very cool :0

Wow, that’s very cool :0

Is it just a coincidence that the default file managers for GNOME and KDE are both ocean-themed?

I would still try to let them try out a few different options, see what they like and don’t like. At the very least, show them some pictures and basic rundown of the strengths and weaknesses of different DEs (e.g. GNOME is the most touch-optimised and is very “sleek” and “minimal”, KDE is extensively customisable…)

Setup a Ventoy drive and let them try out a few. Linux Mint, Fedora Workstation (GNOME), and Fedora KDE/Kubuntu (KDE) are all good starting points to figure out what kind of DE they like. If they play a lot of games, Bazzite might also be a good option. GNOME, KDE, and Cinnamon are all very different from each other, and I’m sure that your friend will like at least one of them.

Yeah, it is. It also has a an option for something like Steam Big Screen for a console-like experience too for living room PCs and handheld PCs (Steam Deck, ROG Ally, etc.)

Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to work (I think it’s a Wayland thing)

Oh, thanks! I will try that then

For gestures, it’s no problem, as you can map touching your cursor to the corners for either “overview” (like GNOME) or just applications in the current desktop. I have it set to that right now.

I just have howdy disabled when logging in now, typing in my password is fine. The Nextcloud issue is really weird so I will try and file an issue, thanks!

Mint looks pretty Windows-like out of the box too. Both Cinnamon and KDE Plasma can be customised extensively too, which is nice. Mint is really good for beginners, very user-friendly and such. Fedora is plenty user-friendly too (and probably Kubuntu, but I haven’t used that one yet), but Mint takes it a step further in my opinion. This is coming from a Fedora user. I do agree that Mint and Zorin shouldn’t be the only options that beginners should consider. On the other hand, KDE Plasma shouldn’t be the only option either. The best way to pick distros, in my opinion, is by creating a Ventoy drive with Mint (to try out Cinnamon), Fedora Workstation (to try out GNOME), and either Fedora KDE or Kubuntu (to try out KDE). Cinnamon, GNOME, and KDE Plasma are all great in their own ways.

Currently I am using KDE Plasma as I like the customisability, but I can see the appeal of GNOME if you want something that looks sleek and “minimal” (or if you really love padding), and Cinnamon is a bit more like Windows 10. They all have their own aesthetics (contrasty KDE vs maximally padded GNOME vs colourful Cinnamon)

deleted by creator

Oh, and one more thing! The VPN client I use (“Clash Verge”) doesn’t work with Firefox on KDE when “System Proxy” is selected on KDE, but it did on GNOME. You have to select “TUN mode” (which reroutes ALL network traffic through the proxy). Why is this happening, and how do I fix it?

I use both, more backups are always better. I find these two much better in terms of ease of use (for Ente and arguably Immich once you have it set up) and flexibility (for Immich in particular)

Just checked, yep, LibreOffice has an option for autosave. No cloud sync provider needed…as it should be…

Office 365 requiring OneDrive to auto save is so dumb, I’m pretty sure all other text editors let you do it without any sort of cloud sync, let alone using the first-party provider. Then you have the requirement to sign into a Microsoft account to use Windows, forcing a dedicated Microsoft CoPilot key on laptop keyboards (it should have been a keyboard shortcut or something!), defaulting to Edge, Outlook, and Bing search, pushing Office 365 subscriptions in the SETTINGS page, the full screen ads for Win11 in Win10, the list goes on. If we had good consumer protection laws, none of this would be allowed…

It’s not just Microsoft, of course, I can say the same about Apple and Google for their respective operating systems.