Hi!
I’m a long time Mac user, but I want to set up a laptop or mini desktop (something not too old but powerful enough for image editing, really just for photography workflow), and try a Linux distro with FOSS tools for this purpose. I’m done with Adobe.
I’d like to scale one day to having a NAS of some kind.
I’ve experimented with Ubuntu before but it felt a little noddy, I just didn’t like it. Any recommendations? I’d like something with a decent community that would tolerate my noob questions.
Many thanks.
Any general purpose distro, really. If you don’t like Ubuntu, maybe you’d like Mint or Fedora?
Linux Mint. It’s a great intro to Linux. When you’ve got your feet under you — which won’t take long coming from Mac — try Debian or another distro to find the perfect fit.
Second Linux Mint. I’ve tried a bunch of distros and DE for about a decade, and have always returned to Linux Mint. It’s intuitive, the installer is easy, and the OS just works.
I’ve heard about Mint and it seems to have a good rep. My tech lead at work recommends it. I’ll look into all of these.
Dummy question but, I assume the commands/syntax across Mac terminal and whatever the bash/shell equivalent are similar/same?
Fairly close. Basic operation will still be the same, there may be specific commands that don’t work, but in most places they’re called out
I don’t know anything about Mac, but hopefully someone else can provide a helpful response.
Seems pretty good, except for the lack of a good DE.
I like Cinnamon, but it’s not everyone’s cup of tea. It is a pretty stable distro, though, and the DEs available are good for learning Linux.
I’m currently very happy with Solus. Give it a try
Have a look at popOS or elementary, both were really low maintenance for me and offer great workflow tools.
I’ve had a look through system76’ site and pop looks interesting, def a contender. Their hardware is a tad pricy. I assume like most of this the hardware is something to research carefully if you choose a distro first, compatibility, drivers, support etc.
It’s a bit of an experiment for me so I won’t be dropping a grand on some HW.
Yeah, I’m using the distro on a thinkpad yoga.
Just use an old PC or laptop if you have one. If not install VirtualBox and give the different distros a try. It’ll run slower than if it was on actual hardware but it’ll let you try the OSes until you find something that you like.
What desktop environment were you running? I usually recommend GNOME to people who just want an OOB experience and KDE to people who want to invest into a more personal experience.
gnome is hell for people coming from windows though
That’s really only true of some users. Most people now are used to at least 2 OSs. GNOME acts a bit more like a mobile OS in my opinion, and KDE behaves more like a desktop OS. Ultimately if you’re moving to linux of your own volition, you’re usually going to be more tech friendly than anyone staying on windows.
To be honest, I personally disliked GNOME, but not because it didn’t match Windows. It just didn’t have the level of customization and accessibility that I expected from linux.
OP’s a long time Mac user. I don’t think he will have issues with gnome. Hell he might find it more familiar than kde
Yep, as a Mac user for 34 years, KDE is too Windows-like and Gnome felt pretty similar to Mac.
Oh, in that case, absolutely.
I hate Windows with an unbridled passion. I’m forced to use it lately for work and it absolutely sucks (Win 10 anyway).
I don’t actually know. It was Unity I think, whatever that is. Felt a bit, um, amateur and not very polished. Best way I can describe from what I remember.
I will be seriously researching every response here. Very grateful for the help.
Unity was abandoned for a few years by Ubuntu, so I’d assume it’s behind most other DEs in terms of development. Most of what users experience in a distribution is the DE, so using a bad one can ruin it.
Makes sense and stacks up against my experience of it as seeming unfinished.
Is it Gnome / KDE as standard or are there other environments available?
Those are the two most popular DEs. There’s also MATE, LXQT, Cinnamon, XFCE, and Pantheon, but I have no experience with those.
Additionally, some users opt to use window managers in lieu of a DE, so thats also an option.
