2024 is the Year of Linux on the Desktop, at least for my boyfriend. He’s running Windows 7 right now, so I’ll be switching him to Ubuntu in a few days. Ubuntu was chosen because Proton is officially supported in Ubuntu.

  • Arthur_Leywin@lemmy.world
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    2 years ago

    All these people saying “use this or use that distro instead” is why Windows users don’t go into Linux. Ubuntu is a solid choice for beginners because that’s a distro with a lot of tutorials online if not the most.

    • TheGreenGolem@lemm.ee
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      2 years ago

      I don’t get what the fuck is the problem with Ubuntu anyway.

      Edit: I mean I heard the reasons many times but they are completely non-issues for me.

      • only0218@sh.itjust.works
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        2 years ago

        It’s about Ubuntu behaving lightly like Microsoft with a closed source backend for the store, having had ads in the apps drawer, putting ads on the motd in cli with apt… It’s small things like these

        • EngineerGaming@feddit.nl
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          2 years ago

          Base Mint now is just Ubuntu but with bullshit cut out. My first and current one was actually Debian, but at this point I’d rather recommend Mint)

      • AItoothbrush@lemmy.zip
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        2 years ago

        They are mostly more technical and architecture based issues. Also the model of the whole ubuntu ecosystem. At least for me.

    • EuroNutellaMan@lemmy.world
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      2 years ago

      I somewhat disagree. Sure, telling windows users they have so many options will overwhelm them so it’s best to just give them 1 or 2 options. But telling other linux users who are about to put/suggest linux on someone else’s computer that there’s better options is good.

      For example, let’s take Ubuntu pushing snaps. A noob won’t know what they are, and there’s good chances they will have a bad experience with them and not understand what they are, they will probably think it’s a Linux problem rather than an Ubuntu problem and there’s a good chance they will leave linux because of them. I personally learned the problems I was having at the start of my linux journey were problems with snaps only because I read it somewhere in the zorin discord server or something like that. If it wasn’t for that I would have thought it’s a linux problem. Tho this wasn’t easy information to find and I was already well on my way to becoming a Linux nerd and I was interested in learning more, but the average user, in my experience, doesn’t know/want to look these things up and if you try to explain to them there’s a good chance you’ll lose them halfway through (which is normal, package managers aren’t a fun topic) Telling a linux user about it and that linux mint (for exampel) may be a better introduction for their resident noodles doesn’t run the risk because they’re already a linux user.

    • Limonene@lemmy.worldOP
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      2 years ago

      I showed him the thread, and he agreed. He was surprised by how strongly people felt about distros.

      Personally, I think I never would have gotten as many comments as I did if not for mentioning the distro!

    • Matriks404@lemmy.world
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      2 years ago

      I dislike GNOME, but I would still recommend Ubuntu to anyone, because it just works. There’s no reason to recommend Arch Linux or openSUSE etc. if someone never used (GNU/)Linux before.

    • prole@sh.itjust.works
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      2 years ago

      All these people saying “use this or use that distro instead” is why Windows users don’t go into Linux. Ubuntu is a solid choice for beginners

      You literally did the thing you’re decrying in the very next sentence.

      “The problem is everyone telling Windows users which distro to use. Which is why I’m telling them they should just use Ubuntu.”

      • Arthur_Leywin@lemmy.world
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        2 years ago

        No I did not. My actual opinion would be to recommend Nobara OS. What I did was agree with OP’s decision. It doesn’t matter in the end which they use but if someone is deadset on Ubuntu and you hear several people saying “pick mint” “no pick pop os” “no actually Debian” it becomes overwhelming. Agreeing with OP’s decision does not make me a hypocrite.

  • Krafty Kactus@sopuli.xyz
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    2 years ago

    There’s a bit of controversy regarding Ubuntu that I don’t need to get into but Fedora and Pop!_OS are also really good for Proton support. Ubuntu will work fine but I just prefer not to use it. Maybe you could let him try out the live environment for a couple distros to see what he might like in terms of UI.

    • unknown@sh.itjust.works
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      2 years ago

      I second popos and mint. I love fedora but if he is a gamer you want something that will just work (navida built in or a very easy one click mechanism to get it). If he has to research PPAs and installing rpmfussion it will get all too hard very quickly. Also do some expectation setting before hand, research what games he plays work on linux, better he finds out now rather than after 2 hours of pain or getting band for “hacking” because of proton triggered an anti-cheat thing.

      Edit: I run fedora on all my machines except my gaming rig which is popos. Fedora works too but popos is hassle a free experience.

