I love choice. I hate choosing.
5mon 17d ago by lemdro.id/u/mudkip in linuxmemes from files.catbox.moe
Proceeds to use it exclusively for browsing the web.
Exactly 69 upvotes - as it should be.:-P
How many are there?
It depends.
See, that's not helpful. The right answer is to direct someone to this GitHub project:
https://github.com/FabioLolix/LinuxTimeline
The releases page contains a 3420x12488 PNG to provide a simple and concise answer.
I can see my OS from here!
“Simple and concise”
Doesn’t even have CachyOS. Smh
There are a few gaps. Seems it's not being as diligently updated as once was.
There are even some old distros I failed to find on it.
... Didn't there used to be a text-searchable svg version of it?
Idk. I was making a joke though. A history of Linux chart is functionally useless for actually choosing a distro.
A history of Linux chart is functionally useless for actually choosing a distro.
I've used that many times to help me go distro surfing. Very handy for discovery.
For a new person it’s useless. For anyone distro surfing why wouldn’t you just use distro Watch?
For a new person it’s useless. For anyone distro surfing why wouldn’t you just use distro Watch?
I disagree. Not useless. Shows the lineage of distros. Facilitates broader awareness. Handy education. Very well accompanies the likes of distrowatch, at a long glance showing the forest past being lost in the trees and slowly trying to work it out. Expedites the new (or soon to be) user to better know their way around, and perhaps help them go towards whichever branch they prefer or away from any they garner a dislike for, saving time. See past the whataboutism false-dichotomy? Why not both?
Huh? A new user is going to have trouble understanding the base difference between gnome and kde. Flooding them with information about the history of all these operating systems will do nothing except to scare them off even more.
You have experience of people being scared off? [Or mere hypothesis?]
I have experience of people being helped.
I wonder what's the extra nuance and criteria that decides which way that bifurcates.
I mean I know how to choose a distro and there’s no way in hell I’d ever use that chart to choose one. In addition I don’t really need to ask my wife because I can guarantee she wouldn’t read a single line of it.
It’s not a hypothesis that the reason people don’t switch to Linux is because it’s too difficult for the layperson. If you give them a flowchart that’s larger than any flowchart they’ve ever seen before, before they even touch the operating system, there’s no way in hell they’re gonna use Linux.
If you know how to edit a comma-separated-value text file and how to submit a PR on GitHub, you could make the image larger.
I just have to assume you’re a troll at this point. That graphic is not helpful at all to anyone except those that care about the history of Linux. For everyone else it’s useless. I was making a joke about how one of the distros I use isn’t on there. I don’t know the history of my distro and honestly do not care. Any noob also would not care.
I see the one I like! :-)
i am not religious, but oh god...
That picture is also hosted on Wikimedia:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1b/Linux_Distribution_Timeline.svg
Edit: just pasting the link now, making it into an embedded picture lagged and crashed voyager??
Either 2025 was a horrible year for linux or the image needs an update.
EndeavourOS should be a continuation of Antergos, right?
I always assumed webOS was Linux but I expected it to be a fork of Debian
WebOS was made by Palm Inc., one of the earliest and quite successful manufacturer of 'personal digital assistant' devices, aka smartphones without the phone part (and later with that too). They originally developed and licensed their own OS, PalmOS, but needed an upgrade for multitasking and such. webOS was thus intended for those PDA devices, and Debian would of course be a ridiculous choice for the task.
I have warm memories of PalmOS: i was snappy as heck with the 16 MHz CPU, but that's largely because of the 'single-tasking' and quite limited app functionality.
All you need to know is that, whatever you pick, you made the wrong choice and you will be roasted if you ever attempt to explain your decision.
Unless you use Arch, then you have chosen correctly.
I use Fedora, but I frequent the Arch wiki often enough that I feel like an honorary Arch user.
The Gentoo wiki is pretty good too
Urgh! Why did you choose Arch? It is just the worst!
Actual reenactment:
You're obviously not using NixOS. I clearly don't even need to try to use such a subpar stateful system such as Arch, you absolute pleb.
Am I out-jerking you already?
I use NixOS, obviously.
I use NixOS btw
Screams in Debian....
You mispelt gentoo
Not true, you just become immune to the opposition.
Arch is utterly inferior because of its use of the Systemd "init" system, which is a bloated mess that completely disregards the Unix philosophy of doing one thing and doing it well, and shouldn't be forgotten for its sins and heresy. "Arch Linux" (Really Arch Gnu/Linux, or more preferably Arch Gnu+Linux (Unless you consider that Gnu runs on top of Linux, in which case it's Linux+Gnu)) cannot be taken seriously as a minimal do it yourself distro when it hinges on an software that has ties with RedHat, which has had a history of forcing their woke Wayland Display Server (Even though Xorg worked just fine, suspicious much?), as well as their DEI onto the entire Linux space - where politics shouldn't play any role. A WOKE company like RedHat has no place in the open source community. If you want to be a true and righteous Linux user, I recommend Either Void Linux+Gnu (What manly men like myself use) or Gentoo.
Edit: this is satire, I clearly interact with these people far too often to have done this good of a job.
It says something about how sad of a state the world is in when I can't tell if this is satire or not.
I mean, it's both good and bad. The amount of downvotes mean there is a large subset of folks who no longer recognize the twisting of stallman's rant. They are new to linux, and not super-serious-no-casuals-allowed penguin lovers. It's bad because I would love if everyone coming to linux could be as into it as I am. People who are invested into a thing take a much deeper look at things, and can appreciate it's soft and jagged parts and then properly make recommendations on how to change things.
There has been I have noticed a marked increase in argumentum populum, argumentum ad lapidem and argumentum ad novitatem, with the influx of new users (in recent years), who seem to be coming to "Linux" like it's another platform; another groupthink team to switch to ["PC vs Mac"], rather than Linux just being a kernel that has a license that qualifies it as having a Free Software philosophy, and the free software (free as in freedom) being the reason to use it.
Like they're still caught in, not just the fallacies and identity-attachment mass-formation malady, but also a consumerism and a dependence paradigm, rather than embracing the freedom to learn, to empower themselves and each other.
It's daunting to think, many may not know they can look deeper into it, not merely just use the software, but also study it, and change it, and share their changes... like they don't know how we got here.
Freedom forgotten is freedom lost.
The age of the account makes it even more nebulous
Lmao, I just made this account, yeah. It's not my first Lemmy account. I made an account on lemmy.world back in 2023 I think (lost the account), and a PieFed account earlier this year, which I hardly used. I thought I could use a fresh start. (And sorry for the ambiguous satire)
I don't think that's on you. Like the person above said it's more to do with how the world is rn
I had to read until "manly man" to confirm it was satire
Void Linux+Gnu
Uhh, it's GNU SLASH Linux actually
Edit: this is satire, I clearly interact with these people far too often to have done this good of a job.
