New to the whole Linux scene, have heard really great things figured I'd maybe give it a crack?

[beanburrito]

For pure simplicity and especially for newcomers to Linux, I generally have two recommendations:

MX-Linux, and Linux Lite. Here's why:

If I recall correctly, Linux Lite ships with the proprietary Google Chrome, not Chromium. When I tried Lite I didn't find it all that light. As per my post above, MX Linux has a really good Fluxbox flavor, though it may not be as newbie friendly as XFCE. In addition to being proprietary, for some reason Chrome took considerably longer to start than Chromium on my old laptop. Granted, I was running it from the LiveCD, rather than an install but my was it slow.

It's easy enough to rip it out and install Firefox, but not on the LiveCD. Google Chrome shouldn't ship on any distribution that wants to dedicate themselves to FOSS and be taken seriously, in my opinion. Now if someone wants or needs Google Chrome, that's their call. But I try and recommend FOSS solutions first.

Honestly, though, I didn't give Linux Lite much of a test beyond loading Google Chrome and a few other small things, so please don't consider my opinions as an overall review of the distribution.

 

[Perpetual Padawan]

I think in later releases they dumped Chrome and use Firefox ESR as default. It hardly matters much, since changing browsers is a simple matter of a few clicks. And if it's the absence of anything proprietary that matters most, then the choices narrow down to Trisquel, PureOS, Parabola, etc (listed here). Any other distro would fall short of that standard.

 

[beanburrito]

I think in later releases they dumped Chrome and use Firefox ESR as default.

You're right, as of 5-30-2026, they switched to Firefox. For the longest time they had Chrome. Well good for them, making the right choice.

It hardly matters much, since changing browsers is a simple matter of a few clicks

Yes, indeed, but when you're testing a LiveCD on an old laptop, the last thing you want is for something to take forever to load, which Chrome did for me when they had it. Especially for a distro called, "Lite."

And if it's the absence of anything proprietary that matters most, then the choices narrow down to [...]

Well said, my friend. I was simply focusing on their previous use of Chrome for the browser. And if you're that dedicated, might as well go the coreboot route as well.

Forget everything I said about Linux Lite! (for now) ^_^ According to their release history they have flip-flopped around between Chrome and Firefox through the years.

 

[MikeWalsh]

@beanburrito :-

You're right, as of 5-30-2026, they switched to Firefox. For the longest time they had Chrome. Well good for them, making the right choice.

Heh. That IS, of course, very much a personal choice at the end of the day.

I had nowt but problems with FF in the early-to-mid 'noughties'. Memory leaks abounded in those days, and it had a disturbing tendency to crash whenever it felt like it. I lost so much work to it back then, that when Chrome was announced in 2007, I joined the 'beta' test program in the summer of that year.

I was blown away by it! Here was a browser that was sleek, lightweight (in those days), and sizzlingly fast. I've been using it ever since the very first stable release in Autumn 2007, and I haven't really looked back since.....

I still keep Firefox around, but it's only ever a kind of 'backup' browser for me. Of course, nowadays it's as good as any other browser, but for ages it was held back by all the constant squabbling, arguments & general 'back-stabbing' that was, apparently, at one time just a fact of life in the Mozilla developer camp...

Internal politics delayed its transition into the browser it finally is today.....the browser it COULD have been so MANY years ago.

"Once bitten, twice shy", y'know?

(shrug...)


Mike.