Linux is for noobs

Linux introductions, tips and tutorials. Questions are encouraged. Any distro, any platform! Explicitly noob-friendly.

There are lots of Linux Distros out there. How do you choose which one you want?

First, you have to understand the difference between an Operating System (OS) and a Desktop Environment (DE).

Think back deep in ancient history before Windows existed. At that time, the only way to work on a computer was the command line. You could do things, such as run a program, by typing in commands. At that time, you had an OS, but you didn’t have a slick graphical interface where you could click on stuff to open files or programs (now called apps).

That graphical interface where you can click on things is the Desktop Environment (DE).

Now think about the difference between Windows and MacOS. They’re very different DEs, right? Windows has the start button, and when you click it, a menu expands out that you can navigate through. Windows also has icons on the desktop you can double click on.

Mac has the dock with icons in it representing various apps.

Now think again about Windows. Think back to Windows 95, ME, XP, 7, and 10. Any other versions you can think of. They’re all different, but it’s the same basic concept: a menu rather than a dock.

Linux offers a variety of DEs. Some are more like Mac, some are more like Windows. The first thing you need to decide is whether you want an experience more like Mac or more like Windows.

My advice is to first pick a DE you like, because there’s only a couple to choose from. Once you’ve chosen a DE, then that’ll narrow down your choices for an OS that has that DE available.

If you want a more Mac-like experience, you’ll want to try the GNOME DE. There are several OSs that come with GNOME. Try Ubuntu.

There’s also another OS that comes with a somewhat unique Mac-like DE, and it’s called ElementaryOS.

If you prefer a more Windows-like experience, then perhaps you’d like to try a DE called Cinnamon, which is available in Linux Mint. This will probably feel kind of like Windows XP.

If you want a more versatile DE, try KDE. KDE is, in my opinion, a more polished Windows-like experience than Mint/Cinnamon. More like Windows 10 I guess, though it’s an imperfect analogy.

I say KDE is more versatile because you can install a Mac-like dock called Latte Dock. This is just as beautiful as ElementaryOS, and I think better than MacOS, and certainly more customizable.

For a great KDE OS/distro, try KDE Neon or Manjaro KDE. Manjaro actually comes with a wide variety of DEs including: KDE, GNOME, Cinnamon, and XFCE (a very minimalist and simple Windows-like DE).

If you want to see the various DEs, look them up on YouTube. I’ve found it helpful to watch videos that compare KDE to GNOME or something like that.

The differences between DEs and OSs run deeper than I’ve touched upon here. Different apps may be available. Commands in the command line (which you don’t have to use if you don’t want) will be different at times. How you install apps (called packages) may be different. Compatibility with your hardware may vary. However, what I’ve sketched out above should be good to get you started.

https://www.distrowatch.com/ This site includes links to distros for downloading, and also includes reviews.
https://distrotest.net/ This site is incredible. It allows you to test almost any distro in a virtual machine in your browser. Amazing! Basically that means it’ll spin up a computer simulation you can mess around with inside a browser window. Super cool. Be patient. It’s slow. But faster than installing multiple distros on your computer.
https://www.balena.io/etcher/ This site offers a little free app that you can use to create a bootable USB from an iso file. You download a Linux OS by downloading an iso file from the distro’s website. Then you open Balena Etcher. Insert USB drive. Select iso. Select USB drive. Click flash button. Then just boot your computer to the USB drive, and it’ll boot up the Linux OS. There will be a way to install from there.

Feel free to advocate for your favorite distro, DE, OS below, and why it’s the best for noobs.

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README.md

Linux is an open-source operating system (OS), just like Windows or Android.

Linux takes many forms, called distros. Here are some common ones:

Mainstream Use (Desktop or Server)

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Of all the distros, Ubuntu is one of the most widely used distros, powering web servers, computers and other devices (such as IoT devices or robots).

Ubuntu is actually an (more user-friendly?) offshoot of Debian. They share many similarities, including apt and the dpkg package manager (more on that later).

Fedora is the other kid on the block, also very modern and pretty. It has a good reputation for security.

Ubuntu and Fedora are actually bankrolled by commercial companies. Canonical makes money supporting commercial users of Ubuntu, while Fedora’s development is ultimately channelled into Red Hat‘s commercial product, Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), which is used when security and stablity is paramount (think medical, government or miliary).

