First! Also, I wanted to continue the discussion over from this thread on the Other Site. Changing your OS is much harder than the other changes, I think, but it would still be good to include.
Linux Mint - My preference, since it’s the easiest for a new user to get into. I would feel confident teaching my grandparents how to use it
OpenBSD - This is the most secure, so anyone who is privacy focused would want this one. All linux distros are inherently more secure than windows (open source, don’t come packed with adware, etc.), but this is OpenBSD’s goal.
Then, you’d probably want a distro that works well on old laptops (why buy a new laptop if a 10-year old laptop can do the job fine?) Linux, in general, is a lot less resource-intensive than Windows anyways, but there are a few distros that are specifically built for old or tiny computers. Alpine Linux might be the smallest, but Lubuntu is probably better for user support. I haven’t done much with either of them outside of some VMs here and there, so hopefully someone else has some good experience with “light” distros and can chime in.
It’s real easy to get into the weeds on the “best” open source distro, so I’d recommend including one that’s user friendly, one that’s really secure, and one that’s really good at running on old/obsolete hardware.
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I would remove OpenBSD which, while being secure, was a PITA to use last time I checked. You can replace that with FreeBSD which is more geek-friendly.
My recommandations as usual are, in no specific order: Ubuntu, Linux Mint, and POP_Os which have all the required tools for most people and don’t require any kind of administration.
I think Zorin deserves a mention. It’s a pretty polished Linux distro that’s designed to be easy for Windows users to adapt to. So it’s a good alternative option to Mint.
Edit: Also, I second Lubuntu as a good option for older or more resource limited systems.
Linux Mint is fine if you’re coming from Windows but if you’re a Mac user something Gnome is probably more familiar
Ooo, that’s a good point! Could even have a few distros with Gnome to show how it changes on the infographic
