• TheGoldenGod@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Looking to move an older Windows 7 laptop to Linux this week, any suggestions? Feels like there’s so much.

    • ChunkMcHorkle@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      I’ve been doing the same thing, trying out distros on an old laptop in anticipation of moving all my machines over to Linux.

      Linux Mint is by far the most popular for noobs on older hardware, has a clean if simple interface, and will run on tiny amounts of RAM, so if you have no other suggestions and don’t know much about Linux, I’d say start there.

      Linux Mint is not Ubuntu, but based on it, so there’s a lot of support. As a Windows and Mac user I found the Linux Mint “Cinnamon” desktop environment easy enough to navigate, it’s solid in terms of broad hardware support, and there are a LOT of resources if you have questions, want to watch a tutorial, or need a helping hand, all pluses for a noob. (And I don’t think I had to touch the command line once, when I had it installed: bonus.)

      But the cool thing is that most Linux distros have a “LiveUSB” install, meaning that you can load the .iso of your choice onto a 4GB USB drive, boot off the USB, and take the hardware for a spin without installing anything. LiveUSB means you can try as many distros as you like until you get tired of making USB drives, and all for free.

      Somebody else here suggested “Ubuntu” to you without saying another word about it, but there’s a lot more to it than that. You still have to pick a desktop environment, for example, and while there’s nothing wrong with plain Ubuntu, I honestly don’t think that’s the most user-friendly distro you could start with.

      Try it, see if you like it. Most distros are completely free, including Ubuntu. But if you’re just looking at finding ONE to start with, again, try Linux Mint: it’s popular for Linux noobs for a reason, it’s stable, and even if you find you don’t like it, it’s a great place to dip your toe in and see how Linux works for you personally.

      • havokdj@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        I agree with every point you make except for the desktop environment front end.

        While it is nice to install a distro with a given desktop environment OOTB, you can always change it, and even have multiple ones installed at the same time. This is typically a better approach to testing out desktop environments because you don’t have to reinstall every time.

        • ChunkMcHorkle@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          I am testing both, so for me a mix of both is best.

          While it is nice to install a distro with a given desktop environment OOTB, you can always change it, and even have multiple ones installed at the same time.

          This is true for Debian, but not for many others. Even Fedora ships with preloaded DE “spins” now. And changing it post-install requires more than beginner level knowledge, specific to that OS. For someone coming over to Linux directly from Windows/Mac, that’s not really feasible upfront.

    • Churbleyimyam@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      If you just need a general purpose desktop and it’s your your first time, I would suggest just picking a popular and stable one with lots of documentation like Debian, Mint or Ubuntu.

      • laverabe@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        I’m leaning towards Debian myself. I don’t like the direction Ubuntu (mint is essentially Ubuntu too) is going. Ubuntu is ran by a for profit company, and it is only going to get worse after snaps.

        From what I’ve read Debian is about as new user friendly as Ubuntu is.

    • Kyleand19@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Fedora saved my old Windows laptop and it was a pretty smooth switch from Windows for me (though I had a bit of Linux experience). That thing became quicker than when I first bought it haha.

    • Amends1782@lemmy.ca
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      1 year ago

      Choose a variation of Mint. They have a lighter weight build that is perfect for older hardware just read their site. Mint operates and feels extremely close to w7 and its easy to use! Promise you’ll like it

    • ozymandias117@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Ignore all the “this distro is the best”

      Just use Ubuntu to start until you know what you wish was different

      • HughJanus@lemmy.ml
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        1 year ago

        I agree with the first part but Ubuntu is pretty much the worst distro you can recommend.

        • ozymandias117@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          It’s what proprietary software tends to target, so for someone just coming from Windows, it’s a decent first choice.

          OpenSUSE/Fedora don’t support media codecs without knowing you need to add Packman/RPMFusion

          Debian just released Bookworm, so it might be an okay recommendation for now, but as a general rule it’s probably not the best first distro

          For someone used to Windows staying the same for years, jumping straight to a rolling release like Arch or its derivatives is a massive change

          NixOS is too much configuration for a first time user

          Linux Mint is maybe a better first recommendation, but it’s still downstream of Ubuntu (I wouldn’t recommend LMDE for a first time Linux user)

          Your response is exactly why people find it so difficult to pick a distro to start. Ubuntu may not be the perfect distro for you or I, but there’s a decent reason it’s one of the biggest, and it has conservative defaults

          Until that user knows what things bother them about it or what more they need, we’d just go back and forth all day about upsides and downsides of each distro