Imagine if The Onion had to say this.
Your target audience understood, the people downvoting probably are Ubuntu users anway.
Arch is utterly inferior because of its use of the Systemd “init” system, which is a bloated mess that completely disregards the Unix philosophy of doing one thing and doing it well, and shouldn’t be forgotten for its sins and heresy.
So... do arch without systemd. (And not listed there, because its live-installer iso comes with systemd, is parabola linux, which does let you install with any of many init systems).
Or as you say, any of many other distros that offer init-freedom.
Though I'm not entirely sure if I'm replying to an instance of poe's law, intended to mock those of us who see things largely like you depicted. n_n Which is fun.
PS,
history of forcing their woke Wayland Display Server (Even though Xorg worked just fine, suspicious much?),
Yes. Actively inhibiting development of Xorg. The tighter they squeeze the more of us slip through their fingers. Now there's XLibre (a Xorg fork, to continue (otherwise actively inhibited) patching and developing), and even Pheonix (a from-scratch implementation of the X11 protocol written in zig! ~ give it a couple years). Exciting times.
Frankly I'm not even keen on the idea of pulse audio either. Funny how all this "Lennartware"'s so contemptable... from Lennart Poettering, who then went to work for Microsoft. Funny eh? Funny how it's almost like it's following the same ruthless dastardly insidious method of unscrupulously building a monopoly, via "embrace, extend, extinguish". Not a fan of pulseaudio, systemd, and wayland. Much prefer free software stays closer to being in human reach, so more of us can make use of the 4 freedoms of free software. So it's not just "free software" in name only, but in practice too.
Sorry, my comment was satire, though I do daily drive Void Linux (and very much enjoy runit, and I'm looking to try openrc). Also I'm not really anti wayland, but I do dislike the squeezing of xorg development, as you mentioned. I'm pretty excited for the Phoenix project, as I'm a big fan of Zig myself, and I'm thinking of contributing. XLibre, I worry may be a lost cause with how many bridges I feel it's maintainer has burned with so many people, but he's also very committed so we'll see.
OP is posting AI slop and plagiarizing other people's work. Lead image seems a cyanide and happiness cartoon, but it's a blatent ripoff, and they watermarked it with their own username to boot. And no communication out transparency around any of that as well
I love Lemmy. I hate AI posters.
There are four main flavors
- Debian - For every day
- Red Hat - For work
- Arch - To tinker and learn
- OpenSuSe - To German
Well I've been using openSuse for a while and habe noch keine German influence gesehen.
habe noch keine German influence gesehen
haven't seen any German influence yet.
Got it.
also ...
Debian - for when you want to wait two years
Alternatively: when you want to not worry for two years.
The popular Debian based distros are up to date. That said, core Debian stable is indeed boring, but sometimes boring and stable is what you need.
yeah no hate for debian here
I use Kubuntu LTS for that exact reason. Even though I am an experienced Linux user for over 20 years, I don't have time to fuck around fixing my PC when something goes wrong. It's stable and it works. And, yes I game on my PC and it's doing just fine with my 3070 RTX NVidia card with the drivers provided by Ubuntu through their 3rd party driver system. No hassle, no crashing, just me using my computer doing the things I need to do.
Yep, perfect for my server. Literally has never gone down.
Its not even stable though😭 I spent 6 hours fixing my networking on my debian 13 stable server, after it randomly got 90 percent packet loss with no explanation
What was the issue?
no clue, fixed it by configuring my network using nmcli instead of ifupdown or nmtui
Driver issue? That or DNS somehow.
Definitely a brick of an operating system, boring as hell, but reliable and has been that way since ancient times.
Before the dawn of history
Look upon my server uptime and despair
Also the additional flavours of
- Nix – whole OS determined by 1 file
- Gentoo – Arch but it takes longer
- Alpine – small and simple
- Slackware? – for old people
- Void?? – like Alpine but not small and simple
- LFS??? – like Gentoo but takes longer
- AOSP???? – not even really Linux anymore
Gentoo – Arch but it takes longer
Supports full binary versions since december 2023.
Slackware? – for old people
Aka people who know what they're doing and what they want, noted.
Yes, that's pretty much what I said but more accurate and less funny
I've always wondered what the use case for Gentoo-but-binary is. I'm sure there is one, I just can't think of one.
Lazy people who wanna pretend they run gentoo? Dunno either...
Adding a binary package host allows Portage to install cryptographically signed, compiled packages. In many cases, adding a binary package host will greatly decrease the mean time to package installation and adds much benefit when running Gentoo on older, slower, or low power systems.
Gentoo really has nothing to do with arch. Gentoo in my opinion is more like Debian with compiling and rolling release.
And what about Fedora? Last I checked it was wildly popular.
Gentoo is just frequently cited as the "next step up" from Arch and also funny.
And Fedora is bucketed into the Red Hat flavour.
Nix – whole OS determined by 1 file
* Can be determined by 1 file. Or one file and a .lock file. Or even more files. Your pick, really.
You also have a hardware-configuration.nix by default but shhhhh...
- Void - the most BSD Linux (according to BSD people)
the most BSD Linux
Try CRUX.
(Or KISS/Carbs, Side, Parch, Aeryn, Shebang, ... and there are other new ones I've forgot the name of, that have either BSD userland or BSD style ports packaging systems).
I don't know which is "the most BSD Linux", but I suspect "BSD people" may not be the most familiar with the distroverse, having their own things to tend to.
...having their own things to tend to.
"NetBSD!" "No, OpenBSD!" "No, FreeBSD!"
Slackware
Holy sneaky AI image, Batman!
Choice is good when you can make an informed choice. Choice is bad if you are forced to make a decisions where you have no idea of the consequences.
Edit it is so perfectly fitting for the Linux community to respond with mostly criticisms and negations to these flowcharts I shared without a single negative commenter actually suggesting a different similar helpful resource for newbies to Linux who feel overwhelmed or adding something productive and helpful to the conversation.
Do better y'all.
You can't condescend these resources and pretend with a handwave like there are better ones out there, you gotta prove it. If you are going to pick apart these charts then you gotta make a new chart or link me to a better one, I don't care about your condescending minor criticisms of the specifics of the flowcharts, that is irrelevant input unless you are going to edit a flowchart and make a new one or add something else productive.
I feel like I am inside a meme making fun of Linux users right now lol.
https://piefed.blahaj.zone/post/347408
https://lemmy.ca/post/53099450
I appreciate the effort put into this but if answering yes to "are you new to Linux?" leads to the follow up question "apt or rpm?" then there's a problem.
Exactly. One is a package format and/or local package utility, and the other is a frontend to do downloads and updates for that local package utility.
