Which Linux
I got a new computer (hand-me-down from bestie) and got my Windows setup for gaming & casual use. And now I'm ready to start installing Linux and setting up dual boot. For many years, I ran Fedora -Not sure why but I did rather like it. But eventually I switched back to Linux Mint because it is the defacto casual build, plus I thought it would have better games compatibility than Fedora.
And so here I am today, wondering: Should I get Mint or Fedora?
And this is a terrible problem for an operating system to have. Nobody's thinking deeply about "Which Windows should I get?" You just get the latest Windows, or mayyybe the 2nd most recent version. Either way, its just not a very complicated choice.
Which brings me to this idea. I don't think trying to build one mega distro makes any sense - it just wouldn't fit with the nature of the linux community.
But we could have a single Unified Linux Installer. I care very little about the specific decisions and very much about the ease of the process.
A Beginner mode could literally give you a single option for your distro, let's say Mint or Ubuntu or Fedora Desktop - it does not matter. The Desktop Environment also doesn't matter. The important part is: A beginner does not have to make any technical decisions when starting with Linux. They'll still pick their username, maybe go through a customization step for desktop colors & other stuff like that. Maybe there's also a screen to pick which software to install initially (userland things like Libreoffice and Gimp and Discord)
An 'Advanced' mode could then give you the majority of options most people would want. Offer you the major distro choices, you pick one, and then it offers you the major Desktop Environment choices and you pick one of those. Maybe there's some more advanced configuration options available beyond the 'Beginner' mode.
And an 'Expert' mode would ... i don't know. You get the point. Some proper Linux nerds could figure out what goes into 'Expert'.
I will say - all versions of the Unified Installer should give you the options to go into advanced settings on any of the screens - like do you need custom partitioning for a dual boot? Or, whatever else.
And Gaming really needs an explicit step in this install process. A screen to select which game stores you want to install (Steam, Epic, etc) and game-related software like Discord and OBS. The entire ecosystem around gaming on Linux & running Windows software on Linux is just ... too freaking messy, too freaking technical, and it really needs smoothed out with a Gaming UI. But gaming is a talk for another day.