"This is america, why are there more than two choices"
this post was submitted on 02 Jan 2026
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Same thing with Fediverse instances.
IMO the linux and/or fediverse community could learn a thing or two about UX from the establishment.
I believe the best approach is to take note of the Pareto Principle: 20% of instances / distros would meet the need of 80% of users.
I would simply recommend Ubuntu / lemmy.world to complete beginners (just based on market share). If they are interested in alternatives, they would naturally seek those out themselves.
This concept is nothing new e.g. Google presents their searchbar front and centre; power users would click on "Advance Search" for their needs.
I started mainlining Linux about a year and a half ago after playing with it for a bit in 2007-ish and running a headless server for a decade or so.
I just installed Ubuntu because that was what Framework officially supported. I can't think of what a newbie user would find lacking with Ubuntu. It does about everything that Windows does fine. I've heard similar things about Mint. Why do we have to over-complicate things for new users? Just shove them towards a distro and let them know they can probably fix whatever they don't like with a reinstall later.
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Having to learn and inform yourself of your options is truly among the most terrifying experiences of the modern person
The big advantage of Linux itβs fully customizable The big disadvantage of Linux, itβs fully customizable
Choose one at random from those with easy installation. Use it for a week. If you like it, stick with it. If it's frustrating as heck, try another distro. Your skills picked up from the first one will very likely transfer over. As you narrow down your experience with what's frustrating you, you can pinpoint what things you like and which you don't and settle on the perfect distro for you.
There is absolutely NO way to know that before you get your hands dirty and see what these options are and their quirks.
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Working pc with low effort? Just use Linux Mint. Is basically an Ubuntu without bloat and less strict on packages. Also cinnamon as desktop is both super windows-familiar and customizable with close to no need for the terminal.
Gaming pc fast and updated? Catchy OS with a KDE plasma desktop. So you can say to other "I use Arch (derivate) btw".
I wish Mint offered KDE out of the box so I could recommend it to people. Cinnamon just looks... I dunno, like the comic-sans of desktops to me.
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https://distrochooser.de/ & https://distrowatch.com/ are your friend.
And maybe a little later, when more familiar and skilled, maybe after having tried a handful of distros for a while, https://bedrocklinux.org/ (or even just https://distrobox.it/ ) means you don't have to choose just 1.
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For first-timers: pick at random and use it until it annoys you. Then you can make an informed decision second (third, fourth, ..., nth) time around