Should be "rpm or dpkg" --- assuming that we're excluding the other options --- and then if someone chooses RPM, you can start talking about the frontend:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RPM_Package_Manager
Front ends
Several front-ends to RPM ease the process of obtaining and installing RPMs from repositories and help in resolving their dependencies. These include:
- yum used in Fedora Linux, CentOS 5 and above, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 and above, Scientific Linux, Yellow Dog Linux and Oracle Linux
- DNF, introduced in Fedora Linux 18 (default since 22), Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8, AlmaLinux 8, and CentOS Linux 8.
- up2date used in Red Hat Enterprise Linux, CentOS 3 and 4, and Oracle Linux
- Zypper used in Mer (and thus Sailfish OS), MeeGo,[16] openSUSE and SUSE Linux Enterprise
- urpmi used in Mandriva Linux, ROSA Linux and Mageia
- apt-rpm, a port of Debian's Advanced Packaging Tool (APT) used in Ark Linux,[17] PCLinuxOS and ALT Linux
- Smart Package Manager, used in Unity Linux, available for many distributions including Fedora Linux.
- rpmquery, a command-line utility available in (for example) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
- libzypp, for Sailfish OS
Then for dpkg, you can choose from among aptitude, apt, apt-get/apt-query/etc, graphical frontend options like synaptic that one may want to use in parallel with the TUI-based frontends, etc.
Sure, but my point was that someone new to Linux can only answer that question with "what the fuck are those"
You’ve completely missed the point. If you’re new to Linux you have no clue what those are and shouldn’t care.
I hate myself but I don't Gentoo hate myself.
Been there, done that. Eventually got fed up with having to wait 30 minutes to several hours to install (build) something just to try it out, not like it and then delete it.
@sik0fewl @klu9 binary package managers are wonderful and I cannot imagine choosing Gentoo in this time unless you really hate yourself and/or at either extreme end of the hardware performance distribution. And no newbie should have to be introduced to Linux in a way that more closely resembles the early 2000s where you might have bootstrapped from a set of binaries on a CD, but likely would have transitioned to building source packages shortly thereafter because the binary package repositories just weren’t that good and bandwidth harder to come by…
This was circa 2008 and I was trying to squeeze out a bit more performance with compiler flags optimized for my hardware. Not sure it made a noticeable difference, but I definitely noticed a difference in the time it took to install (compile) things. It was fun to build Linux from scratch, but not great as a daily driver.
gentoo for small computing power?? no offense, but that's bonkers 😹
gentoo for small computing power?? no offense, but that’s bonkers 😹
Why?
Surely if you've low computing power, you want to make the best of it... Gentoo can help with that.
Tight compile flags, choosing USE flags carefully to be minimal and snug to meet needs, can make a very very lean efficient-running crisp-feeling system for when you're using it.
Or, if your concern is more about the package install time, just use the official binhost [the -g option on emerge commands is your friend], and minimise USE flag changes, and then it's as fast as any other distro with precompiled binary packages.
With the caveat that you'd better cross-compile for the target (low resources) environment unless you're cold and it's a long weekend.
Lots of pro-Ubuntu propaganda in those flow charts. At this point, Ubuntu of any flavor shouldn't be recommended to anyone. There are always better alternatives.
I was going to say something similar. Ubuntu as a server in 202x is... well it's certainly a choice you could make...
I judge distro chooser flowcharts by whether they correctly point me to Slackware. These both pass.
These are magnificent. Now I can turn off my brain lol.
Redox is UNIX-like, not a BSD flavor. The kernel, init, userland, etc. aren't BSD related.
Top one is bonkers, would not recommend using it except for meme purposes.
LOL.
That's so broken and biased.
NixOS btw.
No kidding.
There are many correct distro choices (except Ubuntu), but the only correct desktop environment is KDE Plasma.
If Cosmic keeps evolving, it could win me over.
Worst when the newcomers chose Arch because they've heard is very configurable.
Then complain that Linux is hard.
You think choosing your Linux distro is bad, imagine having to choose your electricity, water, internet, phone, banking, and insurance provider as well as your local councillor, workplace, school, career, entertainment, childcare, car, house, food, etc.
This "love choice, hate choosing" is a really valuable thing to understand.
ah, classic hangup. you're looking for Debian with KDE
I use Linux Mint. It's very good for beginners. I don't recommend Ubuntu.
see heres the problem, youre doing that in the wrong order.
first figure out your DE/WM preference, THEN choose a package manager with the repos that will best support that for your use case and update cycle preferences. (the distro)
It depends.
ok true
Choose a distro that supports upgrades between releases.
no thanks, i enjoy a rolling release
JFCLM
Just Fucking Choose Linux Mint.
Nah. I’m a gamer and need something with more up to date packages. I can’t rely on Debian / Ubuntu base.
Fedora and Arch base are my go to.
If you know what you want then you're not the person depicted in this comic.
I'm a gamer too and i'm not sure what is about that, everything seems fine on the 6.12 kernel LMDE is on.
Ditto. Also a gamer on Linux Mint and never once had a problem.
bazzite?
I used Bazzite for a bit and I like the direction of the project. I’m still not happy with where Flatpak is and so I switched to CachyOS for now.
I've been gaming on Debian (granted, with the backports kernel). What am I missing? Everything works and I've had zero issues.
The present-day Linux kernel tree (not the Debian guys) actually has a target to build a Debian kernel package (make bindeb-pkg) straight out of git if you want, so you can pretty readily get a packaged kernel out of the Linux kernel git repo, as long as you can come up with a viable build config for it (probably starting from a recent Debian kernel's config). I have run off Debian-packaged kernels built that way before, if you want to play on the really bleeding edge.
Yep, been gaming on Ubuntu for decades. Zero issue. Occasionally have to do a thing, but it's Linux, so you know; everything is always do able.
maybe youve always been using 2 year or older hardware *shrug
Or maybe I just run the mainline kernel in the cases I need it.
i'll admit it, i was partially memeing
Debian and Ubuntu get packages and kernels upwards of 6 months late. If you run newer hardware, you need the most up to date drivers/kernel. Fedora and Arch just offer more bleeding/cutting edge releases.
I use Kubuntu with the backports ppa
Sid, or even experimental staging can solve that.
Ceres, if on Devuan instead of Debian.
Thus more newness available in Debianland too.
I'm using Kubuntu LTS and I'm gaming just fine.
mint doesnt even offer kde, i dont see the point.
cant use gnome after realizing all the terrible usability choices/lack of customizability options is deliberate, people really will powertrip/gatekeep the weirdest shit
I think Zorin OS did a really good job at customizing Gnome to make it the way it should have been. As for limiting customizeability, I don't think that's necessarily bad. Sometimes I get overwhelmed by KDE's customization options. Vanilla Gnome has too little. Zorin's desktop is just right.
