I am thinking Kali Linux right now but maybe too much for myself. I am thinking of a distro that should be lightweight and runs well on old laptops. And a user interface that is not confusing. Thanks for the answers!
Edit:
The model is Dell Inspiron 5459 14-inch HD Intel Core i5-6200U/8GB/2GB AMD Radeon R5 M335/Windows 10.
Kali themselves say that you should not pick it for this:
> it is NOT a recommended distribution if you’re unfamiliar with Linux or are looking for a general-purpose Linux desktop distribution for development, web design, gaming, etc.
https://www.kali.org/docs/introduction/should-i-use-kali-lin...
Other than that, counter question: How much time did you spend to decide between windows home, pro, enterprise, ltsc, ...? Probably none, because for your use case it does not matter. Same for linux distros. For your use case any of them will work just fine and feel pretty indistinguishable.
Some comments:
- If you pick debian the default installer does not support some hardware (e.g. most wifi) on purpose for freedom reasons. Use the installer with support instead https://cdimage.debian.org/images/unofficial/non-free/images...
- Fedora has to obey more laws than ubuntu (canonical headquarters are on some British island). As a consequence you probably want to add rpm fusion for some more video codecs etc.
- Ubuntu is probably a fine choice. Releases are named year.month, e.g. 22.04. The evenyear.04 releases are supported for a long time and can directly upgrade to evenyear+2.04. For all other releases you are supposed to upgrade every 6 months. Upgrades are usually completely unproblematic and quick.
- On any phone you install software by opening your app store and picking what you want. Same for linux. Sideloading stuff from (random) websites like on windows is possible, but try not to. Similarly, if a website tells you to compile stuff just ignore that (unless you also commonly compile software on windows?).
I personally like Debian because it has support for the prehistoric computers and of course because it was the first Linux distro to be in space.
But honestly with Linux distros it really doesn't matter what you choose, just pick one and if you find something that you don't like and can't fix because of the distro that you're on (which seems quite unlikely to ignorant me) just change distros.
Regarding lightweight, for that you should be more careful to not select a desktop environment that's to heavy. The two that I've used because they're light are xfce and lxde.
I'm currently running Debian + lxde on my Intel Atom N270 laptop, although I've been on lxde for only about two years before that I've been in xfce for probably a decade.
I don't know in what shape Kali Linux is today, but many years ago when I used it, it's main purpose was "hacking" and was quite system heavy, I wouldn't really recommend it unless you really need the tools that come with it and even that's not really a good reason since you can just install those tools on any other distro.
The distro and DE that I suggested are for really really low end old computers. If yours is more capable you could pick a more modern looking DE.
I've heard good things about Linux mint, Ubuntu is always a stable option, but yeah, just roll a dice install one and you'll see what you actually need and what you don't. I think you'll find quite quickly that it doesn't really matter what distro you're running and fall in love with the one that comes with the prettiest background image ^^.
Have fun on this wonderful journey~!
I would not really suggest Ubuntu. Mint is based on it, and compatible, without Snapcraft or GNOME.
I don't see any reason to actually install Kali as a daily driver OS. It's not meant for that, so I don't see how it would do as well as something purpose built.
Then again, my rule with computers is generally to ignore any tech that's not in the first page of Google, to avoid all the usual software incompatibilities and sometimes lack of dev resources that go with anything obscure.
If this won't be your main computer, or privacy is your top priority, you might want to try out something more specialized or novel.
The question is what your use case is and what is your level of proficiency using Linux.
Linux Mint, Elementary and Pop_OS provide good install experience, easy of usage, low maintenance and good performance.
Contrary to popular wisdom, Ubuntu still is a good option.
If you need more flexibility than the alternatives above, go with Debian.
If you could install Pop on a M1 Macbook Air (no VM/bare metal) you would never look back.
Second ... unless you're planning to learn cybersecurity, pentesting, etc, why would you want a security-focused distro like Kali?
Third ... while they'll all run whatever desktop environment you want, it's probably going to be a lot easier to install a distro wherein you select the experience you want in the process
Fourth ... go with what you know ... unless you really want to learn a new distro, just run what you know :)
I absolutely LOVED BeOS back in the day
Though I understand why Apple chose to buy NeXT instead of Be in the 90s, I wish they'd bought both - NeXT to get Steve Jobs and NeXT's way of managing apps (where they're all self-contained directories) and Be to get far more intelligent (for lack of a better (and subjective) term) OS structuring
The BeOS API guide was a dream to work with
Native TCP/IP inter-process messaging, microkernels, Unix-esque (without being "Unix") directory trees, a positively lovely UI (tabs before tabs were "cool"), interapplication object embedding (that no one (not even Android or iOS/iPadOS with their widgets) has yet to accomplish (don't get me started on OLE from Microsoft - a brilliant idea, but stuck at the data level, and never the application level)), insanely-fast startup and formatting (even on janky, old hardware) ...
The OSS reimplementation is called Haiku: https://haiku-os.org
If you're looking for either a walk down memory lane, or the opportunity to learn something different and "new", try it out :)
Debian is what I usually reach for though. If you are doing development work on that laptop, debian is pretty hard to beat.
Edit: as others mentioned, download the debian installer with non-free firmware, otherwise its a bit painful on most laptops.
That's a subjective condition that only you can judge. Try out different desktop environments and their UIs from https://distrotest.net/index.php.
Do you want a Rolling Release distro? OpenSuse Tumbleweed DO you want a stable distro? Opensuse Leap.
I stopped doing distro jump when I decided return to OpenSuse, since then, has been my default distro in personal laptop and workstation laptop.
I truly recommend this.
PS: I have heard about it, but not used it personally. Please use it with your own judgment.
It takes 15 minutes to download, image, and install a distro. And only another 15 to figure out if you like it.
I would try a couple different flavors of the same distro and a couple different distros in the same flavor.
Soon you will be able to answer that question for yourself and others.
I'd suggest Lubuntu. https://lubuntu.me/
I have it running pretty well on a laptop that's close to ten years old.
Since you're using Linux just to use Linux, you might want to try more technical but fun distros like Fedora.
The Answer is; The one that works for both You and your Hardware.
" an old Windows laptop "
is it just it, so wont be power enough to run Win 10?
is ISP connection good/execellent ?
no -> keep on Debian base
yes -> set up Arch base
this'd be Artix, the best of Arch based OS
no systemd much better than it either openRC, runit or s6