Hello all!

After being a Windows user since 3.11 for Workgroups, I am fed up and done with Microsoft.

I am making a serious attempt to transition to Linux. Here is my problem. THe only thing I really know about Linux is that when I was fortunate enough to have a Rio Empeg, it used Linux.

I know the experience level of the members of this group is very high, and so I would like a recommendation (or two or three) of the best (free of course) distros of Linux to install on a backup laptop to get familiar with it before I install it and all my 'real' data to my 'everyday' laptop.

Feel free to answer here or through PM if this needs to be a separate conversation.

PS If anyone has a spare Rio Empeg they want to get rid of....It would be welcome in the humid land of Oklahoma!

I'd be interested in learning more about linux, too.

-jk

Ubuntu Desktop is probably the best Linux distro. Super geeks (not me though!) love Redhat and Fedora, but those can be incredibly frustrating for casual or even advanced users.

Linux Mint is even better than Ubuntu, except it has a much shorter "support" window, so I would avoid that one.

Look for "LTS" (Long Term Support) in the name/version of whatever you choose.

Recommended: Ubuntu Desktop 22.04 LTS: https://ubuntu.com/download/desktop

The "22" means it was released in 2022. The ".04" means the fourth month (April). So it is pretty much up-to-date.

Cheers

What Mark said. I'd go with Ubuntu as a new user.

I only use Redhat because I've been using it for 24 years now (since Redhat 4.2) and it feels comfortable like an old t-shirt.

In addition to the download link that Mark posted, here's the Ubuntu installation tutorial

Thanks all,
I have also been seeing some interesting articles on MX Linux...anyone have any knowledge or thoughts on it?
Thanks again!

I've not used MX Linux (and I don't use a Linux via a GUI generally), but from reading its webpage and wikipedia entry, it appears to epitomise one of the biggest problems with Linux. That problem being multiple different graphical user interfaces.

Now obviously some people view a wide choice of user interfaces for the chosen OS as a good thing...

MX seems to offer you the choice of three totally different GUI desktop environments. For me I'd rather use an OS than had committed to a single desktop environment and put all their effort into that.

You should think about setting up a USB Ventoy disk with all the different Live versions of Linux you would like to try to see what you like.

I've also heard the POP!_OS is good OS for beginners.

Also happened to see this today and thought of this thread.

https://www.makeuseof.com/common-linux-mistakes/

I agree 100% with the comments posted against that article. Don't bother with it.

I have very little experience with Linux, but I'm also on the fence to switch from Windows. When I looked what distro is good for beginners, I indeed was referred to Linux Mint or POP! OS, but also Manjaro. Manjaro is based on Arch Linux and has rolling updates (as I understand it) This seems like a good idea to me, but I could be wrong.