Are there any good resources for helping someone getting into Linux? One of my friends I never thought would get into Linux is asking me for help. He specifically is an advanced Windows power user. I also had someone who was a complete noob, even to Windows.
For the noob, I suggested LMDE and Kubuntu and they’ve been having some issues installing LMDE.
For the power user, I suggested the easy distros such as lmde, kubuntu, nobara but also told them if they wanted to jump into the deep end, arch is cool.
However, my suggestions don’t even cover DEs, WMs or what they even are. I just wish there was a good guide out there. I think that’s the biggest hurdle, so many options and not knowing what to pick.
This isn’t a guide but Linux Mint is a good stepping stone.
Yep, when in doubt, Mint. You don’t even need to understand linux at all to use Mint. Any problems you can look up. The answer is always “Just install Mint.” The good thing about Pop is Nvidia drivers are built in, that would be a reason to try Pop first, but Mint makes everything so easy.
Just for choosing: https://distrochooser.de/ - or put some distros with a tool like Ventoy on a USB stick and do a live install to test it on the actual system. The many options are a great thing, but of course not easy to get into at first. So I’d try not to overthink it, distrohopping is a hobby for some of us :D
For trying out how it looks and feels: https://distrosea.com/
For understanding more about Linux: https://linuxjourney.com/
I spent my first year of Linux installing a new distro, or same distro with a different DE probably every other week, sometimes more than once in a week. The Linux ecosystem rewards self starters with curiosity and the ability to search for answers.
LearnLinuxTV is an amazing YouTube channel, high quality distro tours and reviews, as well as tutorials at various levels of mastery. ItsFOSS and Phoronix are great sources for Linux news that help you build some awareness and vocabulary. The official forums of almost every distro are extremely helpful places to find solutions to problems. You just kinda have to be motivated to seek out the answers you need as they arise.
Ooo I just started my Linux journey and I’m definitely checking out that YouTube channel.
they should just install it in a VM and check it out. it might help to point out what man pages and the texinfo manual are and that there’s some docs in /usr/share/doc/
I found the arch wiki to be helpful.
The best guide is learning the skills needed to solve problems. Both people already have those, the power user probably knows how to get windows to do what they want and the other person probably figured out how to get the results they need without finagling as much with the computer.
It’s never too late to learn something new and the “man” and “info” commands are a huge help!
I just went through and tried out a lot of stuff in VMs and live USBs, and switched to an actual install when I got confident enough/was tired of USB boot speeds
maybe it’s just me but I find just doing things myself much more fun and useful than reading guides
i just started out with whatever distro looked the best in promotional pics, which was kde neon in my case (kde neon <3)
imo it’s more important to go with the interesting option (things like kde neon) than the easy option like Mint, at least it’s what gave me the motivation to try things out and learn Linux
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I’m a noob so I don’t have a guide, but I went with EndeavourOS with KDE Plasma, and it’s been going mostly fine. It’s an Arch distro, so far seems fairly lightweight & no frills or hiccups. It also comes with an Nvidia install option for people with Nvidia GPUs.
The answer to both is Mint.
