

Ask HN: What is the best OS for a relatively tech-savvy non-programmer to run - the_watcher

I'm in the market for a new computer and I am completely sick of Windows and the Mac OS.  Besides internet, I mainly use my computer for watching movies/tv although I sometimes write very basic programs on it.  Is there a specific Linux environment that would be best?<p>Thanks
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iends
I recommend Ubuntu.

The 'right' linux distributions is a balance between customization and getting
things done. I used to run slackware, then gentoo, and then finally arch. I
learned a ton, but now I'm focused on building great software and I don't want
to spend the time emerge -DuNav world, or dealing with packages in the AUR, or
even building the software myself.

Short of a few kernel bugs :(graphics drivers), Ubuntu has gotten out of my
way and let me build things. Of course, this comes at a price, I no longer
concern myself with customizing the entire OS to fit my needs, I just modified
the way I work to fit well with vanilla Ubuntu and got on with it.

Coming back to your comment about being sick of Windows and OS X. I would
caution you that the grass is not always greener. I used to have this problem
where I would switch operating systems completely every 1-2 years and I
bounced around from Slackware, to Gentoo, to Arch, to OS X, to Ubuntu, to
Windows 7, back to Ubuntu. They all suck, you just want to find the one that
sucks the least for what you are trying to do, and Linux might not be the
right choice.

~~~
the_watcher
Thanks for the advice. I understand your grass is greener comment, it's the
reason I have held off for this long. But I'm finally sick of it and want to
try out one of the open source alternatives (plus I am keeping my Windows 7
machine as a backup).