But that's my opinion.
customizing Gnome
HERETICS!
yeah i dont hate gnome users or even if i have to use gnome, but i do hate the conceptual approach to functionality they take, as you mention.
They can try Kubuntu (or whatever) live whenever they're ready. Beginners just need something that works with minimal configuration.
kubuntu is trash. you have to wait forever for kde updates and not everyone wants to use ubuntu / derivatives. it just seems like everyone is so stubborn and just says mint. tons of distros "just work" out of the box with minimal configuration, even some based on arch.
really i only have one opinion here that im strong on, and its that i feel cinnamon is a waste of time for many (new people).
kubuntu is trash
That's like... your opinion, man.
true
I added the backports ppa for Kubuntu and it gets updates quickly
If you know what KDE is you can make an informed choice. Mint is the recommendation for people who just want something easy to get started with.
this touches on my point exactly. i find that due to the "over recommendation" of mint/cinnamon, that many new people will inevitably "waste time" with cinnamon. this is a feeling i have that frustrates me, is all. KDE is exactly as easy to get started with as is cinnamon.
anyway cheers :)
Exactly. I never see people actually liking Cinnamon as a DE, but everyone keeps recommending Mint. It's so frustrating, and perplexing.
If Mint would just treat KDE as first class like it used to, I would be inclined to recommend it more often. Not as often as Fedora KDE — which has always seemed to have the best hardware support of all major distros — but at least I wouldn’t feel the need to fight people for recommending Mint to new users. Blindly recommending something as clunky and outdated as Mint and Cinnamon to new Windows expats is a great way to earn Linux a bad reputation just as things are looking up.
quite refreshing to get some support on this opinion. cheers
KDE's still available in mint. They don't strip it out of the repos. Just one install command away ... sudo apt install kde-full right? (or clicky clicky through the gui package manager).
You can absolutely do that.
But do be careful with kde-full if you're running very old hardware. I'm talking about <4gb DDR3, CPUs from Obama's first term etc.
I'm not saying KDE's "bloated"; I am still in absolute shock at how light it is compared to Windows.
But if you are dealing with hardware that needs a daily lethal dose of donepezil, opt for kde-standard
(Difficult lesson I learned)
still in absolute shock at how light it is compared to Windows
KDE's still the bloatiest we have though.
Would be nice if Trinity (KDE3) were still ubiquitously available across all distros' repos.
Or I suppose we could just strip alllll the bloat, and use something like IceWM for a classic "Windows" feel. (Or LXDE. XFCE (bit bloatier), or any of a dozen(+) other DE/WM following that model (panel & startmenu)).
Heh, I was just suggesting IceWM (again) or JWM to someone on another thread, and then this^ is the very next thing I see.
I still have a soft-spot for Trinity(KDE3) though. It being where I started my GNU+Linux adventure. Completely confirmed my decision to leave Windows in 2003.
right, but im talking about new people unknowingly wasting time on it. new people dont know to just sudo apt install kde-full, and they may waste months on cinnamon.
Cinnamon >>>>>>> KDE, you can install KDE regardless, but cinnamon is plainly better IMO.
Why is it better? KDE has more features and first-class Wayland support. If I wanted an X11 DE, I would choose XFCE because of its general clean code and performance.
it comes to personal preference i guess, but i find KDE clunky at times and not that ergonomic, even when you customize it a bit, like adding centre spaces to put things in the panels.
Cinnamon feels polished and relatively simple while still being highly customizable.
You're not wrong. I think there's definitely room for some improvements.
And sometimes too many customizations can become confusing. I tend to keep everything vanilla to avoid things breaking, except for a few things. I installed a Win 10 theme and even a Win 10 style Tile start menu because I love the concept so much.
I know it's controversial in a Linux community, but I absolutely LOVED the Windows 10 ergonomics. Square, flat, predictable, and your eyes can quickly pick up the necessary information and you can navigate faster with a mouse. Plus with the Powertoys that added the fancy zones feature, that was perfect. I get all of this in KDE.
is reasonable to say, that W10, specially years ago, was one of the good windows, specially with a debloater.
there were a lot of shit in the middle but yeah, Cinnamon feels like "what if the windows desktop was made with love and passion".
wdym by ergonomic in this context, may i ask?
you get to develop muscle memory faster, configurations are easier to find, and things start simple and become complex when you need them to get complex instead of always be kinda complex.
Also, I hate dolphin, it is quite bad, you can't open files with sudo directly, you have to navigate trough various menus to find the button for that, is also harder to read IMO.
i think i explained it poorly, but i mean you get the hang of things faster, and usually stuff is where is more convenient for for them to be.
I don't hate KDE, if Cinnamon wasn't a thing, i would go for it, but as things stands now, I prefer cinnamon.
hey right on, appreciate the thoughtful reply. i cant say i share the same experience, but now i understand where youre coming from.
side note, im new(ish) to lemmy and im really appreciating the quality of the takes im seeing on here. refreshing feeling, so cheers to adding to that.
For sure this place feels way more civilized than your average corner of the internet, maybe because 11 of every 10 people in this space, is a huge nerd rooting for this space to succeed!
hell yeah
Hey! Welcome to the fediverse!
ty kindly :)
better how?
Bazzite is good now and you don’t have to spend hours trying to install Nvidia drivers
in linux mint there is a buton, that says "driver installer" you press on it, select what version (choose the recommended one) then press install.
I did not know that! I was thinking about my issues on Debian and assumed Mint had a similar process
if you use LMDE is still a bit easier because the sources are already added, "sudo apt install nvidia-driver" and then use the envy control program to configure it properly.
lol no. Completely failed to run 90% of my games and had audio popping no matter what I did with pulsewire or whatever. If a noob encounters that they’re never using Linux again.
how long ago was that? what GPU? what kernel version?
is something odd
It was 6 months ago when I finally switched to Linux. I tested several distros. Zorin and Mint both had numerous, numerous problems.
Nvidia 3080. No clue what kernel version, just installed the default from the website (full install, not a live image).
hmmmm, back then mint did have quite an old kernel, but you could update it to a newer version trough the update manager, but now is not a problem beacuse in the new releases of LM 22 and LMDE 7, they ship with a fresh kernel.
Six months ago??? People were saying to use mint back then too, like every thread. I understand it’s completely based on your hardware but you can understand how it’s hard to trust anyone saying mint right? On the other hand CachyOS and Garuda both work really hard to make sure every hardware config works properly.
Well, they updated it, they updated it heavily.
If you have recent hardware mint is not a good choice. Otherwise yes.
