Mint is a good option, yeah. Should feel familiar if you're coming from windows.

Note that coding experience isn't really relevant. Only the most advanced users ever really need to write code for their system. 99% of linux users, including the experienced and power users, don't have to regularly code, per se. Note that I'm referring to actually writing programs, not terminal use. Using a terminal isn't coding but that may be what you were thinking of, it's similar but imo not the same. If you wanna do more advances stuff, you'll definitely want to learn the terminal, but for most stuff you'll get by just fine with GUIs like you're probably used to. Mint is particularly good at keeping stuff to GUIs.

Something to note: coming from windows, you'll be used to getting programs by finding downloads on the internet. On linux, that's generally best avoided - you should always look on your distro's package manager first. On mint is believe it's called something like "software center" or "software manager," can't remember off the top of my head but it will be preinstalled for you.

I think the Ubuntu haters are overly enthusiastic. It's perfectly fine. Actually pretty good.

Mint is extremely popular as a recommendation for good reasons as well.

Both have excellent support communities, which is important. Linux in general has become a lot more "plug and play" in recent years, meaning that it will do more of what you want right out of the box. In all likelihood, you will want to do something with it that requires help, so having a robust community makes a big difference.

Linux Mint is a solid place to start I'd say.

Ubuntu/Canonical has..issues to say the least.

• A primary concern being the ever eternal cursed Snap packages.
• Second being the replacement of existing tools with Rust alternatives without the proper FOSS licenses, so Ubuntu becomes less reciprocal over time and more proprietary over time.

anyways, choosing Linux Mint is a great place to start🤗👍 and I say this as someone that's tried:

• Ubuntu Server
• Raspberry Pi OS
• Linux Mint
• Arch Linux
• NixOS
• Kali Linux

Pop! OS is also a good beginner distro.

First and foremost, you don't have to stay on the distro you start with. You can try a few, spend a week running it, and then reinstall with something else. Distro hopping is the process if changing distro frequently and is in my opinion a very useful start for learning Linux.

Second, Ubuntu is a perfectly fine distro. I don't like or use it, but I also don't really like chocolate but love licorice, it really is a matter of preference. If you never try it you will never know if it is good for you.

I think the best path would be to either use virtual machines on your main system or try a few distros out on your Windows 8 machine. I would recommend trying a few of the most popular distros including Ubuntu, Mint, Fedora, EndeavourOS, elementary, and maybe Pop!OS. That should cover most of the different desktop environments, packaging systems, and overall design methodologies and give you a really rounded sense of what is out there. It should also give you opportunities to have things break a little and for you to try to solve those problems. I find that different distros present failures a little differently and their solutions also work differently, so finding one that works well for you is key.

I personally ended up switching from a vanilla Arch install to EndeavourOS a year or two ago because it had great sane defaults, good packaging, and fantastic performance. The clarity of the logs was better in my mind than what was available in Ubuntu based distros and while I love Arch it was a bit too demanding of my time to figure out each and every choice of package. EndeavourOS gave me good solid defaults and reduced my work load.

Just remember, your choice of distro is like your choice of underwear. You have to wear it, make it comfortable for you and your junk, not for someone else's.

My 80+ year old mom has been using Debian for over 2 decades now. She is very much not a coder. Just pick whatever distro and try it out, as others have said.

Mint is good. It might be worth trying a few different desktop environments to see what you like - you can probably run all of the major ones from a LiveBoot device.

BUT, and this is VERY important, ypu do not need to do any programming or coding on a Linux desktop. Ever.

If you're not a programmer then you are never forced to peel that onion. You can do EVERYTHING from a GUI if you want.

You'll lose the ability to run some games and software, but between alternatives and emulation, that list is getting smaller.

I run immutable Fedora distros (Bluefin, Bazzite) and they are the most stable distros I've ever used. Immutable distros restrict writing to sensitive parts of the OS so you're less likely to break things. You'll mostly install Flatpaks which looks pretty similar to using the Windows app store.

I've seen some people say that immutable distros aren't good for beginners. I'm really not sure why. My best guess is because they're not the norm and you might run into support issues if things do go wrong.

If all of that sounds too scary then Linux Mint is a good choice. Never used PopOS myself but I hear that's a good starter OS too.

I got the chance to install Mint recently for a couple of people who were totally new to Linux. It went pretty smoothly, seems to work for them so far.

Pop os

I would say Ubuntu, Mint or Debian. They have a lot of documentation online and years worth of forum posts and stack overflow threads answering various questions a user might have.

If you have a seperate computer or hard drive to install on, you can go wild trying out anything you like. In my case, I had one laptop so I needed something stable with good hardware detection and online resources.

