[kwlug-disc] linux distro for nontech windows user

[D. Hugh Redelmeier]

[Sorry, another reply that I neglected to send a couple of months ago.]

> From: Doug Moen <doug at moens.org>

Hi Doug!  Long time!

I think that you are a bit rough on the distros I know.  But to be honest, 
I don't distro hop so I am not an expert in many.

Ubuntu, Fedora, and debian version updates are probably reliable.  I 
superstitiously distrust things that are downstream of a more popular 
distro.

> I have non-technical friends who are considering moving from Windows to 
> Linux due to Microsoft shenanigans. They don’t want to become Linux 
> nerds like me; they don’t want to learn how to install Linux and fix it 
> every time it breaks on upgrade. I guess what they need is a distro that 
> “just works” (if that even exists), or at least the one that is least 
> frustrating and broken, plus a tech person to fix it when it does break. 
> I know that their current computer runs Windows 10, but is old enough 
> that it isn’t supported by Windows 11.

Supersstition: the more you customize your system, the more like an update 
will break.  So don't customize except for high payoff.

> What's a good Linux distro? One of their acquaintances suggested Zorin, 
> which I know nothing about, but which is marketed as being very 
> Windows-like and suitable for non-techies.

Being too Windows-like just might be a disadvantage.  Expectations failing 
vs no expectations.

> I know that computer 
> recycling installs Mint, which I currently use as well. And I see that 
> the Kwartzlab Windows-deinstall event is installing Fedora, although 
> there are many spins and editions and the announcement doesn’t say which 
> one.
> 
> I am hesitant to recommend Mint, since the recommended upgrade process, 
> needed every year or two, is to back up all data and reinstall from 
> scratch, then reinstall all your apps. This procedure is too onerous. 
> And I had a lot of breakage when I tried to do an in-place major version 
> upgrade.

Wow.  That's really old-fashioned

> Zorin is based on Ubuntu LTS, as Mint is, so I don't see why the upgrade 
> process would be any easier or more reliable.
> 
> I tried Fedora Workstation with Gnome for 6 months and hated it. Part of 
> it was Gnome, and based on that experience I won’t recommend Gnome to 
> someone who is used to Windows.

I like GNOME.  It is simple.  Easy to learn.  Your friends are going to 
have a hill to climb: consider making it short.

> Fedora now supports KDE as a "flagship" 
> edition, rather than just a "spin", and KDE looks more Windows-like out 
> of the box, so that might be an option. I hate the bugginess and 
> unreliability of desktop linux, so I'll choose "flagship" over "spin" 
> for that reason alone.

Desktop Linux is mostly reliable for me.  Mine crashed today.  Very rare.  
I think that it was a bug in the AMD iGPU driver.  Things look better 
after a kernel update.

> Part of my problem with Fedora was dealing with my environment breaking 
> every 6 months on upgrade.

Do you mean "my customizations being washed away by a distro version 
upgrade"?

Something I learned LONG ago: only customize for high payoff.

>  One motivation for switching to Mint was that 
> I could defer upgrades for a few years, meaning fewer occurrences of 
> "upgrade week".

Certainly Fedora has a firehose of upgrades.
I suspect Ubuntu LTS is a good balance for this application.

My superstitions suggest that, for ordinary users, browsers should be 
updated whenever there is a security issue, which is frequently.  Most 
other things don't matter.

Me?  I apply all available upgrades every week or so.  That's a lot with 
Fedora.  They rarely break anything.