Pop!_OS, or Ubantu for new comer

[Simple one]

Hello. I have a choice of one of these two distros. I am quite new to Linux altho I used Mint briefly.

I have an opportunity to get a laptop with a choice of pre installed Pop!_OS or Ubuntu .

Which would you all recommend. My needs are very simple. Mint was fine for my needs, and I understand it is similar to Ubuntu.

Please tell me especially if Pop!_OS is easy to use for an almost total beginner with Linux.

Thanks
Simple

 

[KGIII]

Don't bother with Pop!_OS unless you're buying System 76's hardware. It's a fine distro - but it's specifically for their hardware and you'll likely have some bugs and a harder time than you would if you went straight with Ubuntu. Ubuntu will be easier.

There are also a ton of official flavors of Ubuntu, should you want to try something other than the GNOME desktop environment. MATE and Lubuntu will likely be among the most familiar looking. They're all Ubuntu - they're just different builds of Ubuntu.

I'll include this link, just to make it more confusing:

Finally, an Answer to What is The Best Linux Distro? • Linux Tips

Finally, an attempt to answer to the age old question: Which Linux distro is the best? Read on to find out which distro is the best Linux distro.

linux-tips.us

 

[Simple one]

Don't bother with Pop!_OS unless you're buying System 76's hardware. It's a fine distro - but it's specifically for their hardware and you'll likely have some bugs and a harder time than you would if you went straight with Ubuntu. Ubuntu will be easier.

There are also a ton of official flavors of Ubuntu, should you want to try something other than the GNOME desktop environment. MATE and Lubuntu will likely be among the most familiar looking. They're all Ubuntu - they're just different builds of Ubuntu.

I'll include this link, just to make it more confusing:

Finally, an Answer to What is The Best Linux Distro? • Linux Tips

Finally, an attempt to answer to the age old question: Which Linux distro is the best? Read on to find out which distro is the best Linux distro.

linux-tips.us

Thank you so much.

Gosh, per your recommendations, I did some searching and posted my question in the most explicit, direct and simple way.

I had trouble reading Your tips (*distro favorites) page, It was way too confusing for me and did not display well on my I pad. The columns all scrunched together.

I guess everyone is with family at this Holiday season.thank you for taking the time to respond to my simple question.

I always feel I have to apologise when I post a simple, straightforward question, but I do understand that you know enough and have enough experience to help people with far more difficult problems than I have.

You could probably write whole books on the different topics, but I only wanted to ask a simple question.

Mine was very specific only asking comparison between two distros. Nevertheless, I learned something from you which I could not learn from other searches I did. That POP was specific to system 76. I will stay away from that, per your recommendation. Thank you.
May I say once again that I very very very much appreciate even your simple few words of answer. It helped me more than anything else I could conceive of trying by way of searching.
Thank you
Merry Christmas
Simple, really simple.
I try to keep it as simple as possible.
Please forgive me if I did not.

 

[Deleted member 108694]

I would agree with @KGIII on this if it is not a System76 Machine go with Ubuntu

 

[Brickwizard]

I concur with my colleagues, if it's not a system 76 branded machines, then use one of the many Ubuntu official builds or one aimed at beginners but still fully Ubuntu based such as Mint Cinnamon

 

[KGIII]

did not display well on my I pad.

I'll have to take a gander at it, thanks. I'm not sure how much I can do, 'cause I don't actually do much theme modification - due to limited CSS skills.

Try something like Lubuntu, or Ubuntu MATE. Maybe try Mint - their Cinnamon desktop choice.

 

[Simple one]

I'll have to take a gander at it, thanks. I'm not sure how much I can do, 'cause I don't actually do much theme modification - due to limited CSS skills.

Try something like Lubuntu, or Ubuntu MATE. Maybe try Mint - their Cinnamon desktop choice.

Thank you to all of you!
Stay safe and warm this Holiday season!
Simple

 

[KGIII]

I run Pop OS and have zero issues or problems and so what if it's mage for System 76 it has worked OOTB on every desktop I've installed it on.

In another thread, just about this time, @Lord Boltar posted a bunch of citations as to why Pop!_OS is really only geared for their hardware. If it works elsewhere, that's a bonus, but it's designed to work with System76 devices. That's why we get so many questions about that distro.

 

[Deleted member 137406]

In another thread, just about this time, @Lord Boltar posted a bunch of citations as to why Pop!_OS is really only geared for their hardware. If it works elsewhere, that's a bonus, but it's designed to work with System76 devices. That's why we get so many questions about that distro.

