LinuxQuestions.org
Share your knowledge at the LQ Wiki.
Go Back   LinuxQuestions.org > Forums > LinuxQuestions.org > LQ Suggestions & Feedback
User Name
Password
LQ Suggestions & Feedback Do 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


Reply
  Search this Thread
Old 01-15-2018, 11:40 AM   #1
Mill J
Senior Member
 
Registered: Feb 2017
Location: @127.0.0.1
Distribution: Mint, Void, MX, Haiku, PMOS, Plasma Mobile, and many others
Posts: 1,258
Blog Entries: 2

Rep: Reputation: 542Reputation: 542Reputation: 542Reputation: 542Reputation: 542Reputation: 542
Red face 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?

Thanks
 
Old 01-15-2018, 12:26 PM   #2
rtmistler
Moderator
 
Registered: Mar 2011
Location: USA
Distribution: MINT Debian, Angstrom, SUSE, Ubuntu, Debian
Posts: 9,876
Blog Entries: 13

Rep: Reputation: 4930Reputation: 4930Reputation: 4930Reputation: 4930Reputation: 4930Reputation: 4930Reputation: 4930Reputation: 4930Reputation: 4930Reputation: 4930Reputation: 4930
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.
 
1 members found this post helpful.
Old 01-15-2018, 01:00 PM   #3
Mill J
Senior Member
 
Registered: Feb 2017
Location: @127.0.0.1
Distribution: Mint, Void, MX, Haiku, PMOS, Plasma Mobile, and many others
Posts: 1,258

Original Poster
Blog Entries: 2

Rep: Reputation: 542Reputation: 542Reputation: 542Reputation: 542Reputation: 542Reputation: 542
Quote:
Originally Posted by rtmistler View Post
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.
 
Old 01-15-2018, 01:01 PM   #4
BW-userx
LQ Guru
 
Registered: Sep 2013
Location: Somewhere in my head.
Distribution: Slackware (15 current), Slack15, Ubuntu studio, MX Linux, FreeBSD 13.1, WIn10
Posts: 10,342

Rep: Reputation: 2242Reputation: 2242Reputation: 2242Reputation: 2242Reputation: 2242Reputation: 2242Reputation: 2242Reputation: 2242Reputation: 2242Reputation: 2242Reputation: 2242
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.

Last edited by BW-userx; 01-15-2018 at 01:03 PM.
 
1 members found this post helpful.
Old 01-15-2018, 01:13 PM   #5
fatmac
LQ Guru
 
Registered: Sep 2011
Location: Upper Hale, Surrey/Hants Border, UK
Distribution: Mainly Devuan with some Tiny Core, Fatdog, Haiku, & BSD thrown in.
Posts: 5,442

Rep: Reputation: Disabled
An interesting thought.

If you do go ahead, I would stress 'live' distros as a first choice.

Let the person see for themselves what they might like, & only then install it.
 
Old 01-15-2018, 01:15 PM   #6
rtmistler
Moderator
 
Registered: Mar 2011
Location: USA
Distribution: MINT Debian, Angstrom, SUSE, Ubuntu, Debian
Posts: 9,876
Blog Entries: 13

Rep: Reputation: 4930Reputation: 4930Reputation: 4930Reputation: 4930Reputation: 4930Reputation: 4930Reputation: 4930Reputation: 4930Reputation: 4930Reputation: 4930Reputation: 4930
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mill J View Post
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.
 
1 members found this post helpful.
Old 01-15-2018, 01:39 PM   #7
273
LQ Addict
 
Registered: Dec 2011
Location: UK
Distribution: Debian Sid AMD64, Raspbian Wheezy, various VMs
Posts: 7,680

Rep: Reputation: 2373Reputation: 2373Reputation: 2373Reputation: 2373Reputation: 2373Reputation: 2373Reputation: 2373Reputation: 2373Reputation: 2373Reputation: 2373Reputation: 2373
Quote:
Originally Posted by BW-userx View Post
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.

*for example: Ubuntu, Fedora, Slackware, SuSe.
 
Old 01-15-2018, 03:27 PM   #8
BW-userx
LQ Guru
 
Registered: Sep 2013
Location: Somewhere in my head.
Distribution: Slackware (15 current), Slack15, Ubuntu studio, MX Linux, FreeBSD 13.1, WIn10
Posts: 10,342

Rep: Reputation: 2242Reputation: 2242Reputation: 2242Reputation: 2242Reputation: 2242Reputation: 2242Reputation: 2242Reputation: 2242Reputation: 2242Reputation: 2242Reputation: 2242
Quote:
Originally Posted by 273 View Post
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.

