Choosing a Linux distro

[kokakolia]

So I’m anticipating a beater refurb laptop at my doorstep soon from Dell. It’s a Lattitude E7440 with a 4th Gen i5 and 4GB of ram. I am curious about giving Linux another try. My needs are very basic. I am just gonna be using an internet browser with a handful of music/video apps.  However, there are way too many distributions out there. After watching hours, upon hours of videos here are some that caught my attention: 

 

- Vanilla Ubuntu/Manjaro Gnome/Pop! OS. Basically anything Gnome I guess. I like how Gnome perfectly bridges the gap between Windows and Android. It’s like the best of both worlds. The issue is that Gnome distros seem to use way more RAM. Will that be an issue with 4GB of ram? 

 

- Ubuntu Mate with Mutiny. 

Seems good to me. It looks almost like vanilla Ubuntu that way but uses less ram because it's not Gnome LOL I still like the look of Ubuntu more. Mate just looks dated (IMO)

 

- Elementary OS. 

It just looks pretty, like a Mac. People seem to like it. I tried it several years ago and it ran like poop on my AMD laptop. The brightness level was stuck at 100%, the laptop ran hot and it just made me use Windows ever since. 

 

Most other linux distros have an oldschool way of having a start menu with separate categories and I hate that. It just doesn’t work for me. I just like having everything in one place and having a search bar. I always use that search bar in Windows anyway.

[t4ils]

If you're used to Windows, I'd highly recommend Linux Mint. It was pretty stable when I used it on my old laptop with an i3 and 4GB of RAM.

[kokakolia]

Just now, t4ils said:

If you're used to Windows, I'd highly recommend Linux Mint. It was pretty stable when I used it on my old laptop with an i3 and 4GB of RAM.

Yeah! I heard that Mint is the best from several YouTubers. I just don’t like how it looks like Windows. It will make me want to use Windows instead

[t4ils]

1 minute ago, kokakolia said:

Yeah! I heard that Mint is the best from several YouTubers. I just don’t like how it looks like Windows. It will make me want to use Windows instead

If you don't like a certain desktop environment, you can always install another one. Linux Mint uses Cinammon, but my favorite one to use is Budgie. Give that a look, see how you like it

[Electronics Wizardy]

7 minutes ago, kokakolia said:

Yeah! I heard that Mint is the best from several YouTubers. I just don’t like how it looks like Windows. It will make me want to use Windows instead

why not try a live disk or a vm to see what you like

 

You can always install ubuntu/mint/debian/fedora and install all the common desktop enviroments and swtich them on logout. So you have have gnome, cinnamon, mate, and kde all on one distro.

[LeapFrogMasterRace]

I suggest Mint/Cinnamon or Ubuntu for your needs, in terms of Linux general uses your specs are fine. 

[azka2952]

Same,I recommend linux mint

[kokakolia]

So Mint is the bee’s knees then? I’ll have to give it try.

[Dat Guy]

I suggest not using Linux. Try OpenBSD. If you absolutely must use Linux for whatever unknown reason, try Void. You can change the "start menu" by just choosing a different desktop environment. Mint's Cinnamon is available on Void Linux as well, OpenBSD has a good selection of desktops too.

[kokakolia]

5 minutes ago, Dat Guy said:

I suggest not using Linux. Try OpenBSD. If you absolutely must use Linux for whatever unknown reason, try Void. You can change the "start menu" by just choosing a different desktop environment. Mint's Cinnamon is available on Void Linux as well, OpenBSD has a good selection of desktops too.

That sounds like some next level stuff LOL. I can basically use whatever OS I want because all I need is a web browser. But that just sounds complicated to me. I like how I can install an ISO on a USB stick with Ubuntu, then install like Windows.

 

8 hours ago, azka2952 said:

Same,I recommend linux mint

Linux Mint is fuugly tho! It has a boring start menu at the bottom, which is alright, it’s not pretty but it’s very functional. But the blocky icons and grey themes make it look so dated. It just looks like Windows XP if it were released today. 

 

On the flip side, I can see why Linux Mint is so popular. It’s familiar and lightweight. 

 

I keep changing my mind, because I don’t have my laptop yet. So I’ll just try 3 distros: 

 

- Ubuntu (I like the look and feel of this one the most, orange and purple are cool :p)

- Ubuntu Mate (it looks like it’s more lightweight than Ubuntu and functionally the same with Mutiny. Thank heavens you can change the compost green theme to something else)

- Linux Mint Cinnamon (it’s probably the best one out there, so why should I shoot myself in the foot with something worse that looks better?)

 

[Dat Guy]

1 minute ago, kokakolia said:

I can basically use whatever OS I want because all I need is a web browser.

There are some great operating systems with no reasonable web browser though.

 

1 minute ago, kokakolia said:

But that just sounds complicated to me. I like how I can install an ISO on a USB stick with Ubuntu, then install like Windows.

Use Windows then?

 

Other than that, you can install both OpenBSD and Void Linux from a USB thumbdrive.

 

1 minute ago, kokakolia said:

Linux Mint is fuugly tho! It has a boring start menu at the bottom, which is alright, it’s not pretty but it’s very functional. But the blocky icons and grey themes make it look so dated.

Even Linux Mint - which I absolutely don't like anyway - gives you a whole variety of desktops and desktop themes.

[kokakolia]

40 minutes ago, Dat Guy said:

There are some great operating systems with no reasonable web browser though.

 

Use Windows then?

 

Other than that, you can install both OpenBSD and Void Linux from a USB thumbdrive.

 

Even Linux Mint - which I absolutely don't like anyway - gives you a whole variety of desktops and desktop themes.

You sound very opinionated. The way I see it is:

 

If Open BSD is better than Linux, then it makes no difference to me if Linux is good enough already. 

