Pre-configured Artix linux with dinit, plasma, refind, and some gui installer, really fast and i think its reliable enough
this post was submitted on 05 Nov 2025
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fedora cinnamon. it doesn't have the issues with suspending that ubuntu and it's derivatives have, and it's easy to use and stable after the initial setup
devuan. i don't have much experience outside that and slackware, and devuan is mostly better for non techies.
I avoid to.
The last time I did a fresh re-install of Windows for my mom (7 I think, years ago anyway), she came home all happy with a CD containing ”1500 games! Great value!”. I gave up at that point, after that my brothers have dealt with it.
Otherwise, when people want a recommendation (especially at work), I just say plain Ubuntu. Almost everything just works, the UI is simple enough to learn and there’s lots of help to be found online.
Mint or Pardus. Mint's interface is very familiar to someone who has used Windows, and most people doesn't find it much different while using it.
Pardus is a country specific choice because some people really need Turkish support to its full extent. Pardus offers direct support lines and host a dedicated forum where people can troubleshoot their issues using Turkish.
Guix.
My Dad wanted to switch to Linux because he always liked watching me use whatever distro I was on my machines at the time. So I started him out with Fedora and he didn't really like it. he likes to tinker. He started out on DOS and the Commodore 64 back in the 80s. So I showed him my current setup on my main machine with NixOS. he liked it but I think the whole flake and configuration.nix went over his head. He liked how it worked, just really didn't want to deal with all that. So I found a compromise for him. Guix.
He friggin loves it. Yes it's slow, too slow for me, but he adores it. he has a system configuration setup but also different user profiles for himself and my mom. He loves that all he has to do is "guix install whatever" and that's it. It's not like he's gaming or doing any dev work so for what he and my mom needs it's perfect.
all that being said I would NOT recommend you start off new users to Guix. as I previously said, it's slow, but it's god damn simple.
How do you handle the closed source applications installations for your dad without friction?
I installed Fedore Kinoite on my mom's laptop. I would always install Fedora on someone elses computer because it's what I use myself and have the most experience with it.
they get kubuntu or fedora with ~3 months of support from me. it can sometimes take 6 months if the person doesnt really use their computer often, tho.
Fedora
I was really successful with Debian stable. Zero maintenance fuss.
I’d use Nixos, with flatpak for user packages
ZorinOS for closest match to Windows, for my gf who did not care for the OS as long as it didn't change much of her day to day habits. I now use it myself, and despite a few minor issues and people pointing out that it's quite out of date software, i'm very happy with it, even for audio/visual/gaming stuff that could be tricky.
Popos is easy to config and easy to install software on so I would go with that.
Planning to install OpenSuse Aeon for my dad. He recently got a new laptop and is willing to give Linux a try on the old one. We’ll see how it goes and which laptop he’ll use more. His requirements are pretty low, he basically needs a browser most of the time, maybe some Office suite and sometimes FreeCad. I told my whole family I refuse to support Windows on their PCs.