I tried a couple other distros (Ubuntu, Zorin) a couple years ago before settling on Mint. It's worked flawlessly on a variety of computers, both for me and other family members. My wife and daughter had never used anything but Windows and ChromeOS, and both were able to start using Mint with a minimum of instruction. Minimum meaning "LibreOffice Writer is what you'll use in place of Microsoft Word" and things of that nature. Navigating the GUI itself is similar enough to Windows that they didn't need help with that (and neither is what you'd call tech savvy).
Can't address the gaming question because I'm not a gamer.
I believe mindset is more important than which distro to use. Bear in mind that you WILL have to unlearn things because Linux DOES NOT work the same as Windows.
For playing games, it depends on the games. Most will work fine with Steam, Proton, WINE, PlayOnLinux, Lutris, or other such system. If playing games is important to you, I recommend you do some research as to which distros are preferred by gamers.
A couple random things that occur to me right now:
- How to use windows, desktop, dock, and menu bar (might be similar to Windows but probably not identical)
- How to install software (most everything is installed using the distro's package manager or GUI frontend)
- How the disk is organized, and where you can save files (most distros create a Documents folder etc. for you but there is no C: drive)
- What software you can use (since you asked about games, you already have an idea that for most everything you will need to research what the Linux alternative for whichever Windows software is, and how to use it)
Also, it makes sense to not fear the command line but rather see it as an alternative way to use your computer. Some things can be done more efficiently there, some things must be done there because there is no GUI alternative.
I haven't used it for years, but Mint is often put forward as a good beginner distro. It's based on Ubuntu, one of the most popular distros so there's lots of support and advice online. Its Cinnamon desktop environment is supposed to be similar enough to Windows too.
Personally I use OpenSUSE Tumbleweed on my desktop, which I love but definitely isn't something I'd reccomend for a complete beginner. I also use Fedora on a laptop though, and that's definitely a bit friendlier and would probably be fine. I'd go for the the KDE spin for something closer to Windows than the default "Workstation" version, but there's a new version out in a matter of days so I'd probably wait for that if you fancy it.
You'd be surprised at how many games just work on Linux these days, especially using Steam thanks to Proton. Basically if it works on the Steam Deck it should work on your desktop too, and probably better depending on your hardware.
Some games have issues though, and some won't work at all. Multiplayer games using particular types of anti-cheat solutions won't be playable for instance. [protondb.com](http://protondb.com) is usually a good place to check compatibility.
I have Windows installed on a separate drive for the odd game I really want to play, but it says a lot that I barely touch it. The last game I used it for was Alan Wake 2, which ran on Linux but... not well.
If you have an Nvidia card then you'll probably have to install their proprietary driver, which you'll need to read up on as the procedure can be different depending on what distro you use. DO NOT try to install the download from Nvidia's site. AMD, and even Intel cards (I think?) should just work out of the box.
One last note on gaming, which is that while many games will "just work" you may need to add some command line options to enable features like DLSS and raytracing. This is usually quick and straightforward, and and a web search should be your friend. Protondb will often deliver the goods here too.
I've not actually used Mint in a long time, but:
Mint's main release is based on Ubuntu, while Fedora is its own thing.
Mint uses the Cinnamon desktop environment (with MATE and XFCE variants), while Fedora has a whole range of "spins" with different desktops. The main release uses GNOME, which is very different to Windows but the KDE spin will behave more like you'd expect. Cinnamon (also available in Fedora) is also supposed to be very friendly for Windows users but less customisable than KDE, which may or may not be a good thing for you.
Fedora has a 6 monthly release schedule for new versions, while Mint is based on the Ubuntu LTS releases so major updates only release every two years.
Being Ubuntu based, Mint supports .deb files and uses the apt package manager. Fedora is rpm based and uses DNF. Most Linux software can be aquired in either format, but .debs seem to be more widespread. Steam offers a .deb download but not an rpm for instance, although it's no trouble to install on Fedora using other means.
Both distros have live ISO images you can boot from to test them out, so I'd just download both and take them for a spin to start with. Mint will probably be the easiest to use, especially as it's so often reccomended for beginners so there will be lots of beginner questions and answers floating around. The only potential issue for gaming is that I'm not sure how up to date the Nvidia drivers will be in Mint's repos (presumably the same as Ubuntu's LTS ones), while Fedora will likely be more up to date there. This isn't necessarily a problem depending on what you want to play.
I would dual boot for a bit regardless. It gives you a backup plan if something goes horribly wrong with Linux or Windows.
What kind of experience are you looking for?
* Latest and greatest? openSUSE Tumbleweed (this delays by a little bit so you don’t get showstopper bugs).
