Which to instal

chili

chili

chili

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Having just watched a youtube vid on linux mint 19 i now want to try linux out on a virtual machine for now. What is considered the most noob friendly to instal and learn to use?
Also whats with all the names is unbutu the same as mint linux etc. Sorry if these questions appear to be stupid feel free to think of me as just that :)
 
Ubuntu is the name of the Linux distribution made by a company called Canonical. It is one of the widest used distros. It is a very good distro. But the 'window manager' (which is the graphical part you see, in the same way you see windows in Windows 10) is a little different to what most users are used to.

Linux Mint is based on Ubuntu but supported by a much smaller team. Because Linux is open source anyone can take an existing distro and change it. In the case of Linux Mint a small team have taken Ubuntu and replaced some parts of it to try and make it a bit more user friendly to people who are used to Microsoft Windows. Mint is the distro I usually recommend to first time users because:

1) It looks like Windows.
2) It is based on Ubuntu and most tutorials and commands that work in Ubuntu will also work in Mint. Ubuntu is so popular that it is one of the distros where it is easy to search for 'how to' articles.

There are several flavours of Mint; Mint Cinnamon and Mint Mate. The two look very similar but Cinnamon is designed for slightly newer hardware and looks very slightly prettier. Mate is designed to run on lower spec machines and still looks great but not quite as pretty as Cinnamon.

Either Mint Cinnamon or Mint Mate will be fine for a first time user. I use Mint Cinnamon on my laptop. Because this will be in a virtual machine I would recommend using Mint Mate as it will be running with fewer resources.

Extra info...
1) Mint Mate is actually pronounced 'Mah Tay'.
2) Just like Mint is based on Ubuntu, Ubuntu itself is based on a distribution called Debian which is again maintained by a small team.
3) Although Linux can be made to look like Windows, don't assume it always works the same way. There will be times when you get stuck or confused. Just Google for an answer or ask soneone (such as here).
4) Welcome to Linux :)
 
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I recently tried the latest versions of both Ubuntu and Mint running as VMs on VirtualBox.

They both ran like complete dogs which I sure isn't representative of them running on bare metal.

Earlier versions used to run very well so something has changed. When I was looking for an answer I just found other people with the same problems.
 
Running Linux (Debian) in a VM on my server (hyper-v) because I wanted a pihole adblocking on my whole network. It now does several other things as well. I used the VM as I wanted to experiment with it first then move my whole server over to Linux when I update the hardware in the near future.

If you want the full rich GUI experience then make sure you assign it two CPU cores and at least 4gb of ram, especially for things like Ubuntu or mint as they need the extra head space.
I run l my server headless and use SSH to connect and do everything via command line (once you get use to it it's second nature) although I do have a Windows manager installed it hardly ever gets used (via RDP).
 
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BigBoy said:
Running Linux (Debian) in a VM on my server (hyper-v) because I wanted a pihole adblocking on my whole network. It now does several other things as well. I used the VM as I wanted to experiment with it first then move my whole server over to Linux when I update the hardware in the near future.

If you want the full rich GUI experience then make sure you assign it two CPU cores and at least 4gb of ram, especially for things like Ubuntu or mint as they need the extra head space.
I run l my server headless and use SSH to connect and do everything via command line (once you get use to it it's second nature) although I do have a Windows manager installed it hardly ever gets used (via RDP).
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am sure this will make sense one day but for now this may aswell be in madarin chinese :)
 
I always used Mint until a year or so ago when I switched to DeepinOS which is not only pretty but completely solid too. However, I now use Pop!_os and its awesome!
 
chili said:
am sure this will make sense one day but for now this may aswell be in madarin chinese :)
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The main points of what he's saying are:

1) When you install Linux into a virtual machine you should assign it at least two CPU cores and at least 4gb of RAM. Assuming that you will be using Virtualbox then you do this with the settings for the guest, under the system tab.

