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.
Do we feel the need to provide resources when one makes the switch from Android to iOS or vice versa? Or how about Windows to macOS or vice versa? Exactly, we don’t. Don’t get me wrong; I’m with you on the fact that those platforms (by virtue of their deals with vendors) are able to provide more streamlined experiences. However, I’d argue we’ve finally reached a critical level of ‘polish’ that should enable your average Joe to engage with Linux without hell breaking loose. The only questions that remain are; Which distro to recommend? AND What further advice do we give them?
The question of which distro is very, very important; first impression and all that*. I’d argue that a whole bunch of distros simply are not suited. (Almost) all of the independent (upstream) distros (so that would be Arch, Debian, Fedora and openSUSE) know who their audiences are and see (understandably so) absolutely no reason to change their respective installations to be a lot more cumbersome for the sake of improving the experiences of a couple of lost newbies. And I haven’t even mentioned how some of them outright can’t even deal with some particular issues that involve proprietary blobs/drivers and what not due to fear of court. Furthermore, our desired distro has to be ridiculously popular, function very reminiscent to other popular operating systems and be very predictable. Hence, it’s unsurprising that we find in this spot our standard distros for newbs: Linux Mint, Pop!_OS and Zorin OS. Between these, ultimately, I believe the impact of their respective desktop environment and/or UX on the (new) user should be the deciding factor. Beyond those, the (opinionated) images provided by Universal Blue are excellent. The exclusion of Ubuntu (or any of its flavors) is due to its conundrum/dilemma with Snaps and how they’ve been dealing with the issues that users are having. Don’t get me wrong; I’m aware that some users don’t experience any issues. However, often enough, they tend to make life a lot more difficult.
As for the advice we give them; they should regard it as more similar to their phones. They don’t install random stuff found on the internet on their phones, right? So, they should not do so on Linux either. Furthermore, the included Software Store is their refuge whenever they need software that’s not already readily available on their systems. Finally, in case they can’t find something in there, they should refer to https://alternativeto.net/.
We don’t see many starter guides for Android to iOS or other OS conversions, but we absolutely should. Vast swathes of user interfaces are non-intuitive to the point of new users not knowing that options exist. Look at one in the Linux group - Ctrl + Alt + F* to get to a console isn’t intuitive in the slightest when you’re coming from WIN + type “CMD” + Enter.
Yeah, because they simply don’t care (enough) (yet). Operating systems are mostly just portals/platforms for internet/mail/games/office or what have you. As long as the desired app/program/software works as needed, you won’t see anyone budge about it.
I would love it if people cared more, but they simply don’t (understandably so). Unfortunately, the easiest (or simply least cumbersome) way always thrives. Fear of learning something new or change even terrorizes the Linux space; e.g. systemd, Wayland, atomic/composable/immutable etc.
Heck, most of us don’t read instruction manuals etc. Is it bad behavior? Sure, I guess. But should this prevent us from approaching this problem more pragmatically?