Which Linux should you start with? Definitely not the one click-hungry mainstream sites are peddling
Every so often, the same kind of article resurfaces in the mainstream tech press. “What’s the best Linux for getting started?” “Which distro should you pick as a beginner?” “Top 5 easy Linux distros for total beginners”… This same old broken record has been spinning for a few years now.
It’s flat-out become a full-blown evergreen for clickbait sites running low on ideas. The more serious ones among them slap together a few lines in Microsoft Word and call it a day. As for the rest, why bother, ChatGPT is in the driver’s seat. For this kind of site that confidently rambles on about everything and nothing, human experience counts for nothing. Because as long as there are enough people to feed their ad-based business model, why would they go to the trouble of producing quality content?
The big problem is that the bland slop they serve up with the fake warmth of a phony tour guide drags along a fine collection of stubborn clichés that just won’t die. Take, for instance, the idea of a Linux built for beginners and that of a Linux reserved for the initiated. Not to mention the good old myth of the console, supposedly indispensable and reserved for a tiny elite. I won’t hide it one bit: this kind of nonsense really has a gift for getting on my nerves. So we’re going to take it all back to basics and give some solid advice. You can compare the end result with those useless articles that treat their readers like idiots.
The best Linux for beginners is the one that suits you
The first myth is also the most stubborn, so we might as well tackle it first. Beginner Linux doesn’t exist. It’s just a concept made up out of thin air for commercial purposes. It can come from writers who can’t be bothered with professional rigor, but also from distros that think churning out a bad copy of Windows or macOS earns them the right to claim the gateway-to-Linux label.
So let’s be clear! The right Linux for getting off to a good start is the one that fits your needs perfectly. And it’s also the one you click with. Once you’ve got that down, the supposed complexity is completely beside the point. Because if you want to start with, say, Arch or Slackware, which are admittedly harder to get the hang of than an Ubuntu distro, what right do I have to talk you out of it? There are excellent tutorials online and really good support forums. On top of that, a more complex distro doesn’t mean it was designed like a riddle full of traps for its users. Quite the opposite: everything is logical and built to be understandable for anyone willing to put in the effort. All this to say that if you want to start with Arch and someone tells you it’s a mistake because you have to start with Ubuntu… Yeah, you have every right to think they’re taking you for a fool and that something’s off.
And let’s stop blowing this so-called difficulty out of proportion. Me, for example, I’ve never once laid hands on a Windows 11 or a macOS in my life. If some stupid urge to give it a go struck me tomorrow, I’d obviously struggle for a few days, just long enough to figure out where they hid all their settings. Does that mean I should write to Microsoft demanding a special beginner edition of Windows? The idea is just as ridiculous for Linux as it is for any other system.
The right question isn’t which Linux to pick for a beginner, but which Linux to pick to get started.
There’s a Linux out there for every use you can imagine. There are distros tailored for gaming, others designed for server hosting, others still for scientific research or education. There are even ones for narrow, specialized niches, right down to amateur radio enthusiasts. So picking a distro isn’t about hunting for the version stamped “special edition for simpletons.” The right approach is to find the one that best fits what you actually want to do.
And what if you’re just after a versatile system with no particular use in mind? In that case, no rule applies. You can pick your distro for the philosophy behind it and the human project that drives it. You can also choose it just because you like the look of it, and that’s a perfectly valid criterion. Better still, the magic of Linux is that you can test almost everything for free, since the vast majority of distros can run live straight off a USB stick, without installing anything or breaking a thing on your machine. So it’s really no big deal: you give it a try, and if it suits you, you install it. You can even keep your Windows alongside it, but then again, what’s the point of keeping a piece of spyware on your computer?
The myth of the closed club of “real” Linux users
Right next to this beginner-Linux silliness, you’ll find the exact same fable in its expert version. According to some seasoned Linux users, there are supposedly distros reserved for a tiny handful of insiders. And anyone who doesn’t use them is nothing but a kind of loser. It’s an old, pedantic refrain that’s been hanging around the scene forever. For these folks, you’re only a real Linux user if you bury yourself in difficulty. To be credible in their eyes, you’d have to run nothing but distros famous for their complexity. The kind where you recompile half your system yourself and where the slightest tweak costs you a whole evening. To hear them tell it, I should ditch my Linux Mint for one of those systems I have no use for, purely to prove I’m up to the task.
Here’s the thing though: on my main computer I use Linux Mint with the Cinnamon desktop. And the machine I use for testing runs Linux Mint XFCE most of the time. In short, nothing all that impressive. And to make matters worse, Linux Mint got slapped with the beginner-Linux label by people who’d do better to think before spouting nonsense. Yes, it’s true, Linux Mint is very easy to use. So what? Where’s the problem? Does it not have a Linux kernel? Is it limited? No! All of that is false. I’ve been running Linux since 1997, and I simply enjoy using an operating system that’s both ergonomic and rather nice-looking design-wise.
So the big question is, why on earth should I switch? Whether for work or for fun, Mint handles everything I throw at it day to day without ever getting in my way. It’s stable, and I know exactly where to find everything I need. So there’s no way I’m changing distros just for the prestige and the thrill of impressing three self-absorbed purists on a forum. And I have to admit, I always get a sly kick out of saying I use a distro for “beginners.” Then again, the truly fun part isn’t knowing which distro you use, but rather what you manage to do with it. Because until proven otherwise, a Linux distro isn’t what makes its user skilled. At the end of the day, let’s not forget that what matters is the software, how many resources you can throw at it, and the way you use it. Everything else is just phony controversy that does nothing but make the people stirring it up look ridiculous.
