With the Windows 10 end of life coming soon I’ve been thinking about what I wanted to do with the family computers I support. Then after my Windows 11 is Awful post I decided I needed to move them to Linux. But what distro do I pick? It needs to be friendly and easy to use. It also needs to support things like printers.
Some good Linux distros for people new to Linux.
Linux Mint
Linux Mint is know for being the beginner distro and is the first Linux distro a lot of people used. It has a beautiful desktop and is known to be stable. It’s based on Debian so you get the advantage of using .deb packages for software. That opens up a lot of options when it comes to software.
I moved Mint to the top of my list recently because the family did not like PopOS default desktop. Mint’s default options are more tradition and Windows like. So they felt better using it. The only thing I’m not 100% sure about is printing. My printer is out of ink so I have not tested yet. But it can see the printer so I feel like it will work.
Also Mint is at the top of the Linux Steam Hardware survey so that proves a lot of people using it for Linux gaming.
Pop! OS
Pop OS was my first choice for someone who is new to Linux. But the gnome like desktop is not liked very much by new comers. Its can be changed but but that’s an extra step and complication I did not want to deal with when supporting Linux for my family.
It is very easy to use and in my experience setting things up like printers was a breeze. It’s also Debian based so it can take advantage of all the deb packages out there to get just about any kind of software you want. Pop OS is also know to be good with gaming.
It also has something called the Pop Shop that is kind of like an app store but its all free. This makes it easy for someone to find software they want without messing with the command line.
I moved my wife to PopOS and she was able to use it just fine. Printing works and so far everything else she needs to do has worked. But she did not like the desktop. So I ended up switching her to Mint.
Manjaro
Manjaro is the distro I currently use myself. Its good with gaming and because its Arch based it has access to the AUR. The AUR has a lot of extra software in it so you can find a lot of things that might not be on other distros.
But I’ve never had much luck with printers on Manjaro. Because printing can be a big deal for some people Manjaro might not be a good fit.
Manjaro is also a rolling release. Meaning its forever updated and in theory you don’t have to reinstall it years later to get a new version. This means it tends to be more up to date and cutting edge. But also can be less stable and buggy. A rolling release might be a pro or con for you depending on what you need.
Ubuntu
Ubuntu is suppose to be a good distro. A know a lot of people use it. I tried it once years ago and I don’t remember having any problems with it but I did not stick with it. So I can’t say a lot about it other then I know a lot of people like it. It’s also Debian based.
Bonus: Other Options
Other distros i’m keeping my eyes on are OpenMandriva and Devuan. OpenMandriva is not Arch or Debian based so I worry about software support. Devuan is a fork of Debian. Over the last few weeks I have heard a lot of good things about these. Maybe rising stars? It would be kind of nice to have more distros that are not pulling directly from Arch or Debian. But they might be a little ways off from being super user friendly for a new Linux user.
I just wanted to mention it. Mostly as a reminder to myself to check it out later haha.
What do you think?
Do you know of any good Linux distros I missed? Let me know!
