[SOLVED] Suggesting a new Picking a Distro sticky for Newbie Forum
LQ Suggestions & FeedbackDo you have a suggestion for this site or an idea that will make the site better? This forum is for you.
PLEASE READ THIS FORUM - Information and status updates will also be posted here.
Notices
Welcome to LinuxQuestions.org, a friendly and active Linux Community.
You are currently viewing LQ as a guest. By joining our community you will have the ability to post topics, receive our newsletter, use the advanced search, subscribe to threads and access many other special features. Registration is quick, simple and absolutely free. Join our community today!
Note that registered members see fewer ads, and ContentLink is completely disabled once you log in.
If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us. If you need to reset your password, click here.
Having a problem logging in? Please visit this page to clear all LQ-related cookies.
Get a virtual cloud desktop with the Linux distro that you want in less than five minutes with Shells! With over 10 pre-installed distros to choose from, the worry-free installation life is here! Whether you are a digital nomad or just looking for flexibility, Shells can put your Linux machine on the device that you want to use.
Exclusive for LQ members, get up to 45% off per month. Click here for more info.
Suggesting a new Picking a Distro sticky for Newbie Forum
Hello.
I noticed lately that too many threads by Linux Newbies asking for help picking the "BEST" distro rarely get anywhere, in fact it seems these threads confuse the OPs even more.
So on to my point. Would it be feasible to get/con somebody into writing a sticky for the Newbie section of the forum. That states that there is no best distro, and that asking for help picking general all purpose distro might not help them, and where to find comparisons and reviews as well as specialized distros. And of course encourages them to help themselves in picking they're own os.
I like this post by:
Quote:
Originally Posted by trickykid
What is the Best Distro?
It seems that there are more and more threads being started that are asking "What is the Best Distro?" and so on along those lines.
I couldn't emphasize this enough but this is asked quite often, too often in fact. Searching in the
Distribution forum will most likely find your answer or give you an idea of a possibility of in your choosing the best distro for yourself.
LinuxQuestions also has a Reviews section as well. I suggest anyone looking for a distro to check that out as well.
Another great resource is at www.distrowatch.com which pretty much covers about every distro made just about. This is also worthy of looking at if your asking this same question.
If you still have a question, please ask it in the
Distribution MegaThread . Any "which distribution" questions asked here will be closed or merged into this thread.
This thread is linked to the Newbie Forum but it's sort of indirect.
I realize onebuck has a good xp replacement sticky and jsbjsb001 also has a great one on kali. But maybe time for an update?
My rule is whomever opens their mouth about the topic is the correct person to start and drive this effort. The Kali thread as well as the Kernel panic thread were ultimately started by the two users discussing those topics and the possibility of creating a sticky.
Next I do suggest you get discussion, as you have started here, and lead it towards a draft, providing the forum members feel this is a good idea. I know there are differences of opinions about the benefits of sticky threads. Personally I'm fine with them and then also using them as a link to provide to the new posters. I will concur that many new members will still not read them even if they are given a link, but this is mainly because there are many new posters who never become long term LQ members because they never wished to put in any real effort.
I feel there are some distributions which classify as "starter distributions", Ubuntu and Mint come to mind, and there are certain distributions geared more towards older hardware. Meanwhile we do tell many of these members to try either live boot or VMs, therefore a sticky could contain those types of introductions to the topic.
The question is whether or not you are willing to drive this forward, versus not.
My rule is whomever opens their mouth about the topic is the correct person to start and drive this effort. The Kali thread as well as the Kernel panic thread were ultimately started by the two users discussing those topics and the possibility of creating a sticky.
Something I didn't know, but I'll try it, I'll need a little help though.
Quote:
Next I do suggest you get discussion, as you have started here, and lead it towards a draft, providing the forum members feel this is a good idea. I know there are differences of opinions about the benefits of sticky threads. Personally I'm fine with them and then also using them as a link to provide to the new posters. I will concur that many new members will still not read them even if they are given a link, but this is mainly because there are many new posters who never become long term LQ members because they never wished to put in any real effort.
So would it work to create a post in this thread with a draft and then keep editing until finished?
Quote:
I feel there are some distributions which classify as "starter distributions", Ubuntu and Mint come to mind, and there are certain distributions geared more towards older hardware. Meanwhile we do tell many of these members to try either live boot or VMs, therefore a sticky could contain those types of introductions to the topic.
