this post was submitted on 08 Oct 2026
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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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Just wondering as ive been told many os's online and then told to not use certain one aswell, i feel confused on what linux os to try someday. i come from windows 10 and i always find i need windows on atleast 1 device, and put linux on the "outdated" devices, but i keep hoping around, i cant seem to make up my mind.

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[–] Nibodhika@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago

You seem to have already tried something and didn't liked it, what was it and why?

I feel most newcomers often overthink this question. You should pick something aimed at newcomers that's meant to be user friendly, that's the main idea behind most Ubuntu based distros, and why I have been recommending people to use Mint for almost two decades, and that's still my recommendation for new users.

There are lots of things to learn when migrating to Linux. The main one is to not expect it to be Windows. But most distros are essentially the same, their differences are mostly philosophical rather than technical, but philosophical differences can have technical impacts. For example, a distro with the philosophy that things need to be tested before given to users will have a smoother but outdated experience than one with the philosophy of latest is best, or for a more extreme example, a distro with the philosophy that your system should be declared as a configuration will require much more different kind of maintenance than one where it's more install things around to build your system.

Finally there's one thing that I think most new users don't realize, any distro can look like any other distro very easily. The difference between distros is not cosmetic, it's much more engrained into the core of how to use the distro, but most day-to-day stuff is identical. The graphical part of a Linux system is called a Desktop Environment (DE) or a Window Manager (WM), technically a DE is a full set of programs that includes a WM. I would strongly recommend you start with a DE, installing multiple DEs and playing around to figure out what you like is an excellent idea, personally I like Plasma even though I don't use it daily because I prefer tiling window managers (possibly not something to worry about now), but other people prefer Gnome, Cinnamon, etc, play around and figure out what you like, this will have a much larger impact in your experience than changing distro.