Putting the myth of the must-have console to rest
After the fake beginner Linux and the fake expert Linux, there’s still the biggest one left to knock down: the myth of the console! Because this is exactly the kind of nonsense that holds back Linux adoption on a large scale by saddling it with a reputation as a system reserved for keyboard pros. Whereas, let’s say it plainly, with most modern distros you can use Linux perfectly well without ever opening your console even once.
And worst case, the day you make a wrong move that forces you to open it, you’ll be glad it’s there. Because the console is what lets you repair your system if it ever runs into trouble. And no, you don’t need to know a single command by heart. Just describe the nature of your problem on a forum and you’ll always find someone to hand you the commands to copy into your terminal. And your system will be back in great shape. With Windows, on the other hand, you’re just left to reformat everything and reinstall all your software.
Because day to day, what is Linux really? For me, it’s the same thing as Windows or Mac. I’ve got my icons on the desktop, I click on them and they open. I’ve got my taskbar to launch my programs. And when I want to install software, I go through the software manager to pick what I want, just like in a store. In everyday use, there’s not a single moment when I need the console.
So what is it actually good for? For uses that don’t concern the vast majority of people who use a computer. Like typing SSH commands to administer a machine remotely, occasionally installing some slightly exotic piece of software, or coding. And even then, even for coding, I personally avoid it as much as I can. I write my code in Geany, which is a graphical editor, because it’s far more comfortable and less austere than typing out lines in a black window. I mostly use the console to start or kill processes, to compile, and to check that everything’s running with the help of testing tools.
I’ll happily admit it’s less classy than the hoodie-wearing hacker tapping out neon-green symbols on a black screen. Except that image is pure theater, falsely suggesting that Linux is reserved for some kind of elite when it’s nothing of the sort.
That said, I’m not going to rewrite history. It’s true that until Ubuntu came along, Linux wasn’t easy to tame and often turned out unstable in graphical mode. But that era has been behind us for many years now. A Linux Mint, for example, takes no time at all to get the hang of when you’re coming over from Windows. Like plenty of other distros, it’s super fast and very well maintained with regular updates. I sometimes go more than a month without restarting my machine, and during that time I’ve coded, edited images in GIMP, opened dozens of tabs in my browser, listened to music… And everything stays stable without having to open the console to fix the slightest thing. Which proves that yes, whether some people like it or not, Linux has gone mainstream. And there’s really every reason to celebrate this huge success rather than complain that it’s less badass.
Pick the Linux you can shape most easily to match what you do with it
In the end, the only real trap to avoid when switching to Linux is the crappy advice that claims to tell you which distro to pick as a beginner. Because the reflex behind these articles is almost always to push a Windows or macOS lookalike on you so you don’t feel too out of place. But let’s be honest for two seconds. If you absolutely insist on a Linux that looks as much like Windows as possible, stay on Windows! And if you want a Linux that behaves like macOS, stay on macOS! Because you’ll gain nothing at all by installing a pale copy of what you already have on hand. You’ll just be on your way to a pile of frustration.
The right instinct is to pick a Linux you can easily shape to your preferences and the use you’re going to make of it. Because the big advantage of Linux is that the system adapts 100% to you and not the other way around. It’s also the best way to avoid the trap of the slightly embarrassing distros, the likes of Zorin OS and a few others of the same kind that pile on the bloat and end up betraying the spirit of Linux. Not to mention their 100% commercial logic dressed up as a so-called user-friendly philosophy.
Conclusion: Linux has matured nicely, and it’s up to us to spread the word
It’s a real joy to see just how much Linux has become a must-have, and to watch more and more people adopt it for good. But if we want this momentum to keep rolling, there’s still a hefty job to be done on the communication front. And this work of informing people shouldn’t be left to the media outlets that spout nonsense. As a Linux user, you’re a media outlet in your own right, one that can speak up on social media to share its user experience far from those insufferable clichés. That’s how Linux will be able to keep becoming more accessible and to prove that the open source spirit can boot Big Tech and its bad practices out of the computing landscape.
I want to make it clear that in this article I used Linux Mint as my example because it’s the one that’s suited me best for a few years now. Maybe even just out of habit. But at no point did I say everyone should pick this distro. Once again, there are dozens of really nice distros out there. I could just as easily have told you about Kubuntu or MX Linux, which I’m especially fond of, but those are just my personal tastes. So there’s no directive in my approach. Just an invitation to stay curious and put your critical thinking to work.
After all these years of use, the only things that could turn me away from Mint would be its maintainer getting the very bad idea of building in an AI by default, or adding bloat that has no reason to exist. Because a Linux ought to stay lightweight, it’s a matter of principle. As for AI, it has no business being in an operating system or a browser.
And if those red lines ever did get crossed, well, I’d probably replace my current OS with a Slackware or a FreeBSD. Or maybe NovaFuture would end up releasing its own distro. What’s one more project, right? 🙂 In the meantime, we wish you plenty of good times with Linux and we’ll see you very soon for new adventures.
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