Every other forum has rules about these posts because there’s such a glut of them, and yes, I could go read a stickied thread elsewhere, but here I am not doing that.
How would someone with no computer skills get acquainted with the OS? What version would you recommend to the hopeless novice? Can I keep windows on my PC and run the new OS or a practice version of it in a partitioned space while I learn? Can someone with minimal skills/time/patience be happy with a unix-like OS?
I think it depends on what your goals are.
If you want to just see what it’s like, don’t install anything. Just make a bootable USB drive with a user-friendly Linux distribution like Fedora or Ubuntu. When it comes up and asks you if you want to install, say no and then you can play in the default desktop environment.
If you want to learn more about the command line, you can actually get a pretty good feel for it by installing WSL in Windows. It runs a Linux-like command line shell and applications right in a Windows terminal.
If you want to dig deeper you could install a VM or partition your disk and dual-boot, but I’d vote for playing with the less-permanent options first.
I think it depends on what your goals are.
My main goal is getting off windows, not because it doesn’t do what I need (my needs are basic) but because they put ads in my OS. Also, every iteration seems to make a bigger mess of the settings/control panel, and open shell isn’t enough for me anymore, although I often think fondly of the IT guy who turned me on to that years back. And the uninstallable (or difficult to uninstall) bloat. And it may just be me, but it seems like there are performance issues - I’ve a new desktop at work with better specs than the laptop I’ve kept on 10, and it seems to be panting under some pretty light loads.
I have a perception, which may be inaccurate, of linux as being for programmers who need to customize to suit their projects and thus rather fiddly, so I wonder if going to linux to get away from windows commercialism and constricting UI is just trading one set of problems for a harder set.
WSL sounds like a great option, and from what I just read the install is stupid easy, but I’m unclear if it’s a simulation of linux inside of windows or just the implementation of a feature of linux. I imagine the command line is like the windows terminal: a method of more directly calling for your computer to do stuff. So if WSL is just the command line, then it won’t simulate how the stuff I want to do interacts with ubuntu, but let me tell my computer what to do like I would in ubuntu?
How important is command line in Linux? Will a casual user need to access it frequently? Will my modest needs be better met by learning it?
I have a ten-year-old child who has a laptop that I installed Fedora on, and they can do everything they need on it. Which is to say: Minecraft, web browsing, and modded Minecraft :)
I have a perception, which may be inaccurate, of linux as being for programmers who need to customize to suit their projects and thus rather fiddly
Yes, it’s true that Linux used to be hard. It used to be finicky. It used to be ugly. But more modern distros make it pretty simple to do most things, from installation to software installation, system configuration, and updates, Ububtu and Fedora being good examples. Linux is still a favorite of programmers and hackers because it is infinitely customizable, but the defaults you get nowadays are pretty solid.
How important is command line in Linux? Will a casual user need to access it frequently? Will my modest needs be better met by learning it?
The command line is a great power tool for power users, a lot like the command prompt or maybe more accurately power shell for Windows. It allows you to do Great and Terrible things, but if your needs are simple enough you probably don’t need it that often, if at all.
So I’d say forget WSL. It’s not what you need right now. Try a bootable USB of Fedora (or Ubuntu, though I’m less of a fan for unimportant geeky reasons) to see what that feels like. Find a bootable image that runs KDE (like kubuntu) for a different feel that’s also (apparently) easy to use. Maybe try Mint or PopOS and see what suits you… Each distro has a bit of a different feel, but that’s mostly due tothe Desktop Environment (DE) they set up by default. There are a lot of options and you can mix and match the parts you like later…
Happy hacking, and good luck!
though I’m less of a fan for unimportant geeky reasons
are the reasons snap by any chance? i’d call that a fairly important reason i’m typing this from mint and not vanilla ubuntu
ps. sorry for necro
Snap is one, yes,.
I think the default gnome desktop you get with Fedora is nicer looking and easier to use than Ubuntu (at least the last time I tried it), so it’s better for new users.
I also just feel like Fedora does a better job of being near the advancing edge of new software (pipewire audio for example) while retaining stability, but that’s more of a gut feel thing and less emperically-based.
If you’re really not sure and don’t want to break anything, I’d suggest installing some different OSes in virtual machines and try on that first. That might be a learning curve by itself, but you won’t take your computer as hostage for your beginner’s errors.
There are more user friendly OSes than others. I’d go with a Ubuntu or *buntu flavor just for the fact that there’s a lot of beginner friendly websites, tutorials and forums.
That’s two votes for ubuntu. I like the idea of a virtual machine protecting me from myself. I’ve got desktop and a laptop, but need them both active. I’ve also got an old desktop in a closet somewhere, wonder if the hardware would still be functional enough to learn on. CPU is probably a 7th gen I5, to give you an idea of the datedness.
Make that 3 votes for Ubuntu. It’s one of the most user-friendly distros (and a lot of other user friendly ones are just Ubuntu with some tweaks).
It’s really hard to go wrong with it.
If you’re worried about old hardware, use Xubuntu. It’s just Ubuntu with a lighter desktop environment, so it works better on older machines.
Just checked it out, It’s an I5 6500, a little older than I thought, but ubuntu recommended specs are pretty low: CPU: 1 gigahertz or better RAM: 1 gigabyte or more Disk: a minimum of 2.5 gigabytes
no uefi so I’m good to go. probably
My daily PC is an i5-3570k and it’s very quick in Kubuntu (that’s Ubuntu with KDE as a graphical environment). I think I have “only” 8 GB RAM and it’s quite enough for my use.
Update on my linux journey:
Tried ubuntu, mint, and zorin in a live environment, they all had features that I really liked, and perhaps more importantly lacked features that I really hate. Can’t remember the last time I set up a bloatless device! I could see myself using any of them, but zorin had two advantages, the lowest learning curve and it worked with more of my peripherals and apps than the other two.
I have it dual booting on my desktop, but I have audio issues there (desktop is really my tv/gaming/media center) as it’s hooked up to a big cheap tv and soundbar, and I suspect that it doesn’t recognize them as hdmi enabled audio devices. I tired some commonly recommended fixes but no avail yet, might have to wire audio a different way. I didn’t have trouble getting games running in zorin but the performance was half that of windows. Tried updating the video driver (only a week out of date) and I need to research how to install drivers that aren’t listed. Seems like it might be a set of terminal commands. But I’m saving that for later and focusing on the laptop instead, where I have lower demands and can get more day to day use in.
Every app I use on the laptop is functional with live environment zorin, but I am again having an audio problem. No issue with the integrated speaker, but bluetooth would not connect (device not set up) which I resolved with bluetooth adapter - and now I according to the pc I am connecting and pairing, but no device will pair.
Overall I’d say it’s not a bad start considering my lack of pedigree, but I’ve got a long way to go.
Update on my update re: Sony wh1000mx3 headphones and Linux Bluetooth failure to connect: got it working, didn’t need any extra software either. The Sony’s will prompt themselves into pairing mode if another device tries to connect and they aren’t paired with another device, so I’ve never activated pairing mode on them before. The Linux (zorin) bluetooth software won’t try to pair with a device not in pairing mode, so they were like shy kids who want to dance with each other but won’t ask. In short, like the overwhelming majority of my problems: user error.
Hope my verbose incompetence saves some future googler a few minutes of frustration.
How did you arrive at zorin? Not knocking it my first Linux instead was lindows… How’s it working out for you are you still using it?
