Hey tek syndicate, jimmy here. I have a question for you. Which Linux should I use? I am interested in learning about computers and coding and have heard that Linux is the way to go. I guess the coding is a whole other thread for some where else but my questions to you are:
Which distro do you use and why?
Which distro do you recommend?
What can I do with Linux?
What have you done with Linux?/What do you do with Linux?
inb4 some autist says "install gentoo" (unless of course you explain why it's good etc.)
If you want to learn about your computers and every application you want to install your self gentoo and arch are the way to go. Me personally I use Linux Mint 17.2 on my main machine because it was easy to set up did't take very long at all and its based on Ubuntu which is one of the most supported distros out there. It also has a pretty good community and many things are well documented. When it comes to coding which I don't do a lot of I prefer atom text editor or sublime. I have done many things with Linux from installing it on a usb for a take every where distro puppy Linux. To installing it on old and new hardware for old laptops and home theater pc to my gaming pc. Its pretty darn flexible and when you learn enuf you can do quite a bit with Linux.
For a begine that just getting started with Linux I would recommend ether Ubuntu or Mint. If you want to get your feet wet with an arch disto but don't want the hassle of setting it up from terminal you could try Antergos or Manjaro. If you like the rpm type of file manager rather an apt-get you could try Fadora or Open Suse. Its really about finding something that works for you and that you like.
Linux is a lot like android but you end up having to type out commands like it's 1977 and sometimes the os will brick itself because you typed something wrong.
Just letting you know of my findings when I attempted linux.....
Oh , and you essentially only can get tech support from expert linux users that have no patience for new users..... so that's something to look forward to.....
I would not listen to such things. From my perspective his posts are completely inaccurate.
To the matter at hand. I would recommend Linux Mint. Prefer it than Ubuntu for noobies as its much easier to set up and has a much better update manager.
What do you want to do? Are you good at finding bugs? Wuold you want pre-built or build from the ground up? Large spread out community or community tightly knit together? Gaming? Video? Sound? Will you do / work with any of these?
Fuck gentoo by the way. To hell with fedora also.
To start off I would use ubuntu, and specifically ubuntu mate. The interface is customizeable and the crowd on it is a bit better. After you learn some things, literally, just go on distrowatch.com, hit the random button 12 times, and install whatever you have landed on. After a month do it again. You will learn a lot about each distro and line of distro's.
I presonally use ubuntu mate and arch hand in hand. Ubuntu goes on my desktop because I need everything to always work. I stream and video edit on here so it HAS to work all the time.
You can do most anything you want with linux. You name it, you can probably do it. Gaming, video / audio, science, internet, productivity. Basically everything. Paint Tool Sai even runs better on linux.
any Ubuntu based system should work just fine. I use plain Ubuntu with Unity on all of my workstations and mostly Ubuntu Server for server installations. For my daily work as a computer scientist, software developer, SysAdmin and entrepreneur it is totally enough. Don't worry about people pushing you to use some specific distro. Just try one until it sucks. If it doesn't: fine, you found your distro. If it does: try another and repeat the process.
I had: Linux Mint, OpenSuse, Debian, Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Lubuntu, Kubuntu, Ubuntu - and now I am on Ubuntu for about 6 months and it's totally fine; the newer versions of the distro made it happen.
If just starting out, ZorinOS or PinguyOS are good options. Reason being is that these OSes tend to have loads of applications pre installed so this OS is ready to go. Zorin is truly aimed at people converting from Windows as its UI is an identical copy of Windows for ease of transition. I started out with Pinguy, tried Zorin, now I'm on Ubuntu Mate as I prefer the Gnome 2 UI and don't load up linux with apps like I used to.
Well sorta. Zorin has their UI locked down pretty tight to avoid people messing things up. For instance on an older version I had installed the gnome3 theme changer (I forget what the actual name was) and it completely bricked my system which led me to go back to pinguy. Interestingly enough though ever since I've been using Mate I don't make any theme changes for whatever reason, not even a background change.