Re: First time Linux user – Best distro to start ?

On 23/03/2026 11:03 pm, Borax Man wrote:
> On 2026-03-21, Lawrence D’Oliveiro <[email protected]> wrote:
>> On Fri, 20 Mar 2026 12:57:19 -0000 (UTC), Borax Man wrote:
>>
>>> Likewise, if you are helping someone move to Linux, and you are
>>> going to help them, just get them to install a distro YOU know well,
>>> perhaps the one you use yourself.
>>
>> Choosing a Linux distro is like buying a car (without the monetary
>> cost). There is a bewildering variety of choice, but they each address
>> a different market segment.
>>
>> Or, to put it another way, if you’re looking for something modest,
>> that will handle the weekly shopping and maybe an out-of-town trip or
>> two, and the friend you’re asking advice from owns a tricked-out,
>> down-low, souped-up brrm-brrmobile with aftermarket spoiler ... let’s
>> just say your daily driver may end up being a bit more exciting than
>> you expected.
> 
> When I started with Linux, I just bought a magazine which had a cover
> disk, and used that.

Pick Me!! Pick Me! I forget which Mag it was but the OS on the disk was 
Mandrake 10.1 .... and about a fortnight later Mandrake morphed into 
Mandriva which, several years later, became MageiaLinux.

> Next distro, was one a friend had, when I found
> the distro on the coverdisk didn't do something I wanted it to.  In
> actually it could, I just didn't know about Linux enough to solve what
> was a simple problem and I thought the distro itself was broken.

Yeap. Been There. Done that!! In actuality, I just didn't know where to 
look/go.

> But I never really shopped.  I just used the first one I got, and stuck
> with that for 20 years.  Most of what I wanted to do, could be done
> within the same distro.  Want a light desktop environemnt?  A light
> window manager?  Change the theme?  Usually no issue.  Change default
> apps?  Easy.

Yeap .... unfortunately that Laptop died, sort of, and I STILL haven't 
gotten around to installing MageiaLinux 9.0 on this Desktop .... so it 
can then get updated to the V 10.0 which is about to go Release.

-- 
Daniel70