Would you recommend Debian to a brand new Linux user? Why/Why not?

[m4c-attack]

A hypothetical I thought about when browsing /r/Debian... and seeing every 'Should I use Debian or <insert other Distro here>?' question is answered w/ Debian resoundingly.

Where do you fall on the spectrum re: introducing newbies to Linux? Would Debian be your recommendation or something else?

[m4c-attack]

Personally, I'm a fan and had used Debian sparingly on both ChromeOS & WSL before transitioning to Debian as my daily driver last summer.

I haven't tried another distro (and don't plan on doing so), but the transition was stressful for me, and makes me second guess whether it's the right path for everyone.

When I separate 'what worked for me' from 'what has the least friction for the average user', nowadays, I'd probably nudge newbies towards something more opinionated & UI-focused like Linux Mint.

The two caveats are that my experience would've been smoother if I knew about this forum initially, or if troubleshooting Linux w/ large language models were as good last year as they are now.

[sunrat]

Agreed, I would probably point someone who had never used Linux to Mint. It has a lot more little GUI helper utilities to do tasks which which may require CLI in Debian. MX is another possible alternative although personally I'm not a huge fan of Xfce after using KDE for years, but many people love it. MX has a KDE version which may be the best MX choice.

I vaguely recall this same topic being discussed here in the past. Try a search.

[JohnWasRight]

For context, my first Linux was DSL, then MX, then Ubuntu. So I already knew a thing or two about Linux when I gave Debian a try. It might have been Wheezy, some ten years ago. I remember characteristically after installing that I wanted to do a sudo apt-get update and the terminal gave me a warning about not being in the sudoers file and "this will be reported". I remember laughing out loud, and uninstalling it the same way.

Today, I only use Debian; it's my daily driver on all my computers. I simply love the fact that it doesn't shove things down my throat. But yes, I wouldn't call it beginner-friendly. It's not as arcane as some other distros, but some support from a more knowledgeable person will be required at first. Nonetheless, it's also so incredibly stable that, once you set it up, I don't see how even a beginner will face much trouble.

Another thing to consider is the DE you're pairing it with. KDE, which I use, is very beginner-friendly. Something like LXQt or MATE, less so.

[wizard10000]

With Bullseye and earlier I wouldn't have recommended Debian to a noob unless they specifically asked for it and I provided a link to a non-free iso - now that non-free firmware is available in the default iso I don't hesitate to recommend Debian, but it's generally my second choice after Mint.

[Diesel330]

I went from Windows to Baster and I wasn't very happy with it, I tried Mint and Ubuntu because people said so to no avail. When Bullseye came out that was it for me, they included a very functional terminal that changed everything. Ever since noobs can use the terminal so I suggest Debian for starters. Debian is usually the distribution that people end up with after they get frustrated with other distributions but there is no harm to start with it and save yourself the hassle

[DebianFox]

For a newbie who does not know anything about Unix/Linux then I would recommend MX Linux or OpenSuse or Mint or Ubuntu first. Get their feet wet and then come back to Debian. It is a much more gentle path.

For others Debian hands down any day of the week and twice on a weekend.

[juribel]

Maybe Mint is more user friendly than Debian, but Mint is derived from Ubuntu is derived from Debian. Why not take the original?

Two things I would NOT recommend are 1. install Debian with the Standard Installer from the Standard ISO and 2. install the preferred Gnome. Instead, I recommend: Install Debian from the Live ISO with Xfce instead. The installer is easy to handle and Debian's Xfce is ready to use and easy to configure.

As far as I remember, sudo works OTB but for using su -, you will have to set a password for the root user first.

In Debian, I found it difficult to install the NVidia graphic driver and get it to work correctly. This is no beginner task. Ubuntu possibly had it on board, but I don't remember.

[lewulff]

Before making any recommendations,l I would want to ascertain the persons overall computer literacy, and their willingness to get their hands dirty (so to speak).

I have no problem recommending Debian to Windows Power Ninja Users, with the caveat that Linux is not Windows so don't expect it to behave like Windows. However these users are few and far between.

For the average computer user who just wants things to work with no muss no fuss. For them, LMDE or maybe MX.

I will not recommend any corporate dependent distributions like Fedora or Ubuntu, as I tend to have issues with their "my way or the highway" philosophy, which tends to run counter to my needs or desires (arhg... need to get off the soap box now).