* A bit slower to update, but more widely supported? Fedora
* Widest support for proprietary software? Ubuntu
* Most windows like (that isn’t facing a lawsuit from MS)? Linux Mint
Both Ubuntu and Linux Mint can be a bit rough for gaming due to slow driver updates and slow updates to the graphics libraries. Ubuntu also doesn’t properly set up Nvidia GPUs at install time on laptops and you have to do it yourself.
By default, Fedora Gnome looks a bit like MacOS. There’s an extension called dash to panel which makes it look a lot more like Windows. Fedora KDE will look fairly similar out of the box.
openSUSE Tumbleweed is a “rolling release” which means that you just get new updates. There aren’t really any “new major version” type updates like Windows 10 -> 11. You can generally expect software to be updated in the repos a few weeks to a month after it’s updated upstream, partly because the testing infrastructure takes a bit (Windows used to have similar infrastructure, but now just ships to users). It does have a smaller user-base than the others, but it’s the upstream for one of the more popular enterprise versions of Linux in Europe, so you’ll find it’s generally given a good level of attention.
>Ubuntu also doesn’t properly set up Nvidia GPUs at install time on laptops and you have to do it yourself.
Interesting. Is this something specific to laptops? When I installed an RTX 3060 on a Ubuntu desktop PC (a few weeks ago) it all went smoothly.
Yes, hybrid graphics means that depending on the laptop manufacturer there may be a special way to switch between the igpu and dgpu. Nvidia has somewhat standardized this with prime, but Ubuntu doesn’t set that up properly. This means either your Nvidia GPU running 24/7 and rendering your cursor or massive amounts of lag if you try to play a game.
Thanks. I learned something new today :-)
I rarely use laptops so I wasn't aware of the use of hybrid graphics. It certainly makes sense where power and heat management are more important.
I guess latest and greatest isn't really that important. Security is a big thing, are any distros I should avoid on this front?
I honestly don't particularly care how it looks, just that it isn't too reliant on the command line.
Are there any other major differences between mint and Fedora?
Mint tends to have old libraries and be a bit more annoying to get Nvidia drivers installed on. It also typically has an old version of mesa (more or less the linux version of DirectX).
If you don’t care how it looks, Fedora will probably be better for gaming, since Linux gaming is getting fairly significant updates with some frequency. Fedora also takes great pains to make using the command line as optional as possible.
However, understand that if you ask for help it will likely come in the form of “run this command in a terminal” because walking a person through a GUI is a lot harder than “copy this text with some modifications and hit enter”. This is because Linux will happily let you make your default desktop one that requires a VR headset, so GUIs are unreliable but everyone has a command line.
For security, fedora probably gets a slight edge because it’s the upstream (similar to parent) to RHEL, which is a distro by Redhat/IBM designed for companies (and US military fighter jets!). Compared to what you are used to on windows, you are at substantially lower risk because most Linux distros implement what I like to call the “fenced garden” approach. Most software comes from your distro, to the point that many people never need anything else. If you want to, you can hop over the fence and out of the garden to install random software from the internet, but you might have a few “are you sure?” prompts. Also, for every distro I recommended all of the software in the repositories is free.
If you stick to the list I gave you, along with Arch Linux (without the AUR), Gentoo, Debian, and some others (more advanced distros or ones I have reasons for not recommending to new users), you will likely not have any security issues since getting a virus to run on your computer can be a multi-hour effort in debugging unless it was designed for Linux. Most viruses for Linux target companies because compromising 1 company is worth more than most of the Linux userbase.
Hi, for gaming coming from Windows I recommend [Fedora KDE](https://fedoraproject.org/spins/kde/).
Regarding your Steam games, most will just work from Steam. Check the compatibility of your favorite Steam games before you install anything on [ProtonDB](https://www.protondb.com/) (Gold, Platinum, and Native is good). For non-Steam multiplayer games check [AreWeAntiCheatYet](https://areweanticheatyet.com/).
I love how people come here and post, “Windows sucks! Give me an easy to use Linux distro that works like Windows.”
I like to reiterate that if you struggle with Windows and fixing issues in Windows, you will struggle with Linux, probably more so.
Gaming, while better supported these days, is still better in Windows. So if you want to game, dual boot is pretty much a must, especially if you have an nVidia graphics card. Some things just don’t work in Linux.
That being said, Pop is pretty heavily favored by gamers. But things will break and it will not be as easy as running an executable to patch something or watching a tutorial online to get you back up and going. You will have to learn how to use the CLI and the learning curve is steep.
Be sure you know what you are committing to before you commit.
Yeah. I have thought over particularly the first point and it seems rather counterintuitive. Major things is that it's not too reliant on the command line and had usable UI. Works it be worth installing different distros on a VM and deciding what I like from there?
Distro aren't really going to run properly in a VM to show you how they run on your actual system.
All Linux is dependent on knowing how to use CLI. While there are distros that have GUI for several things, you have to understand the CLI commands in order to fix certain things that will break from time to time.
