I’m looking for a distro to contribute to finally make 'year of Linux desktop, to happen. For me, I see that as full UI/UX behaviour that behaves almost identical to Windows/Mac (eg no middle click to paste).
Which distro comes closest to it?
lol, sorry but in what world do you live in? NONE of the OS “just works”.
I’m sorry but this is such a trope. I watched someone using an up to date iOS phone. That thing is LOCKED down to no end, countless people claim that Apple are some kind of UX geniuses … well you look somebody trying to do anything as complex as watching a video on this and it’s a damn struggle.
Sorry for going on a rant here but the very concept is a lie. It’s like Windows being easier to use, it’s absolutely not BUT people have trained, at school (sigh) or at work, on how to use it. They somehow “forget” that they went through hours or even days of training and somehow they believe it feels “natural”. That’s entirely dishonest but why do I insist on this so much? Because it’s unfair to then compare Linux distributions to things that do not exist!
What “just works” but STILL is not perfect or flawless, is SteamOS on the SteamDeck not due to any “magic” from Valve but rather because :
- the hardware is very limited (basically selected to work well for it)
- the use case is very limited (start Steam, play)
and as soon as one start to tinker with SteamOS on SteamDeck by replacing part, adding USB-C devices, remote the r/w restriction on the OS, etc then again “just works” becomes “worked at some point”.
Solid rant. The amazing thing is how quickly people learn to live with whatever they currently have. It explains iPhone users.
Linux sucks with a whole community behind it and no consistency in GUIs.
Mac sucks expensively inside a walled garden.
Windows sucks and blows and spews AI slop.
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Getting hung up on feature parity with Windows and Mac is both a waste of time and literally impossible given the major differences between those two UIs. KDE already does most of that legwork anyway, and you can disable middle click paste easily.
IMO your time would be best spent making GUI tooling that doesn’t already exist. Identify a pain point for you that forces you to the terminal and start there.
Would suggest Linux Mint
I suggest LMDE not regular mint. Normal mint updates often and ocassionally with bugs while rare and mostly I see for gaming they do happen. Stability and reliability are king. So LMDE aka Linux mint debian edition. Its entirely the same as normal mint made by the same people but it’s rock solid unlike Ubuntu version.
Sincerely I’ve used both to game and daily pc usage even work. LMDE no questions.
lmde does not have all the pref panels like normal mint does. I always suggest against it, especially for nvidia users.
I use the cli on macos often, because some apps need to be manually signed from the terminal. Power users on windows also use the terminal. However, the best of what you ask is Linux Mint.
Been in and out of Linux since 2006.
Linux Mint with Cinnamon DE is the only distro I’ve ever used that worked flawlessly for everything without needing to use the terminal at all. It worked so well it was boring. It’s the only distro I would recommend to a lay person
You won’t get what you’re asking for, because what you want is windows to not suck, not for Linux to have GUI. Me too tbf.
I started playing around with linux back in the Ubuntu 11.04 days. I was a tween with computers as a hobby and linux repeatedly humbled me and left me troubleshooting for hours. I had fun playing with it but I stayed with Windows on my main PC.
When I finally could not take it anymore in 2021, I started using fedora, which I grew to hate then moved to opensuse, which I grew to hate so I moved to Debian, and I’ve more or less stayed struggling in the Debian sphere since.
I’m a regular person, I don’t code. I can’t even hello world in python without help. I just need my laptop to be able to serve me the slop that I crave. If you’re that person too, you’re just gonna have to suck it up and learn how linux works. Suffer through it. You’ve been using windows probably since you were eating boogers, don’t expect to just pickup linux over night. I moved to linux for political reasons, and I suspect you’re doing so for similar reasons. It doesn’t get easier, you just get better at using Linux.
If you want my suggestion, pick something based on an LTS distro. I like Debian, but I’m sure there is good stuff based on RHEL, SUSE, whatever. People will sit here and tell you how “out of date” Debian is. You’re coming from windows, you probably regularly use software that nobody has maintained since 2009, you don’t care if bonzibuddy.exe got an AI update, you just want to turn computer on, watch youtube, play vidya game. Don’t let user johnthunderfuck69 in r/linux tell you his arch install has never broken in 20 years of using it. He is built different and you are not johnthunderfuck69.
I’ve had good luck with some of the gui tools included in MX Linux, SparkyLinux, and LMDE(mint debian edition). If you look hard enough between those 3 you’ll probably find a big red button that you can click to order pizza to your house.
Choose Cinnamon, XFCE, or KDE as a desktop environment.
I’m probably the same as you. I like computers, I like technical stuff, a command line is intimidating but not scary, I don’t hate troubleshooting and fixing my own computer when I inevitably break something (well, I hate troubleshooting less than I hate trusting anyone else with my computer), and I got into Linux for political reasons (one, freedom and community are important to me as a communist, two, I don’t feel comfortable using products from US companies, if I can avoid it, at this time) and went with something based on Debian.