2) He runs a Linux server without a GUI (the user interface). This is called a 'headless' server because it has a 'body' (the actual operating system) but no 'head' (the user interface). It means there is no graphical interface so no windows. But because everything is done via the command line (a little like DOS or the command prompt on Windows) everything is much faster and takes less RAM and CPU. He will be connecting to this machine remotely using something called SSH, which allows you to remotely open a command prompt to the remote server from your other machine. This is actually not relevant to what you are trying to do, because you will be installing a normal distro with a graphical interface. So don't worry about this.

wiiija said:
I always used Mint until a year or so ago when I switched to DeepinOS which is not only pretty but completely solid too. However, I now use Pop!_os and its awesome!
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I think Pop!_OS is a great version of Linux. But it's based on the Gnome Shell interface so a little different for a completely new person coming from Windows. It is based on Ubuntu though so many of the Ubuntu tutorials will work on it. I realise you know it but I'm simply adding this explanation for chili.
 
cheers for all the replies
I now have mint 19 installed on an external drive via virtualbox, its seems a little un-nerving at first like learning to walk over cinders without getting burned. Now to figure out drivers and everything else.

thanks
 
biron_w said:
I'd also recommend trying out Manjaro. It's based on Arch but is essentially Arch for Linux newbies. I now prefer it to LinuxMint.
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So i gather there are loads of different versions of linux out there, this sounds like a steep learning curve
 
chili said:
cheers for all the replies
I now have mint 19 installed on an external drive via virtualbox, its seems a little un-nerving at first like learning to walk over cinders without getting burned. Now to figure out drivers and everything else.

thanks
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The best way to learn is to use it and break things, don't be afraid of it, especially as you're running it in a VM, you can even take a snapshot of the VM to revert to if you break it instead of having to reinstall.

chili said:
So i gather there are loads of different versions of linux out there, this sounds like a steep learning curve
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There are but most of them are forks (when how someone is doing something but you want to diverge slightly) of the "major" distros: https://distrowatch.com/dwres.php?resource=family-tree

I wouldn't worry about all the different options, but the one you've chosen (Mint) is a derivative of debian.
 
Hades said:
I think Pop!_OS is a great version of Linux. But it's based on the Gnome Shell interface so a little different for a completely new person coming from Windows. It is based on Ubuntu though so many of the Ubuntu tutorials will work on it. I realise you know it but I'm simply adding this explanation for chili.
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I've actually just switched, I've always hated KDE and I still strongly believe gnome is a better looking de, KDE is just a lot of fancy animations and I still think this, BUT, I've recently installed KDE Neon and its so smooth and fast on my rubbish AMD A6 cpu, very impressed.
 
For services I run Ubuntu server in VMs, then recently moved to Docker on top of that to consolidate VMs. Although I'm trying out Docker on Debian and it seems to be a like for like experience, so I may move everything to Debian. My laptop runs Debian also, wasn't the smoothest installation down to UEFI compatibility/graphics corruption during the installation process (HP Elitebook 840 G2) but there are workarounds and now it's installed it's ticking over nicely.

I'm not a fan of running UIs in VMs, always found it gives a sub-par experience overall. Shell based is fine, but to get the full experience I'd recommend a dual boot or dedicated install. Well worth a second drive.
 
wiiija said:
I've actually just switched, I've always hated KDE and I still strongly believe gnome is a better looking de, KDE is just a lot of fancy animations and I still think this, BUT, I've recently installed KDE Neon and its so smooth and fast on my rubbish AMD A6 cpu, very impressed.
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I am the ssme.assme. Always hated KDE/Plasma but tried Kubuntu recently and it runs so well that I now use it.
 
Try a live version of a few distros, Basically it loads and runs native from your hardware from a usb stick, Most have the option to install if you like a particular one.

Personally I'd say try Antergos to throw another in the works :p

Oh and once the linux bug gets you...... :D
 
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