I have dabbled with Linux for years and I have switched for long periods of time from Windows but I always end up going back, lack of suitable software and hardware support are the main reasons for not staying. I am looking again at moving across, times change and a lot of the tasks I could not perform in Linux are now redundant, Windows is also getting harder and harder to live with. I have always gone with Debian/Ubuntu based distros, no real reason but I want to stay on this path with my next attempt. I have used Mint, Debian and at one time Mepis which I really liked. I am very attracted to MX Linux as it is Debian based and related to Mepis, any one tried it? I have seen all the remarks about this Linux is based on another and its a house of cards argument, on the other hand most of the "stable" solid base distro's are butt ugly and boring lol.
I Have MX-16 running on one of my machines that had issues with distributions running Systemd. It is light, fast, and stable. It should feel familiar being based on Debian.
So is Windows until you style it. I mean, how lazy do people have to be not to take all of 10 seconds to change the desktop wallpaper and theme?! 1 deep is not so bad. For example, Ubuntu is made off of Debian. Debian being the source and so Ubuntu is 1 deep past Debian. As a result, Ubuntu is a pretty stable OS (usually) It is when you get 2, 3, and even 4 deep that now you are building a house of cards and praying everything in between does not go wrong. For example, even here on this very site (MDL), you have people trying to fix Linux Mint and while it may look nice, it usually is nowhere near as stable. -- What good is anything if it looks nice, but does not function? If all you care about is how something looks, I can make Debian look like Linux Mint. Heck, for fun, attached is what may look like Microsoft Windows, but nope, the attached screenshot is Debian Sid.
I have had a problem with two fairly new machines, they just dont seem to like Ubuntu and Ubuntu clones. I wonder if this is the same problem you have had with Systemd? MX-16 runs well on both of them from a USB stick, you might have just killed my conspiracy theory.
I run Arch so I'd recommand Manjaro or Antergos but if you want to really learn/ be tortured go with vanilla Arch. I love to tinker so Arch is a perfect fit for me. Just my 2 cents.
I looked at Manjaro, very impressive, unfortunately Arch and all the Arch based distros don't like some of my hardware. I went for Deepin in the end, I don't know why but MX-16 wasn't for me. One major advantage of Linux is the choice. If Windows 10 doesn't suit your kit your screwed, you have to go back. With Linux there is an up to date distro out there some where that will do the job even if its not your first choice.
And this is exactly why I've stayed away from it. I never know what distribution to go with. There are so many to choose from and don't know what criteria to use when picking one. In windows it was simple, go with the newest one . And if you fail, you have re-format the computer, switch distributions, re-configure everything.
@ Ocygord well first you need make use of your brain, and after try Linux Mint that remember Windows O.S. at least in GUI or Ubuntu is another good option imo
You could always create a live USB of a few distros and try them out beforehand. Try Mint, Ubuntu, Manjaro and Fedora in a live environment. That will give you an idea how each one is without wiping drives or you could build a vm to try a few distros out. Just a thought.
You can distro hop with only one machine, but it's a royal P.I.T.A. IMHO you need two machines. Also, if you don't have a lot of patience, you'll never survive distro hopping. @Ocygord: You need to have another separate machine with nothing of importance on it. If you run into problems with the install, it's no big deal. If it works, you'll need time to tinker with it and set it up the way you like it. I have Windows 7 on my experimental machine. If I want to try a distro, I'll use a live CD. If I like it, I'll split the partition and run it along with Windows 7. That way, If I don't like it after while, I can uninstall the distro and reclaim the partition back. Easy Peasy. @kgtuning: That's the way to go.
@Ocygord: Myself I start with what works. Which distro installs without problems. Then, it's all about the desktop, and whether or not you like it. If you have multiple distros that work, if they're in a 'live' format, you can try them one at a time. For me, a nice look and feel makes all the difference. I think that many users feel the same way. Of course, it depends on what you're doing with the machine. If it's a headless computer, none of that matters.
If you want to distro hop all you need is a quad-core or better machine with 8 GB ram and VMware or Vbox. It's not the same as the bare metal install but you will get a feel of the os.
@R29k: You're right. That'll work just fine. For myself, I have two machines, one of which I've dedicated to distro hopping. The other is my DAW machine, so I don't like to install non-music stuff.
What would you recommend for me? I never play games but I work a lot with VMWare virtual machines, IDE suits for development (like JetBrains), general work with documents (pdfs, doc, etc), music and video. So mostly development and office use.
Debian and openSUSE seem to work on anything. If you want a complete OS, I would suggest openSUSE. If you want just the basics and want to build up your OS, I would suggest Debian. Alternatively, the happy middle ground between those two would be Ubuntu. Avoid distros which have been built on a house of cards such as Linux Mint, which is based on Ubuntu which is based on Debian. Those distros may at first look nice in appearance, but the appearance is not everything and eventually, they do break. Since you're new, you'll want something more stable to try out and give you a real-world feel without the mess.
If you're new to Linux then I would not recommend Debian, stick to plain Ubuntu it's much simpler. For older hardware try Lubuntu it's the new XP replacement!