u/PeterHolmes74

Hi ladies, gentlemen and everyone in-between. I am considering doing The Switch (tm) over the summer because we all know Windows is named like that because this is where you’re supposed to trow out of. I’ve been doing some… well I’d like to say I’ve been doing research but as someone new to Linux, it looks more like browsing Reddit and watching YouTube. Not really deep stuff. That lead me here.

I have been thinking about Mint as any new users do for a first distro when I buy a new hard drive. However, since I’m an IT student and I am will be doing development using VS Code and Docker later on. I’m sort of scared that Debian base distro won’t be right as the feedback I’ve seen about mint is that you will always be using outdated software. Coding with outdated software feels… dangerous? In the sense that I’m scared of encountering compatibility issues. I am not interested in rolling releases either so Fedora based sounds like the perfect balance.

I have seen Ultramarine once being described as “Mint for Fedora” and that sounds appealing for a beginner. Honestly most I interacted with Linux were server VMs for assignments, Docker and coding basic Bash scripts. Would you guys recommend Ultramarine or should I take the more stable approach and use Mint? You guys know better than me!

TLDR: I think I have an NVIDIA GPU, I do very lightweight gaming on Steam not that often, will do VS Code, GitHub and Dockers, general web browsing and willing to take a learning curve. Seek stability above cutting edge. Thinking about Ubuntu, not sure if Mint fit my needs. Worried the GPU won’t allow Linux to work. Arch is likely too much.

Hello ladies, gentlemen and everyone in between. I bought a PC about 6 years ago and I didn’t used it for a year or two since it has an HDD, takes 5 minutes to boot and I broke the SSD I bought for it by accident. I got a laptop for my school work and I’be been using it since. I study in IT and I’m pretty new to the whole Linux, though I think I’m starting to understand the difference between distributions? I am willing to have a learning curve if needed and use the terminal, that’s not an issue. We all know Windows is called that way because this is where you’re gonna throw the PC after it implements Copilot into loading screens, but I might stick around with it on my laptop until graduation to make sure I don’t encounter software compatibility issues.

Usage
So, I think I’ll be using it for a lot of common web browsing stuff. No big surprise. However, I will use VS Studio Code a lot and I will be experimenting with Docker and stuff. As much as I **despise** Cisco Packet Tracer and I wish to never use it again, I might need to use it again. I heard that it was only compatible with Debian or Ubuntu based distribution so that already guide mu choices.

As for Gaming, I don’t really game on my PC often. I prefer consoles to separate entertainment and work/studies. Maybe a few lightweight games like One Finger Death Punch, some Lego games and Potion Craft Alchemist Simulator on Steam. I don’t like big competitive multiplayer games so I don’t think the kernel anti-cheat will matter to me.

For my specs, I think it’s about 8-12Gb of RAM, upcoming SSD and I think it’s an intel CPU and an NVIDIA GPU, which might be a problem. Iirc, Linux enjoy NVIDIA as much as a child enjoys broccoli and it might just straight up bit work? Hopefully I don’t need to buy another PC because my budget is as stable as the little pig’s straw house.

Disto I had in mind
For my choices of distributions, I heard of Mint and a few other beginner friendly OS. I don’t really know if Mint would work for my needs since for all the hours of YouTube guides I’ve watched yesterday, they made a big emphasis on separating “beginner disto” from the “programmer disto”… so what gives? I am thinking about using Ubuntu for that reason, any other disto you would recommend for a Windows refuge who still need to do programming? You guys know better than me. Thanks a lot for your time in advance, might take some time to answer since I’m in the middle of my final exams rush.