I installed Linux Mint for the first time on my personal Laptop just a few months ago, and it ran so well that I didn’t want to mess with it to try out different distros.
But today, my company’s IT department announced that they have some spare old Laptops to give away (technically because they didn’t meet the specs for Windows 11, didn’t stop the IT department from giving them out with Windows 11 pre installed though)
So now I got a few devices to play around with!! They’re a Precision 7530 and a Latitude 7390 2-in-1!
I already got ZorinOS running on the little guy because apparently Zorin is nice for Touchscreen support. For the big guy I was initially thinking that I could try Bazzite, but the installer was like “Intel UHD Graphics aren’t really recommended” so I might try something else first. Any recommendations? I mainly just want to try as many different flavors of Linux as I can haha
GL! Hope you have a great time.
Check out https://www.wesnoth.org/ and https://supertuxkart.net/Main_Page :D
Yes.
Have fun.
Check out https://pioneerspacesim.net/ and https://flarerpg.org/ and https://www.luanti.org/en/ :D
(If on a distro with apt, easy to
apt searchfor these, andapt installthem. Probably.)
Bazzite is the more gaming oriented flavour of Universal Blue’s distros, but take a look at Bluefin if you wanna try something similar (but not focused on gaming, although gaming also works fine on it). I’ve used it for about a year or so myself, and I love it. It’s immutable so it “just works”, but I can still play around and tinker with distroboxes or VMs.
And end with Vanilla Arch, for me atleast I distro hop every week when I got into Linux for the first time and I thought I’m going to use Fedora, Debian, OpenSUSE, EndeavourOS as my main but ended up using Arch Linux permanently instead. For me it’s the “just work” distro easy to use and troubleshoot
Void linux xfce. Just uses so little ram I love it.
Very reasonable in this economy!
You should try Fedora. It’s the one used by Linus.
I ran bazzite on a Lenovo flexpad with Intel und 630 graphics and it ran perfectly. I even ran mechwarrior 5 on it, albeit with the graphics details turned down so low that it looked like a mechwarrior game from the 1990s.
I’d give bazzite a go. Learning about how to install and use distroboxes is also lots of Linux fun.
Edit: also, you literally cannot break any of the immutable fedora distros. Very newbie friendly.
warning for bazzite: It’s very restrictive and doesn’t let you actually manipulate it like most distros. if you’re even remotely tech savvy and want to explore/play around in Linux, do NOT install bazzite.
if you don’t care, and want their team to ‘protect you’ from doing pc damage, the. use bazzite.
(backstory; I went to modify my fstab, it allowed me to with no issues. I broke the file… fine, went to edit it to revert back… root access was revoked and I was told to f myself by bazzite. I had to enter grub? (can’t fully remember) to modify it back which worked but was a pain in the ass I should have had to do. promptly uninstalled and never looked back.)
if you don’t care, and want their team to ‘protect you’ from doing pc damage, the. use bazzite.
I would say that most people fall into this category. They just want to install the operating system and start working or gaming.
You do a massive disservice to the overwhelming majority of computer users.
To everyone else: if you want a computer that just works and don’t want to fuck around with the command line, Bazzite is perfect. It should be recommended over Linux Mint.
You do a massive disservice to the overwhelming majority of computer users.
By explicitly telling the rest why Bazzite probably isn’t for them?
it was a ‘warning’ for current Linux users or tech savvy/computer literate people like I stated… it’s still good, just restrictive in that it protects you from yourself, hut actually can be a hindrance to power users. nothing wrong with what I said.
I’d say try fedora. Then give Debian a spin as it will expose you to more technical details.
so I might try something else first. Any recommendations?
try 'em all.
Edit: PS: distrowatch’s search is handy: e.g. https://distrowatch.com/search.php?defaultinit=Not+systemd [Edit: PS: maybe try {in approximate increasing ambitiousness] antix, devuan (or other respins of devuan, like expiron, peppermint, vendefoul, shebang, gnuinos), pclinuxos, salix, slackel, slackware, calculatelinux, artix, obarun, voidlinux, decibellinux, gentoo, crux (or kwort), sidelinux(?), milis(?),bedrock, guixSD, LFS. Or whatever… :) Have fun exploring.
