Hello guys i have a qustion about which distro i should use?
I want to dual boot windows and linux
I just want a safe place away from microsoft eyes to do edit and drawing and other hobbies on my pc. And playing some games like cs2 & 2d games Also the distro run my wallpaper engine Should be popular distro so if i have a problem i can ask about it
Please dont tell me linux mint because i tried it 3 times and everytime i do anything simple the distro goes off and i should re install i won’t give it anymore chances thank you 😖
Edit: thank you guys for typing your suggests. after some search i will give bazzite try and if won’t work like i want. I will go with the other suggests I really enjoyed reading all your suggests
Based on your last paragraph, you might fall in the supernoob catergory. You’ll want an immutable distribution, you can’t break those Unless you tell it to let you break it.
As a windows user, you’ll find familiarity in Fedora Kionite.
If you prefer a touchscreen oriented experience consider Fedora Silverblue.
There’s a few other options on the page I’m linking, I haven’t tried and therefore can’t recommend either of the others.
https://fedoraproject.org/atomic-desktops/
Edit: my formatting was 🗑️
Edit 2, electric boogaloo:
OP in your post you state you want Wallpaper Engine to work, unfortunately, you’ll have issues there. Depending on what you’re trying to accomplish with wallpaper engine you may be able to do the same using KDE Plasma. I personally use a VLC command line call to enable animated wallpapers on my rig, there’s not exactly a standard for it on Linux so many of the solutions you find will be clunky. Just remember if you go around messing with your xorg.conf file you need to have a backup of it so you can undo changes easily in a terminal.
You’re welcome to DM me if you need assistance.
For a more gaming-ready experience, Bazzite might suit you:
People seem to love bazzite, is it all its cracked up to be?
I’m happy with my lmde htpc/server/gamingrig/clusterfuck so I’m not planning on changing, but I’ve been in the market for a handheld gaming PC and its been on my list to try.
As a noob I really like it. I ran popOS for almost a year, then arch for like two months. I tried fedora for like a week before arch but then decided to try bazzite on a little htpc for the living room, then put it on my main gaming desktop, now I have it on my laptop where I edit photos and videos as a hobby and its been pretty solid.
I don’t really like that it wants you to use flatpaks for everything, since darktable as a flatpaks kept crashing and rapid photo downloaded didn’t have a flatpak so I ended up installing stuff with the ostree rpm but rapid photo is old and not sure how to update it to current version
You can use distrobox to install a version meant for another distro, afaik
grumpy graybeard/neckbeard here but bazzite and bluefin feel like what I wanted out of Linux 25-30 years ago and I’m so glad we’ve reached this point.
I put Bazzite on an Intel n100 box I’m using as an HTPC. Super easy install and it was ready to go and working just fine very quickly. Jellyfin works really well! It really is quite incredible how far things have come since my first install of Ubuntu 14.04. Atomic could really make some headway on making Linux easy for a typical user. Wine has come a LOOOONG way help keep compatibility too.
Way better than my Ubuntu desktop. The only thing hold me back on putting an atomic distro on my desktop is not familiar with how things like Python venvs would work for development. That and I use a global hotkey program for Team speak since they haven’t updated to handle Wayland global keys.
I mainly use my Bazzite machine for gaming and it was rough at first (~1 year ago) but it seems like compatibility has made leaps and bounds recently. I don’t play a ton of different games but I’ve had to do very little tweaking to make them work. 90% have been install-and-play. Usually ProtonDB can help you work out the kinks.
Bazzite is just kinoite / silverblue repackaged as Universal Blue, and then modified to preinstall some qol apps and settings. So if you like the original, but don’t want to start with a blank slate, want the nice things out of the box, start with Bazzite/bluefin/aurora (gaming/gnome/KDE).
For people who know what they’re doing/want, starting blank slate makes sense. For newbies or people who don’t feel like dealing with that 🙋🏼♂️ the latter is a better recommendation imho
I was under the impression that the fedora atomic distros are hard to dual boot on a single drive.
Historically yes, but this appears to not exactly be the case any longer.
Reference https://github.com/fedora-silverblue/issue-tracker/issues/284
There does appear to be a way to do it, from a cursory glance at the above it seems that Fedora and Windows need to have separate EFI partitions, I’m not all that invested though (I don’t use these distros nor do I dual boot) so I don’t really care to look much deeper.
I think immutable is great for everyone, I struggle to find a point against it but maybe I’m a supernoob too hahaha (I use NixOS, btw)
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Buddy I’ve got my pronouns in my username please don’t misgender me.
Additionally, your response is needlessly hostile. You’ve offered no additional information and have chosen my comment to be a naysayer on presumably only because it is the top comment on the post. You’ve contributed nothing but vitriol to this thread.