*for example: Ubuntu, Fedora, Slackware, SuSe.
SuSe has a interesting History
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/stor...2/9p32mwbh6cns
 
Old 01-15-2018, 03:48 PM   #9
jsbjsb001
Senior Member
 
Registered: Mar 2009
Location: Earth, unfortunately...
Distribution: Currently: OpenMandriva. Previously: openSUSE, PCLinuxOS, CentOS, among others over the years.
Posts: 3,881

Rep: Reputation: 2063Reputation: 2063Reputation: 2063Reputation: 2063Reputation: 2063Reputation: 2063Reputation: 2063Reputation: 2063Reputation: 2063Reputation: 2063Reputation: 2063
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:
 
Old 01-16-2018, 06:39 AM   #10
cynwulf
Senior Member
 
Registered: Apr 2005
Posts: 2,727

Rep: Reputation: 2367Reputation: 2367Reputation: 2367Reputation: 2367Reputation: 2367Reputation: 2367Reputation: 2367Reputation: 2367Reputation: 2367Reputation: 2367Reputation: 2367
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).
 
1 members found this post helpful.
Old 01-16-2018, 06:58 AM   #11
hydrurga
LQ Guru
 
Registered: Nov 2008
Location: Pictland
Distribution: Linux Mint 21 MATE
Posts: 8,048
Blog Entries: 5

Rep: Reputation: 2925Reputation: 2925Reputation: 2925Reputation: 2925Reputation: 2925Reputation: 2925Reputation: 2925Reputation: 2925Reputation: 2925Reputation: 2925Reputation: 2925
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.
 
Old 01-16-2018, 07:08 AM   #12
rtmistler
Moderator
 
Registered: Mar 2011
Location: USA
Distribution: MINT Debian, Angstrom, SUSE, Ubuntu, Debian
Posts: 9,876
Blog Entries: 13

Rep: Reputation: 4930Reputation: 4930Reputation: 4930Reputation: 4930Reputation: 4930Reputation: 4930Reputation: 4930Reputation: 4930Reputation: 4930Reputation: 4930Reputation: 4930
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?
 
1 members found this post helpful.
Old 01-16-2018, 07:34 AM   #13
jsbjsb001
Senior Member
 
Registered: Mar 2009
Location: Earth, unfortunately...
Distribution: Currently: OpenMandriva. Previously: openSUSE, PCLinuxOS, CentOS, among others over the years.
Posts: 3,881

Rep: Reputation: 2063Reputation: 2063Reputation: 2063Reputation: 2063Reputation: 2063Reputation: 2063Reputation: 2063Reputation: 2063Reputation: 2063Reputation: 2063Reputation: 2063
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.
 
Old 01-16-2018, 08:06 AM   #14
Mill J
Senior Member
 
Registered: Feb 2017
Location: @127.0.0.1
Distribution: Mint, Void, MX, Haiku, PMOS, Plasma Mobile, and many others
Posts: 1,258

Original Poster
Blog Entries: 2

Rep: Reputation: 542Reputation: 542Reputation: 542Reputation: 542Reputation: 542Reputation: 542
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.

Last edited by Mill J; 01-16-2018 at 08:46 AM.
 
Old 01-16-2018, 09:19 AM   #15
jsbjsb001
Senior Member
 
Registered: Mar 2009
Location: Earth, unfortunately...
Distribution: Currently: OpenMandriva. Previously: openSUSE, PCLinuxOS, CentOS, among others over the years.
Posts: 3,881

Rep: Reputation: 2063Reputation: 2063Reputation: 2063Reputation: 2063Reputation: 2063Reputation: 2063Reputation: 2063Reputation: 2063Reputation: 2063Reputation: 2063Reputation: 2063
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mill J View Post
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.
 
  


Reply


Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off



Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Linux to Windows XP sticky on Newbie sub-forum redd9 LQ Suggestions & Feedback 12 04-19-2014 04:54 AM
How about a sticky for how to mark solved ....in each forum? aus9 LQ Suggestions & Feedback 6 08-06-2012 09:29 PM
Different sticky thread needed in Newbie forum H_TeXMeX_H LQ Suggestions & Feedback 10 09-22-2010 10:32 AM
picking a distro for a newbie Nathan1993 Linux - Newbie 10 09-19-2005 07:50 PM
Why not have a Distro of choice sticky in the newbie forum? BajaNick LQ Suggestions & Feedback 7 01-27-2005 01:39 AM

LinuxQuestions.org > Forums > LinuxQuestions.org > LQ Suggestions & Feedback

All times are GMT -5. The time now is 11:02 AM.

Main Menu
Advertisement
My LQ
Write for LQ
LinuxQuestions.org is looking for people interested in writing Editorials, Articles, Reviews, and more. If you'd like to contribute content, let us know.
Main Menu
Syndicate
RSS1  Latest Threads
RSS1  LQ News
Twitter: @linuxquestions
Open Source Consulting | Domain Registration