I'm buying a new laptop soon, and I would very much love to install Linux on the old one. I have absolutely no experience with Linux, and very limited coding ability. I've heard that Ubuntu is perfect for beginners who could then later switch to Debian or something else, but is that really true? Some people vociferously disagree. I don't really want to be spoon-fed. I'd use Linux for my future project of learning Python and SQL to help with my biology degree, and for just playing around with my computer, nothing more. Your thoughts? Should I go with Ubuntu or Debian, or something else entirely? I'd love to discuss it.
Some people REALLY hate Ubuntu...
Terminal Velocity
Well-Known Member
I'm a noob and I started over a year ago with Debian, then I tried a couple of other distributions and finally I turn back where I started, latest Debian is noob friendly, stable and without glitches
Hello @Sueno1123,
Welcome to Linux.org forum.
Ubuntu is not bad, People hate if for different reasons. But I would suggest you start with Mint. It's based on ubuntu and there is a good community around it to help if you need. But that being said you may want to let us know more about the machine you intend to install on we could may give you better advice. I always tell those new to Linux to down load several different live Linux distros and give them a try before you decide which one works best for you.
Welcome to Linux.org forum.
Ubuntu is not bad, People hate if for different reasons. But I would suggest you start with Mint. It's based on ubuntu and there is a good community around it to help if you need. But that being said you may want to let us know more about the machine you intend to install on we could may give you better advice. I always tell those new to Linux to down load several different live Linux distros and give them a try before you decide which one works best for you.
What makes Mint better than Ubuntu and Debian in your opinion? Also, doesn't every distro suit a different purpose? And, I intend to run Linux on a Lenovo ThinkPad T460 i5-6300U 8gb RAM.
I've heard that Debian Stable becomes "stale" and outdated in comparison to other distros. Is this actually true? Do you think it's a good idea to run the Testing version as a noob (or in general)?
Mint is a great desktop Linux. With that setup you should be able to run most linux distros. This page may be of help.
Also as I said some things are very much up to personal tastes and you should try several distros live before choosing the one that suits your needs. I'm using a Thinkpad T450 here right now and it works great. Good Luck.
8 Reasons Why Linux Mint is Better Than Ubuntu
Linux Mint is better for beginners, but why so? Here are the reasons behind it.itsfoss.com
That's a 9 year old topic, just ignore it. Try different distributions and see which one you like. If that happens to be Ubuntu or Mint it's all good, then you can learn to basics and work from there, once you understand the basics and are comfortable with the distribution you using then you can choose to stick that or to try something else. It's about the journey not the destination.
Wouldn't there be some sunk cost involved? I wouldn't wanna keep switching the OS because I don't want to lose my settings/packages/etc. Or is it easier than that?
You can install your /home on a separate partition.
Is Mint compatible with Debian packages like Ubuntu is? It's a grandchild of Debian if I'm understanding this correctly, but is the compatibility still there like in Ubuntu?
Those partition thingies, they're like sectors on one's hard disk? You can divide that among different OSes?
During installation of Ubuntu, Mint or any other Linux distribution you can choose during disk setup if you want /home on a separate partition or not. Check the section "While Installing Ubuntu" of the following link.
How to Create a Separate Home Partition After Installing Ubuntu
Ubuntu doesn’t use a separate /home partition by default, although many Linux users prefer one. Using a separate home partition allows you to reinstall Ubuntu without losing your personal files and settings.
www.howtogeek.com
BoringZombie
Active Member
You can program in Python on any Linux distro you want. I do on Fedora.
How was your experience with Fedora? Do you recommend it over Mint/Debian/Ubuntu?
Terminal Velocity
Well-Known Member
I never tried the testing version, my demand is stability, security and privacy. Some programs in Debian repositories are of older versions but stable releases, if you don't mind any missing features go for stable
You can download the latest appimage or install the latest flatpak where they are available
What does it mean when an OS is "unstable"? I'd very much prefer newer features, but what does that entail?
Terminal Velocity
Well-Known Member
it might crash some time, some features might not work properly etc
How frequently? That makes all the difference.
BoringZombie
Active Member
I like it. Fedora KDE Spin is buggy for a lot of people. But I use Fedora Workstation and Cinnamon edition. Most of everything worked out of the box for me.
Mint uses debian/ubuntu packages for most programs If you want Mint that is based on Debian you can get LMDE but it's not as up to date as the main version of Mint. Mint is very much a stable Distro while being more up to date and debian. That is one of it's appeals. But I'm no Mint fanboy - I'm using Kubuntu development version right now. Which ever Distro you choose there will be a learning curve.