The difference is that I’d never used Linux before when I found out it existed and was already thinking that it’d be nice if I could ditch Windows because I really don’t want to rely on US corpos anymore.
Yeah. If you don’t want to treat your computer like a project car, you want it to be like a reliable mom van, you want Debian based stability, not the cool bleeding edge stuff.
Though, I will say, a spare computer to tinker with and bleeding edge stuff does cost less than most mechanical projects. (My dad has multiple project cars. My mum yells at him about it in front of the rest of the family. At least he does tend to sell them for a small profit when he gets them running smoothly, he likes doing the project and making money off it more than he actually likes any of the busted up cars he buys as projects. My mum mostly just doesn’t like all the space they take up.)
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I like the reliable mom van example. You can paint the rims all nice, put some stickers on it, hang up your fuzzy dice. But it’s still getting the kids home from soccer practice.
Yep. I love doing wacky or interesting graphical shit to make my computer look neat, but I also like for the important stuff to be stable day to day for common tasks. Which is why Debian based distros are the best ones.
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I’m going to comment again, not to be an asshole, but because this is an entirelt separate stream of thoughts from my previous comment:
‘GUI/UX for everything, absolutely no CLI’ approach
That’s not a distro thing, it’s a Desktop Environment thing. I personally use GNOME on my daily driver, but I’ve also used Xfce and MATE and gotten away with those. I’d say that GNOME is probably the most “idiot proof,” which is why I use it, but YMMV.
Linux “requiring the CLI” hasn’t been true for quite a few years now, it just has stuck around for a couple of reasons (imo):
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Tutorials/guides/advice about Linux tends to focus on the CLI because it’s easier to figure out someone’s OS and have them copy-paste a command, than to find out the specifics of their graphical setup and walk them through every window and button press.
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New users need to know and understand the difference between Kernel, OS, and Desktop Environment to find the answers they’re looking for.
If you tell Grandma that you installed Linux for her, the first time she tries to figure it out herself, she’s gonna search “how to change volume in Linux” on Google, and she’s going to be bombarded with a thousand answers all saying something different, most telling her to install programs, and most telling her to use the command line. Because Linux is not an operating system, it’s a family of dozens of operating systems that can each be configured thousands of different ways.
If you tell her “I installed Fedora,” she’s going to run into the same issue, but on a lesser scale. At least there’s only a few hundred different ways on a per-distro basis.
If you tell her “I installed GNOME,” she will look up “how to change volume in GNOME,” and find her answer. But now you need to explain to her the difference between the three, and when to include that information in her searches, and she will ask “why could I just say ‘how to X in Windows?’ and didn’t have to memorize 3 different names for the same thing that all give me different answers???”
And yes, your grandma will just call you to ask anyway, but what about when it’s your friend trying to figure it out at 3 am and he can’t get ahold of you?
Meanwhile, the terminal is (more or less) distro-/DE-agnostic. So their options are to learn more about how is Opperating System formed than they’ll realistically ever need to know, or use the reviled terminal. Such is the plight of DIY OSes.
Found this very interesting. Discovered I don’t know the difference between the 3. Duck duck went to kernel and didn’t really understand what I found. Can you explain the 3 like I’m five? Also - I have Linux mint - does that tell you what 3 I have and if not how can I find out?
Sorry for the delay, I’m a check-the-feed-once-a-week type lemming. I love computers, and I admire anyone who also wants to learn; I’m by no means an expert, but I am happy to share what I know.
A distro is a whole OS. An Operating System, as the name implies, is the whole system of software that makes a computer function and interactive (take input from a user, and respond appropriately). This may software definitely includes a Kernel (more on that later), but may also include things like a Display Server (software that acts as an intermediary between gui software and the display/screen), a Desktop Environment (a subsystem of related softwares that handle things like window styles, layouts, and icons), or even utilities (programs that you use to modify the behavior of other programs/processes).
In OSes, there is a fuzzy boundary between programs the user runs, and the low-level processes that run on hardware. This boundary separates “User Space” – programs and processes that run on behalf of the user – from “Kernel Space” – programs and processes that handle the hardware the machine is run on. Where most programs that you interact with are User Space – such as web browsers, video games, multimedia programs, or even most command-line programs – Kernel Space programs are ones that perform tasks like determining how memory is managed, or what processes are running during any given CPU cycle. The Kernel is the set of software that is reponsible for all this “behind the scenes” computer management. This means that the programs don’t have to be written to determine the specifics of the hardware they’re running on, it means that each program you run is much less likely to crash your PC, and it means that it’s a lot harder for malicious software to do serious damage to your PC or OS or other programs.