This is not true anymore.
the kernel in mint 22.2 is from march and fingerprint reader support is still poor
Just ask your favourite slop generator to shit a suggestion for you, it already replaced your ability to draw stick figures, something every person knows hownto do by the age of 7.
Or better yet, google a list of active distros and throw a fucking dice. Same amount of precision and intelligence, less wasted electricity and water.
I’ve now gone down this rabbit hole several times now and installed several of them many many times over now just figuring it all out and finally getting a stable setup which took a few months.
From my perspective after doing all of that : Chances are if you are not a developer, high end cgi artist, or specialized in tech, you might just need something safe like Ubuntu. At least just grab it to start. It gets you up and running, nice interface. Easy to use. Works for basic out of the box stuff making plex server, basic computing, house hold stuff. Could set it up for your technophobe friends and family and find it easy to just update and run. Big colorful app icons. Looks and works like an android phone for usability and easy to learn. Stuff even installs from a gui similar to how windows does.
You’d only go deep on something like fedora/nobara with some serious intentions with a high end computer where you just couldn’t reach some goals on Ubuntu. You just wouldn’t go to these ones if you didn’t have to. Those reasons also rhyme with kde plasma reasons/Developer reasons where in you absolutely need specialized software. And you have to be comfortable with swimming in the bios often.
If you don’t know and it sounds weird just googling it then just stick with Ubuntu.
I’ve talked to people in the Linux community gatekeeping hard on others who don’t even know about why someone would need kde plasma. So that should tell you everything you need to know about the fanboys. And I’ve taken heat from them only to have them breaking their own brain on the idea that people actually use computers for simulations or just use computers for anything other than what they would use a computer for.
so Take what they say with a giant truck of salt. Not even Mac users are as annoying as the some of Linux assholes I’ve met.
Just pick the yummiest option each time.
Mint.
Cinnamon.
That adds the "which windowing system do you want to use" question and under the "Xorg" option, a "do you want to use a window manager without a desktop environment", and then under "yes", for the "Which window manager" question, you get Ratpoison as one of the options.
LOL!
Imagine a new user confronted with ratpoison wm. XD XD XD
Computer defenestration ensues. XD
sure its fine and will do. but ...millions of people waste time on cinnamon bc of this logic.
make it without AI and try again
I tried to encourage fellow Linux users to just encourage one distro. It doesn't have to be a good distro, but just one the person is least likely to run into issues with and if they do, the most likely to be able to find solutions easily for their issues. Things like Ubuntu and Mint clearly fit the bill. They can then decide later if they want to change to a different one based on what they learn from using that one.
No one listened to me, because everyone wants to recommend their personal favorite distro rather than what would lead to the least problems for the user and would be the easiest to use. A person who loves PopOS will insist the person must use PopOS. A person who loves Manjaro will insist that the person must use Manjaro. Linux users like so many different distros that this just means everyone recommends something different and just make it confusing.
I gave up even bothering after awhile. Linux will never be big on desktop unless some corporation pushes a Linux-based desktop OS.
The wrong assumption is that you have to pick the best of all possible everything the first time. People agonize less about choosing a type of car to spend $30,000 on knowing that if you sell it used its instantly worth 5000 less.
Meanwhile you can switch everything about your computer in 2 hours for free.
I'm a Linux > Ubuntu > Gnome type of girl. I don't know what any of that means but those are how I use my linux.
KDE plasma gas been braindead easy on my ancient laptop as a first time linuxer! My next experiment is gonna be Bazzite on my desktop. Kinda seems like I'll find the differences as I try new distros, then be better suited to form a preference for myself. Then eventually I'll be on Arch btw...
Then eventually I’ll be on Arch btw…
Or maybe NixOS, or Gentoo, or Devuan, or GuixSD, or Slackware, or LMDE, or Calculate, or VoidLinux, or Puppy, or Solus, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, ...
Arch is not the inevitable destination.
Or maybe it is for you, but in a different form... such as Artix, or Parabola, or Hyperbola, or Obarun, or Joborun, or Xero, or Acretionos, or Manjaro, or Endeavour, or, or, or....
But yeah! Good going, as a first time linuxer. :)
AI trash aside, I think the default recommendation for newbies should be Linux Mint with Cinnamon environment. It's familiar, simple, and fully functional. Lots of people use it as their go-to for general purposes, myself included.
Honestly, this is partially what is gatekeeping Linux. People hate making choices, especially when it is a new world. We should promote one distro with one desktop as the “best linux for Windows users”, ideally immutable with a flatpack store.
And no, fuck Canonical.
"This is america, why are there more than two choices"
The big advantage of Linux it’s fully customizable The big disadvantage of Linux, it’s fully customizable
Ventoy and go, try a bunch.
But the correct answer is Mint with XFCE
Same thing with Fediverse instances.
IMO the linux and/or fediverse community could learn a thing or two about UX from the establishment.
I believe the best approach is to take note of the Pareto Principle: 20% of instances / distros would meet the need of 80% of users.
I would simply recommend Ubuntu / lemmy.world to complete beginners (just based on market share). If they are interested in alternatives, they would naturally seek those out themselves.
This concept is nothing new e.g. Google presents their searchbar front and centre; power users would click on "Advance Search" for their needs.
I started mainlining Linux about a year and a half ago after playing with it for a bit in 2007-ish and running a headless server for a decade or so.
I just installed Ubuntu because that was what Framework officially supported. I can't think of what a newbie user would find lacking with Ubuntu. It does about everything that Windows does fine. I've heard similar things about Mint. Why do we have to over-complicate things for new users? Just shove them towards a distro and let them know they can probably fix whatever they don't like with a reinstall later.
If someone were to recommend me a distro with the GNOME desktop environment then I would not be a Linux for long. GNOME is weird and confusing. I am convinced that KDE Plasma, Cinnamon, LXDE and other more Windows-like desktops is better for a new Linux user. If they want an alternative desktop environment they can seek it out themselves.
a distro with the GNOME desktop environment
We would have lost a newbie by this point.
I don't think we are representative of the average user. For example, noone from my family heard of these terms, or even care. They just want to browse the web, watch some Youtube videos, and that's it.
That why they shouldn't be recommended anything that has to do with GNOME. Just give them anything that closely resembles Windows.
I installed Linux Mint on my mom's old laptop and on my stepmother's aunt's laptop as well. I have had 0 support calls since then! As you say, all they want to do is browse the web.
Or even IceWM or JWM.
Having to learn and inform yourself of your options is truly among the most terrifying experiences of the modern person
Working pc with low effort? Just use Linux Mint. Is basically an Ubuntu without bloat and less strict on packages. Also cinnamon as desktop is both super windows-familiar and customizable with close to no need for the terminal.
Gaming pc fast and updated? Catchy OS with a KDE plasma desktop. So you can say to other "I use Arch (derivate) btw".
