If you like Arch-based, there's Manjaro and EndeavourOS.
this post was submitted on 24 Jan 2024
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My personal recommendation is Fedora, but the community recommendation will likely be Linux Mint, which is also a perfectly good recommendation. Either of them are "just works" distros. I prefer the update cycle of Fedora, and would certainly want to distance myself from Ubuntu and Ubuntu derivatives (even Mint), and Debian's update cycle is painfully slow. Fedora manages what is seemingly a perfect balance of quick and stable updates.
Fedora comes with Gnome by default, but it has spins for other DEs like KDE Plasma if that's more of your thing (I'll be switching to Plasma when Fedora 40 releases with Plasma 6).
openSUSE Tumbleweed. Or EndeavorOS if you want to join the Arch side.
I like fedora but I'm really loving opensuse tumbleweed on both my desktop and laptop. I have Nvidia rtx cards and support is just a few mouse clicks post-image. I get better FPS now than I did in Windows 11.
Adding that zorin was great as well but it's Debian-based so driver support was behind enough that some games wouldn't launch for me.
You could try fedora sway or gnome spins
Im pretty happy with KDE Fedora (though constant updates make me anxious something breaks every reboot, lol) but if I had to change I would probably check out LMDE (Linux Mint Debian Ed). I'm not really a fan of Cinnamon/Mate but I'd give it another go ...
Options:
- Linux Mint (Awesome first distro, but more out of date)
- Pop!_OS (Great for gaming, based on Ubuntu)
- Fedora Silverblue/Kinoite (Maybe later if your interested in immutability)
- EndeavorOS (Maybe later once you understand the value of the AUR, more bleeding edge)
Don't use:
- Ubuntu (bloat, snaps)
- Manjaro (Don't get me started...)
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If it's KDE that's causing issues you should just be able to install a second desktop environment and try that out.
Otherwise, Debian stable is good. Can also testing or unstable if you want newer packages. Debian "just works" if you're not on day 1 hardware, don't have Nvidia graphics, and can troubleshoot the occasional issue that any Linux distro will bring.
@Canadian_Cabinet www.tromjaro.com/ - you can try our distro. Based on Manjaro it has all you need to just use it. Enabled the Chaotic AUR repos, flatpaks, and our repo, thus you can find any linux app via one single place. Click and install. Plus we have a list of some 700 curated apps on our website www.tromjaro.com/apps/ - apps that are trade-free. Meaning no BS, no freemiums, no limitations, purely free apps.
We made TROMjaro back in 2018 and kept it up to date since, plus developed our own tools like a Layout and Theme Switcher. See the homepage to get a more detailed idea about it.
That's all! :)
Anything except Ubuntu and it's direct downstreams
Fedora for my pick.
I like Garuda. I use the dragonized theme and it makes it look similar to mac OS. IMO it’s as easy to use as any other justworks distro but is far prettier
Debian stable.
I’m sure someone will link you the install media…
what about regular fedora on gnome?
Universal Blue might be what you're looking for. It's a Fedora-based distribution based on ostree (same stuff for Silverblue/Kinoite). It has the leading edge system components of Fedora with the reliability of flatpak and ostree updates. I truly consider ostree to be the future of the Linux desktop.
Slackware. It just works. Even current is pretty stable
I hope your joking
Why would i be?
Because Slackware is not user friendly at all. It doesn't even come with a GUI for all critical functionality
@Canadian_Cabinet @possiblylinux127 @slacktoid Keep in mind that not all users are the same. For example, maybe some people find firewall configuration expressed as text in a file clearer than a GUI. My grandmother loves her iPad. I love my OpenBSD laptop. I find the iPad relatively user unfriendly - “I can barely see or control what my own machine is doing!” - but my grandmother would find my OpenBSD laptop very user unfriendly too - ”How do I see my family photos?”
OP said they were not looking for Ubuntu or Arch derivatives, and that they were not afraid to get their hands dirty to figure things out. Slackware + Flatpaks can give a stable base while giving you up-to-date applications when SBo doesnt have the build files. This would give OP a system that just works OOTB. Tho it is KDE OOTB, one can put gnome or cinnamon on it.