Is Linux (dumb)user friendly yet?

data1701d , 1 hour ago

Most of that sounds pretty easy to pull off. I have a few thoughts, though:

• What games do you run in Steam?
• Just a bit of a warning: Discord is annoying about updates, at least with the Debian version. I can’t remember what the Flatpak does.
• For MS Office, most distros should come with LibreOffice. If you have problems with LibreOffice, then Google Docs should be fine.
• You’ll have to run Spotify from the browser, but I imagine that won’t be a problem, as you’re probably not an audiophile
• Run GIMP as a Flatpak, as distro versions tend to have weird bugs with the resynthesizer plugin.

ElvenMithril , 10 minutes ago

On Fedora AFAIK you can have Spotify app.

Manzas , 2 hours ago

I would say dual boot so you can use windows when you can’t figure something out

MyNameIsRichard , 10 minutes ago

Or run Windows in a VM if you need it.

jaypatelani , 13 minutes ago

I will recommend you Fedora Budgie Edition. You will never need to open terminal on it and interface is more user friendly.

just_another_person , 7 hours ago

I’m downvoting every to comment in this thread because you’re doing exactly what I said you’d do in my original comment. 🤦

Brahvim , 6 hours ago

…???

jawa21 , 28 minutes ago

I assume you’re talking about Desktop Environments. Yes, of course. KDE and Gnome rival MacOS as far as usability goes. The better part is that other software development groups port their software over to Linux as well and make it as seamless as possible.

People run into confusion here when people flood the comments on user questions like this, so let me shut that down right now.

If you need something that is a straight Desktop Environment, get a distro with KDE or Gnome, and a known OS that will have a lot of user base getting questions and answers if you even run into any.

Fedora or Ubuntu. Don’t listen to anyone arguing for their preferred favorites.

Don’t listen to performance comments.

You want a solid, no issues, not needing to look for help kind of distro. It’s those two, no question, and they both have KDE and Gnome variants.

That’s really about it.

zer0bitz , 57 minutes ago

Start with Mint and use flatpaks. You will be all set.

bloodfart , 10 hours ago

Everyone is saying yes.

They are wrong.

You will absolutely have to troubleshoot in order to figure out how to do what you want to do.

Linux is different than windows or macos and you’re gonna have to gain an understanding (however dumbed down you might describe it) of those differences in order to use the computer.

If you can get over that hump of understanding then I think you’ll be fine.

theshatterstone54 , 9 hours ago

They are wrong.

The sad truth. Enough said. Linux is still not there, as much as we’d like to pretend it is. And it’s especially not there for dumb users.

cabbage , 9 hours ago

Dumb user here. I completely disagree with this.

I was using Ubuntu for a few years, now I'm on Fedora. I don't really know how to do anything. For my needs it's just very easy.

Maybe my needs just aren't sophisticated enough for me to encounter all those problems I'm supposed to be having. But I've been using it for years and my experience is that it really just works.

christian , 6 hours ago

While there’s a little bit of getting acclimated to slightly different programs for the same tasks, I kind of imagine sophisticated needs primarily comes down to hardware. A company making some sort of computer hardware doohickey might design and test and provide support for something with Windows/Mac in mind, and maybe for other operating systems they’re not cooperative with documenting support, under the mindset that it would reveal trade secrets or decrease shareholder value in some other way. Linux support then comes from other means like reverse engineering. This could mean that it will take time before all the kinks are ironed out, or if the product was short-lived the linux community might not care enough to have someone volunteer to keep up with support. Common, time-tested hardware will have good support. Plugging in some old printer that was discontinued shortly after launch will be more of a crapshoot.

cabbage , 59 minutes ago

Yeah. I've double checked that my last few laptops worked well with Linux before buying them. But I don't buy very flashy technology, so it was never really any question.

My printer is from Brother, and it's just plug and play. At work it's all web print and has been since I started working for pay, really.

ColdWater , 9 hours ago

Another dumb user here Been using Arch for a year now, things just works without much tinkering… mostly

cabbage , 58 minutes ago

If you're ok Arch I guess it at least signals a willingness to learn! I would never dare to go there haha.