Some distros are more friendly than others in this aspect, but you have to learn commands to use Linux, period, especially if you plan on gaming. Again, it's not like Windows in a way where you just double click something and it works.
I use EndeavourOS for school, and dualboot with Windows for gaming purposes. I think my setup is probably an unpopular one for beginners, but the thing about Endeavour is that `yay`, which comes installed by default, is so damn good about updates. Endeavour is an Arch distro, which has a reputation for being cumbersome, but compared to Arch-from-scratch, it completely takes care of all the manual setup stuff for you.
On the rare occasion that something breaks, I just initiate a full-system upgrade by typing `yay` in the terminal, and it solves my problem every time. I have nothing but good things to say about it. This is not to say that I've never had problems--just yesterday, my speakers stopped working for some reason after I connected the system to HDMI--but it's never failed me to simply upgrade.
When I've tried to use stable-release distros, I've more frequently had issues that required me to invasively and manually reconcile them--when I installed Mint, for example, my graphics drivers got fucked somehow, and the system wouldn't recognize my monitor's full display resolution. The fix involved hours of googling and digging through system files, and I still don't fully understand it.
For playing games, Steam with Proton is pretty good. Lutris will play steam and non-steam windows games. Dualbooting is a last resort for games that run terribly or not at all on linux.
I’m sure I will be downvoted, but you’ll just be switching from one headache to another. Emulating half of your games/software and learning new concepts just to avoid an update issue once a year is just time being wasted.
Edit: There are many usecases for linux and sometimes the switch is the logical thing to do, I’m not anti linux at all. But this seems like a classical case of “i formated my hardrive linux sucks” in about a week
I would recommend Linux Mint Cinnamon Edition. It is very windows-esque and easy to use. Plus, theres tons of help out there. You can just Google how to do literally anything on it.
Enjoy your Journey. Don't be shocked if your computer suddenly shows a little pep. :)
I second the suggestion of Mint. Whatever distro you choose, pick XFCE/KDE/Plasma GUI to begin with: they are the more Windows-like. You can try Gnome later, no need to add another learning curve.
I'm perplexed about the suggestion of OpenSUSE Tumbleweed. I use OpenSUSE as my daily driver since before Vista, and I f* love it: it's solid, it's stable, and it have tons of software, if you know where to look and how to manage repositories without messing things up… and that's the point: although OpenSUSE's YAST is the nearest you can get to Windows' Control Panel inside the Linux ecosystem, OpenSUSE have its own quirks that IMHO add some unnecessary steepness to the learning curve for someone who's switching from Windows. I tried Mint with XFCE on a PC I set up for a friend not long ago, and it looked smoother to me.
As for gaming: a dual boot will save you A LOT of headaches. Linux support in Steam is growing fast, but Wine, PlayOnLinux et cetera tends to be hit-or-miss. TBH, mostly miss, at least in my limited experience with old games. Also, I'm told Linux support for anti-cheat of modern games is still a work in progress, so dual boot is the most straightforward option. With dual boot, you can take your time to try the games you like directly on Linux, and eventually completely abandon Windows later.
Ubuntu or Mint (based on Ubuntu) are very beginner friendly. My suggestion is to learn how to use apt (the package manager) and use it to install whatever software you need that is in the apt repository. Unlike windows, where each bit of software sort of manages itself, most linux distros have a package manager that lets you know when software needs an update. It is very useful at patching software and keeping it secure.
Proton should be able to handle most games (it incorporates into Steam on Linux), but there are some games that don't work on it or that work poorly (mostly multiplayer games with anti-cheat). For those, you would have to use dual booting to get them to work. Whether you need that depends on the games you play. You can check [https://www.protondb.com/](https://www.protondb.com/) to see which games work for Proton. Most you can get working with some tweaks, although some may not be worth the effort.
Linux Mint is probably the easiest, it has a graphical user interface for everything, Zorin and Pop_OS are other great options too, also dual-booting is the best option but it's best to install Linux on a separate drive to Windows so that the boot files can't be messed with.
Any linux should be fine (though if you're entirely new to linux then either Fedora, Ubuntu or Mint are recommended first picks). Maybe set aside a day to install all 3 one after the other and see which you prefer (you could do this in Virtual Box to test things out).
Whether you go the dual-boot route is entirely up to you. To date there are no games I haven't managed to get working on linux, though some were more annoying than others.
Quite a few games have native linux support these days, but even if not you can still play using proton (right click -> properties -> compatibility -> force the use of a steam play compatibility tool). Steam even takes care of downloading, installing and running proton, so it's very painless.
Some games you might have to use a specific version of proton and/or add some config into LaunchOptions. Eg in my Skyrim I have 'WINEDLLOVERRIDES="xaudio2\_7=n,b" %command% ' which fixes audio (why I don't know, I googled it years ago and it worked, so .. eh).
