Kinda new to Linux

[SgtAwesomesauce]

Yeah, while an existing system may not be exactly what you want, I’d give it a go on the spare hardware before you sink a bunch of money into a new system.

[mihawk90]

Fedora is good for people who are a bit more experienced and while it definitely won’t be a bad experience, the learning curve is a bit steeper than pop. No matter what you choose, there are people here who are willing to help you out.

Honestly I wouldn’t agree to that. I haven’t actively used Linux longterm before and I started with Fedora, and it’s pretty easy to pick up if you’re willing to read.
I used Ubuntu based stuff in the past and always had some issue or another after a few weeks, now with Fedora everything just kinda works. Packages are also a lot more up-to-date, that helps especially if wanting to start gaming on Linux itself (i.e. WINE)

[rlmurphy69]

Already bought parts for new workstation. Currently using Dell R5500 with 2 Xeon X5680 and 64gb of ram, just is very slow with windows.

[Even747]

Hello @rlmurphy69! Welcome to the forums.

If the options are Fedora and PopOS I would pick PopOS. Like sgtawesomesauce said Fedora is great distro, but Pop might be bit more beginner friendly. Just pick one that feels better and roll with it, learn and tinker.

You could also test drive ditros in VM first, if you want to test out some things before installing.

[rlmurphy69]

I have been using PopOs on my Surface Pro 6 already and am getting use to it already.

[SgtAwesomesauce]

I used Ubuntu based stuff in the past and always had some issue or another after a few weeks, now with Fedora everything just kinda works.

Yeah, that’s been my experience in the past as well, but people keep swearing to me that it’s better now, and I’m inclined to believe them since Fedora used to be an unstable distro as well. I just think that it’s a difference in the criticality of bugs that you tend to encounter. GPU drivers not dkmsing on new kernels? That’s a fedora thing. file permissions errors on removable drive? That’s an Ubuntu thing. Which one of those leaves you with an unusable system?

[Adubs]

I would argue neither because you can always just boot into the previous kernel with fedora, but then learning how to fix the issue is probably less noob friendly than file permissions.

I wouldnt hesitate to recommend workstation specifically because it seems to have more idiot friendly options… which is especially nice for an idiot like me… but really thats how these discussions always go right? everyone has their own ideal vision of what they think the noob needs.

[SgtAwesomesauce]

but really thats how these discussions always go right? everyone has their own ideal vision of what they think the noob needs.

Exactly. That’s why I’m trying to lay it out there for OP so he can make a decision that he’s comfortable with.

[Adubs]

:thonk: >>im still waiting for this btw

didnt you do a write up for this exact thing?

[SgtAwesomesauce]

Hmmm.

oh yeah.

Shows where my brain’s at tonight.

So you're looking for a Linux Distro?

Given the recent influx of threads requesting advice on a distro, I thought I’d write some advice here in a sort of how-to/guide. Anyways, on to the guide: So you’re new huh? Welcome! You’re in for a wild ride. The first thing most curious newbies ask is “which distro should I choose?” or “what’s a distro?”, so let’s address the second, before we address the first. What is a Distribution? The OS we know as Linux is, in fact, not just Linux. Linux is actually just the kernel. There are hundreds, if not thousands of small tools that run on top of the kernel that provide a complete desktop experience for an end user. This is due to something known as Unix philosophy. Without going into too much detail, Unix philosophy states the following: A software tool should do one task and do it well. This means that, yes, there is a bit of work that needs to be duplicated, but we get, overall, a better component. Of course, this provides a big hurdle for users. How could I possibly install and configure thousands of packages in a reasonable amount of time? That’s where Distributions come in. Linux Distributions came about as a way to share the outcome of the work that goes into building a stable Desktop experience. A group of people got together and started packaging tools and providing them in an organized manner. They then built tools called package managers, to help get a handle on the hundreds of installed packages in a system. All this goes into what’s known today as a Distribution. Which distribution should I choose? This is a hard question to answer. Each person has different preferences and needs, and not all distributions are created equal. Different distributions cater to different user preferences. In this section, I’ll provide some questions and resources to help you find a distro that’s right for you. First, let’s talk about stability. You obviously want to choose a Distro that provides stability. What defines stability though? That can som…