[Augie77]

Maybe Mint is more user friendly than Debian, but Mint is derived from Ubuntu is derived from Debian. Why not take the original?

The lineage means zero, especially to a new user, and there are worlds of differences between Mint and Debian Bullseye. The help here is excellent, however, folks here do expect the users to 'self-serve' and RTFM. That is not a requirement of Mint, or even Zorin boards so those releases and supporting sites are far more friendlier to new users. New users want to get up and get running, not dig into books. With Debian, there is some digging.

I will break your statement down to how it appears to me. You are a knowledgeable and experienced user so you see the continuity, vague or otherwise between Debian and its various ilks. The user, a new person, probably from a Windows environment, has zero idea of that lineage, nor does he or she care.

When a new person to Linux asks which is the 'better Linux' for he or she to start with, the experienced user should put their vast knowledge aside and ask the person what his experience is and what his needs are. In most cases, it will be releases like Mint, Zorin, MX Linux or Ubuntu that are recommended. Unless the new user is from an IT background, or similar, or is an individual willing to dig into the books, Debian is not a first choice in my opinion.

[CwF]

https://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php ... 26#p791626

[Uptorn]

Brand new linux user

So we can assume that they have already expressed a desire to explore Linux, and have even taken some steps on their own? If not, I wouldn't recommend any Linux to them.

Having established their preexisting interest, I can move on to the main part of the question: Would I recommend Debian?

I would probably point them to a distribution that does more hand-holding, only so that they can see and experience Linux in which everything is configured as a neat, tightly integrated, grand vision that gets dictated down to them.

Debian avoids making decisions for the user. And this is not a problem, it is one of Debian's greatest strengths. It also means that the best Debian experience IMO is one in which the user takes on at least a minor role in configuring and administrating the system. I'd save any Debian recommendation for the ones who want a little bit more control over their computer than the average user.

[DebianFox]

Maybe Mint is more user friendly than Debian, but Mint is derived from Ubuntu is derived from Debian. Why not take the original?

Because for a newbie it is better to have a more gradual part. They would take to Linux faster if they saw that it is very similar in functionality to Windows and Mac OSX.

Two things I would NOT recommend are 1. install Debian with the Standard Installer from the Standard ISO and 2. install the preferred Gnome. Instead, I recommend: Install Debian from the Live ISO with Xfce instead. The installer is easy to handle and Debian's Xfce is ready to use and easy to configure.

Agree on the installer. Installing Debian from Live ISO is definitely better.
I would stay away from GNOME, MATE and its offshoots. Go with KDE or Cinamon. This is for a newbie. Once experience has been had and there is a willingness to dig deeper then go with xfce, LXQT, IceWM, etc.

In Debian, I found it difficult to install the NVidia graphic driver and get it to work correctly. This is no beginner task. Ubuntu possibly had it on board, but I don't remember.

NVidia is a well to be put it mildly bad. This forum and others is littered with cries of help from people who have NVidia GPU and it is not working. It is partly blamed on NVidia.

EDIT
@Augie77 is right ZorinOS is also good option especially if there is money that can be spent.

[DebianFox]

Maybe Mint is more user friendly than Debian, but Mint is derived from Ubuntu is derived from Debian. Why not take the original?

The lineage means zero, especially to a new user, and there are worlds of differences between Mint and Debian Bullseye. The help here is excellent, however, folks here do expect the users to 'self-serve' and RTFM. That is not a requirement of Mint, or even Zorin boards so those releases and supporting sites are far more friendlier to new users. New users want to get up and get running, not dig into books. With Debian, there is some digging.

You have hit the nail right on the head. The Lineage does not matter for an end user that much. Most if not all the new users of Linux just want to work on a laptop in their application, IDE, Spreadsheet, Reporting software, etc. They want to work on applications. They would not like to work on Debian or its offshoot. Think about it for a second. How many of us want our cars to just start at the turn of the ignition and take us somewhere? Not many of us are looking at compression ratio, preset shock absorbers, types of tyres, type of filter or type of oil. Ditto for majority of people working with Linux. They just want their computer to work.