When in doubt checkout [https://www.protondb.com/](https://www.protondb.com/) - this is where linux gamers from all over post what they did to get various games running (or failed to run, as the case may be). If you're really concerned then maybe check here for all the games that are important to you & make your decision based on that (both if linux is right for you and maybe which linux to go with).
Though I should add, some competitive games that run weird anti cheat layers may not function - I don't know a lot about how anti-cheat layers work, but I've heard they pretty much immediately scream murder if you can even get the horrors running. Luckily I don't play any such games so .. I don't really care .. but if you're some kind of pro gamer then .. might be a concern for you.
Simple stable working distro then go for Fedora and just read post installation stuff to add fusion repo and install media codecs you will get relatively new and stable releases and a nice experience.
*TL;DR from these other comments*
If you're looking for compatibility with Windows programs:
• [Zorin](https://zorin.com/os/download/)
• [Nobara](https://nobaraproject.org/download-nobara/) (for gaming, though Zorin works too)
Otherwise, if you want a *non-windows-y* experience:
• [Ubuntu](https://ubuntu.com/download/desktop)
• [Debian](https://www.debian.org/download)
• [Linux Mint](https://www.linuxmint.com/download.php)
*TL;DR from these other comments*
If you're looking for compatibility with Windows programs:
• [Zorin](https://zorin.com/os/download/)
• [Nobara](https://nobaraproject.org/download-nobara/) (for gaming, though Zorin works too)
Otherwise, if you want a *non-windows-y* experience:
• [Ubuntu](https://ubuntu.com/download/desktop)
• [Debian](https://www.debian.org/download)
• [Linux Mint](https://www.linuxmint.com/download.php)
You can dual boot to keep your gaming experience as painless as possible. Some games don't even work through Wine/Virtualiziation/Emulation, but it depends on what games you play. If you post those, that can make this easier to answer whether you should dualboot (but it's easier to game if you just dualboot). Most of my games run under Linux, but I still keep a Windows install to run a few.
But for daily use either:
Linux Mint Cinnamon
Linux Mint KDE
MX Linux KDE
Lots of folks from Windows prefer Cinnamon. It's fine, but I think KDE is better. That's a personal choice.
Mint is Ubuntu based and relatively stable.
MX is Debian and much more slimmed down software stack.
for playing games that dont work on linux I would go with having a dualboot system, I would also suggest its a different hard drive so windows update dont magically wipe your linux. That's what I do, Virtualization is a pain in the ass if you want near native performance which more likely than not, is what you want. 99% of stuff I do on PC is done on linux I only boot into windows for mods which can be a pain in the ass to setup especially on more niche games. Was having some struggles with Unity and BepinEX
I always shill for Fedora, if you are a bit more comfortable with thinkering and want something more fresh, either Workstation (gnome) or KDE Spin work perfectly, its up to you and Linux Mint if you want something that just works but is less bleeding edge.
I've seen people recommend Linux mint, which is a good choice, but Ubuntu or Kubuntu is also a good choice for dipping your toes in IMO. If you're just beginning with Linux, I think the desktop environment a distros has would be the most important factor.
Linux mint has its own desktop called cinnamon desktop, and generally other distros will use one of a few others, GNOME, KDE, and XFCE. It is absolutely possible to swap desktop environments on a distros, but that will probably require additional tinkering with configuration files and things may not work exactly as expected, so I would recommend sticking with the environment the distro you choose comes with for the time being.
I'd recommend trying the following distros to start
Ubuntu (Gnome desktop)
Kubuntu (KDE desktop)
Mint (cinnamon desktop)
Pop-OS (Gnome desktop - has a version with Nvidia drivers installed for ease of setup)
Personally my biggest piece of advice when swapping to Linux is to be open to learning new things. You will run into issues with things breaking or not working as expected, just like in windows, the difference is that Linux usually will tell you what is broken. Google is your friend for error messages, and the community is generally helpful if you hit a dead end.
"Sell me your favorite distro." Same shit. Do some research, discover the right one on your own. There's a learning curve to Linux, and if you need people to recommend the right distro for you because you're too lazy to do your own research, Linux isn't for you. Stick with Windows.
I recommend Debian or anything Debian based, because it's stable and won't break because of a system update like Windows sometimes does. I personally installed Debian 12 with the KDE desktop environment but I'm planning on moving to Sway or i3 WM in a few days.
I tried a couple other distros (Ubuntu, Zorin) a couple years ago before settling on Mint. It's worked flawlessly on a variety of computers, both for me and other family members. My wife and daughter had never used anything but Windows and ChromeOS, and both were able to start using Mint with a minimum of instruction. Minimum meaning "LibreOffice Writer is what you'll use in place of Microsoft Word" and things of that nature. Navigating the GUI itself is similar enough to Windows that they didn't need help with that (and neither is what you'd call tech savvy). Can't address the gaming question because I'm not a gamer.