Enkers , 9 hours ago (edited 9 hours ago)

I’ve got to agree with this. I love Linux and have run it on my servers for years. That said, I’ve got Mint on my laptop and tried to print an image over wifi at a friend’s place and could not for the life of me get it to print properly.

For the most part things do just work, but there are a lot more “obscure” scenarios that are handled correctly in windows but not Linux.

I also find that when things go wrong on Linux, they are harder to fix. I’ve had several times I’ve had to deal with circular dependency hell to get something to install properly. I did eventually get those problems resolved, but it was often a single person having a tangential problem that hinted me to how to solve it.

Edit: I think if your usage patterns are straight forward enough, it is by far and away the better choice. If you do the same stuff all the time, it’ll pretty much never break, which is not something I could say about windows. So for OP, it sounds like it would be a good fit.

Dagnet , 8 hours ago

I consider myself a reasonably tech literate user and tried to set up dual boot on my pc using a whole separate ssd just for Linux to be safe. Installing it went fine but GRUB wouldn’t let me boot into windows, somehow the instalation nuked my windows boot partition and no amount of repairing would work, I had to completely reinstall Windows and now I’m seriously worried of trying Linux again.

bloodfart , 6 hours ago

That sucks. I’ve done that a lot of times by either not understanding what I was doing or fat fingering some decision.

If you do decide to try again, tag me and I’ll set up a vm environment similar to yours and walk you through any confusing steps.

just_another_person , 7 hours ago

Dude, your wrong. Not what OP was asking about.

Desktop light usage only. DFQOH and don’t come back.

deadbeef79000 , 6 hours ago

DFQOH

I can’t work out what this an acronym for. Please help!

GustavoM , 5 hours ago

So you are saying that dumbs can’t read? Because hey, that is all it takes to troubleshoot a problem on linux.

Thus, even your grandmother can “do google” nowadays.

CynicusRex , 1 hour ago (edited 28 minutes ago)

Yes. Linux has become more user-friendly than Windows. Things stay were they are so it is reliable. It doesn’t serve ads nor spies on the user so it is ethical. When updating one sees exactly what happens, and one can have perfect manual control of updates if one wants to. That and so much more.

Also, perhaps consider using Vivaldi browser as it is superior for now, pre Manifest V3. However, if one wants to keep using uBlock Origin indefinitely regardless of the Manifest V3 transition, use LibreWolf, which ships with uBlockOrigin by default.

Over the years I went from Linux Mint to Xubuntu to EndeavourOS, and from desktop environment Xfce to KDE Plasma. To beginners who absolutely want the least amount of updates and don’t mind older software versions I’d suggest a Debian based distribution, and to everyone else I’d suggest an Arch-based distribution, specifically EndeavourOS, or Manjaro if one cannot install the former for some reason, but both are fine. Why? I like to update as soon as possible and to have access to most software without it being a hassle to install. Moreover, Arch has a ridiculously comprehensive wiki which most of the time has the answer to one’s problem.

KDE Plasma over Xfce because it’s a remarkably configurable feature-rich powerhouse, but I honestly feel bad and wish I could merge them both. If old machines feel too slow for the former, the choice would be Xfce in a heartbeat.

I moved away from the aforementioned Debian/Ubuntu based distributions because Mint was too bloated and slow for my taste. Specifically, as a former gamer I am highly sensitive to the responsiveness of the cursor, therefore the move to Xubuntu with Xfce where the mouse movement felt snappy again. Unfortunately Snap packages came to both which caused more problems than it solved, so I moved to Arch-based distributions and never looked back.

TL;DR: if new computers did not come with Windows pre-installed—the absurdity of this monopoly remains mind blowing—Linux would be significantly more pleasant to use for most of the populace. I bet my life on that.

kyub , 1 hour ago

Dumb user friendly (having no particular background): yes Dumb user friendly (having Windows background): no

Windows knowledge makes learning other OS harder because Windows is the weirdest OS out there.

elxeno , 2 hours ago

Mint should be pretty easy to get used to, solid choice IMO, as for the programs

Word, Excel, ect(I’m fine with alternatives)

If you’re fine with libreoffice, no problems

Spotify

Don’t know.