System76 computers are nothing more than plain old computers with the same hardware as any other computer just has a System76 label.

Pop OS runs like a champ on this 2007 spare parts desktop.

Spoiler

popos@pop-os:~$ inxi -Fxz
System:
  Kernel: 6.0.2-76060002-generic x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: N/A
    Desktop: GNOME 42.3.1 Distro: Pop!_OS 22.04 LTS
    base: Ubuntu 22.04 LTS Jammy
Machine:
  Type: Desktop System: HP-Pavilion product: GN556AA-ABA a6200n v: N/A
    serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: ECS model: Nettle2 v: 1.0 serial: <superuser required>
    BIOS: Phoenix v: 5.12 date: 06/11/2007
CPU:
  Info: dual core model: AMD Athlon 64 X2 5600+ bits: 64 type: MCP
    arch: K8 rev.F+ rev: 3 cache: L1: 256 KiB L2: 2 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 1000 min/max: 1000/2800 cores: 1: 1000 2: 1000
    bogomips: 11251
  Flags: ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 svm
Graphics:
  Device-1: NVIDIA GT218 [GeForce 8400 GS Rev. 3] vendor: ASUSTeK
    driver: nouveau v: kernel bus-ID: 02:00.0
  Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 1.21.1.3 driver: X: loaded: modesetting
    unloaded: fbdev,vesa gpu: nouveau resolution: 1024x768
  OpenGL: renderer: NVA8 v: 3.3 Mesa 22.2.0 direct render: Yes
Audio:
  Device-1: NVIDIA MCP61 High Definition Audio vendor: Hewlett-Packard
    driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus-ID: 00:05.0
  Device-2: NVIDIA High Definition Audio vendor: ASUSTeK
    driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus-ID: 02:00.1
  Sound Server-1: ALSA v: k6.0.2-76060002-generic running: yes
  Sound Server-2: PulseAudio v: 15.99.1 running: no
  Sound Server-3: PipeWire v: 0.3.59 running: yes
Network:
  Device-1: NVIDIA MCP61 Ethernet vendor: Hewlett-Packard
    type: network bridge driver: forcedeth v: kernel port: ec00 bus-ID: 00:07.0
  IF: enp0s7 state: up speed: 100 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 76.69 GiB used: 8.12 GiB (10.6%)
  ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Hitachi model: HDS721680PLAT80 size: 76.69 GiB
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 71 GiB used: 8.12 GiB (11.4%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda1
Swap:
  ID-1: swap-1 type: partition size: 4 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) dev: /dev/dm-0
    mapped: cryptswap
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 40.0 C mobo: N/A gpu: nouveau temp: 47.0 C
  Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A
Info:
  Processes: 220 Uptime: 1h 7m Memory: 7.76 GiB used: 1.67 GiB (21.5%)
  Init: systemd runlevel: 5 Compilers: gcc: 11.3.0 Packages: 1901 Shell: Bash
  v: 5.1.16 inxi: 3.3.13
popos@pop-os:~$

Pop OS runs good on this 2013 desktop.