I am linux mint - cinnamon.
https://distrochooser.de/& https://distrowatch.com/are your friend.
And maybe a little later, when more familiar and skilled, maybe after having tried a handful of distros for a while, https://bedrocklinux.org/(or even just https://distrobox.it/) means you don't have to choose just 1.
Choose one at random from those with easy installation. Use it for a week. If you like it, stick with it. If it's frustrating as heck, try another distro. Your skills picked up from the first one will very likely transfer over. As you narrow down your experience with what's frustrating you, you can pinpoint what things you like and which you don't and settle on the perfect distro for you.
There is absolutely NO way to know that before you get your hands dirty and see what these options are and their quirks.
"The first place to direct new users was to Linux From Scratch, so that they could determine whether they wanted to use a Linux distribution at all, or a more freeform approach."
And that is the reason Linux will not go mainstream.
No average user wants to spend time distro hopping, they want a functioning computer that can do anything they want. A configure and forget.
So they will MUCH rather use Windows or Mac and be done with it than jump to hoops like you are proposing.
I suspect there's a circular definition of "average user" lurking there.
Multiple partitions or single. LLVM-managed or not. Block-level encrypted partitions or not. Do you want your swap on a dedicated partition, as a swap file, and do you want it to be encrypted?
If you decide that you want a multiple-partition installation and then let the installer do the partitioning, Debian's installer still does a 100 MB /boot partition, which is woefully inadequate for present-day kernels as Debian packages them. 1 GB, maybe.
For first-timers: pick at random and use it until it annoys you. Then you can make an informed decision second (third, fourth, ..., nth) time around
This is like people, they are all different, so annoying! /s
I have to choose people i like?? Gaaah.
I really wish people could get together and just agree to recommend like 1 of 3 distros to people and put their personal y preferences aside.
Once people actually switch and use Linux for some time they can figure out what is actually best for them.
I say it should be,
Mint Kubuntu Maybe bazzite (I’ve never used it, but I’ve heard it’s popular for gaming.)
I still have to make the switch, have been keeping track of these topics a bit.
Right now, the shortlist I would make is:
- Bazzite (Easy to setup, preconfigured for gaming)
- Fedora (Good allrounder, well developed)
- Arch (For those who want full control and love to tinker)
I can't recommend to a newcomer a distro that can potentially break or introduce bugs or vulnerabilities with software that's too bleeding edge. That's why I'll never recommend Arch or even Fedora. And Bazzite is really too gaming focused and you can only install software through flatpaks. (I know there's other ways, but we're talking about newbies here. We need to keep it simple.)
Flatpak and AppImage. What programs can't be installed on Bazzite?
It's not that they can't be installed. But that the process is highly technical for newbies.
Yeah but like which ones? I'm using Kubuntu, but everything I need is either Flatpak or AppImage, and it's easier than Windows
Ah sorry. I was referring to Bazzite.
Yeah but either way I'm just using Flatpak and AppImage. Is that harder in Bazzite than Kubuntu? I think Bazzite uses Discover just like Kubuntu
For desktop apps you'll be fine for the most part. But if you need to install a module for your hardware or some other system software it gets more complicated.
Yeah I'm just wondering how common that is for someone that just wants to play games and browse the Internet
Only thing that matters is that you realize, none of it's permanent. Getting your feet wet for a few weeks working from a live USB is okay too. Go as fast or as slow as you want. People get stuck on "The Paradox of Choice".
Fucking it up is part of the fun
Not for the people who just want a working computer.
Not everyone wants OS hopping as a hobby
Exactly. The OS hopping days are behind me!
True
I like Fedora plasma the best personally, but the gnome version requires configuration to just get a minimize button and it also needs rpm fusion configured and codecs installed.
That is why I don’t like to recommend this for a newbie.
Upvote for Fedora.
Downvote for Fedora
We had that consensus with Ubuntu for 15 years but haters had to hate so now we're here. 😁
that's because even people who are using ubuntu for 15 years and don't really care that much are finally fed up and starting to look for an alternative.
"get these security updates with ubuntu pro" is the ultimate wake-up call...
Ah yes, the 10-year corporate-grade security support for communiry packages provided for free to small users. I use it on the machines I haven't converted to Debian yet. It's great.
You're not wrong.
But, what about Snaps? What's your take on these?
I use Flatpaks in Kubuntu no problem, don't think I have any Snaps installed
I tend to prefer flatpak over snaps myself. Depends for what.
Not op, but I use Ubuntu because I will need a job at some point and want to use something relatively marketable.
Snaps are annoying, I tried to use them once for something and then have basically ignored them. They aren't hugely core as something in windows would be.
In my opinion Snaps are superior in terms of design and functionality than Flatpak. In practice, there are many poorly implemented snap packages. There were annoying bugs with the snap system for a long time like the update/close app notification. There's not enough features for holding snap updates. And there isn't built-in support for multiple repos. I like Snap but there have been legitimate problems with it (along with a lot of illegitimate ones) and the mindshare has shifted to Flatpak, which albeit inferior, fulfils most of the Snap use cases. In the end the social infrastructure is more important than the exact technology and that's much stronger around Flatpak. I use both on Ubuntu and only Flatpak on Debian.
If it matters, I'm a senior software guy who's used Linux professionally for many use cases for 10-15 years. Been personally using Ubuntu since 2005. Am switching new machines to Debian because Canonical is planning to do IPO and enshittifaction would inevitably follow. Not because of Snap. 😅
In my opinion Snaps are superior in terms of design and functionality than Flatpak.
You are now my enemy.
Snaps was one of the earlier enshittification indicators, and the point where I jumped ship.
I've been following Snap since it was called Click back in 2011-13 because it was solving a lot of problems that the classic, trusted package management had and still has. Problems that were elegantly solved on Android with the APK package and sandboxing system. That was pretty exciting so I might have a somewhat different perspective. :D
When I started with linux in late 2003, I soon came to wish for some universal packaging system.
I have grown to regret that wish.
For me it wasn't so much the universal part than the reduced maintenance work that comes with bundled depdnencies which makes a package work over more OS releases without breaking, as well as the higher upgrade success rate.
But yeah I like the trusted repo model that Debian uses. It's a lot of work by many volunteers and the result is great, so long as people keep doing it.
so long as people keep doing it.
Yep... keep giving back. :)
That's interesting. I kind of feel the same way. Snap seem great and have improved a bit. But it lacks certain controls that Flatpak has.
It also covers more than just desktop apps, you can install a lot of other software in sandboxes.
i am on 22.04 lts, so should i really need ubuntu pro to get security updates and why is it forcing me to join?