So that’s the Cliff’s Notes, now the ELI5 analogy version: an Operating System is like a grocery store. The Desktop Environment are all the visual elements that go into the experience, stuff like branding, signs, employee uniforms, displays, even the way the shelves are laid out. The customers are the userspace programs, and that means the employees (and the automated systems that help run the store) are the Kernel. Because the relationship between the customers and employees mostly revolves around the merchandise being sold, the merchandise will be analogous to the computer’s physical resources.
A customer can come in, select what goods they want, and check out, but they can’t stock the shelves themselves, nor order something that isn’t stocked, nor adjust prices, nor open the store if it’s closed. To do any of that, they need to ask an employee to perform those actions, and find a way to deal with it if the employee won’t or can’t. This also means the employees are responsible for opening the store, getting everything ready for the customers, cleaning up after the customers, and locking up the store after everyone’s left. This makes it easy for the customers, because they don’t have to bother with all the work that goes into shipping, pricing, stocking, theft, etc., nor do they have to worry about dealing with every possible type of shampoo they might come across depending on which grocery store they go to.
Also - I have Linux mint - does that tell you what 3 I have and if not how can I find out?
I can figure out 2 of the 3. Linux Mint is the distro / OS, and it runs on the Linux kernel. This is why distros like Arch and Debian and Linux Mint and Nix all get lumped together under the “Linux” label: they all run on the same kernel (and follow the same standards of OS design known as POSIX).
The Desktop Environment (DE) you have depends on which ISO you (or your friend) downloaded from the website, the editions are named by the DE–e.g., if you installed Cinnamon Edition, then Cinnamon is your DE. The other easiest way to tell is to run the terminal command
inxi -S– and remember to check the man page for it (man inxi, or online) before running random commands from the internet if you don’t know what they do – and then checking what it says under the section labeled "Desktop: "
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Even on Windows and macOS you will have to use the command line for some tasks sooner or later.
For what in example? I used Windows for 8 years and then from time to time after that, plus helping my brothers computer with modern Windows. I never had to use the commandline. But maybe there are some tasks that requires it, because there is no GUI for. What would that be?
Many Windows administrative, automation, and remote management tasks require Command Prompt or PowerShell because they cannot be efficiently or practically executed via the GUI.
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Tasks that involve repetitive or bulk operations often require CMD or PowerShell. For example: Renaming thousands of files simultaneously is impractical through File Explorer but can be done easily with Rename-Item in PowerShell
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Batch file automation using .bat scripts allows automated workflows like clearing temporary files, launching multiple apps, backing up directories, and switching system settings like dark/light mode
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Scheduled tasks and automatic scripts are better created with command-line scripts, providing repeatable precision versus manual GUI actions
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Accessing and manipulating Windows services: Use Get-Service and Stop-Service in PowerShell to check or stop services on local or remote machines
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Managing user accounts and permissions: Commands like net user or whoami /groups provide instant information on users or their groups, which may otherwise require multiple GUI interactions
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Registry, Group Policy, and WMI tasks: Most registry edits, group policy refreshes (gpupdate /force), and WMI queries are accessible through PowerShell but lack straightforward GUI counterparts
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System auditing and repair: Commands like sfc /scannow and DISM /RestoreHealth repair system files or images without needing GUI-based troubleshooting tools
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Managing remote computers: Tools like shutdown /m \computername or PowerShell cmdlets enable shutdowns, restarts, or status checks remotely where GUI Remote Desktop may be impractical or unavailable
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Collecting diagnostics across multiple endpoints: CMD and PowerShell allow executing scripts across multiple machines unlike GUI tools, which must be operated individually
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Searching, filtering, and processing files: Commands like Get-ChildItem, Where-Object, and Select-Object enable precise filtering, data extraction, and file management far beyond what the GUI allows
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Clipboard automation: Using Get-Clipboard and Set-Clipboard for large or structured data transfer without manual selection
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Reading log data: Extracting and analyzing system or application logs is faster via wevtutil than navigating Event Viewer
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DNS, IP configuration, and connectivity tests: Commands like ipconfig /all, ping, tracert, Test-NetConnection, and netstat provide immediate network diagnostics that either lack GUI equivalents or are slower to perform
I never do any of that. I’m sure a lot of non IT people don’t either. At best they’d get an app to do specialised tasks for them. Sadly too many gatekeepers tell people considering Linux, they must use the command line. But I never use it. So that’s clearly not true for normal users.
Those apps on Windows tend to be just wrappers around the commands, which suggests there is an opening for someone to come along and wrap commands on Linux that don’t have any graphical wrappers. I personally wouldn’t trust a random app from the web so I never used them on Windows, but on Linux those could be delivered through the official repositories and package manager.