My thoughts exactly.
Quote:
The question is whether or not you are willing to drive this forward, versus not.
Thanks for your input, I'll work on it and try to make it happen, of course I realize that it won't be possible without the support from the rest of LQ.
the best distro is the one you can deal with. they are all free with the exception of Red Hat so practice in installing can and will be had if one takes the time to install the distros until they find one suitable for them.
So would it work to create a post in this thread with a draft and then keep editing until finished?
That's what I've done in the past. You get to that point where you're ready, then you create a clean new post, such as here in this thread and you can even title that post. And if it goes to the Newbie forum, I can copy just that post to create a new sticky thread, thus making you the one who created it.
If you get to that point, suggest you send a PM to me to say that you've reached a point where you have a candidate for a sticky.
Distribution: Debian Sid AMD64, Raspbian Wheezy, various VMs
Posts: 7,680
Rep:
Quote:
Originally Posted by BW-userx
the best distro is the one you can deal with. they are all free with the exception of Red Hat so practice in installing can and will be had if one takes the time to install the distros until they find one suitable for them.
This tends to be my opinion on recommending distributions. Unless, as a Linux newby, one has installed at least four, completely separate*, distributions then there choosing isn't really possible and one does onself a disservice.
This tends to be my opinion on recommending distributions. Unless, as a Linux newby, one has installed at least four, completely separate*, distributions then there choosing isn't really possible and one does onself a disservice.
Distribution: Currently: OpenMandriva. Previously: openSUSE, PCLinuxOS, CentOS, among others over the years.
Posts: 3,881
Rep:
I like the idea personally, as I said about the one about Kali, it was only a suggestion to begin with. I didn't expect that it would actually happen to be honest.
I'd suggest you start working on a draft as rtmistler has said.
Even if not everyone reads it, it can still be of benefit, and even if it's only of benefit to some, it's still a benefit to LQ and members can still be pointed to it, where it can help them.
Just think about could be in it and what links you could include in it, etc, etc.
Perhaps, something about which desktop environments/window managers each distro mentioned has and maybe something about how they differ from each other, etc, etc.
The hardest thing for me when writing the Kali sticky was trying to say on-point, while trying to keep it as brief as I could, without missing relevant information.
It sounds easy in theory, but in practice, I think that's what you'll find the hardest thing, if you go ahead with this suggested sticky. I'll try and help you as much as I can, but at the end of the day, it has to be your work.
Take appropriate suggestions from members, but try and make it your own work and words, while walking the tight rope and staying on-point, without including too much information - if you know what I mean
Best of luck with it!
Last edited by jsbjsb001; 01-16-2018 at 05:06 AM.
Reason: corrections/additions - I was half-asleep when I originally posted this reply, sorry :doh:
Wouldn't such a sticky thread by it's very nature be somewhat biased? i.e. presumably new users would be directed to a list of selected Linux distributions. If this were added to regularly, the list could grow very long, whereas presumably the person asking the question wants the choice narrowed down somewhat?
Personally I think new users come here for current, advice from more experienced users, delivered first hand with some interaction, not to get directed to a sticky with a list of supposedly "user friendly" distributions (most of which will be Debian based).
I agree with cynwulf. I think that it will be difficult to write such a sticky without either bias towards certain distros (which will be seen as almost being "officially endorsed" by LQ as it's a sticky) or the sticky being bland because it doesn't want to commit to certain distros. There are just too many distros out there and too many evangelists (without wanting to cause WWIII, Slackware for a newbie - really? - I've seen it suggested many times). You can guarantee that there will be arguments, perhaps not very pleasant ones too, over the contents of such a sticky.
We can't fob people off by referring them to DistroWatch either. As a complete newbie, that site must be absolutely frightening.
No, the easiest way is just to suggest that all newbies use Mint. Mint MATE to be precise. But then again, I'm biased.
Or, more seriously, just carry on as now in a dynamic fashion. Ok, so we still risk some folk advising newbies to set up an Arch system (no disrespect to that fine distro), but it will keep the advice fluid and relevant.
As a side suggestion, we have LQ blogs of our own which we can write and then link too, or leave as links in our signatures.
I have several blogs about programming in Linux. Meanwhile I got the idea from Habitual's blog on the command line, and when I do refer users who are looking for command line information, I try to refer them to Habitual's blog, once I recheck that it's still there.