You don't need Ubuntu Pro to get updates on 22.04 LTS. Without it you're getting the same type of updates 12.04 was getting, for the same period of 5 years. The main repo gets security patches from Cnonical, the community repos get patches from the community. Same as it's always been. With Ubuntu Pro, you get additional security updates for the community repos done by Canonical, like they do it for main. In addition you get additional 5 years of support for 10 years total. And apparently there's now yet additional 5 that extends it to 15 but I haven't read what that's about. So for a user that doesn't care about Ubuntu Pro, nothing has changed. For the user that wants to stay on 22.04 till 2032, Ubuntu Pro is an incredible deal. This kind of support does not exist in Debian. It can be provided by a commercial third party for a price.
I am convinced that Ubuntu/GNOME is the main reason that Linux onboarding has taken so long and has been so slow.
I never knew KDE Plasma and other Windows-like desktop environments existed until Valve released the Steam Deck.
Kububtu (Ubuntu with KDE) has been an official Ubuntu flavour almost aince the beginning. During the Ubuntu consensus years, it was being promoted along with Ubuntu for every release.
It's totally cool you learned about it from Valve but that doesn't mean people were oblivious about KDE in the 2000s and 2010s.
Sure, but it hasn't been well promoted by the community or by Canonical. Otherwise I would have seen it a long time ago.
Respectfully disagree. Have been following many Ubuntu releases over the years, Ubuntu blogs and news sites, and the official flavours have always been showcased, talked about, major features discussed and so on.
Also switching between flavours has always been trivial even post-installation. I used to test-drive KDE on Ubuntu installs and GNOME on Kubuntu installs in the 2000s and early 2010s.
Do you seriously expect new users to keep up with Ubuntu blogs, news sites and stuff like that? New users don't even know what a flavor is. New users are not that involved in the eco system. Just because you have seen it that doesn't mean it's widely known.
This right here is one of the problems with old Linux users trying to recruit new users.
In 2012 when Ubuntu was the default choice, new users were instantly told what flavours are and what the three options were and why they should choose one over another. The info was also straight on Ubuntu.com where you downloaded the install media from. The problem you're imagining did not exist.
E: Also I'm not trying to recruit new users therefore I'm not demonstrating my recruitment prowess. I'm having a discussion about the historical context of Ubuntu and Kubuntu/KDE. I've successfully converted many laymen users to Ubuntu who still use it to this day. I've converted whole teams to Ubuntu professionally over the years too. I know what it takes to do either.
Weird that I don't see any mention of KDE or Kubuntu on the 2012 Ubuntu website then.
https://web.archive.org/web/20120427110552/https://ubuntu.com/
Oh. In 2012 they didn't have a simple direct download link to whatever the main one they were pushing at the time was, to reduce analysis paralysis for new users?
In 2012 they had no mention of Kubuntu or KDE on the official Ubuntu homepage and downloads page. Same for the Canonical website. I checked both in April and October of 2012 on the Wayback Machine.
In the 00s, it was a different thing. KDE3, now forked as Trinity, seems much more solid and easy. Would be cool if more distros pushed it instead of the heavier more-fiddly KDE since KDE3.
Ubuntu basically used to be what Mint is now (although Gnome sucks). Mint shouldn't need to exist.
I really love those haters who had to hate. ;D
I only recommend what I'm willing to support. Can't recommend distros I would never use.
kubuntu and mint are basically the same, spare the desktop environment. I think something like Fedora, EndeavorOS plus CachyOS and Bazzite for gamers sounds more fair of a possible suggestion list. Unlike Mint, all of those have comprehensive wiki, Fedora and Bazzite for those preferring fixed release, and EOS and CachyOS for rolling-release.
Bazzite for gamers is a good suggestion, as is Fedora. I've found Fedora to be quite usable even if someone doesn't know that much about tech. The setup is clear, the appstore doesn't require any CLI or effort to install most apps someone will need, games can still run on it easily with basically no user modifications if you're using Steam with Proton, the UI is easy to navigate for most former Windows or Mac users, etc.
Felt way better than Mint in terms of the out of box experience and just general design and usability imo.
I believe that people recommending Mint do so only because they once heard that it was a noob distro themselves. When i first switched to linux, i had lots of issues with it. I especially struggled with troubleshooting. EndeavorOS was my second, and it was perfect for me until i discovered CachyOS.
I believe that people recommending Mint do so only because they once heard that it was a noob distro themselves.
100% agreed. I tried it early on because I was told it was good for beginners, and stopped using it quite fast because it didn't feel much like a "noob distro" at all aside from a few things being a little more user friendly right at the very start of the experience.
This is not gonna happen.
Thankfully.
When it comes to distros, having something like a central website or something that contains up to date info on beginner friendly distrks probably wouldn't be the worst. Like distrowatch, but specifically just for distros like Mint or Zorin or MX or whatever.
The problem is we'd need to get people on board and find a way to advertise it. The advertising might be the hard part since I hazard a guess that there's nobody on the Fediverse that is big enough to reach the normal computer users. Just us fediversians or whatever we're calling ourselves.
Maybe in your suggestion there, you could link it. https://distrowatch.com/
And maybe even a specific search link for beginner distros. https://distrowatch.com/search.php?ostype=All&category=Beginners&status=Active... helping reduce the list from hundreds to just 17.
Every opportunity.
I was specifically thinking something similar but specifically only for beginner distros, but maybe that's a better option.
I’m cozy on Cachy these days, but I always recommend the same two distros to new users.
Do you want to play games or are you not very technical? Bazzite.
Are you a Windows or Mac power user? Fedora KDE.
For any other situation, try Bazzite first and switch to Fedora KDE if Bazzite feels too restrictive.
When you start feeling comfortable with those, put Ventoy on a thumb drive and experiment.
this:
I'd just like to interject for a moment. What you're referring to as Linux, is in fact, GNU/Linux, or as I've recently taken to calling it, GNU plus Linux. Linux is not an operating system unto itself, but rather another free component of a fully functioning GNU system made useful by the GNU corelibs, shell utilities and vital system components comprising a full OS as defined by POSIX. Many computer users run a modified version of the GNU system every day, without realizing it. Through a peculiar turn of events, the version of GNU which is widely used today is often called “Linux,” and many of its users are not aware that it is basically the GNU system, developed by the GNU Project. There really is a Linux, and these people are using it, but it is just a part of the system they use.
That is a kinda sane order tho
Normally people just install Ubuntu or Linux Mint (because it has Linux in the name or something) and use modded GNOME or some weird niche desktop, thinking this is peak Linux experience.
(Needed to do Mint tech support over the holidays again... yeah it is strange)
I'd expect that most brand new users install Ubuntu or Linux Mint because of how often they are recommended.
Linux Mint is basically Ubuntu with Canonical/Snaps removed and some added polish. The default DE is laid out like windows before 11 ("start" button in lower left) which seems to make sense for new users.
