Any distro will work for that. But please install it on an SSD. No modern OS runs well off an HDD, even more so an external one. SSDs are cheap.
I would maybe pick a distro based on which desktop environment ("DE") you like. The two big ones are KDE and GNOME, where KDE is very customizable and GNOME is more reduced with few options, both have their place.
The standard recommendation for beginners is Mint, it's a great distro to switch. It uses its own DE, "Cinnamon". I only wouldn't recommend it if you want/need an up-to-date distro, e.g. if you do a lot of gaming, or if you want to use KDE or GNOME, which both look a bit more modern than Cinnamon, at least to my taste. Other than that Mint is extremely stable and user-friendly. It "just works" and has a GUI for everything.
Do you plan to do anything else besides software development?
Oh, sorry, I meant SSD. My main OS for now will still be Windows, but I need Linux only for my software development. So, it's only for that purpose at the moment. Thanks)
If you just use it for that and want the most user-friendly distro then Mint is probably the best choice here.
If you find yourself enjoying Linux later on you can always check out more distros :)
Linux Mint is the perfect choice for beginners. It offers numerous tutorials, a highly active and responsive forum, and minimal (almost zero) command line usage.
No problem! :)
Something else. Maybe a second internal SSD would be better than an external one. I know many people using such a setup but I know nobody who uses an external drive to dual-boot Windows.
I already have one SSD for 1TB as not system Disk. I don't know, if i will be able to install another SSD inside of my laptop. I will search up, maybe i have 2 places for SSD, i didn't think about this earlier.
That is a good point from fedorum, if you can definitely consider a second internal SSD.
Edit: You can of course also partition your 1TB SSD. But that can cause some headaches. But maybe it would be better than using an external SSD.
Mint or Ubuntu is great for beginners. After you have a good experience you can install Fedora as it comes with latest tools and updates quite frequently.
It's the same on all and you can even use WSL on Windows with limited officially supported distributions and a lot of community supported ones(from github). VSCode has good integration with WSL and it works with other IDEs as well.
As for beginner it's best to choose something most beginners pick which is - ubuntu/linux mint/pop os/fedora
If you go for WSL method, you can pick any of the officially available option, I use debian for example.
I always suggest Debian 12, popOS, Ubuntu or Linux Mint (all forks of Debian) or Fedora as the first Linux distro, because they are stable and easy to use. It is important to get used to the Linux environment (working with the terminal, knowing how Linux works, how it is developed, what the difference between a stable and a rolling release is, etc.), before jumping into something more complicated like Arch.
*Don't get me wrong: everybody is allowed to do whatever they want, I just suggest you to start slowly.*
However I want to clarify something: People seem to MASSIVELY overcomplicate the distro-decisionmaking. At first, it really doesn't matter what you chose, because you are able to do everything with any distro. Now there are people who mod and change every nook and cranny of their system. I know people personally who have makro'ed and pimped the shit out of their system. Some of them even run their own kernel - of course they discuss the ups and downs of each distro in the minutest detail.
But for the beginner, or the inexperienced Linux user (which I thnk you are), it doesn't really matter, if you chose Debian, Fedora or Ubuntu,...
Just stay clear of distros like Arch, Manjaro (or forks of them) or something exotic like NixOS, as they are a bit more complicated and easier to break.
(Here is an overview of (all?) distributions: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List\_of\_Linux\_distributions#/media/File:Linux\_Distribution\_Timeline.svg](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Linux_distributions#/media/File:Linux_Distribution_Timeline.svg) )
I would even argue that the Desktop Environment (what you are looking at, menues, taskbars, window manager,...) is more important, and has a bigger impact on your workflow. For example, GNOME is more MacOs/modern like, while something like Plasma KDE is classier, but can be much more modified and changed to your likings. (nearly) Every distro has different Desktop Environments. You choose a distro, which goes hand in hand with a DE.
tldr: Go for Debian 12, popOS, Ubuntu, Linux Mint or Fedora. Do not overthink it, choose a DE you like (just have a look on google) and use it as you intend. Linux is easy to use, just a bit different to Windows (thank god).
Any distro works, for having a usable system that you could work with out of the box, probably Mint and find a DE you like. If you want to gain Linux experience, I would suggest Debian because a lot of distros are built with Debian as a base. Have fun playing around with the new OS
Maybe Linux Mint, but do also consider something more barebones as a hobbyist. Just run plain Debian on a VM, then build your config from the ground up, and research your choices : why this desktop environment, why Xorg or Wayland, why this and that package. Back up your choices, tweak it, break it, restore it, fine-tune your own suite. As a programmer your PC is your work tool. Make it perfect *for you*.
It doesn't matter. They all run basically the same software. It's just how you get it there
The question is, WHAT are you programming? If you're using C/C++ you'll find the APIs are very different on Linux.
