On 08/09/2015 08:14 PM, Isaac Dunham wrote:
> Hello,
> I'm looking for a Linux distro that I could recommend to friends who are
> rather frustrated with Windows 10.
> The friends in question ask me about how to fix problems with their
> computers from time to time.
With the greatest respect, Isaac, by my experience, I think you are
wasting your time.

Every single time I have offered to replace Windows with Linux about 95%
of them return to Windows within one month. It is what they want. They
want what they already know. They want to use their existing software,
and everything commercial to "just work". This not to say that Linux
has a problem, it is simply acknowledging reality. They don't want
change. The only ones who can handle the change are the fully
committed: "power users" and IT professionals. In over 20 years in this
business, I can tell you one thing for certain: the IT marketplace is
deliberately designed to prevent "replacement."
> The essentials would be:
> -has a *good* Windows migration assistant, which must be able to handle
> Windows 10; I know that Ubuntu used to have this.
>
You should never trust a tool to migrate data. Always do it yourself
from a backup, lest ye suffer a terrible fate.
> -glibc-based, so that Flash and Avast Workstation will work
>
Flash is dead. There is absolutely no reason to use it at all on Linux,
and even if you do, all the functioning Linux versions are crippled by
design.

The NPAPI (netscape/firefox) version is the last one available on Linux
with DRM video support, at version 11.2. It is severely crippled by the
requirement to use hal, which is no longer supported by the vast
majority of Linux distributions. Adobe refuses to update it to remove
the hal requirement, now that Google makes the Linux version of Flash.
Google has deliberately crippled the existing version used in Chrome so
that it is incapable of DRM, except on Android.

This means you will get no commercial streaming video using Flash on
Linux without Google's blessing. The only way around that is some
"severe hackery" that only programmers are capable of. As another point
of mention, you cannot get DVDs or Blu-ray to play back without using
software which may violate your local laws. So if any of your friends
are expecting DRM streaming video or disc playback, you might as well
stop now.

Netflix works just fine, but only if you use Chrome or some Chrome
libraries with a patched version of Chromium. No other browser on Linux
has EME (Encrypted Media Extensions) support needed at this time.


> (at least one of the friends in question uses avast on Windows)

I wouldn't bother.

In my experience, even on Windows, an anti-virus is a waste of time and
battery life. Even if it manages to detect something, 50% of the time
it will either fail to remove the virus or damage the operating system
or applications. Better to just dispense with it entirely, and extend
your performance and battery life. Restore from a clean backup - which
removes the virus 100% of the time. The restore also takes only 30
minutes to an hour, where scanning and possibly destroying the OS can
take hours.

The only people who should be using an AV or AM as a diagnostic tool are
technicians trained in its use, who are able to distinguish between a
real problem and a false positive. Even Symantec (the company that
basically invented the modern anti-virus) has a similar assessment, when
they declared the "anti-virus" approach "dead."


> I suspect properly configured Xfce or Mate may be better at this point.

I'd go with XFCE or KDE at this point, with a preference on XFCE. Mate
tends to be subtly buggy.


>. -binary based Highly preferred: -not rolling release,
I'd not go with source based either. They will get upset waiting an
hour for something to compile.


> -non-systemd based, so that I can help debug issues; OpenRC or
sysv-rc preferred -dpkg/apt based, since that's the package manager I'm
most familiar with.

Frankly, for the moment, if I were you, I would consider Ubuntu 14.04.2
LTS. It's probably your best option because it has the widest support
right now, period for FOSS or commercial software. Even Valve uses it as
their default choice for Steam gaming.


Take care!
T.J.