Spoiler

popos@pop-os:~$ inxi -Fxz
System:
  Kernel: 6.0.3-76060003-generic x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: N/A
    Desktop: GNOME 42.3.1 Distro: Pop!_OS 22.04 LTS
    base: Ubuntu 22.04 LTS Jammy
Machine:
  Type: Desktop System: Hewlett-Packard product: 500-054 v: N/A
    serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: MSI model: 2AE0 v: 1.0 serial: <superuser required> BIOS: AMI
    v: 80.34 date: 06/13/2013
CPU:
  Info: quad core model: AMD A8-5500 APU with Radeon HD Graphics bits: 64
    type: MT MCP arch: Piledriver rev: 1 cache: L1: 192 KiB L2: 4 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 1397 min/max: 1400/3200 boost: enabled cores: 1: 1397
    2: 1397 3: 1397 4: 1397 bogomips: 25551
  Flags: avx ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 sse4a ssse3 svm
Graphics:
  Device-1: AMD Trinity [Radeon HD 7560D] vendor: Hewlett-Packard
    driver: radeon v: kernel bus-ID: 00:01.0
  Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 1.21.1.3 driver: X: loaded: ati,radeon
    unloaded: fbdev,modesetting,vesa gpu: radeon resolution: 1024x768~75Hz
  OpenGL:
    renderer: AMD ARUBA (DRM 2.50.0 / 6.0.3-76060003-generic LLVM 14.0.0)
    v: 4.3 Mesa 22.2.0 direct render: Yes
Audio:
  Device-1: AMD FCH Azalia vendor: Hewlett-Packard driver: snd_hda_intel
    v: kernel bus-ID: 00:14.2
  Sound Server-1: ALSA v: k6.0.3-76060003-generic running: yes
  Sound Server-2: PulseAudio v: 15.99.1 running: no
  Sound Server-3: PipeWire v: 0.3.59 running: yes
Network:
  Device-1: Qualcomm Atheros AR8161 Gigabit Ethernet vendor: Hewlett-Packard
    driver: alx v: kernel port: e000 bus-ID: 01:00.0
  IF: enp1s0 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
  Device-2: Ralink RT5390R 802.11bgn PCIe Wireless Network Adapter
    vendor: Hewlett-Packard driver: rt2800pci v: 2.3.0 bus-ID: 04:00.0
  IF: wlp4s0 state: down mac: <filter>
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 465.76 GiB used: 9.08 GiB (1.9%)
  ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Seagate model: ST9500325AS size: 465.76 GiB
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 453.44 GiB used: 9.08 GiB (2.0%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda1
Swap:
  ID-1: swap-1 type: partition size: 4 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) dev: /dev/dm-0
    mapped: cryptswap
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 31.0 C mobo: 0.0 C
  Fan Speeds (RPM): cpu: 1046 fan-1: 1314 fan-3: 0
  Power: 12v: N/A 5v: N/A 3.3v: 3.33 vbat: 3.44
Info:
  Processes: 220 Uptime: 8h 20m Memory: 6.97 GiB used: 1.7 GiB (24.4%)
  Init: systemd runlevel: 5 Compilers: gcc: 11.3.0 Packages: 1939 Shell: Bash
  v: 5.1.16 inxi: 3.3.13
popos@pop-os:~$

Pop OS is a good Linux distro that installs and updates and works OOTB leastwise has for me.

I don't know how Pop OS works on laptops.

If ya ain't never actually installed Pop OS that ya don't really know how it works or what it will work on now do ya. Nope ya don't.

 

[Brickwizard]

If ya ain't never actually installed Pop OS that ya don't really know how it works or what it will work on now do ya.

I tried it on my test drive over a year ago, I was not impresses, I was using my HP both sound and USB RTl wouldn't work out of the box, after a couple of days playing around to get it working, then another couple testing, I concluded IMO it was not worth the effort, apart from eye candy, it was no better than the Full Ubuntu or Mint distributions, and not as good as MX21 or Parrot.... now you know

 

[BigBadBeef]

You want to ask about pop_os, you can message me.
I've been running it for two years now, doing pretty much everything on it that I did with windows. It was the first distro I stuck to and haven't felt the need to hop since.

It is snappier than Ubuntu, and more bare. It will feel like you really got the essentials for it. Best above all - no hassle with the graphics drivers. They are curated for you and the updates will be presented only with stable versions of the driver. It has some unique tweaks to the desktop environment that I simply adore! Ubuntu seems a bit tacky in comparison, its a good thing if you're into flashy effects and fancy graphics.

It really is a solid foundation to expand upon and customize by putting there only the features you need. Have a look at my desktop:

In ubuntu, I would have to go about removing features to get it this clean.

In another thread, just about this time, @Lord Boltar posted a bunch of citations as to why Pop!_OS is really only geared for their hardware. If it works elsewhere, that's a bonus, but it's designed to work with System76 devices. That's why we get so many questions about that distro.

Yeah, we butted heads about that. I don't like the fact that he presented it in such a manner that it sounded like it was somehow inferior to Ubuntu.

 

[KGIII]

it was somehow inferior to Ubuntu.

I wouldn't say it's inferior, just different and aimed at specific hardware. That's cool. We need more people making dedicated Linux computers.

 

[BigBadBeef]

I wouldn't say it's inferior, just different and aimed at specific hardware. That's cool. We need more people making dedicated Linux computers.

Indeed we go. We also need to entire more developers to go for native Linux support.
I get what you're saying, I'm just saying what it "sounded like" to someone who may be uninitiated.

 

[KGIII]

We also need to entire more developers to go for native Linux support.

That we do... That we do...

Linux dominates pretty much every space except the desktop. We've had a steady 2% to 4% share of the market for quite a few years now. But, we are seeing a lot more software for Linux than we used to.

So, the needle is moving... Those look like small numbers, but they represent millions of people. It's better than it used to be. Even games are being developed to run on Linux directly.

 

[BigBadBeef]

That we do... That we do...