Sort of like your own sticky, but also other users may refer to it if they feel it is a great reference.
@cynwulf: What's a good starter distro that's "not" Debian?
Distribution: Currently: OpenMandriva. Previously: openSUSE, PCLinuxOS, CentOS, among others over the years.
Posts: 3,881
Rep:
While I can understand cynwulf's and hydrurga's concerns (and I think to at least some extent are valid), I disagree that it means members can't still give their own advice. That's based on their own experiences with Linux (or related), and even still suggest what they might think could be a good fit for the OP to consider for a distro.
I've had suggestions from other members about Linux and even BSD distro's (and asked some time ago myself for distro suggestions), I still considered my own requirements in any case.
I was talking with another member privately about how I'm thinking and looking at learning Kali for it's intended purposes and they suggested that I forget Kali and use openBSD instead. Well, with all respect to that member, I already have Linux knowledge under my belt, therefore while I won't rule out looking into openBSD one day, I will be going with my initial thoughts and learning Kali first, ahead of openBSD and extending my Linux knowledge even further.
I should also be honest in saying that if it were not for the Kali sticky, I may never have even considered trying to learn Kali - and more likely than not, would not have.
I think the other point is that (as mentioned), some distro's eg. Slackware, Arch, Kali, etc are just not suitable for someone who is completely new to Linux and does not have much (if any) experience with Linux. I think the other point is that members already do suggest distro's that they think are better suited to the "newbie".
I just think that looking at it like it's a "competition" between distro's is just plain wrong. There is a certain list of distro's that are best suited to the "newbie" and a certain list that is not. We are all (or at least most of us) are here to try and help, particularly people new to Linux.
At the end of the day, I don't usually ask much (if any) technical questions myself these days for at least a few reasons, being a) I prefer to try and solve my own technical issues and b) While I'm not bragging or whatever else, I think I know enough by now to be able to at least be able to troubleshoot my own issues and hopefully solve them - and usually I do, weather that takes me hours, days, or even weeks depending on the issue(s).
I also think that the argument that because everyone may not read it, it should not be there is just flawed. An example, I don't drive down every street; does that mean the government should start ripping up the ones I don't use? Well... what about those that would benefit from having those streets there that I don't use? Hardly fair on them, is it? You can see my point.
I'm still working on a rough draft, I'm hoping to stay away from actually recommending the "Top Five", etc. On that note: does anybody know of a Linux distro site(other than distro watch) that has a regularly updated beginners section?
Edit: maybe the popular section here: http://www.lqiso.org/ ?
In the Linux world, you figure things out, tweak things, break things, but you learn from it. So instead of hard-coding the "Use This Distro" approach, I'm thinking about taking the "get your hands dirty" route.
Distribution: Currently: OpenMandriva. Previously: openSUSE, PCLinuxOS, CentOS, among others over the years.
Posts: 3,881
Rep:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mill J
Thanks for the feed-back guys.
I'm still working on a rough draft, I'm hoping to stay away from actually recommending the "Top Five", etc. On that note: does anybody know of a Linux distro site(other than distro watch) that has a regularly updated beginners section?
Edit: maybe the popular section here: http://www.lqiso.org/ ?
In the Linux world, you figure things out, tweak things, break things, but you learn from it. So instead of hard-coding the "Use This Distro" approach, I'm thinking about taking the "get your hands dirty" route.
That "LQISO" link does list some that would not really be suitable for the "newbie". My suggestion would be to list the "newbie" distro's that you know would be suitable for the "newbie" - nothing wrong with using distrowatch as a guide (try not to just copy and paste word for word though.
Another suggestion I have would be to, have something (maybe down the bottom of it, for example) that says something like "Above all else, you need to consider the purposes you are using Linux for", or something similar/to that effect. But use your own words, not just copy mine. Also something like/followed by "there maybe several different distro's that would be suitable for the newcomer to Linux", ie. Ubuntu, Linux Mint, PCLinuxOS, openSUSE, Fedora, etc.
I would try and avoid "singling out" any suitable choices for the "newbie" and indeed maybe something like, "if you are an experienced Linux/UNIX user, "Slackware, Gentoo, LFS, etc" maybe suitable for you - if that makes sense.
Once again, try to avoid making it a "competition" between distro's - if that once again makes sense.
LinuxQuestions.org is looking for people interested in writing
Editorials, Articles, Reviews, and more. If you'd like to contribute
content, let us know.