Did you try CachyOS ? https://cachyos.org/ I’m impressed by how snappy it is on older computers.
I trialed several distros on my Precision 3550 and settled on Garuda. No regrets!!
OpenSUSE is very less recommended but I would suggest it
https://media.ccc.de/v/5012-the-first-encrypted-steam-deck-runs-opensuse#t=0
Also check out their AEON it is still in RC but worth looking out for. Meanwhile Fedora immutable can be used with Intel.
If you are tach savvy want to tinker look for NetBSD or Ironclad OS
Suse has such a corporate feel to her.
If you wanna have fun, i woild recommend bedrock linux, haven’t tried it, but it sounds cool and interesting. Also nixos might be fun to try in my opinion.
Nix might be a bit overwhelming when his first installation of linux was only a few months ago, I guess :D
It might be overwhelming but still fun to explore new things, right?
Ooh, Nix looks interesting, I’d be down for the challenge!
I use NixOS myself and I love it, i’ll never use another distro again. plus with distrobox I don’t even need to use another distro, I already have all the major ones on my NixOS System.
If you do decide to go the Nix route keep in mind there’s really no right nor wrong way to have your system set up. it’s all personal preference. Some people will say flakes are the way to go, some people will say the opposite. Some people like having their system in modules, some don’t. Some like using the home-manager, some don’t. It’s all up to you. All I will suggest though is if you do try Nix set up a Git repo somewhere like on codeberg for it. Just makes things easier.
Nix is such a cool project. If I had more time I’d definitely give it a go.
There’s GuixSD too.
Basically the same as NixOS, but purely Free Software only, and, instead of being configured by a bespoke configuration language unique to it, GuixSD is configured in Guile, so you’d be learning a transferable skill at least. I hear NixOS’s package repository’s unbeaten though.
Listen, I use guix so I’m not against you, but claiming that Guile, or even any scheme / lisp, is a transferable skill is a stretch 😛
As a software developer for 20 years, configuring guix is the only time I’ve encountered guile. And the only time I’ve used any kind of lisp is when I forced myself to during a coding challenge or advent of code thing, just for interest’s sake.
So again, I know what you’re saying, but for me, deep in the industry, guile might as well be a bespoke language for configuring guix 😅
But, that you did not transfer those skills to any of the things, or write your own from scratch, nor make use of that superpower seems to be just on you, and while that may be true for you, that it might as well be just a bespoke language only for configuring guix, the skills still remain transferable, if not yet transferred. ;)
(And, I do get what you’re saying… I have similar for haskell, the effectively bespoke configuration language just for xmonad (~ plus a chatbot)).
Computertruhe could be happy about well working laptops! Dont hoard ;) you can try distros with external SSDs
That’s actually an awesome project and I’m coincidentally moving close to one of their locations soon :o
welcome to the penguin. distro hop a bit, see what you like.
initially though, you should focus on what DE you are choosing rather than the distro itself, as it is the focal point of the OS, especially for beginners.
Good advice.
Can install any/all Desktop Environments on the same install, and switch to them at login. XFCE, Trinity, Mate, KDE, LXDE, LXQt, Enlightenment, Cinnamon, COSMIC, etc, etc. … And/or, Window managers, of which there are dozens and dozens.
I’ve been an XFCE loyalist for so long, finally gave GNOME a go and now that I’ve got something more simple and less customizable, it finally feels like Linux is a daily tool and not a project that I have to keep tweaking.
Yes, I’m a Debian person lol
I’ve tried a few desktop environments and ended back with XFCE… all the whizzy snazzy stuff breaks over time, or get’s "up"graded to something I don’t like… XFCE just works…
Yeah I’m pretty minimal on GNOME plugins for that reason too. XFCE will always be my backup at least. KDE is just too much.
Snagged a thinkpad today for just over 100$. Guy mentioned it was because of windows 11. Its hippie christmas for linux!