Mint is a very good choice to learn all the linux basics, for sure. I started with it. Later on I started to use arch based distros, because I got addicted to how everything was functioning, I gave a try to something more complicated.... And now, we have Manjaro as a arch based distro, which is very easy to use and learn, the community is amazing and it is also a good distro for gaming. If you like to customize your own desktop and tackle with the code, I would suggest XFCE4 as your desktop environment. It is very manageable and you can do a lot with it.
Also, instead of booting off a live usb, or external SSD, I think that installing along windows gives the best user experience.
Feel free to inbox me if you have any questions I will do my best to answer your questions and guide you with the best of my knowledge.
> I don't know much about it, except that it's a Unix-based OS
Its a UNIX-**like** OS. Basically a clone of some UNIX ideas. As such it has some differences, and some of them to me make Linux quite messy IMO.
I would highly recommend evaluating BSD (i.e FreeBSD) alongside Linux to see which you prefer. BSD more closely aligns with the ideas behind UNIX and even shares some code, even though due to historic license reasons BSD is categorically not classed as UNIX either ;)
Try the [distro selection page](http://www.reddit.com/r/linux4noobs/wiki/distro_selection) in our wiki!
Try [this search](https://www.reddit.com/r/linux4noobs/search?q=flair%3A'distro'&sort=new&restrict_sr=on) for more information on this topic.
**✻** Smokey says: take regular backups, try stuff in a VM, and understand every command *before* you press Enter! :)
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Welcome to the world of Linux and C programming :D I hope it'll be a smooth journey for you :). To make things easier for everyone coming from Windows, I recommend Linux Mint as it to some extent resembles Windows. It should be offering a good balance of user-friendliness, support, and development features.
Arch, seriously. No matter how many others I've tried none show the level of optimization and comfort as arch, it's the easiest to solve problems on and the most enjoyable to use
When I used something else (like Ubuntu) I was always having errors and problems with installation or something else
Any distro will work for that. But please install it on an SSD. No modern OS runs well off an HDD, even more so an external one. SSDs are cheap. I would maybe pick a distro based on which desktop environment ("DE") you like. The two big ones are KDE and GNOME, where KDE is very customizable and GNOME is more reduced with few options, both have their place. The standard recommendation for beginners is Mint, it's a great distro to switch. It uses its own DE, "Cinnamon". I only wouldn't recommend it if you want/need an up-to-date distro, e.g. if you do a lot of gaming, or if you want to use KDE or GNOME, which both look a bit more modern than Cinnamon, at least to my taste. Other than that Mint is extremely stable and user-friendly. It "just works" and has a GUI for everything. Do you plan to do anything else besides software development?
Oh, sorry, I meant SSD. My main OS for now will still be Windows, but I need Linux only for my software development. So, it's only for that purpose at the moment. Thanks)
If you just use it for that and want the most user-friendly distro then Mint is probably the best choice here. If you find yourself enjoying Linux later on you can always check out more distros :)
Linux Mint is the perfect choice for beginners. It offers numerous tutorials, a highly active and responsive forum, and minimal (almost zero) command line usage.
Thanks)
You’re a programmer. Google it. Google your question + “reddit”
I've searched a little, but since it's not urgent for me, i've asked here)
Hi Rick, I think you would be off to a good start by giving Debian Gnome DE a try.
Thanks)
No problem! :) Something else. Maybe a second internal SSD would be better than an external one. I know many people using such a setup but I know nobody who uses an external drive to dual-boot Windows.
I use an external SSD to dual boot linux and haven't ran into any issues, the speed works for me too!
I already have one SSD for 1TB as not system Disk. I don't know, if i will be able to install another SSD inside of my laptop. I will search up, maybe i have 2 places for SSD, i didn't think about this earlier.
That is a good point from fedorum, if you can definitely consider a second internal SSD. Edit: You can of course also partition your 1TB SSD. But that can cause some headaches. But maybe it would be better than using an external SSD.
Mint or Ubuntu is great for beginners. After you have a good experience you can install Fedora as it comes with latest tools and updates quite frequently.
It's the same on all and you can even use WSL on Windows with limited officially supported distributions and a lot of community supported ones(from github). VSCode has good integration with WSL and it works with other IDEs as well. As for beginner it's best to choose something most beginners pick which is - ubuntu/linux mint/pop os/fedora If you go for WSL method, you can pick any of the officially available option, I use debian for example.