I couldn’t give two shits what distros people use, and I’m not a fucking shill. OP wanted a suggestion, I gave 4. I used tobhse Fedora because it’s easy, with a large community, and with the bleeding edge release cycle the newest libraries became available more easily without enabling testing repositories or using sketchy PPAs that haven’t been vetted.
If OP weren’t noob, and weren’t someone who has already broken a mint install three times I’d have recommended that use something Debian based or Arch based, but they are, so I didn’t.
Or maybe they’re just genuinely a fan?
I don’t even like fedora ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I just thought it’d be easier.
Ah I see, pretty far from a shill then lol
Yeah, those people who use and recommend it are just in the pocket of Big Fedora!
Something listed in the top 10 or so on https://distrowatch.com/. Personally I like one of the Debian based distros.
Currently we use Ubuntu and Debian. Ubuntu would be the better of the two for beginners.
The distrowatch beginners list is: https://distrowatch.com/search-mobile.php?category=Beginners#simple
Why would Ubuntu be better for beginners?
Because Canonical put a lot of effort into usability. Pretty much all of the popular recommended beginner distributions are Ubuntu based. Examples: Linux Mint, Ubuntu, Zorin, Elementary.
People will recommend other stuff, often that are loved by varioius enthusiasts but these may or may not be that suitable for beginners. Call me skeptical.
I use and recommend Ubuntu because it is easy to install, use, and just works. It is also widely supported and very popular. The one thing I do not like about it is the Snap focus. I would love to recommend Linux Mint but last time I used it major distribution upgrades from the GUI were not supported. Have no idea if they fixed that. Ubuntu upgrades are the click of a button. In my family there are nontechnical users and they have used it for almost 20 years just fine without much help from me.
On the other hand I use Debian if I intend to custom configure something and want a minimal install to start from. Major upgrades on Debian are not a click of a button. On the other hand Debian is not Snap based. My workstation and VPS are Debian for example.
How exactly does canonical make their distribution more usable than Debian?
On the other hand I use Debian if I intend to custom configure something and want minimal a install to start from.
Why?
Major upgrades on Debian are not a click of a button.
They’re the exact same as in Ubuntu…
On the other hand Debian is not Snap based.
Which is a benefit to new users. They shouldn’t be conditioned to be using snaps, anyways.
Upgrades. To do a major upgrade on Debian you go into the command line. You first adjust the appropriate files in /etc/apt. Then you run a bunch of apt commands.
Ubuntu you are asked if you want to upgrade to a new release and just say yes.
More usable. Better installer, better desktop configs, better eye candy, better upgrade tools, wider 3rd party support.
I used Ubuntu for a long time. It is convenient because it is very popular and there is a lot of software available for installation without any extra steps. However, I think it has become quite overloaded. I have been using Fedora with KDE for a relatively long time and I am very satisfied. I use it as my main home and work operating system. It has proven to be very stable. I am engaged in software development, so I use it very actively, and I am happy with it. it meets all my needs. I think You could consider Fedora.
The age old question. You have to understand that Linux the kernel is made in such a way that anything built on top of it will always require way too much from the user. It feels like something made from programmers for programmers, just like how UNIX was designed. No distro will be able to change that. Windows is packed with bandaids to make it behave closer to what users expect, but anything that comes from UNIX has it’s focus in making the code nice, not making ordinary users happy necessarily.
So picking a distro is entirely a choice on how you wanna interact with the kernel’s interfaces, but they’re still the same interfaces. No pretty UI will change that.
Just make sure that the distro you choose has a mature community behind it and that packages are being actively maintained. Make sure that if you file a bug report it will get some attention. That’s the only thing you should care about in a distro, everything else is flashy nonsense.
Edit: Also as you can see by the replies to my comment, Linux is kind of a cult, so beware of that.
Android runs an only slightly modified Linux kernel, and yet the OS requires much less from the user than e.g. Windows or MacOS.
Chromebooks run a bog-standard Linux kernel and the target audience is kids.
My car’s entertainment system runs a standard Linux kernel, and the UX is so cut down that PC expertise really doesn’t matter when using it.
MacOS and iOS, two systems known for their ease of use, both stem from BSD, which comes from Unix.
The kernel has nothing to do with this.
In fact, the only mainstream kernel used in user-facing operating systems that doesn’t “come from Unix” is Windows. Everything else is derived either from Linux or BSD, which both are derived from Unix.
There isn’t even a mainstream phone OS anymore that doesn’t “come from Unix”.
If you don’t root your Android, you can barely do anything. The UI on Android hides all of the ugliness of the implementation and that shows up as jarring bugs, which you can do nothing about as an ordinary user. If you use the manufacturer’s stock OS it’s always a horrible experience as well. They also use kernels which are very far from upstream and have a ton of custom proprietary patches. That’s exactly my point regarding flashy nonsense. And that’s exactly what Windows does as well.
Chromebooks rely on containers and web apps, but once you need to configure your OS, good luck.
