Recommend Solus To First-Time Linux Users?
I think some people are overexaggerating what average home users do with their devices, I find they mostly use a browser and an email client (most often not this these days).
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Justin I have. 
It is the worst but it is also familiar. New users are not used to Linux. Hence, we should be careful when recommending a distro and we should always recommend something that will closely resemble what they are used to. Windows users expect to have official support from the software devs, they expect to be able to just search about the issue on the net and get the answer on some forum or discussion without involving themselves, they are used to just downloading binaries from the internet to install software, they are used to having a nice logo when booting, etc.... No offence intended, man! I have always run into these problems when recommending new users to Linux. That is why we should recommend something else till we solve most of these issues.
Justin That is not always true! There are many average users who use specific tools, due to work or some other matter. Their needs do change and life is quite unpredictable. It would be quite uncomfortable for them not to be able to access something they need or want. Also, most people who are coming to Linux are going to have a decent level of computer literacy. They are not casual users. They are most likely already dependant on some very specific tools. 
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Justin Yes. However, most employees also have their own laptops and tend to work from home as well. Furthermore, not everyone has the privilege of being given a computer. Many employees in smaller businesses will most likely have to supply themselves with one. You are also forgetting people who own a business. We have to make Linux an attractive option for them as well. Hence, ensuring compatibility with specific software and tools are a top priority. 
dlalinsp Very first sentence on the Solus homepage
Solus is an operating system that is designed for home computing.
This of course doesn't mean that Solus couldn't or shouldn't be used for other purposes but the statement cannot be more clear, can it ?
I don't get this whole "Linux Mint is the most polished Linux" argument. In my experience, it's absolutely the worst. And no, this isn't from just using it once or twice, I've used it extensively both for work and personal use, and I've had nothing but issues with it. The biggest problems with it, though, have been with their preferred DEs. I can't stand Cinnamon and I simply can't understand how people can deal with Mate. Solus Budgie has been by far the most polished experience I've ever had with Linux. The few pain points I've had to deal with have been more general Linux issues rather than anything specific to Solus (other than the Software Center, but that's another topic). As I said before, other than those with advanced needs who can't find what they need in the Software Center, Solus is the one and only Linux distro I'd recommend to newbies.
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I find Mint to be boring. Their forum also was not the friendliest, although I haven't been on it in awhile. That's an important thing. People are going to look to forums for help (if they don't just give up and run back to Windows because even a slight amount of effort and learning is too much for them).
I agree that Manjaro is not a good first choice. But is Ubuntu? Is Gnome 3 going to make sense to them? Perhaps it's a little better than Unity (well maybe a lot), but is it still a bridge too far? Elementary makes sense to the Mac crowd. But it doesn't even come with an office suite. Although Xubuntu or Mint XFCE might be good. Perhaps Ubuntu Mate. Kubuntu is definitely not a good first choice. I can't comment on MX as I have not used it, but it's been #1 on Distro Watch for sometime now.
All in all, I think Solus is a reasonable choice, along with Zorin, which has always been Windows-users friendly. Those would be my top recommendations at this point. Mainly because of stability and ease of use. Both have a Windows feel to them, and an intuitive layout that is easy to grasp. both also have friendly forums.
Maybe I've just been lucky, but I had pretty much no issues with Solus ever since I started using it. Very much unlike the "more mature" distros like Ubuntu or Linux Mint, which made me go back to Windows after some time because I didn't want to constantly google for solutions to annoying problems. Not major problems, mind you, just a whole lot of minor ones that sum up.
I do understand however, that some other less lucky people feel the same way about Solus.
I used mint for a few years and had no real complaints about it apart from synaptic.
I wasn't really involved in the community but the few bugs I reported and the suggestions made on segfault blog where always handled/answered pretty quickly.
The negative points imho were that it was pretty obvious the the xfce & kde editions didn't get as much love as the cinnamon & mate flavors. At the very beginning, I had great hopes that the LMDE edition could one day take precedence over the Ubuntu-based edition but I quickly realized that it's nothing but a playground for the devs. This really disappointed me.
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kyrios People don't really seperate home computing and computing at work. Often, they are intermingled. Like I said earlier, a lot of people do work from home. We really can't expect them to use two different operating systems to do some work. With all due respect, you will have a tough time explaining that to people coming from Windows if they can't do what they need to do. You will end up scaring them away from Linux. That is why it is better to recommend a distro that is officially supported by third party software devs.
dlalinsp If people don't understand what they read, there is very little we can do about it. Employers that allow home working usually provide a laptops their employees. And not offending anyone but a profesionnal that is a little serious will ensure to have the appropriate tools to accomplish the tasks he/she has to do.
And let's be frank, most companies won't support linux, most profesionnal software won't be available on linux and when they are, they usually aren't free (so the company will expect these software to be installed on material they own) and they are usually distributed only as .deb or .rpm -> Solus is not the best cadidate for that kind of usage.
Perhaps I am an exception but in my surrounding, I don't know anyone who is asked to use his personal computer by his employer. Some companies like mine have BYOD policies but it is very limited as it's on a separate network which has some gateways to things like the exchange server or give access to the company private cloud to use office and onedrive things (the kind of things you can use from any kind distro, even from smartphones or tablets), but it certainly not allow you to use everything and anything and for most advanced professional apps, you need a full access to the company network.
lizabrown01 This is for discussing first-time Linux usage, please create a thread with your issue.