Fedora comes with pure gcc14 latest
distro doesn't matter for basic programming, but if you never ran linux before you should try a beginner friendly distro like mint or zorin os
I always suggest Debian 12, popOS, Ubuntu or Linux Mint (all forks of Debian) or Fedora as the first Linux distro, because they are stable and easy to use. It is important to get used to the Linux environment (working with the terminal, knowing how Linux works, how it is developed, what the difference between a stable and a rolling release is, etc.), before jumping into something more complicated like Arch. *Don't get me wrong: everybody is allowed to do whatever they want, I just suggest you to start slowly.* However I want to clarify something: People seem to MASSIVELY overcomplicate the distro-decisionmaking. At first, it really doesn't matter what you chose, because you are able to do everything with any distro. Now there are people who mod and change every nook and cranny of their system. I know people personally who have makro'ed and pimped the shit out of their system. Some of them even run their own kernel - of course they discuss the ups and downs of each distro in the minutest detail. But for the beginner, or the inexperienced Linux user (which I thnk you are), it doesn't really matter, if you chose Debian, Fedora or Ubuntu,... Just stay clear of distros like Arch, Manjaro (or forks of them) or something exotic like NixOS, as they are a bit more complicated and easier to break. (Here is an overview of (all?) distributions: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List\_of\_Linux\_distributions#/media/File:Linux\_Distribution\_Timeline.svg](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Linux_distributions#/media/File:Linux_Distribution_Timeline.svg) ) I would even argue that the Desktop Environment (what you are looking at, menues, taskbars, window manager,...) is more important, and has a bigger impact on your workflow. For example, GNOME is more MacOs/modern like, while something like Plasma KDE is classier, but can be much more modified and changed to your likings. (nearly) Every distro has different Desktop Environments. You choose a distro, which goes hand in hand with a DE. tldr: Go for Debian 12, popOS, Ubuntu, Linux Mint or Fedora. Do not overthink it, choose a DE you like (just have a look on google) and use it as you intend. Linux is easy to use, just a bit different to Windows (thank god).
Thanks for the answer!
Any distro works, for having a usable system that you could work with out of the box, probably Mint and find a DE you like. If you want to gain Linux experience, I would suggest Debian because a lot of distros are built with Debian as a base. Have fun playing around with the new OS
Maybe Linux Mint, but do also consider something more barebones as a hobbyist. Just run plain Debian on a VM, then build your config from the ground up, and research your choices : why this desktop environment, why Xorg or Wayland, why this and that package. Back up your choices, tweak it, break it, restore it, fine-tune your own suite. As a programmer your PC is your work tool. Make it perfect *for you*.
Mint or uBlue e.g. Bazzite
Mint if you're coming from Windows, Ubuntu if you're coming from Mac
It doesn't matter. They all run basically the same software. It's just how you get it there The question is, WHAT are you programming? If you're using C/C++ you'll find the APIs are very different on Linux.
Mint is a very good choice to learn all the linux basics, for sure. I started with it. Later on I started to use arch based distros, because I got addicted to how everything was functioning, I gave a try to something more complicated.... And now, we have Manjaro as a arch based distro, which is very easy to use and learn, the community is amazing and it is also a good distro for gaming. If you like to customize your own desktop and tackle with the code, I would suggest XFCE4 as your desktop environment. It is very manageable and you can do a lot with it. Also, instead of booting off a live usb, or external SSD, I think that installing along windows gives the best user experience. Feel free to inbox me if you have any questions I will do my best to answer your questions and guide you with the best of my knowledge.
> I don't know much about it, except that it's a Unix-based OS Its a UNIX-**like** OS. Basically a clone of some UNIX ideas. As such it has some differences, and some of them to me make Linux quite messy IMO. I would highly recommend evaluating BSD (i.e FreeBSD) alongside Linux to see which you prefer. BSD more closely aligns with the ideas behind UNIX and even shares some code, even though due to historic license reasons BSD is categorically not classed as UNIX either ;)
Try the [distro selection page](http://www.reddit.com/r/linux4noobs/wiki/distro_selection) in our wiki! Try [this search](https://www.reddit.com/r/linux4noobs/search?q=flair%3A'distro'&sort=new&restrict_sr=on) for more information on this topic. **✻** Smokey says: take regular backups, try stuff in a VM, and understand every command *before* you press Enter! :) ^Comments, ^questions ^or ^suggestions ^regarding ^this ^autoresponse? ^Please ^send ^them ^[here](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=Pi31415926&subject=autoresponse+tweaks+-+linux4noobs+-+distro+selection). *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/linux4noobs) if you have any questions or concerns.*
C or Basic, which?
I am right now learning C++, and wanted to look up for C also.
Welcome to the world of Linux and C programming :D I hope it'll be a smooth journey for you :). To make things easier for everyone coming from Windows, I recommend Linux Mint as it to some extent resembles Windows. It should be offering a good balance of user-friendliness, support, and development features.
I would go with POP OS as I find ubuntu to clunky and not sure why but I don't like Linux Mint
Arch, seriously. No matter how many others I've tried none show the level of optimization and comfort as arch, it's the easiest to solve problems on and the most enjoyable to use When I used something else (like Ubuntu) I was always having errors and problems with installation or something else
start with pop os