Windows 10 EoL is fast approaching, so I thought I’d give Linux a try on some equipment that won’t be able to upgrade to Windows 11. I wanted to see if I will be able to recommend an option to anyone that asks me what they should do with their old PC.
Many years ago I switched to Gentoo Linux to get through collage. I was very anti-MS at the time. I also currently interact with Linux systems regularly although they don’t have a DE and aren’t for general workstation use.
Ubuntu: easy install. Working desktop. Had issues with getting GPU drivers. App Store had apps that would install but not work. The App Store itself kept failing to update itself with an error that it was still running. It couldn’t clear this hurdle after a reboot so I finally killed the process and manually updated from terminal. Overall, can’t recommend this to a normal user.
Mint: easy install. Switching to nvidia drivers worked without issue. App Store had issues with installing some apps due to missing dependencies that it couldn’t install. Some popular apps would install but wouldn’t run. Shutting the laptop closed results in a prompt to shutdown, but never really shuts off. Update process asks me to pick a fast source (why can’t it do this itself?)
Both: installing apps outside of their respective stores is an adventure in terminal instead of a GUI double-click. Secure boot issues. Constant prompt for password instead of a simple PIN or other form of identity verification.
Search results for basic operations require understanding that what works for Ubuntu might not work for Mint.
While I personally could work with either, I don’t see Linux taking any market share from MS or Apple when windows 10 is retired.
You tried Ubuntu and modified Ubuntu, why not throw your net further afield than Ubuntu?
Because the average new user is not going to wade through a dozen distros. They're going to try one, and if it doesn't work for them they're going back to windows.
If you are assessing the viability for people in that category only having 2 extremely similar data points seems kind of pointless
Distros aren't equal. Mint and Ubuntu are two of the most likely to be recommended to newcomers, and would probably be double digit percentages. I'm also fairly certain all distros have their own issues that users are going to run into.
Not disagreeing with the distros that were explored here, but wouldn't the point of something like this also coincide with trying to find the best distro to recommend to newcomers? And that would benefit from having a wider spread of distros investigated.
That isn't OPs responsibility, but it is a little unfair to say that Linux as a whole isn't ready when such a narrow view was investigated. SteamOS, for example, for someone who only wants a PC to play games. How is Bazzite holding up for a beginner? Or PopOS, compared to Mint, for first time users?
Not to mention issues experienced on Mint that are similar to issues in Windows 11. Windows 11 has intermittent issues while updating, can mess up driver installations, and sometimes needs access to PowerShell, command line, or third party apps and software to fix what is broken. Someone only familiar with Windows may simply accept those things as broken and move on, but on Linux it is perceived as a deal breaker.
Because a quick search said these were two that would be easiest for people moving from windows, and I was evaluating what i will recommend to people when their machines no longer run windows.
I also tried Pop!_OS and ran into similar issues that would turn off a normal person. I’ll probably stay with it
To be fair PopOS is just a third Ubuntu. I would have tried a Fedora based distro to see if you run into the same problems, maybe even also atomic based variant.
Yeah, maybe Arch would be easier! Did you even bother trying Arch? Quitter!