Any recommendations for a linux distro that i can set up and be reasonably sure my non techy SO won’t break accidentally? The set up doesn’t have to be easy it just has to not break once I leave her alone with it. My first thought was popOS.

My plan is to have 2 profiles and not give her access to sudo. I just don’t want to have to go into it unless she needs a new program.

  • enumerator4829@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    18·
    7 days ago

    I’m gonna be the boring guy.

    RedHat Enterprise Linux. (Or Rocky)

    Most boring distro ever. Install it, turn on all the auto updates and be happy. Install something to take backups. Ignore any new major-releases, that laptop will die before the OS hits EOL.

    Benefits:

    • Boring. It’s their tool, not your plaything.
    • Actually works
    • Will be reasonably secure over time with minimal effort and manual intervention.
    • If any commercial Linux software is required, it will most likely only be supported on RHEL or Ubuntu.
    • Provides web browser and word-processing. And we don’t need anything else.

    Drawbacks:

    • Boring (for you)
    • Not ideal for gaming

    If you install anything else than RHEL-derivatives or possibly Ubuntu on a machine that someone else will use, you are both in for a world of pain. It has to ”just work” without intervention by you, and it needs to keep working that way for the next 5 years.

    Source: Professionally deploying and supporting multiuser desktop Linux to a few thousand users other than myself.