this post was submitted on 08 May 2024
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I generally have 2 recommendations for beginners who don't want something specific, one of which is a community favorite, the other is my own favorite.
The community generally recommends Linux Mint for new users. It's based an Ubuntu, so it had a lot of great support, but it has the enshittification of Ubuntu (snaps, tracking, pro subscription ads, etc.) removed. It's a great, simple distro for beginners that generally works all around without tweaking. It's basically the #1 recommendation for new users, and I gladly support that recommendation.
My personal favorite recommendation is Fedora, through I understand why there may be frustrations for those with Nvidia graphics cards who need to install their drivers. The process to do it on Fedora isn't very complex, and can be looked up easily, but new users tend to feel intimidated by the command line, and I must admit that the installation of Nvidia drivers and media codec are more difficult than something like Linux Mint (for Fedora, this is a copyright issue, since their main sponsor is Red Hat, a private company). In every other area, I'd say Fedora is great for beginners, and provides a great way for users to get new features quickly without having to worry about any of the instabilities or quirks of something like Arch.
You couldn't go wrong with either, but you're certainly going to see more recommendations for Linux Mint in general (especially on Nvidia hardware).
Just stay away from Manjaro, Gentoo, and Void (there's a long list of complex distros, but it really isn't going to help to list them all). Gentoo and Void have their place, but are not a great place for a beginner to start. Manjaro simply has no place, just avoid it like the plague.
You could also recommend the Linux Mint Debian Edition!
My personal pick that is gonna get downvoted into oblivion: Manjaro.
Manjaro is an actual "Arch for your grandmother". Combining rolling release with two-week checking period, taking the speed and customizability of Arch and wrapping it in a noob-friendly, everyday system - it's Arch that just works, is sleek, welcoming and easy.
What else to ask for?
Arch already just works, Majaro breaks more (at least for the one month I tried it while getting into Linux).
Arch includes the setup process (not just installing the OS, but like adding literally every piece of software), which is super not noob friendly.
New users should just use an installer and get ready-to-use system. Manjaro, Fedora, Mint do exactly that. Arch does not.
Also, Arch may break in very unpredictable ways due to the way the updates work. You're essentially always in a beta - price of a very bleeding edge.
I had a better experience with Manjaro, and generally the advice for Manjaro users goes as "do not abuse AUR, and you'll be fine".
If you want easy Arch, recommend EndeavourOS. Manjaro is a pile of steaming garbage just waiting to break itself. EndeavourOS is easy for beginners, doesn't break itself constantly, and gets all the features of Arch from mainline Arch, not the Manjaro repos. I strongly suggest you revise your recommendation to EndeavourOS; there's very good reason behind why this community dislikes Manjaro.
Nope, EndeavourOS to me is a useless project from the start that doesn't really simplify everyday operation of Arch and just cuts corners on installation and minimal quality of life.
If someone needs pure but accessible Arch, I'd go with Garuda, though it has all the issues of pure Arch as well.
Manjaro is still my choice. A good majority of Manjaro haters just hear about AUR issues and never go there, although they are fairly rare and can be resolved, or you can rely primarily on extensive repos that probably do have what you need. Some others just blindly use solutions for Arch, and while Manjaro does allow for it, it shouldn't always be done, as devs themselves warn. If you won't treat Manjaro like mainline Arch, it will not break. But as any Linux system, it does allow you to shoot yourself in the foot.
The difference is - in Arch, noobs destroy their system and power users (kinda, usually) do not. In Manjaro, it's the Arch power users that don't know the difference and blindly apply their experience that get rekt, while noobs do just great without even knowing stuff that can break it.
Also, backups and snapshots are a must for absolutely every Arch system, that is just the reality of it. Arch does break, as anything bleeding-edge. Manjaro helps with that - granted, by introducing another issue that can easily be circumvented.
If anything, I'm a happy Manjaro user for 1,5 years, and I'm just alright.
I used Manjaro for about 6 months, never used AUR or made any real modifications to my install (except for troubleshooting), and had to fully reinstall 2 times and fix config issues on files I've never touched a handful of times in that 6 months because a standard update broke everything. I then went on to use EndeavourOS for a year and never had a single issue the entire time I used it, so my problems were not related to Arch, it was Manjaro. Similar stories are constantly echoed about Manjaro, and I have a hard time believing that the entire Internet is astroturfing a Linux distro for no reason. I, as a quite experienced Linux user of over a decade, have never tried any distro that has been anywhere close to as bad as Manjaro. I've had an install brick itself once outside of Manjaro, and that was due to an obscure hardware bug that got through QA. I've never had to spend as much time fixing a distro as I did with Manjaro, and it was on a laptop that I only used for browsing and schoolwork. I didn't even bother to change the wallpaper because I only had it there to try out. So no, nothing that happened was related to the packages I installed, the (nonexistent) changes made to configs, or the use of the AUR. That was a perfectly normal Manjaro install breaking itself for absolutely no reason. You can feel free not to trust my anecdotal evidence, but almost everyone I've seen in this community who has said they've used Manjaro has echoed similar stories. This isn't a unique or rare experience.
EndeavourOS has great value to users new to Arch that don't want to set everything up from scratch. It is basically vanilla Arch without the setup hassle of vanilla Arch. I don't see why that wouldn't have value, and I don't really understand why you'd recommend Manjaro over it. The 2 week freeze that Manjaro does on packages doesn't actually help stability. It does nothing at best, and makes things worse in most other cases.
Guess we have very different experiences.
Wonder if it could be in some way hardware-related.
I've previously looked into and tinkered with EndeavourOS a little, and I don't get the reason for its popularity and existence.
Archinstall+minimal tinkering for 20 minutes=equal system but without relying on some obscure distro.
Again, Garuda at least adds something to it. And Manjaro adds a lot.