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PaperclipPerfector  3d ago (text post)   2247 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for January 5, 2025

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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So I'm boycotting Microsoft, due to user-hostility in the newer versions of Windows, and due to bankrolling the apocalypse OpenAI. The former reason means I'm basically looking at Linux. Recommendations for a noob-friendly distro and "Linux noob manual"? Particular needs include ability to run Wine well and high stability (i.e. few OS crashes), although those sound pretty basic. Low power use would also be nice, although my needs in that regard are quite modest (like, if the OS's hogging over 10% of a current-gen processor, that's bad).

Ubuntu & Linux Mint are the most frequently mentioned as newbie-friendly. Hardware is important - choose hardware config that is reported to work with Linux. Otherwise there might be a lot on non-newbie-friendly dances involved to get things to work. If that's not a problem I found modern Linuxes to be pretty newbie-friendly to the point you don't really need to even touch command-line for most common tasks (I love command line, but I am speaking from a newbie perspective).

For the most part, modern Linux problems with power management, regardless of distro, tend to revolve around putting the computer into the right sleep states, or powering down newer CPUs to just their e-Cores, rather than high idle utilization. Fancy systems like hypr will have more idle cpu utilization than minimalist ones like DSLinux, but on a mainstream processor from the last ten years it's going to be a wash.

As in the post KingOfTheBailey linked, I'll usually point to Linux Mint to most newer users. It's not hyperoptimized at any one thing, but it'll give you the most reliable on-boarding experience. Ubuntu, Pop!_OS, and just plain Debian are all other good options for most cases, and for people attached to the Windows/Mac UI paradigms, Elementary or Zorin will work.

Ubuntu and its derivatives have already been recommended, and they arent bad, so I won’t dwell on them too much. Instead, I’ll focus on what I see as two other options, depending on your goals.

If You Want to Learn and Master Linux: Arch Linux

If your goal is to truly understand Linux and become proficient, rather than spending years googling obscure errors with "Ubuntu" tacked onto the search query, I’d recommend Arch Linux. Not necessarily the "vanilla" version—you could start with more accessible Arch-based distributions like EndeavourOS—but going through the Arch installation process step by step has immense educational value. It’s essentially a hands-on way to build your own Linux system, teaching you the fundamentals as you go.

The main reason I recommend Arch is its outstanding documentation, which is second to none. While it’s possible to use Ubuntu and reference Arch’s wiki, Ubuntu often runs outdated software versions and introduces important differences that can leave you even more confused unless you’re already familiar with both systems. With Arch, the documentation is directly applicable, helping you bootstrap your knowledge in a structured and effective way. In my opinion, it’s the closest thing Linux has to a “manual.”

If You Just Want to Be an End User: Bazzite

If your goal is to simply use Linux as an end user—especially if your interest in Wine is related to gaming—then I’d recommend Bazzite. It’s essentially a more generalized, open-source equivalent of Valve’s SteamOS (used on the Steam Deck) but designed for broader compatibility with PCs.

Bazzite offers a curated experience, pre-configured for gaming and multimedia use, with support for features like VRR/G-Sync and potentially HDR (assuming you opt for the KDE-based version). Its architecture makes it harder to break and easier to recover from issues if you do manage to run into problems. This makes it an excellent choice for a seamless gaming setup.

The main downside is that Bazzite can feel limiting. It follows its own designs and workflows, which aren’t easily transferable to other Linux distributions. If you decide to move to a different distro later, you may have to re-learn certain concepts or configurations

The base Arch install has gotten a lot better these days: if you're considering something like Manjaro or EndeavourOS, I'd really recommend just going straight to Arch with a list of desired programs. And it will teach you a lot about what's actually going on. But that's less because archinstall is superhumanly easy to use, and more EndeavourOS/Manjaro will let you get really far over your head if you can't or don't want to get into the real nitty-gritty of things.

It's a lot better as an option after you've already gotten enough experience with a more placid distro to know what you need to run first, though, so I really can't recommend it for new Linux users unless they've got a very specific use case.

The normiest answer is certainly Ubuntu. Go with whichever long term support (LTS) is most recent. There will be the most stability/google results for this approach.

Just start with mint. I use the xfce version on old hardware, but it doesn't get as much dev attention as the shinier enviros.

Linux often has a problem with not clocking down and putting accessories to sleep, causing high idle power use. This is something you can fix (I use the xfce cpufreq plugin that gets my old laptop down to .8ghz and <15w), but they really need basic windows power management settings out of the box.

Did you see @gattsuru's megapost? The bottom chunk has a very thorough answer to the "which distro?" question, though not so much on the "noob manual" side.

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