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 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.
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.
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 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.
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.