Linux

I'm very impressed by the work by the Elementary OS team. Linux is a beast to figure out, and while I've used Linux for 30 years, I remember how frustrating getting started was. I use Pop!_OS on my desktop machines today and Debian or Ubuntu for other machines and I've used dozens of desktops, but Elementary really does just work (and also also happens to be Debian / Ubuntu based).

It has the easiest install process, trouble free device support, and it starts you with guardrails that keep from breaking things, but can be turned off as you figure it out. Very Mac inspired experience, so not completely intuitive from Windows, but the reality of Linux is that you are going to change distros over time, or even use multiple as each do a better job at dealing with niche requirements. Certaintly not the one size that fits no one that is the current Windows 11 debacle.

https://elementary.io/

Edit: Wine math last night, it was summer of 1994 so 30 years, not 35 😅. It was on my new AMD 486DX4/100 with VLB and getting X to work was no picnic. A friend gave me the CD ROMs so at least I wasn't using dialup to download it.

Linux mint, Debian, Fedora

PopOS if you are into gaming

I just set up Nobara.

Shockingly straightforward.

Entire install process was very simple, with a GUI, then a neat little post install app that gives you another very straightforward GUI for running your first batch of system updates.

But uh if you're just looking for an OS for a standard desktop PC, everything I've outlined in the above spoiler is not gonna be a problem, and you'll likely have a very straightforward install process.

I'm also a fan of Nobara's default UI... kind of a gnomeified KDE?

As well as its default apps, built in DeckyLoader and plugins for the Deck, ProtonPlus for runtime environments, and of course its built in kernel customizations/optimizations for to play vidya gaem.

Oh, and I went with Nobara over the default SteamOS because SteamOS on a Deck is a read only OS by default...

You can install flatpaks, but if you want to actually install new core packages, those will get wiped with a SteamOS update... or you have to use DistroBox... which may also get wiped on an update?

Not sure, but Nobara allowse to use the deck as both a Deck and a more standard desktop linux PC with more customizability... and not having to rely on the AUR, which I find incredibly frustrating.

I can’t disagree with mint being a good distribution, because it is.

I personally think for someone just starting out in Linux that an immutable distribution like fedora silverblue (gnome) or kinoite (kde) is the safest route to take. They’re difficult to break. I personally use bazzite on my framework laptop and it’s basically hassle free. Not for everyone, but they work well.

I usually recommend Zorin OS to noobs, but personally I prefer arch based

Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora or one of the offshoots like Mint or Pop.

As long as you don't go too far into the weeds with Arch, Silverblue or NixOS, You're probably going to have a pretty decent experience, as long as you don't dig too far under the hood too early most things that you're going to want to try are just going to work out of the gate.

to those suggesting mint, any particular reasons to choose between Cinnamon, MATE, and Xfce versions?

Any Debian/Ubuntu or fedora based distro will do you fine. I personally ran PopOS when I built my computer earlier this year and didn't have any issues with it

HolyOS, Hannah Montana linux, AmongOS

Fedora KDE. It's easy to setup, modern, customizable and fast. Only issue is that it doesn't come with proprietary codecs, so that could be a problem. Second would be Mint, it's only flaws is that it ships an older kernel (might be a pain) and uses X11 (insecure).

I always recommend to beginners ElementaryOS. The name being coincidental. It is a relatively simple looking but very very elegant and polished interface. Give it a try.

I've never noticed any hate for Mint, it seems to be a pretty good option. It'll easily run on anything that was able to run Windows 10 (probably 8 too) and the default desktop environment Cinnamon is easy to navigate if you're coming from Windows. Even if you have some obscure piece of hardware with Mint being based on Ubuntu there's probably a tutorial you can follow to get it working.

Install a few and see which one you like the most. You can install several distros at the same time and they'll all appear in the boot menu. When I was deciding which distro to use on my laptop, I was dual booting Debian and Fedora, with one /home partition shared between both of them.

Mint and Fedora are good choices IMO. Everyone is different though :)

linux from scratch /s

Linux Mint is good, Pop_OS! is good, Fedora is good.

Mint was my beginner distro and is what I recommend. In my experience I was able to find a solution for most of my beginner problems by searching for a solution for mint.

The first time in installed mint I ruined the partitions on my laptop. But that was on me.

Look at screenshots of default interfaces and pick your fave bug distro. Can't go wrong with fedora, Ubuntu, mint, pop_os etc. mint would be good since you have a friend who uses it. When you want to know how to do something you can ask.

I run arch btw

TBH Ubuntu, or if you have an older/lower spec machine xubuntu

I dare you to install Gentoo

Linux mint (Cinnamon is my fav). You can never go wrong.

Maybe