I'm a knowledgable enough user, being a developer on embedded linux products, and I also stuck with Mint long term. It's still a Linux system that I actually control. The fact that it was very user friendly and full featured it off the box doesn't take away from that. It just meant that it wasn't the learning experience you'd get with something like Arch.
KDE is better than Cinnamon, period. Apart from really old hardware (where Cinnamon is faster for some reason), KDE is way less restricting, way more modern and also very intuitive.
Cinnamon works, but is simply worse. Many powerful apps are KDE apps, while Cinnamon is GTK based, so you cannot even install them without loading an entire different graphics framework in RAM.
I get that a Debian->Ubuntu base is the most standard, and Ubuntu does weird stuff. But Mint also does weird stuff, like having a weird selection of apps, filtering flathub and more.
I don't have any issues with KDE, and I admire their work beyond the DE/UI. Kdenlive is my chosen video editor, for instance. I believe it's the flatpak version too, so it no doubt loads a bunch of stuff into ram.
I'm not sure what you mean by "restricting" with the DE since I have a terminal at my fingertips at all times. I assume you mean some design decisions or lack of some customization options that KDE has?
But the weird selection of apps has me lost. It comes with stuff installed that you might expect, like firefox and libre office. It uses mostly the Ubuntu repositories so you can apt or apt-get install most things you're looking for. And since it's linux you can add repositories and all that fun stuff.
I also don't know what you mean by filtering flathub.
I can list random things I noticed
- KDE essential apps are often more powerful, like Gwenview (the only modern FOSS viewer with many edit capabilities) or Okular. Installing them works but the theme may look ugly and it pulls in half of the DE
- some core apps like Spectacle or the powerful search / krunner cannot be used
- no wayland support means you are restricted to ancient insecure technology
- the filemanager is extremely restricting in comparison to dolphin. Like afaik you cannot even add arbitrary folders to the sidebar! They are linked to a "favourites" folder or something, very annoying. I assume it has no filtering either. The date display in list view is pretty ugly by default, maybe that can be changed
- ...
I dont use Cinnamon lol, for reasons. Too many family members blindly used it and I hate it.
since I have a terminal at my fingertips
This is not what a DE is for. If you need a terminal, the DE is not good. I also heavily use the terminal but I am talking about a good general use desktop.
weird selection of apps has me lost
They diverge from GNOME for theming or whatever, and either have weird apps for things like PDF viewing preinstalled, or the people that used it preinstalled those.
As it is neither KDE nor GNOME, it kinda uses GNOME apps but not really. Simply a pretty bad situation. On KDE I use a bunch of GNOME apps and thanks to libadwaita they all look and works fine. That is actually an antifeature of KDE apps, but if you are on KDE they are fine XD
comes with stuff installed that you might expect
That always results in opinionated defaults. People seem to get along fine and I still have a vanilla LMDE VM I have not tried.
I also don't know what you mean by filtering flathub.
Then maybe look it up ;) it is easy to find. Deb packages have way more attack surface than flatpaks, making this even worse. People install spotify as an unrestricted deb package instead of in a sandbox for example. Fucking spotify.
so you can apt or apt-get install
It is a DE for people who literally know nothing about Linux. The GUI store needs sensible defaults and it doesnt really have those currently due to their controversial (and unsafe) decision to hide unverified flatpaks
I didn't want to deal with choosing so I just went with Linux Mint and the default choice (Cinnamon) but it seemed glitchy and I couldn't configure it the way I wanted, so switched to xfce. Haven't felt the need to try other stuff since.
Well you havent had a person needing modern display features then XD Gamers would immediately thing Linux sucks. Also XFCE is kinda really bad to use, it is okay but KDE is so much better
What is bad about it? What 'display features' are important here? My main problem with Cinnamon was lag spikes every second or so, though that was some years ago and might not be an issue now. Games seem to mostly work fine, except VR stuff still needs more troubleshooting, but I'm skeptical a different DE would fix those issues.
Basically all XOrg vs. Wayland issues
- no fractional scaling, or if there is, with big performance issues
- no HDR
- no mixed DPI or FPS
- in total very bad multi monitor support (it was hacked in afterwards, not really intended from the ground up)
No idea about VR but I assume it works well on KDE or GNOME (depending on what you mean, people use Meta quest as an external display)
I don't have high resolution monitors so most of that isn't relevant to me but they are different dimensions and it seems to handle two of them fine.
VR issues are like, the headset speakers not being recognized, viewing the desktop from SteamVR shows a blank screen, and launching VR games does not actually cause the headset to switch to them, they just run in the background. Stuff like that. I guess it would be worth trying another DE just to see if it helps.
Accurate 😂 Best starter move: just pick Linux Mint (or Ubuntu) with Cinnamon, use it for a week, then distro-hop later if you still feel the itch.
Around 500 flavors.
Around 500 distros.
Then within some of those distros they offer various (what they often call) flavors.
Clearly there's an unwarranted assumption baked into this comic that one needs a desktop environment. I have my non-headless Linux systems set up to run the emptty display manager using the Linux console:
Which then launches the Sway compositor without having Sway start any desktop environment if I want to log into a graphical environment. That's my favorite option. Let's not impose an artificially-restricted set of choices, here. :-)
what's with the weird white lines in the image?
AI generated. I subconsciously noticed them from the generic artstyle, but I wanted to believe it wasn't slop until I saw the comments. Probably stolen from cyanide and happiness artstyle.
Like others pointed out, the laptop ports keep changing, Red shirt guy has weird faint patterns going on, and the text in the scroll bar boxes doesn't line up right.
choosing a linux distro can be hard for newcomers. that's why i recommend going on distrowatch and picking a easy to use distro. i know it's weird advice but thats how i wound up picking a linux distro and never looked back.
Ubuntu and Mint have default DEs, and they're literally the only two popular recommendations for newbies
I started building my own kernel day 1 because I'm a techno masochist.
Shhhh no choose, only Kubuntu.
Just use Ubuntu, God damnit.
Pop OS is a safe recommendation from me.
___ Linux Mint all the way 💃💫✨
@mudkip I've picked MX Linux with XFCE for my 2007 laptop (which originally had Windows Vista Home Premium). Not my main device, but still worth mentioning as a Linux machine.
Gnome with dash to panel is what everyone uses. And fedora
link dead
OH NO! NOT FREE OPTIONS! I hate it when I can try multiple things at no cost! (ノಠ益ಠ)ノ彡┻━┻
Edit:It's a joke, hence the table flip emoticon. I like to mess around with my setup every so often because distro hopping was how I learned. I'm not condemning anyone who just wants to use something easy and or streamlined
That's why BSD > Linux