Hi all,
I switched over from my Macbook Pro with OSX in December 2018 after buying a new laptop. I had never used Linux before so very much in the first time user category.
I did isntall Ubuntu first but did not like it's standard DE. Within in couple of days I switched over to Solus after doing a little research and talking to some friends who have been using Linux for years. My experience can be summed up as follows:
1) The installation wasn't flawless. For whatever reason, it took me 3 - 4 attempts to get Solus to correctly install and boot. I don't even know what I did different on the last try (as I don't think I did anything different) to get it working but after multiple tries one time it just started working? As a GUI installer though, I have to say the Solus installer is slick and nice.
2) The update via Software Centre crashed the first time doing a big update and had to take a few reboots and multiple smaller updates to get everything to latest. This hasn't been an issue since but from reading around the forums this is a known but unresolved issue with software centre.
3) As someone who doesn't know anything about Linux, searching around the web got me loads of articles around Ubuntu, Arch and other "more well known / supported" Distro's. It's not as clear how to do things on Solus as it is on some of these other distro's but I guess that's due to the size and popularity differences at this point in time.
4) It is known that the quality of packages supported by Solus is less than other Distros. I can't use PureVPN or Wireguard as some examples because they aren't supported by the developers or Solus for easy installation guides. However, mostly, I can find what I need and the Software Centre seems a lot faster to install than on other Distro's I have subsequently tried.
5) Budgie is an awesome DE. It feels familiar for anyone used to Windows, it's slick and polished and all round I just like it. Coming from a mac, you can also tailor it to use a dock and have that feel to it as well so it can be familiar to anyone with any experience with a little tinkering.
6) I have issues with a square box around my cursor which I think is due to the NVidia drivers. I have to logout and log back in after first boot to resolve this as a temporary issue. This is a bit frustrating and doesn't happen on Ubuntu or some other distro's I've tried so I know there is a fix somewhere, I just haven't figured it out for Solus.
7) Boot time on Solus is much faster than any other Distro I've tried. The computer just feels quicker using Solus that any other Distro.
Overall, I would say it's not a super easy transition from Mac or Windows to Linux. I think Solus is one of the easier Distro's to transition to in large part to Budgie being a solid DE that looks great and feels easy to learn and use. I think some things like Software centre crashes and package curation might make it a little harder for some users to jump on and have everything they want. I've switched around a few Distro's in the last 6 months as I get to grips with Linux. There are definitely things I don't like about Solus but the bottom line is... I keep coming back!
rav101 3) As someone who doesn't know anything about Linux, searching around the web got me loads of articles around Ubuntu, Arch and other "more well known / supported" Distro's. It's not as clear how to do things on Solus as it is on some of these other distro's but I guess that's due to the size and popularity differences at this point in time.
There is the help center for this (Docs link in the top navigation bar of this forum). Unlike some other distro's that have exhautive wiki that cover advanced topics, Solus help center is kept intentionally small and simple to allow people who begin to easily find the basic info they need to settle down.
rav101 4) It is known that the quality of packages supported by Solus is less than other Distros.
Quantity and quality are different things you know !
rav101 I can't use PureVPN
That's not correct. OpenVPN configuration files are provided and instructions on how to set it up (here). I know this is not what you expect but you can set it up.
Hi,
I actually agree on all points. I was just putting my point across as a first time user. I guess in each aspect, it's a little more involved. Help centre is great but I know there were a few things I couldn't find the answer for on Solus that I could see lots of guides for on Ubuntu for example. There are some programs that I was recomended to use when I first started out that weren't on solus, it was just a case of looking for alternatives. With PureVPN, there is a PureVPN app that works through terminal which easily allows you to choose from any of their servers rather than the OpenVPN approach where I believe you have to set up each vpn server individually.
Overall, like i've said I have stayed with Solus as I think it's a solid distro. I'm just saying for first time users, its not completely idiot free and you do need to put in a bit of work yourself.
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This is my first linux distro, I switched over from Windows 10 and its basically a straight swap if you've got any sort of computer literacy. Sure some things a bit different, but not so different that the experience with windows doesn't transfer pretty well directly. The biggest hurdle I had was identifying which file was which in the file manager, but that is a linux wide difference not something specific to Solus.
Besides that, everything is pretty well were any experienced windows user would expect it to be.
dlalinsp I agree with you to a large extent, kyrios. That is also why we can't recommend Solus to newbies directly.
And here I disagree at 200% with you.
- The very large majority of users have a casual use of their machine: web, mail, chat, watching videos, listening to music, games, etc. Solus is actually better that many other distributions for this (i.e: from where does LSI come from?)
- People who must remain productive for their work, especially the ones without a technical background won't suddenly wipe their hard disk and jump into the shadow to try a Linux distribution.
- Multiboot Windows/Linux is a thing. People who have regular need non-linux programs (which is not uncommon for many professionals) will anyway run them a the native OS for a smoother experience.
Newbies who try Linux from themselves or on advise of some friends don't have a work usage of their machine in mind. The ones who use linux for work usually install what their company uses (Redhat workstation, Ubuntu, ...) and even then the computer is usually installed/configured by the IT responsible.