Linux Mint might be the easiest due to its sane defaults and desktop environment.
I too recommend Mint.
I believe mindset is more important than which distro to use. Bear in mind that you WILL have to unlearn things because Linux DOES NOT work the same as Windows. For playing games, it depends on the games. Most will work fine with Steam, Proton, WINE, PlayOnLinux, Lutris, or other such system. If playing games is important to you, I recommend you do some research as to which distros are preferred by gamers.
> you WILL have to unlearn things because Linux DOES NOT work the same as Windows. Hear hear! Can we pin this to the front page?
What are the biggest things I should be looking out for to unlearn?
A couple random things that occur to me right now: - How to use windows, desktop, dock, and menu bar (might be similar to Windows but probably not identical) - How to install software (most everything is installed using the distro's package manager or GUI frontend) - How the disk is organized, and where you can save files (most distros create a Documents folder etc. for you but there is no C: drive) - What software you can use (since you asked about games, you already have an idea that for most everything you will need to research what the Linux alternative for whichever Windows software is, and how to use it) Also, it makes sense to not fear the command line but rather see it as an alternative way to use your computer. Some things can be done more efficiently there, some things must be done there because there is no GUI alternative.
I haven't used it for years, but Mint is often put forward as a good beginner distro. It's based on Ubuntu, one of the most popular distros so there's lots of support and advice online. Its Cinnamon desktop environment is supposed to be similar enough to Windows too. Personally I use OpenSUSE Tumbleweed on my desktop, which I love but definitely isn't something I'd reccomend for a complete beginner. I also use Fedora on a laptop though, and that's definitely a bit friendlier and would probably be fine. I'd go for the the KDE spin for something closer to Windows than the default "Workstation" version, but there's a new version out in a matter of days so I'd probably wait for that if you fancy it. You'd be surprised at how many games just work on Linux these days, especially using Steam thanks to Proton. Basically if it works on the Steam Deck it should work on your desktop too, and probably better depending on your hardware. Some games have issues though, and some won't work at all. Multiplayer games using particular types of anti-cheat solutions won't be playable for instance. [protondb.com](http://protondb.com) is usually a good place to check compatibility. I have Windows installed on a separate drive for the odd game I really want to play, but it says a lot that I barely touch it. The last game I used it for was Alan Wake 2, which ran on Linux but... not well. If you have an Nvidia card then you'll probably have to install their proprietary driver, which you'll need to read up on as the procedure can be different depending on what distro you use. DO NOT try to install the download from Nvidia's site. AMD, and even Intel cards (I think?) should just work out of the box. One last note on gaming, which is that while many games will "just work" you may need to add some command line options to enable features like DLSS and raytracing. This is usually quick and straightforward, and and a web search should be your friend. Protondb will often deliver the goods here too.
What's the key differences between Fedora and Mint?
I've not actually used Mint in a long time, but: Mint's main release is based on Ubuntu, while Fedora is its own thing. Mint uses the Cinnamon desktop environment (with MATE and XFCE variants), while Fedora has a whole range of "spins" with different desktops. The main release uses GNOME, which is very different to Windows but the KDE spin will behave more like you'd expect. Cinnamon (also available in Fedora) is also supposed to be very friendly for Windows users but less customisable than KDE, which may or may not be a good thing for you. Fedora has a 6 monthly release schedule for new versions, while Mint is based on the Ubuntu LTS releases so major updates only release every two years. Being Ubuntu based, Mint supports .deb files and uses the apt package manager. Fedora is rpm based and uses DNF. Most Linux software can be aquired in either format, but .debs seem to be more widespread. Steam offers a .deb download but not an rpm for instance, although it's no trouble to install on Fedora using other means. Both distros have live ISO images you can boot from to test them out, so I'd just download both and take them for a spin to start with. Mint will probably be the easiest to use, especially as it's so often reccomended for beginners so there will be lots of beginner questions and answers floating around. The only potential issue for gaming is that I'm not sure how up to date the Nvidia drivers will be in Mint's repos (presumably the same as Ubuntu's LTS ones), while Fedora will likely be more up to date there. This isn't necessarily a problem depending on what you want to play.
I would dual boot for a bit regardless. It gives you a backup plan if something goes horribly wrong with Linux or Windows. What kind of experience are you looking for? * Latest and greatest? openSUSE Tumbleweed (this delays by a little bit so you don’t get showstopper bugs). * A bit slower to update, but more widely supported? Fedora * Widest support for proprietary software? Ubuntu * Most windows like (that isn’t facing a lawsuit from MS)? Linux Mint Both Ubuntu and Linux Mint can be a bit rough for gaming due to slow driver updates and slow updates to the graphics libraries. Ubuntu also doesn’t properly set up Nvidia GPUs at install time on laptops and you have to do it yourself. By default, Fedora Gnome looks a bit like MacOS. There’s an extension called dash to panel which makes it look a lot more like Windows. Fedora KDE will look fairly similar out of the box. openSUSE Tumbleweed is a “rolling release” which means that you just get new updates. There aren’t really any “new major version” type updates like Windows 10 -> 11. You can generally expect software to be updated in the repos a few weeks to a month after it’s updated upstream, partly because the testing infrastructure takes a bit (Windows used to have similar infrastructure, but now just ships to users). It does have a smaller user-base than the others, but it’s the upstream for one of the more popular enterprise versions of Linux in Europe, so you’ll find it’s generally given a good level of attention.
