I think the easiest option is Mint, as it has all of the advantages of Ubuntu (lots of first party packages, tons of support documentation, automated driver and codec installation if needed, etc) but without the major disadvantages Ubuntu has developed over the years (mainly snaps). The Cinnamon desktop environment will probably remind you of Windows 7 but modernized and customizable; I personally think it’s excellent.
If that’s not up your alley then I’d say try a distro with KDE for a more windows like experience. Kubuntu, Fedora KDE (remember to install codecs from rpmfusion if you go this route), or even Debian with KDE would probably all be excellent for you.
Whatever you go with, if you can’t find a program you need in your distro’s repositories, try looking for it on flathub. I think Mint installs Flatpak with flathub by default, but if you choose another distro without it just go here and follow the instructions for your system. Flathub offers tons of applications in a universally compatible sandbox so it’s a lovely complement to your standard software repo. All the apps from your repo and flathub will show up in the software center of your desktop environment so once installed you never really need to think about it again. Just a helpful tip in case you can’t find the software you’re looking for
I don't understand choosing a distro based on desktop environment it happens to have as default. The distro is such a more important decision because it determines what package manager and software sources you'll have available, the availability of community support, and all kinds of technical stuff that's over my head.
I mean yeah u can, but if it’s not the default on whatever distro or spin you’re using then that’s not a good recommendation for somebody new to Linux. That’s why I recommended three separate distros all from solid families for KDE options. Ubuntu has the benefits of being the ‘default’ distro so it has lots of support, Fedora has an expansive repo and is more up to date, and Debian is just generally rock solid with no frills. Just as somebody using windows doesn’t think about installing a DE, somebody migrating from windows to Linux likely isn’t prepared to do that themselves. Just giving them solid recs that have what they want by default
Yes, Mint supports a set of accent colors you can choose from the settings menu. You can't choose your own custom color though because it's connected to the icon theme and those are hard-coded.
Can I make a live USB with Mint like you can with Anti-X?
You can make a live environment USB with pretty much any free operating system, it's only MacOS and Windows that are inferior and don't think this basic feature is important.
Here is a website for downloading themes in linux https://www.pling.com/browse?cat=148&page=7&ord=latest. each one is only compatible with certain desktop environments but you get the picture that there is a lot available and ultimately everything can be customized.
You can make a USB of any Linux distribution. You can even make a USB with multiple distros using software called Ventoy but its 1 or 2 extra steps which not everyone wants to do. My USB has 2 dozen linuxes and I even threw Windows in just for good measure because once I needed it.
I think the easiest option is Mint, as it has all of the advantages of Ubuntu (lots of first party packages, tons of support documentation, automated driver and codec installation if needed, etc) but without the major disadvantages Ubuntu has developed over the years (mainly snaps). The Cinnamon desktop environment will probably remind you of Windows 7 but modernized and customizable; I personally think it’s excellent.
If that’s not up your alley then I’d say try a distro with KDE for a more windows like experience. Kubuntu, Fedora KDE (remember to install codecs from rpmfusion if you go this route), or even Debian with KDE would probably all be excellent for you.
Whatever you go with, if you can’t find a program you need in your distro’s repositories, try looking for it on flathub. I think Mint installs Flatpak with flathub by default, but if you choose another distro without it just go here and follow the instructions for your system. Flathub offers tons of applications in a universally compatible sandbox so it’s a lovely complement to your standard software repo. All the apps from your repo and flathub will show up in the software center of your desktop environment so once installed you never really need to think about it again. Just a helpful tip in case you can’t find the software you’re looking for
You can install KDE on any distro tho.
I don't understand choosing a distro based on desktop environment it happens to have as default. The distro is such a more important decision because it determines what package manager and software sources you'll have available, the availability of community support, and all kinds of technical stuff that's over my head.
I mean yeah u can, but if it’s not the default on whatever distro or spin you’re using then that’s not a good recommendation for somebody new to Linux. That’s why I recommended three separate distros all from solid families for KDE options. Ubuntu has the benefits of being the ‘default’ distro so it has lots of support, Fedora has an expansive repo and is more up to date, and Debian is just generally rock solid with no frills. Just as somebody using windows doesn’t think about installing a DE, somebody migrating from windows to Linux likely isn’t prepared to do that themselves. Just giving them solid recs that have what they want by default
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Yes, Mint supports a set of accent colors you can choose from the settings menu. You can't choose your own custom color though because it's connected to the icon theme and those are hard-coded.
You can make a live environment USB with pretty much any free operating system, it's only MacOS and Windows that are inferior and don't think this basic feature is important.
Here is a website for downloading themes in linux https://www.pling.com/browse?cat=148&page=7&ord=latest. each one is only compatible with certain desktop environments but you get the picture that there is a lot available and ultimately everything can be customized.
You can make a USB of any Linux distribution. You can even make a USB with multiple distros using software called Ventoy but its 1 or 2 extra steps which not everyone wants to do. My USB has 2 dozen linuxes and I even threw Windows in just for good measure because once I needed it.
Probably going to go that way if I do a rebuild next year.