My kid's first PC won't run Windows—it'll use one of these 5 Linux distros instead

Published Aug 12, 2026, 9:47 AM EDT Dibakar Ghosh is a tech journalist at How-To Geek, where he focuses on Linux, Windows, and productivity tools. His goal is simple—help readers at every skill level get more done with the tech they use every day. He began his writing career in 2016 with WordPress tutorials, later moving into digital marketing, where he spent years reviewing complex tools for marketers. His work has also appeared on Authority Hacker, where he’s shared in-depth guides on digital workflows and online productivity. That experience now shapes his journalism, blending analytical depth with practical, real-world advice. When he’s not writing or testing software, Dibakar is usually watching movies or playing video games. He’s a huge Christopher Nolan fan and a strong proponent of the theater experience. In gaming, he has sunk hundreds of hours into Insomniac’s Spider-Man series, Returnal, Prototype, Darksiders, and Final Fantasy titles. Want your kids to use Linux but can't decide which distro makes the best introduction? Should they use your daily driver or something different? Well, here are five distros I'm seriously considering for my own kids—and the reasoning behind each choice. Most distro recommendations for kids focus on simplicity, but I believe children deserve more credit. The only reason we find something simpler (or more complex) is because of our background and prior experiences. However, to a child who's never used a computer, there's no baseline for 'simple' or 'complex'—learning most computing workflows will offer a similar level of challenge. This is why I'm not focusing on "easy-to-use" distros but on exposing them to different computing workflows with practical, real-world benefits. Garuda Linux—my daily driver Gaming, snapshots, and endless customization I’ve been using Garuda Linux for about four years now, and it’s my main PC. So naturally, as a parent, I’d want my kids to use the tools I personally love. There’s also the fact that they’ll see me use this system daily and want to explore it out of curiosity. This is the main reason Garuda sits at the top of my list. That said, beyond the personal connection, there are a ton of practical benefits to letting my kids use this distro. First, Garuda follows a choose-your-own-bloat approach where, during installation, you can quickly install all the apps you want on your PC. This lets me effortlessly prepare a system that exposes them to various apps from different categories—offering a huge digital landscape to explore. Furthermore, the flagship Dragonized and Mokka editions use KDE Plasma, which is a goldmine for features and customizations. Kids can tweak literally everything—panel layouts, themes, desktop effects, and more. This can serve as an outlet for creativity as they explore design and digital aesthetics. Garuda is also a rolling release distro, which requires routine system maintenance. I'm betting this will teach my kids a lesson in responsibility, putting them on a schedule to update their systems weekly (or at least bi-weekly). It’s also one of the safer rolling release distros as it uses the Btrfs file system with Snapper integration. This lets my kids revert to older snapshots if an update introduces a bug or they accidentally break something during experimentation. Lastly, Garuda is one of the best distros for gaming. There’s very little configuration hassle as most gaming-specific optimizations are pre-configured. If a game runs on Linux—and around 80 percent of the top 100 games do—Garuda will run it smoothly! Ubuntu—the most popular Linux distro There's no shortage of learning resources for Ubuntu The name Ubuntu is practically synonymous with Linux itself. It's so popular that if my kids mention they use Linux to anyone, there's a high likelihood people will assume they're talking about Ubuntu. Furthermore, if they ever encounter Linux in schools, libraries, or similar institutions, those systems will most likely be running Ubuntu. As such, familiarity with Ubuntu prepares them for the mainstream Linux space. It also uses GNOME, which has a novel virtual desktop-based workflow that’s fundamentally different from Windows or macOS. This can help them see that there are multiple ways to organize and interact with digital workspaces and that there’s no best, set-in-stone approach! I also believe that learning Linux will be far easier if they start with Ubuntu. Owing to its massive popularity, most folks use Ubuntu as the default platform when creating online tutorials, app guides, or troubleshooting videos. Starting with Ubuntu means they have a large amount of online learning resources at their disposal. There’s also the fact that Ubuntu is one of the few distros that supports both LTS (Long Term Support) and interim release cycles. LTS releases are updated every two years and are relatively more stable, while interim releases are updated every six months with newer features but