An analogy is the App Store. It’s where you go to for «packages», which may take the form of actual «apps» like Firefox that have a graphical interface (GUI), command line tools like htop , or libraries that another package (such as python) might depend on.

In Ubuntu and Debian, the package manager is apt . To install a package, eg. Firefox, execute the command sudo apt install firefox .

The command is executed in the terminal (command line). To open Terminal, either press CTRL«ALT«T or find Terminal in the Applications menu. If you have already connected via SSH (next section), you’re staring at the Terminal.

sudo — admin rights
apt — package manager
install — the «action» (another example is purge , which uninstalls a package completely)
firefox — the package in question. You can actually list more than one package, like sudo apt install htop firefox chromium-browser to install htop , Firefox and Chromium (open-source version of Google Chrome). If you can’t really recall the name of the package, you can hit the TAB button for a list of suggestions.

Connecting to a Linux Machine

There are two ways of connecting to a remote Linux machine (such as a web server, or a Raspberry Pi running on the network):

SSH (secure shell) — command line
VNC (virtual network computing) — graphical desktop interface

SSH is more commonly used and almost universally present on Linux machines. It gives you access to the command line interface (terminal).

Command from Linux or macOS: ssh pi@10.12.147.144 :

ssh — call SSH
pi — the user name you want to login as
10.12.147.144 — the address of the Linux device

Execute the command and type in your password. Note: the password will not appear as you type it in.

On Windows, you have to use PuTTY.

VNC is more user friendly but usually requires a seperate install and configuration.

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Best Linux Desktop Environment For Noobs

F or the uninitiated, a desktop environment is the first thing you see when your computer is ready for you to use. Windows and Mac users usually find the concept confusing, because both of these operating systems come pre-installed with their proprietary desktop environments.

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Best Linux Desktop Environment For Noobs

With Linux, you get to cherry-pick each element of the UI that you want to place on your system. And that’s also made possible because of the different open-source desktop environments that are at your disposal!

Gnome – A complete package and the best desktop environment for beginners
XFCE – This is a very lightweight DE with the ability to add a lot of animations and UI customizations
LXDE – Another lightweight DE, except the animations
KDE – The most feature-rich desktop environment. KDE can give you superpowers!
Mate – This is the old default DE on our well-loved Ubuntu alternative – Linux mint
Cinnamon – The new default on Linux mint.

1. GNOME – Best Beginner-Friendly Desktop Environment

Official website: https://www.gnome.org/

If you’ve ever used Linux, you know GNOME. This desktop environment has been an old friend of all those who wanted to transition from Windows to Linux. It’s easy, very beginner-friendly, and has just about anything that you’d expect from your desktop environment right out of the box.

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2. XFCE – Best Lightweight Desktop Environment

Official Website: https://xfce.org/

Have an old computer that you want to resurrect, or just love the ability to have more free memory for other applications? This desktop environment is for you. Configure it right, and you can get XFCE to run in less than 150mb of RAM at startup! I’ve been able to get it to 300mb with a lot of animations and UI modifications.

3. LXDE – Best Desktop Environment for Lower End Computers

Official Website: https://wiki.lxde.org/en/Main_Page

Lightweight and Low-resource can be considered the same, but in this case, there’s a difference. XFCE is a lightweight desktop environment even with a whole lot of built-in customizations and UI perks. LXDE, on the other hand, is a DE that is built to be as low-resource as possible. You certainly can add animations, but they need to be downloaded separately.

4. KDE – The Super-DE of Linux

Official Website: https://kde.org/

People hated Gnome 3. And since Gnome 2 was no longer actively supported, the community came up with their own Gnome 2 fork, MATE.

MATE was created as a response to the drop in user experience when Gnome 3.x was launched. Being a fork, it’s very similar to Gnome’s predecessor and adds more features along with additional community support. This desktop environment caught attention when Linux Mint used MATE instead of Gnome 3 for its user interface.

6. Cinnamon – The Linux Mint Default

This one for the traditional lovers. Cinnamon gives your desktop a very traditional, stable, and elegant look. The desktop looks very similar to GNOME, with a scrollable menu, and a very Windows-style look. This entire look and feel make it easy for people still working on Windows 7 or older due to hardware limitations.

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Linux is for noobs