(For context, I've tried Mandrake Linux, SUSE, Gentoo, Slitaz and a few others. I keep going back to Ubuntu / Debian.)

Yes. I main Mint in my laptop, and it's been my go-to for general purpose use (gaming included) for the past 10-15 years. On servers I prefer other distros, but Mint has consistently been the one that works best out of the box in a laptop desktop environment.

How did you use Windows without understanding coding? lol

I have several older laptops that would not perform well on windows 11 running Linux mint, Debian, Ubuntu with no problem. If you stick with distributions that let you try the os from a bootable usb first, this should increase your comfort level and help you feel better about your decision.

One note, depending on your laptop BIOS, you may have trouble booting a live USB. I experienced this with Ubuntu and Pop-os, but the issue is solved by creating the bootable USB with a GPT partition instead of the default MBR. The only reliable way I have found to do this is using Rufus on Windows, so keep in mind you may need a Windows machine around for this purpose.

Good luck and have fun!

Try installing mint! Make sure you've cleared everything you want from the hard-drive before you start (and decide now if you're going to dual-boot. If so, clear up space so you can do the partitioning you want before you start the process.)

I'll go against the grain here and suggest Kubuntu. It's an official variant of Ubuntu which swaps out the GNOME desktop environment for KDE Plasma. KDE feels much more Windows-like than GNOME, so it's a great migration option for Windows users.

KDE also really focuses on creating a cohesive desktop environment, much more than other DEs. There are over 200 applications built specifically for KDE (https://apps.kde.org/) which try to maintain a common look and feel. You can of course run any Linux application on KDE, but there's something quite nice about having applications built specifically with the DE in mind.

I would recommend Mint over Ubuntu because of compatibility reasons.

I responded this on an alt account:

The most important decision as a new Linux user is the desktop environment, the most similar desktop environment to the Windows desktop are KDE Plasma and Cinnamon. This means your best options are:

• Linux Mint (Cinnamon): They are the creators of the Cinnamon desktop environment and will be the default on installation.
• Kubuntu (KDE Plasma): This is Ubuntu's official KDE Plasma flavour, it comes with everything as usual just different desktop.
• Fedora (KDE Edition): Same story as Ubuntu here, only that with Fedora's own packages and environment.

First I would check if the hardware is compatible (99% of the time is). Then I would check what software you need and/or want and check if it is available at these distros, and get familiar on how to install the software packages (either with their respective app stores or in the command line).

There is a lot to learn but with these distros you can just install, forget and simply keep using them for eternity.

The last and more important tip I have is to not to worry about the sea of options out there, you will not be missing anything huge by picking one or the other. Which is how most of new users feel (I did in my time).

Hope you have a great Linux journey mate!

Parroting the no need to code.

Follow the comments about trying a distro/type of Linux.

Something you may not know is what is called a live disc. You can run a type of Operating system without installing it. This lets you try it out without actually installing anything. However know that if you install a program to try out it will it safe when you reboot or shut down.

Please use this. NetBoot.xyz

It essentially lets you burn a cd that you boot from. This then lets you try out countless types of Linux before you install them. This way you don’t need to burn 20 discs or flash a new usb drive each time you want to try a different Linux.

I haven't once in fifteen years needed to do any coding whatsoever to use my Linux computers day-to-day.

What do you use the laptop for?

That's a huge factor.

depending on how complicated it is to swap out the hard disk, i'd swap out the windows drive and put in a new one (preferably an ssd, they make a big difference even in older computers) - this way you'll keep the option to put it back if you're really lost, you can back up stuff there
mint is a good place to start, no need for coding.
you do need to get adjusted a bit, the complaints about "how difficult it is to do things on linux" is often because people try doing stuff exactly like they did on windows, and sure, you can do exactly the same thing but you need to set up, sometimes compile tools for it - or you can search in the software manager or search on the web for "xy linux alternative"
for instance file sharing - yeah linux supports samba (the windows file sharing protocol), it works, but imo it kinda sucks (but tbf it sucked on windows too), so i started looking for alternatives and just allowing an ssh connection allows you to directly connect to machines with your username, and also allows sftp file transfers, and it works so much better

You won't run in to coding.

Having decision paralysis? Best to just pick an option and do it. Expect it to go wrong and be pleasantly surprised when it diesn't. Don't try to plan it all out. Doing is the best learning. Unsure about something? Press enter and see what happens. Start over if you have to.

Pick Mint. It's a good start. load it to a USB, reboot, find the boot menu, boot the USB, let the installer guide you. Have another device handy for internet searches if something confuses you. At this point, If for some reason you wanna try another distro, go ahead! Doesn't hurt to reinstall and try out.