less stability. This serves as a soft introduction to the pros and cons of stability vs. frequent updates, which is a common theme in Linux and computer software. Linux Mint—the best Windows-like distro It's super lightweight, too I really don't want my kids using Windows. That said, I'm realistic enough to know they'll get second-hand exposure anyway. School computers, internet cafés, their friends' PCs—most of these will be running Windows. As such, I want them to be familiar with the Windows workflow while staying on Linux, and this is where Linux Mint comes in. Now, I should mention—I was never a big fan of Linux Mint and still carry that sentiment. However, I don’t want to force my opinions on my kids—I want them to make up their own minds, which I believe is only possible by safely exposing them to as much variety as possible. Mint uses the Cinnamon desktop environment, which offers one of the best recreations of the core Windows desktop paradigm—taskbar at the bottom, start menu on the left, system tray on the right, with all your pinned and running apps in the middle. Linux Mint will expose them to this popular way of using and interacting with the computer. Also, beyond the Windows familiarity angle, Linux Mint is reasonably lightweight. I can show them how installing Mint on an old, sluggish Windows laptop can suddenly revive it and make it snappy. This teaches a valuable lesson in sustainability—that old hardware doesn't need to become e-waste when the right software can give it new life. Fedora with tiling window managers—for keyboard-focused workflows Diving into the deep end Many will argue that tiling window managers are too complicated for children, but I don’t think they’re inherently more complex—they just feel more difficult because most of us grew up on Windows or Mac. Kids don’t carry this predisposition—so learning to use a tiling WM should likely be as challenging as developing the dexterity to use a mouse. Using a tiling WM and its keyboard-centric workflow means my kids will need to memorize shortcuts to easily navigate the desktop. This can help develop their recall, focus, and touch typing skills—all of which translate into better productivity down the line. Beyond keyboard skills, tiling WMs can also develop spatial reasoning and organizational thinking. They'll start viewing the screen as limited real estate and learn to organize windows efficiently to maximize that space. It's basically a lesson in resource management. There’s also a coding gateway here. Setting up and customizing tiling WMs involves editing configuration files, which serves as a soft introduction to programming concepts like variables, functions, and syntax structures. Now, plenty of distros support window managers, but I'm choosing Fedora because it's one of the most reliable and stable distros that also supports cutting-edge updates. This gives them a secure base to experiment without worrying about the distro itself breaking. Of course, Fedora has other benefits too—like its focus on open-source software—but I'd rather not drag my kids into corporate vs. libre philosophical debates. They'll have their entire adult lives for that! ElementaryOS—for a simple and minimal user experience It's in the name By now you might be thinking I want my kids to grow up into system design experts—exposing them to all these different and unique computing paradigms. Jokes aside, the main reason I'm doing this is because I feel exposure to different workflows should make them more creative and better problem solvers. That said, I do realize one can acquire these skills through other means—they don’t necessarily have to use different desktop environments with complex workflows. In fact, sometimes using a complicated desktop might prove counterproductive as it ends up hindering the actual work they wanted to do. This is why I plan to introduce ElementaryOS into the mix! It’s another distro I personally don't vibe with. I've often criticized it as feeling like it was designed for children—and if I want to stand true to that, it means I absolutely have to introduce my kids to it. Pantheon, the desktop environment powering ElementaryOS, offers a colorful system that should feel approachable to kids. It also carries a certain level of neatness and focus with its minimal design. The overall layout is macOS-like but with fewer visual distractions and limited settings to tinker with—which should be great if my kids get overwhelmed by too many options. It’s the perfect choice if they simply want to boot up their computers to use a specific app, read an ebook, or simply watch some videos. These are just my options, yours can be different That wraps up my list of the five Linux distros I’m considering for my kids. Hopefully, this presents you with some viable options, or at least my rationale behind my choices can help you create your own list. In terms of how to easily introduce them to five separate Linux distros, I plan on setting up a multi-boot system—which I also happen to use personally!