 

Further, Open BSD seems very obscure. I mean just look at this website that looks straight out of the 90s:

 

https://www.openbsd.org/

 

It even uses Times New Roman LOL. Watching Open BSD stuff on YouTube just makes me think of this:

 

 

On the other hand, Linux is way more approachable when you see something like this:

 

https://www.ubuntu.com/

 

EDIT: You're probably right about just using Windows. Windows 10 looks good and just works, even on 4GB of RAM it's fine. 

 

[Dat Guy]

Judging a book by its cover (= website)? Seriously? Yes, please stick with Mint. It might not fit your very specific use case just as well but it has a shiny website. Good riddance. 

[kokakolia]

5 minutes ago, Dat Guy said:

Judging a book by its cover (= website)? Seriously? Yes, please stick with Mint. It might not fit your very specific use case just as well but it has a shiny website. Good riddance. 

You sound like an elitist. Also, I didn’t just read the book cover, but the synopsis as well. 

[Dat Guy]

I sound like someone who chooses his used software by its technical aspects, not by its shiny website. 

[kokakolia]

3 hours ago, Dat Guy said:

I sound like someone who chooses his used software by its technical aspects, not by its shiny website. 

Does Spotify even work on Open BSD? Just curious.

[Dat Guy]

Since you said you'd use it in your browser: Sure, why not?

[Linus_torvalds]

I suggest manjaro linux. It's the best for begginers. Fast, lightweight, it's based on arch linux (my favorite distro) and it's number one on distrowatch!  https://distrowatch.com/

It has access to AUR! It's the best for begginers and advanced users who do not want to customize everything!

 

If you want then arch linux is the best distro!

[kokakolia]

1 hour ago, Dat Guy said:

Since you said you'd use it in your browser: Sure, why not?

So NO! I have been searching the answer to that question on the web, and it left me even more confused. I heard something about DRMs that don’t work on Open BSD, and the workaround with Clementine + plug-in doesn’t work. 

 

13 minutes ago, mate_mate91 said:

I suggest manjaro linux. It's the best for begginers. Fast, lightweight, it's based on arch linux (my favorite distro) and it's number one on distrowatch!  https://distrowatch.com/

It has access to AUR! It's the best for begginers and advanced users who do not want to customize everything!

 

If you want then arch linux is the best distro!

Yup! I was eyeballing Manjaro with Gnome but I forgot to mention it in the post.

[kokakolia]

UPDATE: It looks like Linux Mint is the best, well, from this super critical blogger anyways: 

 

https://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/linux-mint-sylvia.html

 

He basically said that he couldn’t find much or anything to complain about. But the aesthetics look pretty dated. 

 

On the other hand he wasn’t thrilled with Ubuntu Mate:

 

https://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/ubuntu-beaver-mate.html

 

Ubuntu Mate has many bugs and is bad with managing battery and memory. 

 

I still haven’t received my laptop yet, but I guess that the “best” Linux distro is Mint. And that’s purely from the perspective of a newbie with basic needs. But it’s not just me, many knowledgeable Linux users love Mint.

[Ithanul]

On 5/24/2018 at 8:18 AM, kokakolia said:

Linux Mint is fuugly tho! It has a boring start menu at the bottom, which is alright, it’s not pretty but it’s very functional. But the blocky icons and grey themes make it look so dated. It just looks like Windows XP if it were released today. 

 

On the flip side, I can see why Linux Mint is so popular. It’s familiar and lightweight. 

 

I keep changing my mind, because I don’t have my laptop yet. So I’ll just try 3 distros: 

 

- Ubuntu (I like the look and feel of this one the most, orange and purple are cool :p)

- Ubuntu Mate (it looks like it’s more lightweight than Ubuntu and functionally the same with Mutiny. Thank heavens you can change the compost green theme to something else)

- Linux Mint Cinnamon (it’s probably the best one out there, so why should I shoot myself in the foot with something worse that looks better?)

 

fugly?

Get the Mate or Cinnamon version then.  Or heck, just switch out the GUI or tweak stuff (one of Linux distros perks).

I run a Mint Mate.  This how mine looks:

[kokakolia]

2 minutes ago, Ithanul said:

fugly?

Get the Mate or Cinnamon version then.  Or heck, just switch out the GUI or tweak stuff (one of Linux distros perks).

I run a Mint Mate.  This how mine looks:

That looks good! The only gripe I have is how close and cluttered the icons are in the task bar. But I am just being overly critical here because I have been reading dozens of reviews and I can’t try Linux yet until I have my laptop shipped.

[Ithanul]

25 minutes ago, kokakolia said:

That looks good! The only gripe I have is how close and cluttered the icons are in the task bar. But I am just being overly critical here because I have been reading dozens of reviews and I can’t try Linux yet until I have my laptop shipped.

That where tweaking comes in.

Just did a little bit to show:

One can spend some time messing with the looks.

[kokakolia]

Sweeeet! Mint doesn’t have to look ugly then.

[killergoalie]

As some mentioned, you could try installing multiple and just giving them a try.

 

Sorry if this is a repeat, but also look for the upstream/downstream of the distro and package management.

I work with RH based distros at work, RHEL, Oracle Linux, and CentOS previously so I've always felt more at home with Fedora Core. It's also the upstream version of RHEL so it helps me get used to what changes Red Hat may make/keep for the next Major release of RHEL.

Mind you I'm also 80% in the CLI for work and play. 

If this is just for replacing Windows and everyday casual Computer use, Mint is a great option.

Also play with LiveCDs, also remember GNOME is a Window Manager that is used by or can be installed on any distro so if you like the "look" setup of one distro you maybe able to get another one to look like that.