this post was submitted on 07 Jan 2025
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Linux

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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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Since Windows 11 has recently become borderline unusable in many old PCs, I'm trying to convince some people to try Linux. Problem is that I have spent the last few years with a custom built Archlinux and have no idea what is the recommended starter distro nowadays.

They're stubborn and not willing to learn how to use a terminal or anything of the sort, which clashes with my CS background experience too.

Any recommendations? DPKG distros are okay, but bonus points for rolling release ones.

Edit: thanks for the help y'all! I'll take a look on Mint and maybe Manjaro.

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[–] algernon@lemmy.ml 6 points 2 days ago

If they have no desire to maintain/sysadmin their own linux systems, then the best distro to recommend is whatever you can help them with, and possibly even maintain for them.

Case in point, my Wife is a very happy NixOS user, despite knowing absolutely nothing about Linux. Yet, she's on a distribution that's as far from being newbie friendly as a distro can possibly be. She's still happy with it, because I set it up for her, and I maintain it for her, she never has to install, upgrade or configure anything, ever.