Ubuntu’s popularity often makes it the default choice for new Linux users. But there are tons of other Linux operating systems that deserve your attention. As such, I’ve highlighted some Ubuntu alternatives so you can choose based on your needs and requirements—because conformity is boring.

            • prettybunnys@sh.itjust.works
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              0
              ·
              1 year ago

              I really feel like you’re missing the idea of that sentence deliberately.

              What Linux distribution came before Ubuntu that was specifically designed to be user friendly for a non-technical user?

              • Arthur Besse@lemmy.mlM
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                1
                ·
                edit-2
                1 year ago

                What Linux distribution came before Ubuntu that was specifically designed to be user friendly for a non-technical user?

                There were a bunch of distros advertising ease of use; several were even sold in physical boxes (which was the style at the time) and marketed to consumers at retail stores like BestBuy years before Ubuntu started.

                Here are four pictures of the physical packaging for three of those pre-ubuntu desktop distros designed to be user friendly and marketed to the general public:

                Photo of the cardboard packaging for Caldera OpenLinux Another Caldera box Packaging of SuSE 8.1 Mandrake 7.2 packaging

                Ubuntu was better than what came before it in many ways, and it deserves credit for advancing desktop Linux adoption both then and now, but it was not “one of the first” by any stretch.

  • BaumGeist@lemmy.ml
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    1 year ago

    Y’all seriously overestimate thr average user:

    Debian. It’s simple, stable, minimal upkeep, rarely if ever has breaking changes, and all this out of the box.

    Someone new doesn’t need to be thrown in the deep end for their first foray into linux, they want an experience like windows or mac: simple interface, stable system, some potential for getting their hands dirty but not too much to worry about breaking

    • bionicjoey@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      1 year ago

      Debian is in many ways the “deep end”. A big part of its development philosophy is prioritizing their weirdly rigid definition of Free Software and making it hard to install anything that doesn’t fit that. I’m not saying it’s not a good distro, but IDK if it’s beginner friendly.

      • ulterno@lemmy.kde.social
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        0
        ·
        1 year ago

        Debian is in many ways the “deep end”.

        The first time I tried Debian was when I was new to Linux, on a laptop with both the Ethernet and Wi-Fi unsupported. On top of which, it had an nVidia GPU. It was hard.

        Now I know much more about Linux and checked the Motherboard for Linux support before buying it. Debian works pretty well.

        So, it’s beginner friendly as long as someone helps you out with the installation after checking up on all the stuff you will need to run.

        • bionicjoey@lemmy.ca
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          0
          ·
          1 year ago

          So, it’s beginner friendly as long as someone helps you out with the installation after checking up on all the stuff you will need to run.

          In other words, it’s not beginner-friendly