      • Asuka@sh.itjust.works
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        2 years ago

        Fedora more or less just works. I followed, like, 5 simple steps on the top Google result for “installing nvidia drivers fedora” and that was all it took. No further configuration or fiddling required.

        • unknown@sh.itjust.works
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          2 years ago

          I’ve done it. I agree it can be done very easily. But is relying on all new users entering the right question into google and google returning a correct answer for their distro that is not 7 years out of date the best strategy in the long run?

          Any distro that does not offer a option during install or on first boot to just install this stuff with a promt is not new user friendly.

    • SapphironZA@lemmings.world
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      2 years ago

      Mint is a really good distro for people coming from windows 7 UI wise.

      They also ripped out Snaps, which is half the performance problems with Ubuntu

      • Krafty Kactus@sopuli.xyz
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        2 years ago

        I’ve had some random issues with Mint and Lutris that I haven’t had on Fedora. Otherwise it’s a great distro

    • sorrybookbroke@sh.itjust.works
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      2 years ago

      0.69% (nice) on windows 7 64bit. That’s 0.75% total or 0.91% including windows 8 which is also dying. This is slightly under half of the linux user base according to these statistics

      • labsin@sh.itjust.works
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        2 years ago

        I think the 1.91 also includes the stream deck, but for some reason it isn’t included in the list (it is included if you select only Linux). It is about 5.5x Arch so around 0.8% of the total installs.

        So the discontinue versions are around the same number as Linux desktop installs.

    • CodingSquirrel@kbin.social
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      2 years ago

      Win 7 64-bit handily beats any distro of Linux at .69% (nice). Comparing only to 32-bit isn’t a fair comparison. Not that I’m against using Linux, I use Pop_os on a spare computer as a Linux test bed for gaming.

  • Shady_Shiroe@lemmy.world
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    2 years ago

    If he wants something similar to windows, get Linux mint, it’s the best parts of Debian/Ubuntu but made modern. If you can do it on Ubuntu, you can do it in mint (like online guides cuz mint is based on ubuntu if you couldn’t tell).

  • muhyb@programming.dev
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    2 years ago

    Like others already mentioned, I would suggest Linux Mint as well. It’s better Ubuntu than Ubuntu and similarity to Windows UI would make his transition much better.

    • Bruncvik@lemmy.world
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      2 years ago

      Seconded. Switched my wife to Mint two years ago, and she never cared about going back to Windows. Not that she cares about Mint, either; the point of contention was the transition, which was much smoother than she was afraid of.

  • BananaTrifleViolin@lemmy.world
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    2 years ago

    Lots of choices but I’d probably use Kubuntu if your boyfriend is new to Linux and you want this “official” Proton support (not sure that actually means much; Proton works very well on most distros). The plasma interface can be set fairly similar to windows for a newbie to feel comfortable.

    It’s all just personal preference of course; I just find the Ubuntu interface annoying as someone who uses Linux and windows a lot. Personally I use Mint; very nice distro, good and stable, nice for newbies, and the default cinnamon interface is very windows like too.

  • randomaside@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    2 years ago

    I’m pretty sure that this is because steam uses chromium as its backend and chromium new version doesn’t run on windows 7. It’s still not good because there are some games that won’t run on newer systems and therefore 7 is required for preservation.

    As many of you pointed out, yes I agree proton is the answer if possible. YMMV

  • iopq@lemmy.world
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    2 years ago

    I suggest an Ubuntu fork workout snaps, they are a headache to remove now

    • Pasta Dental@sh.itjust.works
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      2 years ago

      It doesn’t really matter for the average use though, most probably won’t really notice the app opening times and most Windows users will not care about the backend being closed source, coming from an entirely closed source OS. I will tend to recommend stock Ubuntu or Mint/PopOS at most because those actually bring some things to the table while being Ubuntu based, not being Ubuntu but with a different DE

      • UndefinedIsNotAFunction@programming.dev
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        2 years ago

        I’ve been quite enjoying Mint as well. Granted, it’s been reeeal light use. But so far loving it. I’ve always enjoyed Debian distros. RHEL can kiss my butt. It was always frustrating to work with at work. I think Slackware was Debian? That was probably my first back in like 2004ish. Generally just works™

        • forrgott@lemm.ee
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          2 years ago

          Nah, Slackware is just as old as Debian, and apparently SUSE branched off from Slackware. And it’s still around, although I don’t use it anymore…

      • Jumuta@sh.itjust.works
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        2 years ago

        most Windows users will not care about the backend being closed source

        I’d have thought those windows users came to Linux because they wanted an open source OS though.

