What Linux Distro Should You Choose?

This guide aims to help people who know nothing or very little about Linux choose what distro to start with. No matter what you choose, if you're doing complex tasks expect issues here and there. If you experience any issues, the best thing to do is ask someone you know who uses Linux. If you don't know anyone who uses Linux, feel free to ask me on Stoat or Bluesky, just start the DM with the question you have or the issue you're having, otherwise I will likely ignore you.

Linux Mint

Linux Mint is by far the most beginner-friendly distro out there. Plenty of guides exist for it, most things can be done without touching the terminal, and has excellent support for Nvidia GPUs. It's software isn't very up to date, but that's the trade-off for Mint's stability. Personally, I started using out using Linux on Ubuntu, but canonical has been shoving snap down our throats, so I have to recommend that you avoid it.

Fedora Linux

Fedora Linux is a bit less stable than Mint and has less guides, but its software is a lot more up-to-date. Fedora is excellent for tinkering, as it barely themes the desktop environments it ships, if it does at all. Red Hat Enterprise Linux is based on Fedora, meaning it has generally better security than Mint and EndeavourOS.

EndeavourOS

EndeavourOS is based on Arch, so it inherits the huge strength of the Arch User Repository, which allows anyone to package software. EndeavourOS is also the only rolling-release distro on this list, meaning its software is bleeding-edge (VERY up-to-date), at the cost of being a lot less stable. EndeavourOS is the most customizable distro on this list, but be ready to diagnose a lot of issues if you go past simple tasks.

A Quick Note on Desktop Environments

While it may be tempting to choose a distro for its default desktop environment, this should not be a factor in choosing. All of these distros offer alternative desktop environments, so no matter what you would prefer, the distro has it. If you're coming from Windows, I would recommend using the KDE Plasma desktop environment, and if you're coming from MacOS, I would recommend the GNOME desktop environment.