Hot Take Best Linux Distributions To Replace Windows

[simmerskool]

Manjaro is easier than FreeBSD in my opinion.

well Zorin has been "easy" for me, I don't mind a learning curve as long as distro installs in VMware and I can work with it -- that was not the case with Fedora. I used FreeBSD a little in remote past, but not on this computer & not in VMware.

 

[Antimalware18]

I used Linux Mint for half a year then switched to Kubuntu for the other half of a year during a year i took away from windows to dig deep into the Linux community. I can highly suggest both for different reasons.

 

[lokamoka820]

I used Linux Mint for half a year then switched to Kubuntu for the other half of a year during a year i took away from windows to dig deep into the Linux community. I can highly suggest both for different reasons.

For what reasons do you recommend each of them?

 

[mraw435]

linux mint is a good alternative - especially if games play an important role in your life too! Had pretty good success with all Steam games.

 

[Antimalware18]

For what reasons do you recommend each of them?

Linux Mint for if your looking for a good starting point, its ease of use is on point for a beginner as as mentioned above, Games work pretty well if your looking for that on a Linux system
very light even on old computers due to it using the MINT DE (Desktop Environment)

Kubuntu due to once again it being very use friendly pretty close to right out of the box, then on top of that it using the KDE Plasma DE it is high customizable.

 

[lokamoka820]

Don't use GNOME, which is a gas factory....

What is your favorite desktop environment?

 

[colin.p]

When I tried Debian 11, it wasn't until I installed gnome extensions that I could even use the thing. I'll stick with Mint (or similar).

edit: I really don't have a favourite "desktop environment" persay, but am currently using Cinnamon. It's nice, I guess. I've tried a few, Gnome 2.*, Gnome 3.* (didn't like that too much without extensions), XFCE, Mate, Unity (I actually liked that one) and probably a couple more.

 

[lokamoka820]

When I tried Debian 11, it wasn't until I installed gnome extensions that I could even use the thing. I'll stick with Mint (or similar).

Debian need some knowledge to use it, and vanilla Gnome need extensions, if you like detain as a base and prefer Mint way, you can use LMDE "Linux Mint Debian Edition", I'm using it currently.

 

[TuxTalk]

Just installed snap on Manjaro. All the software i need is now available. No need to use AUR on Manjaro.

 

[Shadowra]

What is your favorite desktop environment?

Xfce

 

[SeriousHoax]

Nvidia on hardware but I think VMware uses its own graphics... unsure (when things seem to be working I don't dig too deep)
Initially Setup did not open, last post from Fedora was pre-setup somehow, then rebooted and Setup window opened but totally frozen, I gave up and preformed surgery. Could have been some snafu with VMware during initial installation pre-setup, most likely Fedora never had a chance to get configured correctly. Maybe the 3d time will be the charm

On Fedora it is needed to add the RPM fusion repo and install drivers from there. But as you said it is supposed to be different for VMware so don't know what happened. In my experience VmWare is terrible for everything Linux except maybe Ubuntu. VirtualBox is better and officially supports far more distros. It's the other way around for Windows vms.

 

[i7ii]

Have MX Linux Xfce on 2x Old Systems (9 year old Laptop + 17 year old Desktop) , tho... there's multiple flavors to chose from - including ahs (Advanced Hardware Support) - which is using a newer Linux Kernel (yet, since stability is a main focus for the devs - also based on Debian - won't be using the latest out of the box - so called bleeding edge Linux Kernel) - compared to other builds:

For anyone new to Linux.... Xfce, Fluxbox & KDE are basically Desktop Environments (the Graphical User Interface - if you will). There's lots of others - depending on Linux distribution - tho, this 3 are among the general ones (can be used with almost every distribution). Xfce is among the lightest on resources (but some use it even on high end machines) - while KDE is slighly more demanding (just not for 2024 - even a entry level system with 16 GB ram and iGPU cn handle it just fine). Still, they also come with their own tools - and that's why some would prefer one over the other. As a Windows Manager Fluxbox has the lowest memory imprint :



But switching from Windows to Linux - some might find Fluxbox a bit confusing - preferring Xfce and KDE since it's quite similar to Windows:



Also, the Taskbar on Xfce being set to left side - is a design choice for MX Linux. Most of the others - have it at the bottom same as Windows - and you can easily swap it - if you don't like it on left.