[juribel]

To me, it was easy to recommend Debian because of my brother's experience. He is 75, lives in the Philippines, and 2 years ago his Macbook broke. He only knew MacOS, nothing else, for 35 years. A new Mac was far too expensive for him, and Windows not acceptable. So I helped him install Xubuntu (unfortunately Debian 12 wasn't out yet and I did not know about Calamares Installer and Live ISO), and he just works with it (mostly Firefox, LibreOffice and some command line scripts I wrote for his work). From my own experience with Debian 12 (I changed from Xubuntu when Debian 12 Live ISO was out), I could not find many differences.
Yes, one surely needs some assistance to re-establish one's workflow, but to me for example it would be same if I had to change to Apple for some reason. For me, MacOS is not at all easier to handle. And, having abandoned Windows 15 years ago, Win has become an absolute strange weird thing for me. (Please, I do not want to start a discussion about Win vs Mac vs Linux. I wrote this just for comparison because no matter which transition you make, there is always a lot of different ways of thinking and other new things to learn.)

[Garthhh]

I've used linux for a few years, as a simple user, CLI is my last resort, GUI's for me
My criteria: community, user friendly, stable, longer release cycle
I mostly used Mageia & the past few years on Manjaro
I've always had spare machine to distro test on, these days I use an USB3 sdd/hdd/nvme enclosure
One of my primary pieces of advice for a windows migrant, use a different sdd/hdd/nvme to transition, distrobox is a different skillset, wine too, spend time adapting to the programs available

I recommend Spiral Linux KDE, which is a nice user friendly Debian install of KDE with all the little stuff worked out. Spiral doesn't have their own repo & connects to Debian Bookworm [stable] repos,
Kind of like archinstall
If the dev Geckolinux keels over, we won't miss a beat
I'm happy to be on Debian stable, hits all the notes in a way nothing else does
Debian has everything, want newer packages use sid or flatpaks, if there is a linux app in the wild, there's a .deb available to install

[bw123]

debian has policies that make it different, and may make a difference to some, even new users.

https://www.debian.org/social_contract

[distro-nix]

Since this is hypothetical: we should consider what is the user's computer experience.
We have a more user friendly and intuitive graphical installer (sticking to the defaults), so, assuming the user has some grasp of the basic installation questions or has watched a recent Youtube tutorial, then Debian may be a good fit. Leaving the default Gnome desktop would make things easier.
Still, with anything there is some learning curve involved, but with a responsive and helpful forum and lots of reference documentation, could make it that much more enjoyable.

[microchip]

I'm currently on both Mageia 9 and Debian 12. From usability perspective for someone new to Linux, I will say Mageia (KDE version) is slightly better than Debian (KDE version too). I'm a seasoned Linux user so have no problem managing the two, both from CLI and GUI. But Mageia, as openSUSE too, has a graphical systems control center where you can set up core OS stuff with a few clicks. Mageia has the MCC center, while openSUSE uses YaST

[Fossy]

Mint was my school ship until Cannonical started to get on my nerves and drove me to LMDE.
I quickly came to the conclusion that I might as well go full-on Debian with Cinnamon as DE.
IMHO still the best of both worlds.
So far I haven't regretted it (I'm crossing my fingers).
My sources list :

Code: Select all

  GNU nano 7.2                                                                                   /etc/apt/sources.list                                                                                             
deb https://deb.debian.org/debian/ bookworm main contrib non-free non-free-firmware
deb https://deb.debian.org/debian/ bookworm-updates main contrib non-free non-free-firmware
deb https://security.debian.org/debian-security/ bookworm-security main contrib non-free non-free-firmware

^G Hulp          ^O Opslaan       ^W Zoeken        ^K Knippen       ^T Opdracht      ^C Positie       M-U Terugdraaien M-A Markering    M-] Naar haakje  M-Q Voorgaande   ^B Terug         ^◂ Woord terug
^X Afsluiten     ^R Inlezen       ^\ Vervangen     ^U Plakken       ^J Uitvullen     ^/ Naar regel    M-E Herdoen      M-6 Kopiëren     ^Q Terugzoeken   M-W Volgende     ^F Vooruit       ^▸ Woord verder

Code: Select all

phil@phil-gl753vd:~$ LANG=C sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade
[sudo] password for phil: 
Hit:1 https://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm InRelease
Hit:2 https://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm-updates InRelease                 
Hit:3 https://security.debian.org/debian-security bookworm-security InRelease  
Hit:4 https://files.eid.belgium.be/debian bookworm InRelease                   
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done 
Reading state information... Done
All packages are up to date.
phil@phil-gl753vd:~$