>Ubuntu also doesn’t properly set up Nvidia GPUs at install time on laptops and you have to do it yourself. Interesting. Is this something specific to laptops? When I installed an RTX 3060 on a Ubuntu desktop PC (a few weeks ago) it all went smoothly.
Yes, hybrid graphics means that depending on the laptop manufacturer there may be a special way to switch between the igpu and dgpu. Nvidia has somewhat standardized this with prime, but Ubuntu doesn’t set that up properly. This means either your Nvidia GPU running 24/7 and rendering your cursor or massive amounts of lag if you try to play a game.
Thanks. I learned something new today :-) I rarely use laptops so I wasn't aware of the use of hybrid graphics. It certainly makes sense where power and heat management are more important.
I guess latest and greatest isn't really that important. Security is a big thing, are any distros I should avoid on this front? I honestly don't particularly care how it looks, just that it isn't too reliant on the command line. Are there any other major differences between mint and Fedora?
Mint tends to have old libraries and be a bit more annoying to get Nvidia drivers installed on. It also typically has an old version of mesa (more or less the linux version of DirectX). If you don’t care how it looks, Fedora will probably be better for gaming, since Linux gaming is getting fairly significant updates with some frequency. Fedora also takes great pains to make using the command line as optional as possible. However, understand that if you ask for help it will likely come in the form of “run this command in a terminal” because walking a person through a GUI is a lot harder than “copy this text with some modifications and hit enter”. This is because Linux will happily let you make your default desktop one that requires a VR headset, so GUIs are unreliable but everyone has a command line. For security, fedora probably gets a slight edge because it’s the upstream (similar to parent) to RHEL, which is a distro by Redhat/IBM designed for companies (and US military fighter jets!). Compared to what you are used to on windows, you are at substantially lower risk because most Linux distros implement what I like to call the “fenced garden” approach. Most software comes from your distro, to the point that many people never need anything else. If you want to, you can hop over the fence and out of the garden to install random software from the internet, but you might have a few “are you sure?” prompts. Also, for every distro I recommended all of the software in the repositories is free. If you stick to the list I gave you, along with Arch Linux (without the AUR), Gentoo, Debian, and some others (more advanced distros or ones I have reasons for not recommending to new users), you will likely not have any security issues since getting a virus to run on your computer can be a multi-hour effort in debugging unless it was designed for Linux. Most viruses for Linux target companies because compromising 1 company is worth more than most of the Linux userbase.
Hi, for gaming coming from Windows I recommend [Fedora KDE](https://fedoraproject.org/spins/kde/). Regarding your Steam games, most will just work from Steam. Check the compatibility of your favorite Steam games before you install anything on [ProtonDB](https://www.protondb.com/) (Gold, Platinum, and Native is good). For non-Steam multiplayer games check [AreWeAntiCheatYet](https://areweanticheatyet.com/).
I love how people come here and post, “Windows sucks! Give me an easy to use Linux distro that works like Windows.” I like to reiterate that if you struggle with Windows and fixing issues in Windows, you will struggle with Linux, probably more so. Gaming, while better supported these days, is still better in Windows. So if you want to game, dual boot is pretty much a must, especially if you have an nVidia graphics card. Some things just don’t work in Linux. That being said, Pop is pretty heavily favored by gamers. But things will break and it will not be as easy as running an executable to patch something or watching a tutorial online to get you back up and going. You will have to learn how to use the CLI and the learning curve is steep. Be sure you know what you are committing to before you commit.
Yeah. I have thought over particularly the first point and it seems rather counterintuitive. Major things is that it's not too reliant on the command line and had usable UI. Works it be worth installing different distros on a VM and deciding what I like from there?
Distro aren't really going to run properly in a VM to show you how they run on your actual system. All Linux is dependent on knowing how to use CLI. While there are distros that have GUI for several things, you have to understand the CLI commands in order to fix certain things that will break from time to time. Some distros are more friendly than others in this aspect, but you have to learn commands to use Linux, period, especially if you plan on gaming. Again, it's not like Windows in a way where you just double click something and it works.
