this post was submitted on 16 Jun 2024
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I did it soon after switching to Linux Mint from Windows because I didn't like how Cinnamon was handling multiple displays. It worked and was perfectly functional. But it was a little rough around the edges with the occasional glitch here and there. Not sure if it was because Mint wasn't really meant to run Plasma or if it was just because it was running an older version of Plasma. But it was perfectly usable and I would have been happy to stick with it if there were no other solutions.
Before I got too comfy in my Mint install and after having familiarized myself with Linux better, I hopped between a few distros for a bit. LMDE6 with Plasma ran better but ultimately I switched to OpenSUSE Tumbleweed and stuck with it since then. It is rock solid and runs Plasma 6. I should probably have given EndeavourOS a try as well but I'm now too settled and comfy to change.
Mind you, I am still a complete Linux noob and still have barely any idea of what I am doing so take it with a grain of salt.
I never installed Linux myself, only used it for a bit, so what do you have to do to not be a complete noob? This is only a half serious question, but what do you think you have to do, to be a proficient Linux user? This sounds a bit like when I got my master's degree and did not have the feeling that I know anything or have learned valuable skills, but to someone with only a high school diploma I would look rather proficient.
IMO It's mostly about the mindset.
If you realize that you can basically do anything on any general purpose distro because they're all just distributions of the available Linux-compatible software, you're not a noob anymore.
The effort to achieve what you want can be higher on some and zero on others (if that thing already happens to be pre-installed and configured to your liking).
But if you've decided on a distro you like, you always have ways of accessing the software that's missing out of the box.
I'd say, you're not a noob anymore if you know basic command line best practices (like not copy/pasting commands with "sudo" in front off the internet unless you know what they do), can parse a man page, and know how to find and install software that's missing in your distro's repos.
That being said, it's perfectly possible to run Linux without using the command line at all, nowadays.