup to a hundred more Pcs and don't need to do anything else to set up.. See the top Live USB-maker and Snapshot tool for that. You also can  use a "persistent" USB stick to use that for testing for a few days without ever touching your internal drives. :

 

 

Whatever you choose, if you just want to use your apps and not play OS all the time, try "stable" releases. Fedora is kind of between stable and rolling release with 6-month cycles.