this post was submitted on 19 Nov 2025
840 points (97.4% liked)
Technology
76918 readers
3409 users here now
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
Our Rules
- Follow the lemmy.world rules.
- Only tech related news or articles.
- Be excellent to each other!
- Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
- Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
- Politics threads may be removed.
- No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
- Only approved bots from the list below, this includes using AI responses and summaries. To ask if your bot can be added please contact a mod.
- Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed
- Accounts 7 days and younger will have their posts automatically removed.
Approved Bots
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Honestly, Day 1'ers, I'd rather they run Debian, Mint, Ubuntu, or Fedora. There are strong communities that are noob friendly. Go ahead and install Steam, get some games working, get their feet wet. 99% of the time, they don't need more than basic stuff. Once they're over being afraid of not being in windows, then start distro hopping to whatever they want.
This is exactly right. It's a journey, not a race.
I can really suggest Mint for beginners simply because it has an UI for about everything you need somewhat regularly. This means, that you can use GUIs to get familiar and aren't forced to know your way around the terminal. Its the Ideal beginner Distros (at least from my experience)
AntiX for same reason.
Idk, i really disliked the UI and especially the application launcher.
That's exactly it though. For most people using an OS isn't about using the OS but about getting stuff done.
I don't run an OS because I love writing config files and running obscure CLI commands. I run an OS because I want a working browser, text editor, development setup and games. The OS is nothing but a means to an end.
If I want to tinker, I got dozens of more fun projects in my life than trying to setup an OS.
And if there's a good GUI way to do what I need, that's a win, not a downside.
To put it differently: Do you want a hackable microwave that you can tweak and modify, where you can swap out the guts at any time, or do you want a microwave that heats your food? Most people are in the second camp, and PCs are just like microwaves a tool to get things done.
Not being forced to know your way around the terminal is an absolute win. Don't be afraid, nobody's going to take your CLI from you. It will always still exist. But dumping on people who don't want to tinker but want their stuff to work without having to google and read through manuals is just elitism and nothing to be proud of.
Another good reason for having GUIs is, that you can learn the CLI while not being dependant on it.
KDE Neon ftw