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no you wont
I have had to on multiple occasions, maybe we just use it differently
People do use it differently. I never use the CLI on Windows or Linux. I’m not in IT. I just do everyday user things. Many of which don’t even have a CLI command.
Many of which don’t even have a CLI command.
Anything that can’t yet be done in a terminal, someone will eventually figure out how to do with a CLI or at most a TUI. Because terminal junkies are weird and because Linux lets you do that kind of thing more than any other OS does.
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The terminal is not a good way to interact with visual tasks such as drawing, 3D modelling, and working on complex schematics or where things don’t have names. Especially where the typical type of user is a visual, not a text thinker. Its not efficient to leave your working environment to go to the terminal and back either. And text thinkers are often not good at those visual tasks. So I’m not expecting terminal commands to appear in areas where I spend much of my time. I, like many, are not in IT.
Yes, that does track. I do not like terminals regardless of the task, I’m very much a visual type with anything Computer. I’m just saying, terminal junkies will do stupidly inconvenient things just to have done the thing in a terminal.
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The distro shouldn’t matter too much, but the desktop environment will.
I recommend using KDE if you want something similar to Windows, and GNOME if you want something similar to macOS.
Using a GUI also isn’t really dependent on the DE either for most programs. It’s dependent on whether or not a GUI for it exists in the first place.
OpenSUSE Tumbleweed has a GUI for almost everything. It has a nice GUI for basic system config, and uses YaST2 for deeper settings, and it uses Discover for Flatpaks as well as system library updates.
Although, I have seen a couple people say Discover shouldn’t be used for doing system updates because it can fail, and to only use it for Flatpak updates and installs. I dunno. But it’s not like typing
sudo zypper dupto do a distro upgrade is hard, so I just do that out of an abundance of caution.OpenSUSE has some other cool features too, like having Snapper installed by default for system snapshots. It’s pretty easy to roll back if an upgrade goes sideways. There’s a boot entry that lets you open a previous snapshot as read-only and then you can make that snapshot permanent by creating a new top-level snapshot from it. So then you can at least use your computer while you try to figure out why the upgrade you did failed.
You’ll probably want to use KDE as your desktop environment. It’ll be somewhat familiar if you’re use to Windows, and it has a lot of features that make it comfortable to use.
There are lots of good YouTube videos on why OpenSUSE is pretty cool. Check some out.
Second for Tumbleweed!!
The low-to-nothing maintenance rolling release (in my experience). I recommend it if you have to maintain computers of family & friends (no more release upgrades, out of the box snapshots, etc).It’s so friendly & hard to break (for a normal person).
I know opinions vary, but I also love zypper.
I haven’t kept up with that clown but if that’s a reference to the time he attempted to switch, that was a top-gear-like slapstick show, consisting of making wrong turns at every fork and having outliers galore in the form of some hardware he and one other dude on the entire planet got. that show of his is infotainment, as in not a reliable source of information.
you go with the beginner-friendliest distro, with the widest distribution which is ubuntu. that ain’t the distro I’m running, but it’s something you need to go through to figure out how this shit runs. after you’ve been around the block a time or two and you start bumping your head at the ceiling, you’ll have enough experience to switch to something better.
What is the LTT Linux test? I know its a reference to the LTT YouTube channel and the fail they experienced. But how do we a LTT Linux test and report it as a success?
LTT test pass: the distro must assume you can’t read.
LOL fair enough. I guess a more friendly description of that would be “the distro must assume you don’t read everything”. Okay so that makes sense, given what happened.
full UI/UX behaviour that behaves almost identical to Windows/Mac
You want Windows or Mac.
If you want a computer that you can do stuff like web-browsing, document/spreadsheet/pdf/slideshow editing/creation, gaming, or multimedia processing on, there are distros and utilities on Linux that make those more-or-less easy and beginner-friendly,
BUT it requires divesting oneself of the habits, behaviors, and paradigms of other operating systems and being willing to learn anew. Community-based Libre software is developed in an entirely different way for an entirely different purpose; because of that, it is nearly impossible to recreate the same software as for-profit proprietary software. One is made by a community hacking together a functional system that suits their needs, the other is made to generate revenue, and thus has to keep users dependent on it by trapping them in dark patterns and igorance of its workings.
If you just want “Mac or Windows, but free as in beer,” suck it up, pay the devil his due, and buy one of those OSes. Libre Software is an entirely different paradigm, and thus requires a whole paradigm shift before anyone will be happy with it; on-boarding people who aren’t ready to divest themselves of the old paradigm just leads to disgruntled users who blame you for anything wrong with their PC, and creates a market void in the FOSS community ready to be filled by corpo proprietary slopware.
This is the right answer to this question. You have to be ready to learn a new OS if you want to switch to Linux. IMO that doesn’t mean you should expect to be doing everything through the command line but if even a ui difference is going to be a problem then it’s probably not time.
