DEV Community

Discussion on: What's the most beginner-friendly Linux distro?

Collapse
 
miguelmj profile image
MiguelMJ

Most people say Ubuntu-like distros, but personally like Manjaro better even for beginners. Ubuntu might have more resources online, but Manjaro has a better out-of-the-box hardware compatibility. It is easier to maintain software updated with its package manager, while repositories in Ubuntu quickly get old.
I started with Mint and even installed it for some non-techie relatives that wanted to try. Mint is really, really good and It's a perfect choice for beginners, but I firmly believe that Manjaro will provide them with the same or more ease at the beginning while allowing them to use the latest software available.

Collapse
 
madza profile image
Madza

Great insight, thanks for sharing ๐Ÿ˜‰๐Ÿ‘

Collapse
 
xxnickles profile image
xxnickles

I donโ€™t think recommending an Arch based or any rolling release distro to a beginner is a good idea. These distros are close to bleeding-edge, and if anything goes wrong with an update, it is not going to be pretty. I agree with the majority of the comments, the way to go to get you started is an Ubuntu based distro, maybe something like Pop!_OS or mint are good sweet spots. Then go for other alternatives once you have some familiarity with the system

Collapse
 
dni9 profile image
DNI9

I'm using rolling release for a year and half now, haven't faced a issue with package update, and about manjaro it's pretty beginner's friendly because they make sure packages are stable unlike rolling release.
anyway the best way to learn is to face errors and fix it yourself or if you're too afraid then you can always go the stable distros.

Thread Thread
 
patarapolw profile image
Pacharapol Withayasakpunt • Edited

There have better conjectures on whether holding back packages for a week gives that better stability.

Anyway, my experience with Manjaro was so far so good, and it was a few months too; before I switched to vanilla Arch (and sometimes Xubuntu or Mint).

Collapse
 
patarapolw profile image
Pacharapol Withayasakpunt

Firstly, I do recommend people start with Arch (not Arch-based), if they dare - it's not wrong; and older kernels do have worse drivers, anyway. Also, ArchWiki is so good, if they ran into any probems.

Also, first issues in Linux probably won't be instability or crashes, but rather WiFi and graphic cards. It's more that they will find manuals and helps and communities or not...

Collapse
 
madza profile image
Madza

Thanks for the insight ๐Ÿ™โค

Collapse
 
miguelmj profile image
MiguelMJ

Well, If anything goes wrong with an update it's not going to be pretty in any distro. I agree as well with Ubuntu being a great start. I just find that Manjaro, even being Arch based, is not as likely to require driver installation or to give you obsolete software.

Thread Thread
 
matthewsalerno profile image
matthew-salerno

Manjaro does a pretty good job. But I agree with both sides here. Rolling release will certainly cause issues for you at some point, but I don't think it's as big a deal as it's made out to be. Manjaro does a good job keeping things stable and I think anyone taking their first steps into Linux should expect their first os to be more of a sacrificial learning os than something they can count on (until they get a feel for troubleshooting).

Thread Thread
 
xxnickles profile image
xxnickles • Edited

The idea of recommending a "friendly" distro to get started is precisely avoid the "sacrificial learning" part in the beginning, and let the person expand its horizon with time. You cannot expect a newcomer form another OS to stay if you put it to deal with too much stuff from the beginning. Also, a great deal of people just want to "do stuff", not focus on maintaining the system. I am not saying the Manjaro or other rolling-release distros are bad options; I just would not recommend for a beginner unless it has some technical background (which we should never assume is the case), based in the fact the rolling-release concept is something that is not a thing for a common user in other OSS and you have to understand it from minute 1. In those terms, I do believe recommending distros that have similar approaches (and even appearance) to Windows/Mac is often a better advice. Curiosity will come with time and they can eventually move to more "customizable" distros if they want to.

As an aside note, if we are talking about the first distribution for a technical savvy person who wants to really learn, maybe vanilla Arch will be a way better recommendation. But this kind of "beginners" are a minority and the idea is give advice that applies for the majority.

Collapse
 
rajeshpachaikani profile image
Rajesh

Yes. First time I tried Manjaro an year ago everything worked out of the box. Then an update broke nvidia graphics driver and WiFi driver. I fixed those issues with an Ethernet connection but it will scare away most new users.