Linux dominates pretty much every space except the desktop. We've had a steady 2% to 4% share of the market for quite a few years now. But, we are seeing a lot more software for Linux than we used to.

So, the needle is moving... Those look like small numbers, but they represent millions of people. It's better than it used to be. Even games are being developed to run on Linux directly.

Many of which I had no idea they are and happened to be among my personal favorites - Stellaris, Civilization (the whole series damit), Vintage Story, Oxygen Not Included, Rimworld, and most recently, a AAA title of Total War: Rome Remastered.

It feels like a breath of fresh air that things are moving away from the debautched ass cancer from Microsoft.

 

[lomszz]

Both good for beginners, i went with Pop OS after GPU upgrade.

 

[KGIII]

Civilization (the whole series damit)

I'm not a gamer, but I used to play some games. I have played that one.

I just looked it up and there are now 13 versions of the game. The last game I played with any seriousness was Fallout 2. I ordered Fallout Tactics (a longer name than that, but I'm too lazy to look it up) and it ran like garbage, was full of bugs, and soured me on the series and I never really gamed after that.

I am thinking about having a racing sim built for me. That'd go good in the basement. There's no room for it in the actual game room. That room has a pool table, bar, pinball game, and a stand-up arcade game. (The pinball is an old Batman and the arcade game is Street Fighter 2, if you're curious.) So, there's no room in there.

 

[Brickwizard]

There's no room for it in the actual game room. That room has a pool table, bar, pinball game, and a stand-up arcade game. (The pinball is an old Batman and the arcade

em can I afford the flight

 

[KGIII]

em can I afford the flight

I have spare bedrooms.

It's not a billiards table and I don't have a snooker table.

I went to a ritzy private school - not 'cause my parents were wealthy but because I was poorly behaved. So, they shipped me off to a boarding/prep school.

That's where I fell in love with pool. I've played ever since. When designing the house, I made sure to have a game room large enough to house a pool table with enough room around the table. It was essential.

At our main office, I had a bar and pool table in the back. It was used after hours (in theory), though we'd often take clients in there. We had tables on every base I was stationed at. We had tables at the university.

Then, I was a performing musician for many of those years. So, I spent a lot of time in bars. Most of 'em have pool tables.

I generally only play for money. I did a lot of formal tournaments and was in a league for a while.

I don't actually need the money, it's that I don't give lessons for free! I used to drink pretty much for free quite often, so long as someone was willing to wager a drink.

I'm an 8 ball or 9 ball kinda guy. I'm also fairly adept with straight pool. I can run a rack or two on a good day. On a really good day I can run into a third rack pretty deep but I always end up screwing up eventually.

I've played a whole lot of billiard games. I can even play with just one hand, including breaking. That one is always good for winning a drink or a few bucks. "Yeah? Well, how about we put some money on it - I'll even play with a hand behind my back."

I can not play with my left hand. No, no I can not.

Oh, and my table is an old coin-op Brunswick. It's from a bar. I had it fixed up but I wanted it 'cause it's a single slate, durable, and iconic. (We have a lot of coin-op pool tables in the US bars.) It still takes quarters! Of course, I have the ball return unlocked and open, so you don't actually have to put quarters in the machine.

Heck, if you ever do make it to America, especially if you're in this area, I'd be disappointed if you didn't stop in to visit! (I won't actually make you play for money.) I have a pretty good stocked bar. I plan on adding a MAME machine this summer, so that we have even more games.

For a while, quite a while, I had a pool tournament at my house almost every Friday night. We'd all put in $10 but the deal was that I wasn't allowed to win the pot. The pot went to 2nd place if I won. Sometimes we'd have as many as a dozen people. Once in a while I didn't win. It happens.

 

[Deleted member 137406]

Pop OS is a good Linux distro that installs and updates and works OOTB leastwise has for me.

I don't know how Pop OS works on laptops.

If ya ain't never actually installed Pop OS that ya don't really know how it works or what it will work on now do ya. Nope ya don't.

I tried it on my test drive over a year ago, I was not impresses, I was using my HP both sound and USB RTl wouldn't work out of the box, after a couple of days playing around to get it working, then another couple testing, I concluded IMO it was not worth the effort, apart from eye candy, it was no better than the Full Ubuntu or Mint distributions, and not as good as MX21 or Parrot.... now you know

Update.

In regards to this statement and I quote

"If ya ain't never actually installed Pop OS that ya don't really know how it works or what it will work on now do ya. Nope ya don't."

I now realize can be interpreted in different ways it was not directed towards anyone but myself since I've never installed Pop OS on any laptop.