Gimp (would have been a make or break, so I’m glad it’s supported)

No problems

Brave browser (browser is a browser)

Not sure if there’s a flatpak, U might need to add a PPA, but it’s just a one time copy/paste a few commands.

Steam

Works fine, but some games might not run or require some tinkering, check games u play on protondb.com

Discord

It’s a bit annoying because they require u to have the latest version all the time, it won’t auto update, and the package might take a while to update, so u either download and update manually every time (it will be a different install than the flatpak package) or use the web version, peraonally i just run a script to download and extract the tar.gz version when there’s an update.

wuphysics87 , 2 hours ago

Could you share that script with op?

elxeno , 2 hours ago

Sure

<span style="color:#323232;">#!/bin/bash
</span><span style="color:#323232;">DIRNAME=$(dirname -- "$( readlink -f -- "$0"; )");
</span><span style="color:#323232;">cd "$DIRNAME"
</span><span style="color:#323232;">wget -O discord.tar.gz 'https://discord.com/api/download/stable?platform=linux&format=tar.gz' && tar xvf discord.tar.gz && rm discord.tar.gz
</span>

Edit: DIRNAME is just to find the script location and download/extract there, in case u call the script from somewhere else

red , 2 hours ago

brave has flatpack , and you don’t really have to do all that to update discord just go to software store and click update?

elxeno , 2 hours ago

I don’t use flatpak but i assume there’s a delay between discord and flatpak updates, or even if there is no delay

just go to software store and click update?

This would update everything, right? That’s usually not what i want when i’m opening discord.

Zorsith , 3 hours ago

I actually tried linux (Fedora) this past weekend; I had fewer issues installing and using it as a day to day computer, than I did with Windows. Tried out Gnome and KDE both, preferred gnome but UI scaling (for my shit vision) was simpler out-of-the-box on KDE (about 125-150% was comfortable for me.) I found KDE a bit overwhelmingly customizable to start out with, and maybe a bit bloated.

The caveat to this was Gaming, in my case I did not have a good time with gaming (probably because I am trying to run at 4k and play a game dependant on Ubisoft DRM, as well as an older MMO that doesnt handle high DPI screens and ui scaling). Very frame-y at 4K, a decent amount of tinkering is/was required. YMMV, check ProtonDB as it is heavily dependent on what games you play, and heavily dependent on Steam. If you want to multi-box (without software, just alt-tab through windows) an MMO, I found functionally no information on how to open multiple instances of the same game to do so (which is why I mentioned the dependency on steam, which only seems to let you have one game launched at any given time)

Moving back to windows for gaming felt like a major downgrade as far as general computer work goes. Inside of an hour I had a fully functional, up to date, linux machine. Windows 11 took 1-2 hours to install and update itself, then another hour to install drivers, then longer to de-bloat and start disabling all the stupid shit from Microsoft. I’m sure I’ll be doing that continuously for the next few weeks.

captain_aggravated , 2 hours ago

I found KDE a bit overwhelmingly customizable to start out with, and maybe a bit bloated.

I’ve said this kind of thing before; Gnome feels like it’s trying to appeal to Apple users, “Look how simple it is, look how few settings menus there are, you use it the way we designed it to be used and only that way, nothing else works.” They like their empty blank windows. The ideal Gnome utility app is a blank window with a single button in the title bar that says “Cancel.” Featurelessness is their goal.

KDE always felt like the polar opposite of that to me. Every feature under the sun, sometimes twice. Nothing is consistent, nothing aligns quite right, they love their cluttered windows. The ideal KDE utility app is a window crammed edge to edge with text boxes, drop downs, radio buttons and check boxes that never opens quite big enough for all the elements in it. This one little utility app can do basically everything even remotely related to the task it’s made for plus several other adjacent tasks, to the point it takes you a long time to find the one option you ever actually need in a sea of settings menus.

