Hi James, Another thing I suggest you do if you're unsure on what distro to choose, is to install a hypervisor. VirtualBox or VMware Workstation are both free options, and I've attached the download links below:
VMware: https://softwareupdate.vmware.com/cds/vmw-desktop/ws/17.6.3/24583834/windows/core/VMware-workstation-17.6.3-24583834.exe.tar VirtualBox: https://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/7.1.6/VirtualBox-7.1.6-167084-Win.exe These will let you try the distros you're thinking of using before you go ahead and install it on your desktop. Once you do decide on what distro to install, I recommend making a GitHub account and storing all your configs there so you can swap at any time without needing to reconfigure everything. Thanks, Rhys. -----Original Message----- From: dorset <dorset-boun...@mailman.lug.org.uk> On Behalf Of Peter Merchant Sent: 08 March 2025 16:27 To: dorset@mailman.lug.org.uk Subject: Re: [Dorset] What linux distro should I use? And also, it is a pick and mix world out there. With Mint or Fedora or many others, you can have the KDE Desktop/GUI/Environment, or cinnamon, or mate, or gnome or.... Peter On 08/03/2025 07:25, Terry Coles wrote: > James, > > On 07/03/2025 22:45, James Crowfoot wrote: >> At some point in the future I am planning on switching from windows >> 11 to linux but I am not sure what distro to go for. >> I'm most familiar with debian, through raspberry pi os, but also >> either mint or ubuntu are also on the table. >> Does anybody have any thoughts on on thr pros and cons of these >> distros to help me decide? > > Back in the mists of time, (when Linux was a lad), I switched from > using my Amiga as my prime machine at home to Suse. It didn't work > very well because the sound system wasn't supported and was at that > time an RPM based system, when 'RPM' and 'hell' frequently appeared in > the same sentence. > > I also tried Mandrake for a while, but then someone said that apt was > a much better packaging system, so I switched to Kubuntu. This was > one of the first releases of that distro, but despite a few hiccups > along the way, I've never looked back. > > As far as I'm concerned, the benefits include: KDE based: > > 1. It looks a feels very much like Windows was back then, and I had > to use Windows at work. > > 2. For the most part, it has always worked well (but see below). > > 3. It has the packages that I like (but see below). > > The disadvantages include: > > 1. The KDE team have a nasty habit of breaking the desktop, every > time a new Plasma version is released. This can be very annoying, and > some features that I loved in Plasma 2 (or maybe it was 3) have never > returned. > > 2. Packages are dropped frequently enough to be annoying when they > are no longer maintained (fair enough really), but again I've never > found some features in their replacements. > > 3. Some bugs are rather ignored when reported in bugzilla or > Launchpad and then magically disappear in the next release. > > So I have now been a Kubuntu user for around 20 years and am not > likely to change any time soon. > > I hope this helps. > > -- > Terry Coles > > -- Next meeting: Online, Jitsi, Tuesday, 2025-04-01 20:00 Check to whom you are replying Meetings, mailing list, IRC, ... https://dorset.lug.org.uk New thread, don't hijack: mailto:dorset@mailman.lug.org.uk -- Next meeting: Online, Jitsi, Tuesday, 2025-04-01 20:00 Check to whom you are replying Meetings, mailing list, IRC, ... https://dorset.lug.org.uk New thread, don't hijack: mailto:dorset@mailman.lug.org.uk
