Buuuut knowing what I know now I worry Zorin's simplicity could turn people off of Linux. Zorin is a good OS for your grandmother but the average person who would consider installing Linux wants to be able to tinker. Heck, I would consider the very act of changing your operating to be tinkering. Nobody accidentally stumbles installing Linux.

The options with Zorin are either use it as-is or risk breaking it. That's why I would personally recommend a KDE distro, probably something immutable like Fedora Kinoite. That way you can tinker to your heart's content with no fear of breaking it.

[–] MonkeMischief@lemmy.today 12 points 1 day ago (5 children)

I would dare say the "average person", as in, Windows refugee, probably doesn't want to tinker, they do want things to just kinda work as expected and just want freedom and options.

I don't see why Zorin couldn't be a valid jumping off point for new users to get their feet wet. As much as I love more tinkery distros, I will usually onboard somebody with something like Mint because it's just familiar enough but still lets you explore the how and why, without requiring it.

[–] Kirk@startrek.website 2 points 22 hours ago (2 children)

I didn't say "average person" and end the sentence. I said the average person installing linux. The type of person who installs Linux in the first place is already extremely far from average.

I would consider act of installing Linux itself to be "tinkering".

[–] MonkeMischief@lemmy.today 1 points 4 hours ago

Ah, you're right!

Although now I think we're seeing something interesting (hopefully?) where Windows has gotten so irritating that more "average users" are wanting to take the leap to install Linux.

They'd probably follow video tutorials or quick guides online while understanding just enough to be dangerous, but once they're set up, probably aren't as keen on going around tweaking and editing and getting their hands dirty. Probably just like "Can I set my wallpaper and do my Steam games work?" Lol

I just hope they're still willing to understand even if they don't care about tweaking it to perfection. Nothing bugs me more than the "everything should just work without me thinking, like Windows/Mac!" crowd. X_X

[–] psud@aussie.zone 1 points 13 hours ago

I feel like I'm an average person, and making the OS look nice is very high on my wish list. My day 1 task on a new system is to copy over my backgrounds, set up themes and colours, set up the right level of transparency.

I'm only half annoyed that I did all that on bazzite before I discovered I couldn't stand an immutable system

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