Cinnamon felt somewhere in between. Except where Gnome apps crept in with their hamburger menus and top bar UI, Cinnamon felt consistent and good looking without being an iPhone commercial, and their included utilities tended to have the functionality you needed and nothing you didn’t.

I just recently built a PC, and to get the most out of an AMD GPU I’m using Fedora KDE instead of my long time favorite Mint Cinnamon, and I’ve already had to boot up my old computer once to use a Mint utility because I couldn’t seem to get the job done in KDE. You know that USB stick formatter tool in Mint? Why doesn’t every OS have that?

just_another_person , 10 hours ago (edited 10 hours ago)

I assume you’re talking about Desktop Environments. Yes, of course. KDE and Gnome rival MacOS as far as usability goes. The better part is that other software development groups port their software over to Linux as well and make it as seamless as possible.

People run into confusion here when people flood the comments on user questions like this, so let me shut that down right now.

If you need something that is a straight Desktop Environment, get a distro with KDE or Gnome, and a known OS that will have a lot of user base getting questions and answers if you even run into any.

Fedora or Ubuntu. Don’t listen to anyone arguing for their preferred favorites.

Don’t listen to performance comments.

You want a solid, no issues, not needing to look for help kind of distro. It’s those two, no question, and they both have KDE and Gnome variants.

That’s really about it.

wulf , 10 hours ago

Fully agree with this. There will be a slight learning curve since it will be different from what your used to, but it’s friendly enough to figure out.

If you know the windows program you want to use just search something like “Linux alternative for x” (sometimes there is specific KDE or Gnome progs)

thayerw , 10 hours ago

I would maybe add Linux Mint to that list, but otherwise you’re spot on. Fedora and Ubuntu are the easiest and most robust systems for novice computer users.

just_another_person , 8 hours ago

Linux Mint is Ubuntu with specific changes.

Feathercrown , 3 hours ago

That’s how all distros work. They exist so that you don’t have to make changes yourself.

subtext , 7 hours ago

Only thing I might add would be potentially Bluefin. It is Fedora with Gnome, except Atomic. It markets itself as:

The best of both worlds: the reliability and ease of use of a Chromebook, with the power of a GNOME desktop.

It’s been fantastic for me with automatic updates and everything installed through flathub so you don’t bork your system with any misconfigured installs.

projectbluefin.io

just_another_person , 7 hours ago (edited 7 hours ago)

No. This is your own spin.

Why the fuck can’t y’all just let people have it easy and try shit out before you feel you MUST say your piece about your own fucking experience and offer complicated alternatives?

Fedora and Ubuntu for beginners. That’s it. Nobody’s asking for performance or immutable bullshit until you confused them with it. STFU!

subtext , 6 hours ago

Well this is literally Fedora, and I offered it for consideration, not a recommendation. This seems a tad hostile.

just_another_person , 5 hours ago

*Immutable. Get lost.

subtext , 3 hours ago

Also: should you wish for something with Fedora literally in the name, Fedora Silverblue and Fedora Kionite are the upstream—published by the Fedora Project—versions of Bluefin that use GNOME and KDE, respectively.

Either could be an excellent choice should you wish for

Atomic

The whole system is updated in one go, and an update will not apply if anything goes wrong, meaning you will always have a working computer.

fedoraproject.org/atomic-desktops/silverblue/

fedoraproject.org/atomic-desktops/kinoite/

JustMarkov , 3 hours ago

There’s also a KDE spin called Aurora: getaurora.dev

ninjaturtle , 3 hours ago (edited 3 hours ago)

You should be fine doing what you want on Linux. Just make sure everything works before installing completely. There is a liveUSB mode that let’s you try it before you install.

Mint and PoP os are good ones to try.

Can also check out Zorin os which is pretty good too but doesn’t update as often.

scytale , 5 hours ago

The only barrier to entry is creating a usb installer. Once you’re past that, there’s nothing more than basic computer knowledge to do what you need to do. By basic, I mean knowing how to use a computer, so you should be good. Just choose a user friendly distro like Mint and you won’t need to open the terminal at all unless something really bad happens.