  • molochthagod@lemmy.world
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    2 years ago

    As a former lifelong Windows user (from 2002 to 2019), I honestly don’t get why people continue using Windows in the future. It doesn’t make sense to me. They’re cracking down on liberties, increasing system requirements, and old software and games are gradually becoming less compatible. And people seem to be starting to realize that other options are becoming gradually more attractive, because Windows is now hovering below 70% while just ten years ago it was at over 90%. Meanwhile Mac has grown from 7% to 20%, and Linux is at an unprecedented 3%, and that’s not counting ChromeOS, which is slightly higher.

    The mistakes Microsoft is doing can prove fatal. Because I think for most people, once they embrace Linux, even if Windows improves, they won’t wanna go back.

    • kier@lemmy.world
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      2 years ago

      You’re right. And people continue to use Windows because all software is available for it. See… Adobe products, Notion, Windows games with just a double click, even the Whatsapp application, Full OneNote and do not even mention MS Office…

      Yeah, I think the reason many don’t switch, is because of software availability.

      • BeardedGingerWonder@feddit.uk
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        2 years ago

        I think the main reason is it’s preinstalled on most PCs and most people have no idea Linux exists let alone how how to install a new OS.

        • kier@lemmy.world
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          2 years ago

          I mean, yeah. But retailers with install Windows on them, even if Microsoft don’t pay them a dime (at least in my country it is like that)

    • jasondj@ttrpg.network
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      2 years ago

      Having recently replaced my laptop (with a used Lenovo T495) and set it up to dual boot Win11 and Endeavor…Windows 11 was by far the most difficult and time consuming to get from “boot off installation media” to “open functional web browser”. Would have been even easier had I asked Endeavor to just use up all of the partition I left free from installing Windows.

      So when I got the T495, I went through the Win 11 OOBE to check it out. Turned it off until I got the Ram upgrade for it in the mail. That was my first problem, because “turn off” doesn’t mean what you think it does in Windows. If you want to get to the Lenovo system settings/boot order/diagnostics, turns out you have to “restart”. Go figure.

      Then I did the switcheroo with NVMes in my old T470s and the 495. Took my 1TB out of the 470 into the 495, and took the 256 that came with the 495 and put it in the 470.

      Then go to start the 470 and it boots fine to Win 11 but I can’t login with my PIN because my PIN is now expired. I’d enter a password but it never even let me do that. I tried to connect to my wifi and it wouldn’t connect.

      Obviously this is because the host system changed and the TPM isn’t there anymore, but still frustrating to not be able to use the laptop offline just the same. I ended up just formatting and installing Endeavor on that, too. This was just where I finally realized that “reboot” means “give me the option to change boot order this time”, because I couldn’t get back into BIOS after it booted to windows.

    • themelm@sh.itjust.works
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      2 years ago

      Only reason I use windows is for work. All the software for industrial controls stuff is windows only. But luckily its so shit at being updated that I still have to keep a windows xp VM around for some stuff so hopefully I’ll be retired before I need to use windows 11+

      • unknown@sh.itjust.works
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        2 years ago

        I got my CNC router working via wine about 2 years ago. Was very happy when it not only worked but worked well. Thought I was going to need to setup a dedicated windows PC for it but I can just use my workshop/tinkering laptop.

        • themelm@sh.itjust.works
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          2 years ago

          I still might try and use Linux as a host for the windows VMS but I’d probably still need to keep a dual boot around can’t risk not having it in case of something that wouldn’t work with USB pass through.

  • vexikron@lemmy.zip
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    2 years ago

    Aha, just popping in here to suggest taking a look at PopOS!

    Proton works extremely well on it, its compatible out of the box with everything Debian based (this includes Ubuntu) so it has a huge selection of free software, has great documentation for the PopOS! specific stuff and for all the debian/ubuntu stuff you can nearly always use older wikis on the internet if you run into a snag, and its got a custom DE that I personally find better than KDE and Ubuntu’s latest rendition if GNOME.

    Also, while Ubuntu is going hard into Snaps, which I hate, PopOS! is going into flatpaks, which are less bad than snaps, but still stupid imo.

    If you care, its fairly easy to disable and/or remove flatpaks from PopOS. It doesnt come with any preloaded afaik, so all you have to do is go into the PopShop (the app store) settings and just remove the flatpak source.

    Ive run Proton on Steam via debian sources on PopOS! for years, works fine.

    Oh right! I am fairly sure that PopOS! nowadays just comes by default with graphics drivers pre-installed and preset to automatically update with the rest of your software when you run sudo apt update. All you have to do is pick the Nvidia ISO if youve got Nvidia, or the standard one if youve got AMD.