Anyway, on DistroWatch.com: Put the fun back into computing. Use Linux, BSD. MX Linux - is the 1st on the list (popularity wise), tho... that's not to say it's the best - more like easier to transition - since the devs main focus is stability and GUI/Windows like experience (terminal free - for most users). Other Linux distributions should be able to manage that as well - like Linux Mint - so maybe their marketing team did a better job. Which is a bit surprising, since it's still rather new - compared to the big boy (by name/status - like Fedora, OpenSuse, Debian, Slackware, Arch or even Ubuntu - despite being Debian based - Ubuntu is a core Liux distro at increasing Linux popularity - by releasing a user friendly Linux OS).

 

[TuxTalk]

Now using Manjaro, KDE Plasma dunno why i always keep coming back to Manjaro.....
NordVPN is working good, installed all the apps i need and do not need to use AUR.

 

[SeriousHoax]

Just installed snap on Manjaro. All the software i need is now available. No need to use AUR on Manjaro.

View attachment 285526

Snap and Flatpak are usually very safe, secure and reliable though I heard Snap can be slow. My issue is that a normal 10 MB app can be 300 MB on Snap/Flatpak. I don't like this, so they are always a last resort for me. This is also why I prefer rolling release distros since I will have the latest package of an app without needing to use a Snap/Flatpak version.

 

[TuxTalk]

Snap and Flatpak are usually very safe, secure and reliable though I heard Snap can be slow. My issue is that a normal 10 MB app can be 300 MB on Snap/Flatpak. I don't like this, so they are always a last resort for me. This is also why I prefer rolling release distros since I will have the latest package of an app without needing to use a Snap/Flatpak version.

Some apps are not in a rolling release, and i do not need many apps.
For me its oke Manjaro is way faster than Debian Based distro.

 

[TuxTalk]

Packages: 1225 (pacman)[stable], 6 (flatpak), 11 (snap)

My current package install. And thats all i need ;-)

 

[silversurfer]

This is the full article, nothing more in the source to mention, I preferred to copy the full article "with desktop screenshots" rather than just put an intro and a link for the full article because most members will not be impressed by Linux articles thinking that it is still a hard to use it and need terminal commands experience to do every task, but with this I hope some will like what they see and start to search and read more about Linux.

Please consider in general, if you sharing (copy/paste) the content partially or the full article, the article source is always required because of things like copyright...
Furthermore at first sight, someone could get the wrong impression the OP #1 is might from you

We all should use quotes for content from certain sources, either simply "..." or the forum software feature button "Quote"

Test

 

[SeriousHoax]

Some apps are not in a rolling release, and i do not need many apps.
For me its oke Manjaro is way faster than Debian Based distro.

There's a deb package for almost any app and usually most not so common apps are also available in AUR.

 

[simmerskool]

On Fedora it is needed to add the RPM fusion repo and install drivers from there. But as you said it is supposed to be different for VMware so don't know what happened. In my experience VmWare is terrible for everything Linux except maybe Ubuntu. VirtualBox is better and officially supports far more distros. It's the other way around for Windows vms.

great info, thanks!! but here, VMware 16.2.5 has been very good with my win10_vm Guests -- I have several. I tried Virtualbox several years ago and had a bad experience (but likely my user errors back then). And yes VMw here has been aok with Zorin (Ubuntu). I guess I will try VBox again. And instead of installing more distros, I've decided to study Zorin-Ubuntu-Linux in more detail. I sorta like using terminal. Right now I'm reading about AppArmor and Firejail to better understand linux security. I may install linux on hardware host when win10 EOL.

 

[SeriousHoax]

great info, thanks!! but here, VMware 16.2.5 has been very good with my win10_vm Guests -- I have several. I tried Virtualbox several years ago and had a bad experience (but likely my user errors back then). And yes VMw here has been aok with Zorin (Ubuntu). I guess I will try VBox again. And instead of installing more distros, I've decided to study Zorin-Ubuntu-Linux in more detail. I sorta like using terminal. Right now I'm reading about AppArmor and Firejail to better understand linux security. I may install linux on hardware host when win10 EOL.

Do you have copy-paste from host to vm or both ways enabled? I mean clipboard sharing. It doesn't work for me on VMware linux vms even on the Ubuntu vm but works on all vms on VirtualBox.