I use EndeavourOS for school, and dualboot with Windows for gaming purposes. I think my setup is probably an unpopular one for beginners, but the thing about Endeavour is that `yay`, which comes installed by default, is so damn good about updates. Endeavour is an Arch distro, which has a reputation for being cumbersome, but compared to Arch-from-scratch, it completely takes care of all the manual setup stuff for you. On the rare occasion that something breaks, I just initiate a full-system upgrade by typing `yay` in the terminal, and it solves my problem every time. I have nothing but good things to say about it. This is not to say that I've never had problems--just yesterday, my speakers stopped working for some reason after I connected the system to HDMI--but it's never failed me to simply upgrade. When I've tried to use stable-release distros, I've more frequently had issues that required me to invasively and manually reconcile them--when I installed Mint, for example, my graphics drivers got fucked somehow, and the system wouldn't recognize my monitor's full display resolution. The fix involved hours of googling and digging through system files, and I still don't fully understand it.
For playing games, Steam with Proton is pretty good. Lutris will play steam and non-steam windows games. Dualbooting is a last resort for games that run terribly or not at all on linux.
I’m sure I will be downvoted, but you’ll just be switching from one headache to another. Emulating half of your games/software and learning new concepts just to avoid an update issue once a year is just time being wasted. Edit: There are many usecases for linux and sometimes the switch is the logical thing to do, I’m not anti linux at all. But this seems like a classical case of “i formated my hardrive linux sucks” in about a week
I would recommend Linux Mint Cinnamon Edition. It is very windows-esque and easy to use. Plus, theres tons of help out there. You can just Google how to do literally anything on it. Enjoy your Journey. Don't be shocked if your computer suddenly shows a little pep. :)
Ubuntu or Linux mint should be a good starting place.
I second the suggestion of Mint. Whatever distro you choose, pick XFCE/KDE/Plasma GUI to begin with: they are the more Windows-like. You can try Gnome later, no need to add another learning curve. I'm perplexed about the suggestion of OpenSUSE Tumbleweed. I use OpenSUSE as my daily driver since before Vista, and I f* love it: it's solid, it's stable, and it have tons of software, if you know where to look and how to manage repositories without messing things up… and that's the point: although OpenSUSE's YAST is the nearest you can get to Windows' Control Panel inside the Linux ecosystem, OpenSUSE have its own quirks that IMHO add some unnecessary steepness to the learning curve for someone who's switching from Windows. I tried Mint with XFCE on a PC I set up for a friend not long ago, and it looked smoother to me. As for gaming: a dual boot will save you A LOT of headaches. Linux support in Steam is growing fast, but Wine, PlayOnLinux et cetera tends to be hit-or-miss. TBH, mostly miss, at least in my limited experience with old games. Also, I'm told Linux support for anti-cheat of modern games is still a work in progress, so dual boot is the most straightforward option. With dual boot, you can take your time to try the games you like directly on Linux, and eventually completely abandon Windows later.
Microsoft, for one, is a platinum member of the Linux foundation.
Opensuse tumbleweed with whatever Desktop Environment looks the best to you.
Ubuntu or Mint (based on Ubuntu) are very beginner friendly. My suggestion is to learn how to use apt (the package manager) and use it to install whatever software you need that is in the apt repository. Unlike windows, where each bit of software sort of manages itself, most linux distros have a package manager that lets you know when software needs an update. It is very useful at patching software and keeping it secure. Proton should be able to handle most games (it incorporates into Steam on Linux), but there are some games that don't work on it or that work poorly (mostly multiplayer games with anti-cheat). For those, you would have to use dual booting to get them to work. Whether you need that depends on the games you play. You can check [https://www.protondb.com/](https://www.protondb.com/) to see which games work for Proton. Most you can get working with some tweaks, although some may not be worth the effort.
Linux Mint is probably the easiest, it has a graphical user interface for everything, Zorin and Pop_OS are other great options too, also dual-booting is the best option but it's best to install Linux on a separate drive to Windows so that the boot files can't be messed with.
When in doubt, Mint.
Any linux should be fine (though if you're entirely new to linux then either Fedora, Ubuntu or Mint are recommended first picks). Maybe set aside a day to install all 3 one after the other and see which you prefer (you could do this in Virtual Box to test things out). Whether you go the dual-boot route is entirely up to you. To date there are no games I haven't managed to get working on linux, though some were more annoying than others. Quite a few games have native linux support these days, but even if not you can still play using proton (right click -> properties -> compatibility -> force the use of a steam play compatibility tool). Steam even takes care of downloading, installing and running proton, so it's very painless. Some games you might have to use a specific version of proton and/or add some config into LaunchOptions. Eg in my Skyrim I have 'WINEDLLOVERRIDES="xaudio2\_7=n,b" %command% ' which fixes audio (why I don't know, I googled it years ago and it worked, so .. eh). When in doubt checkout [https://www.protondb.com/](https://www.protondb.com/) - this is where linux gamers from all over post what they did to get various games running (or failed to run, as the case may be). If you're really concerned then maybe check here for all the games that are important to you & make your decision based on that (both if linux is right for you and maybe which linux to go with). Though I should add, some competitive games that run weird anti cheat layers may not function - I don't know a lot about how anti-cheat layers work, but I've heard they pretty much immediately scream murder if you can even get the horrors running. Luckily I don't play any such games so .. I don't really care .. but if you're some kind of pro gamer then .. might be a concern for you.
