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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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Which Linux distro for beginners (with requirements) (programming.dev)

submitted 2 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

23 comments fedilink hide all child comments

A friend of someone related doesn't have a laptop nowadays, but needs one. Now we have 2 old laptops at home, and we want to give her one so she can do some things on it. Since she isn't used to laptops and the old laptops wouldn't run a Windows 11 (I don't want to install a Win10 because of end of support and lacking security features), I guess installing a simple Linux is fine. Now comes the big question: Which Linux distro should I install? (see requirements below)

Laptops:

Acer Aspire ES 15, AMD dual-core E1-7010 @1.5 GHz, 4GB RAM, 1000 GB HDD
HP Pavilion 17-e030ez, Intel Pentium @2.4 GHz, 4GB RAM, 10000 GB HDD (I'd choose this)

Tasks:

Office Stuff (I thought about OnlyOffice)
Internet surfing
Banking via Web

Requirements:

needs to have full German support
needs an easy software installation center
should be easy to learn
optionally, her friends (which probably use Windows/ Mac) should be able to help her (since she never had a laptop before)
eventually German forum/ German Guides

I'm using Linux/ Manjaro for myself but don't have any experience with beginner-friendly distros. I used a KDE neon for some time and also have used Ubuntu, and to be honest, they seem beginner-friendly too.

Please let me know your opinions, thanks!

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 2 months ago

Anything will be fine. I’d try a xfce/lxqt desktop, but even on old dual cores the newest kde is good.

Everyone says mint, but suse has a huge German community because it’s from Germany.

Another person said you should upgrade to ssd and maybe add more ram, and I agree with them. Usually I spend $40 to do that to laptops and it makes real dogs run great.

Post the model numbers on the bottom of the laptops and I can give some pre-gifting upgrade advice with actionable links. Both seem to take 2.5” sata ssds so that’s good and cheap, but there’s different models of the aspire es-15 which take different memory sizes.

If you do take the cheap ssd replacement route, give them one of those usb hdd enclosures with the old big rotational hdd in there. They’re like seven bucks and it means they have a place to hold a backup of their data if the gift laptop dies.