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Which Linux distro for beginners (with requirements)
(programming.dev)
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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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I've got a lot of experience in that domain, since I've upgraded/installed by helping 7-8 friends & family to switch to linux in the last year here in Greece.
So the two most important things here is the speed of the CPU, and the amount of RAM. With 4 GB RAM on both laptops, means you need to aim for XFCe or Cinnamon, not gnome/kde, and not generally heavy distros like ubuntu/fedora. Also, you need to instruct them to not open a gazillion browser tabs, they will hit the swap (and eventually crashes) with 4 GB of ram.
The Acer laptop scores only 600 points on the Passmark CPU test, which means that it's only good for XFCE. So I'd suggest the Linux Mint XFCE edition.
The HP laptop has 1400 points, which are plenty to run Cinnamon (the default Linux Mint edition). For comparison, most new laptops sold today have over 12,000 cpu points, some go to 30,000.
Mint is the easiest to update, and install new software, and it will provide a familiar look to the user. I highly suggest though a few changes done by you before you give them back their laptops (if you're the one making the installation):
[Cinnamon HP laptop]
[XFce Acer laptop]
[for both laptops]
For YT I'd recommend enhanced-h264ify for best performance. Also FF with real ublock but that's personal preference. In my experience on low end YT is slow no matter the browser.
Yep, I run these, especially since I have a couple of raspberry pis, that you can't do without these.