zorin is popular, just not as big as ubuntu, because it doesn’t have a corporation behind it’s back like ubuntu, from that point, ubuntu is not gnu, but zorin is, and i like gnu/linux
Precisely what I said. Compared to Ubuntu, it’s nothing.
Wasn’t Zorin the one offering paid support that sucks so much?
I find it a bit disruptive, that your expressions in this thread will probably just confuse new users as to which distribution to choose first, because you are inventing a debate, where there is no debate.
If someone just switches to Linux and is completely new to it, then Ubuntu is the best option to start learning and getting used to GNU/Linux. Period. There is no debate about that, because I can prove my points with hard facts.
In my opinion zorin is better than ubuntu. nothing else.
@TerminalDweller
What it looks like is not important .
A beginner needs a distro with
- an easy to follow install sequence
- lots of drivers so it doesnt hang up on hardware
- good documentation
- some common software packages preloaded
- helpful community
I think MX, Ubuntu, or Mint
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Yes. That’s great. But I’m talking about new user experiences. I don’t use or like Ubuntu. I’m not a new user, though. I have years of experience. Part of that experience is, that Ubuntu is the best for new users, without any doubt.
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There are lots of smaller distros that are ‘better’ in some way
for example I like Solus for its presentation
I like Void for its simplicity
but they are not usually a good first choice for a novice,
mainly because support is minimal
but also because problems tend to be more frequent
A new user needs a smooth ride
So here is a question
We have seen today in this post, a new user having difficulty with a new linux install.
What can we do to make up a problem free entry path into linux?
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You are talking about your home computing, I guess… not workplace
We have just seen you try Fedora and walk away.
I think your thing is… you have some complicated hardware and network several computers. That probably narrows your choice.
A standalone desktop with just a keyboard , screen and printer, can get by with just about any distro… you want a bit more than that and you want compatability across several platforms. Its a big ask
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@BlazinStella
I have a Dell with almost the same specs that is running W11 just fine, might be something
to think about, before you destroy that Notebook with Linux. If you really want to run Linux,
without all that sudo crap then try PClinux.
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according to quora, easiest to install:
yumi(1)
mint(7)
ubuntu(7)
mx(3)
fedora(3)
rhel(2)
centos(1)
opensuse(1)
debian(1)
tails(1)
zorin(2)
@TerminalDweller
I have found nothing useful on Quora. Like I said, try W11 before trashing the Notebook.
That’s a multi-boot installer for live media, not a Linux distribution… 
Should be used as a live medium only…
My choice is right in there
So is Zorin(2)
Here is a challenge. Why dont you try writing something showing us what you think is good about Zorin. I mean an article… not enough room in a brief post.
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how to write an article?
A great example on how it should look like for readers:
You can find the source of this document here:
If you are not familiar with Latex and don’t need/want to use it, then I recommend AsciiDoc as a friendlier alternative:
itsFOSS doesnt allow articles on its site.
You have to put it somewhere public on the internet and make a short post referring people to it.
I use github… @Akito has shown you that.
You dont have to use github, although it is convenient, you can use any place you can put a public document.
What writing tool you use doesnt matter. I use Latex just because that is what I am used to.
Glad to see you are thinking about it. It is worthwhile… people appreciate good info.
Neville
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I can no longer recommend Ubuntu to anyone after trying out 22.04 LTS. Canonical went the Microsoft way, making the OS heavy on system resources and full of bloat. Mint, Zorin, PCLinuxOS, etc. are not much better. The Debian based distros below are higher rated than Ubuntu, easy to install and light on system resources: https://q4os.org/ Q4OS Gemini, Trinity, install-cd - 64bit, https://www.linuxliteos.com/
Linux Lite 5.8 64bit, https://peppermintos.com/ PeppermintOS 64-bit, https://sparkylinux.org/
sparkylinux-6.3-x86_64-xfce.iso
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Can I add MX and plain Debian to that list. They are not quite as light as default downloads, but you can make them light, and they are highly stable.
Regards Deby
Neville
Hi Neville,
Yes, of course you can add them to your list. My suggestion was in the category for Linux beginners, since everybody recommended Ubuntu, Mint, Zorin, PCLinuxOS, etc. I no longer use them, because I prefer to add the packages I need to a base system installed from the netinstall CD, provided by Debian, Devuan and Star Linux, instead of removing hundreds of unwanted software packages from Ubuntu-like monster distros, not to mention the 3.4 GB ISO size of Ubuntu 22.04 LTS. Q4OS, Linux Lite, PeppermintOS and Sparky Linux are way better than the heavy weight distros, but even there I find many unwanted software that I prefer to remove. I now use only Debian, Devuan and Star on all of my desktops and laptops. They all run very well without crashes or errors, however I noticed that systemd on Debian has more running tasks, which uses more RAM as compared to Devuan and Star, which are systemd free. Debian also has more packages installed (about 150 more) as compared to Devuan.
Cheers
Yes, Devuan is actually very interesting. You can switch between different init systems. I started with the default (original init) and changed it to runit. Runit is very minimal and easy to learn.
Never looked at Star. That might be interesting
What do beginners need?
- trouble free install
- some popular apps built in, but not too much
- friendly source of help
- stable distro
I think your suggestions meet those needs
Cheers
Hi Neville,
Star Linux is great and one of the highest rated on Distrowatch at 9.3 out of 10. DistroWatch.com: Star I like it so much that I wrote 2 reviews with rating 10 on Distrowatch (dated 2022-04-18 and 2021-12-11) Star is Devuan based and seems to be even lighter than Devuan (about 129 MB RAM and 2.9 GB of disk space with LXDE desktop). The Star developers are a little behind in releasing the new version (the latest Star 3.1.0 is based on oldstable Devuan 3.1 - Debian 10 versions). STAR download | SourceForge.net I prefer the 298.8 MB star-3.1.0-spock_2021.03-netinst_amd64.iso for installation because you can choose what DE, window manager, display manager and software to install. Download STAR from SourceForge.net
Regards,
Deby