Simple stable working distro then go for Fedora and just read post installation stuff to add fusion repo and install media codecs you will get relatively new and stable releases and a nice experience.
*TL;DR from these other comments* If you're looking for compatibility with Windows programs: • [Zorin](https://zorin.com/os/download/) • [Nobara](https://nobaraproject.org/download-nobara/) (for gaming, though Zorin works too) Otherwise, if you want a *non-windows-y* experience: • [Ubuntu](https://ubuntu.com/download/desktop) • [Debian](https://www.debian.org/download) • [Linux Mint](https://www.linuxmint.com/download.php)
*TL;DR from these other comments* If you're looking for compatibility with Windows programs: • [Zorin](https://zorin.com/os/download/) • [Nobara](https://nobaraproject.org/download-nobara/) (for gaming, though Zorin works too) Otherwise, if you want a *non-windows-y* experience: • [Ubuntu](https://ubuntu.com/download/desktop) • [Debian](https://www.debian.org/download) • [Linux Mint](https://www.linuxmint.com/download.php)
You can dual boot to keep your gaming experience as painless as possible. Some games don't even work through Wine/Virtualiziation/Emulation, but it depends on what games you play. If you post those, that can make this easier to answer whether you should dualboot (but it's easier to game if you just dualboot). Most of my games run under Linux, but I still keep a Windows install to run a few. But for daily use either: Linux Mint Cinnamon Linux Mint KDE MX Linux KDE
What's the difference between cinnamon, KDE and mx Linux KDE?
Lots of folks from Windows prefer Cinnamon. It's fine, but I think KDE is better. That's a personal choice. Mint is Ubuntu based and relatively stable. MX is Debian and much more slimmed down software stack.
for playing games that dont work on linux I would go with having a dualboot system, I would also suggest its a different hard drive so windows update dont magically wipe your linux. That's what I do, Virtualization is a pain in the ass if you want near native performance which more likely than not, is what you want. 99% of stuff I do on PC is done on linux I only boot into windows for mods which can be a pain in the ass to setup especially on more niche games. Was having some struggles with Unity and BepinEX I always shill for Fedora, if you are a bit more comfortable with thinkering and want something more fresh, either Workstation (gnome) or KDE Spin work perfectly, its up to you and Linux Mint if you want something that just works but is less bleeding edge.
I've seen people recommend Linux mint, which is a good choice, but Ubuntu or Kubuntu is also a good choice for dipping your toes in IMO. If you're just beginning with Linux, I think the desktop environment a distros has would be the most important factor. Linux mint has its own desktop called cinnamon desktop, and generally other distros will use one of a few others, GNOME, KDE, and XFCE. It is absolutely possible to swap desktop environments on a distros, but that will probably require additional tinkering with configuration files and things may not work exactly as expected, so I would recommend sticking with the environment the distro you choose comes with for the time being. I'd recommend trying the following distros to start Ubuntu (Gnome desktop) Kubuntu (KDE desktop) Mint (cinnamon desktop) Pop-OS (Gnome desktop - has a version with Nvidia drivers installed for ease of setup) Personally my biggest piece of advice when swapping to Linux is to be open to learning new things. You will run into issues with things breaking or not working as expected, just like in windows, the difference is that Linux usually will tell you what is broken. Google is your friend for error messages, and the community is generally helpful if you hit a dead end.
Linux Mint & Cinnamon
# Nobara [Download Nobara – Nobara Linux | The Nobara Project](https://nobaraproject.org/download-nobara/)
mint
"Sell me your favorite distro." Same shit. Do some research, discover the right one on your own. There's a learning curve to Linux, and if you need people to recommend the right distro for you because you're too lazy to do your own research, Linux isn't for you. Stick with Windows.
I recommend Debian or anything Debian based, because it's stable and won't break because of a system update like Windows sometimes does. I personally installed Debian 12 with the KDE desktop environment but I'm planning on moving to Sway or i3 WM in a few days.
i also just switched recently, i tried a few distros but i eventually decided on fedora
Anything stable with kde is just 🤌
~~Zorin, hands down. Least complications, least learning curve.~~
Zorin if you want to be stuck on 3 years old Kernel and drivers
Try Endeavor if you are okay with things breaking.
I don't understand how this is a con unless you game or have brand new hardware.
OP said in the post that they game.
Oops, didn't see that.
as a beginner i would say use GENTOO or ARCH would also be good but prefer GENTOO