MoogleMaestro , 9 hours ago

I mean, yes. But also no, it sort of depends.

If you have very low bar of needs (needing a web browser and some utility apps, without specific apps in mind) then it’s actually never been easier. If you use a Silverblue based system, all updates are done in a transactional way and old versions can be booted into at any time in case something breaks (which basically never happens with silverblue, with some exceptions.) Read only systems means you can’t muck around with the root files and can’t accidentally “break” your system in the way you used to be able to on older OS designs. I would say that “Linux with Guardrails” is effectively invincible, and I would like to recommend that new users try OSTree based systems. For example, Fedora Silverblue, Ublue’s Aurora / Bluefin, Bazzite (Steam OS clone), etc etc.

If you have more specific needs, it can be a crapshoot depending on whether or not the hobby in question has a strong linux presence. Particularly, bespoke non-game windows apps are still a bit tricky to get working and require some Wine (Windows process wrapper for compatibility) knowledge. There are edge cases where running certain applications in flatpak (Steam, Bitwig) can mean that, while it’s impossible for these applications to break your system, you’ll be very limited in options for these programs. For Steam, this can mean more difficulty with out-of-steam application management. For Bitwig, this can mean no choice in VST. These are all programs that have work arounds, but on a read-only system like Silverblue (which I would like to recommend for new users due to the indestructibility) those are all a little more difficult to implement and require you to know a thing or two about virtual desktops. (Thus, not new user friendly.)

I would still say that it’s never been easier, but as you get more famililar with any system, you generally demand more and more from it. Thankfully, with linux, its always been a case of “if there’s a will there’s a way” and the UX utility applications being made by other people have been getting better and better.

My recommendation to you would be to try UBlue Aurora. It’s familiar to Windows, it’s being managed in a way that makes gaming relatively simple, and it has an active discord community to help new users. It also has that indestructability that I was talking about before, but has a lot of the “work arounds” pre-setup for new users.

just_another_person , 7 hours ago

Stop. You’re overcomplicating what OP asked for, and putting your own spin on a suggestion with your own opinions. Stop.

setenforce , 5 hours ago

Having your own spin is entirely the point of a discussion board lol

c0smokram3r , 8 hours ago (edited 7 hours ago)

Linux Mint LMDE is always my recommendation to friends & fam who are leaving Win & Mac environments. LMDE bc ease of use/install & stability.

Slight learning curve, but that goes with anything new to a person when it comes to tech. Linux Mint forums are also legit for quick answers.

Good luck regardless of what you choose! Don’t let the negative feedback get you down! 🍀

-sent from an old MacBook running LMDE

Revan343 , 8 hours ago

I’ve been curious about LMDE, I use the Xfce version of regular Mint, but am comfortable in Debian (at least, server Debian). How does LMDE compare?

c0smokram3r , 7 hours ago

They’re both great starters, imo! Xfce or LMDE is a solid choice for Linux beginners.

Xfce was a little too minimal for me & iirc it’s canonical-based. I chose lmde specifically bc I prefer Debian. I can’t recall if I had any major issues setting up either of them. I think it also just comes down to visual/aesthetic preferences. They’re both highly customizable so either way you’re good!

I’m gonna set up xfce for my dad on an old Dell desktop & i’m sure he’ll appreciate how close it is to windows right out of the box. 📦

Revan343 , 7 hours ago

I specifically like Xfce or LxQt, because I generally run older hardware; I suppose my biggest question is how easily I could use either (not overly picky about which). I’m not sure which desktop environment LMDE defaults to, but both Gnome and KDE are deal-breakers for me, unless it’s easily changeable.

I don’t have that problem on my actual Debian machines, because they’re headless anyways, there is no desktop environment at all

c0smokram3r , 6 hours ago

Ooh, I gotcha! LMDE doesn’t default to gnome or kde. LMDE installs w cinnamon.

Not sure I’ve seen much of lxqt. Will def give that a once over our if curiosity!