I remember organizing Linux install parties at my university (University of Lille (1), in France), each year for like 3 to 4 consecutive years.
It was always a pleasure to meet new people and explain how basically "their computer is working" and how they can free from Windows.
The most interested person at that time was a 55 years old woman who knew nothing in computer. I installed Ubuntu on its computer and she came the next year with strong system knowledge for a linux-newbie, and the same laptop... with Debian in it!
It's so nice to see installfests still happening in the Linux community - I have fond memories of running many of them 25 years ago.
As for the distributions mentioned, the points are definitely sage, but I would argue that the Flatpak-centered Fedora Silverblue is the best distribution for beginners, and that the sentence "...but the system can be potentially more unstable than Debian" is no longer true nowadays.
I remember organizing Linux install parties at my university (University of Lille (1), in France), each year for like 3 to 4 consecutive years.
It was always a pleasure to meet new people and explain how basically "their computer is working" and how they can free from Windows.
The most interested person at that time was a 55 years old woman who knew nothing in computer. I installed Ubuntu on its computer and she came the next year with strong system knowledge for a linux-newbie, and the same laptop... with Debian in it!
It's so nice to see installfests still happening in the Linux community - I have fond memories of running many of them 25 years ago.
As for the distributions mentioned, the points are definitely sage, but I would argue that the Flatpak-centered Fedora Silverblue is the best distribution for beginners, and that the sentence "...but the system can be potentially more unstable than Debian" is no longer true nowadays.
There is a nice overview of this sort of events on the End Of 10 website: https://endof10.org/places/
I thought this would be a speedrun event like Games Done Quick
1:14 Arch record https://youtu.be/8utpbbdj0LQ (jokes aside the tmux trick is insane didn’t even know you could do that before I saw this video)
Nice. I know a few people who'd need this in Ljubljana
Check podcast https://radiostudent.si/druzba/tehno-klistir They talk about open source, linux, etc...
There was one. https://radar.squat.net/sl/event/ljubljana/kompot/2025-11-26...
On that same note,of reducing the barriers for Linux usage.
Would it be possible to create a Zorin OS USB drive that after inserting it into the USB drive of a laptop:
The user would get a running Linux, with the UX they know(win 10/11), with full speed and full capabilities - without installation ?
System from USB will feel sluggish. Users could get a feel for UI, but I think it would be inadequate for a long term usage.
That just sounds like a live USB?
At least it wasn't Comic Sans