MacOS and iOS rely on the company’s complete control of their hardware, OS and apps. They have the most closed system out there and rely on things not changing too much. They also expect users to pay for every little inconvenience.
I’ve been using Linux for plenty of years now, I’m a fan, I love the model, I love the way it’s developed, but I also recognize the issues it has. I love programming and going deep in the system, but that’s not what ordinary users necessarily want. That’s just the reality, the kernel is not setup and documented in a way that would allow easy comprehension and configuration. If you don’t have that, then what can a user do when they have to configure the OS and you always need to do that for one reason or another. Companies like Canonical tried to market a model of keeping the system stable and comprehandable, but it never worked out in practice.
This person has no idea what he’s talking about and his input can be safely disregarded.
Wow such an informative comment, great argument. <3
Relevant post I made:
A lot of people are going to recommend you mint, I honestly think mint is an outdated suggestion for beginners, I think immutability is extremely important for someone who is just starting out, as well as starting on KDE since it’s by far the most developed DE that isn’t gnome and their… design decisions are unfortunate for people coming from windows.
I don’t think we should be recommending mint to beginners anymore, if mint makes an immutable, up to date KDE distro, that’ll change, but until then, I think bazzite is objectively a better starting place for beginners.
The mere fact that bazzite and other immutables generate a new system for you on update and let you switch between and rollback automatically is enough for me to say it’s better, but it also has more up to date software, and tons of guides (fedora is one of the most popular distros, and bazzite is essentially identical except with some QoL upgrades).
How common is the story of “I was new to linux and completely broke it”? that’s not a good user experience for someone who’s just starting, it’s intimidating, scary, and I just don’t think it’s the best in the modern era. There’s something to be said about learning from these mistakes, but bazzite essentially makes these mistakes impossible.
Furthermore because of the way bazzite works, package management is completely graphical and requires essentially no intervention on the users part, flathub and immutability pair excellently for this reason.
Cinnamon (the default mint environment) doesn’t and won’t support HDR, the security/performance improvements from wayland, mixed refresh rate displays, mixed DPI displays, fractional scaling, and many other things for a very very long time if at all. I don’t understand the usecase for cinnamon tbh, xfce is great if you need performance but don’t want to make major sacrifices, lxqt is great if you need A LOT of performance, cinnamon isn’t particularly performant and just a strictly worse version of kde in my eyes from the perspective of a beginner, anyway.
I have 15 years of linux experience and am willing to infinitely troubleshoot if you add me on matrix.
Thank you i will search about bazzite and see what i can do
If you don’t like the gaming stuff try aurora, feel free to message me on matrix.
Okay good, you also included Aurora. I agree almost completely with your previous post that mint is outdated, and an immutable is much better for someone who has no idea what they’re doing. No reason to blanket recommend Bazzite, hence the aurora comment.
I’m on Bluefin though, so that’s where we disagree 😏 Don’t know what it is but I’ve never liked KDE.
Thank you for that info, I tried to use mint on a laptop with a touchscreen but the touchscreen didn’t work, so I will try your recommendation.
If your computer can’t handle Linux Mint, then either you do something wrong, or your computer is really unstable. I won’t ask you to use Mint, but I will say, that I use it on three different computers, and not a single problem anywhere. Dual-boot is notoriously unstable - mostly due to MS… So my advice is, to use a computer for Linux by it self…
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I suggest you to check out Linux Mint Cinnamon edition. I have been using it for years without any problems. I also have dual boot with Windows, but I think I will delete Windows soon and use only Linux.
My name is none of your business, and I approve this suggestion.
For most of us using Linux distros for years, we already have a preferred distro that is highly unlikely to be Ubuntu or even Debian based, but for first-timers, I honestly believe Mint is the way to go. But seeing how mint has been a flop for you (as another poster said, it’d be great to know what went wrong) an immutable distro (like Bazzite) would fit your current needs better, but these distros are not the best way to start learning about Linux and eventually migrate from Windows entirely.
EndeavourOS is the best imo because it’s basically arch with a minimal skin on it to aide in installation etc
I’ve been using it for the better part of 5 years now with no issues. I play games, self host, work etc It’s great.
If you install paru you get access to the AUR which has everything under the sun ready to install.
Welcome in from the cold. We have hot cocoa and blankets.
Linux Mint Debian Edition.
You say not to suggest mint, but you most probably used an Ubuntu based Mint so that doesn’t count.
Honestly, Linux Mint is probably the best option. Failing that, Fedora is another good option which is derived from Red Hat, it does things differently to Debian based systems like Mint and Ubuntu, but it’s widely supported.
You’ll need to iterate what you were doing when it stopped working, 99% of the time, it’s down to human error. As someone once said:
“Unix [or Linux] will give you enough rope to shoot yourself in the foot. If you didn’t think rope would do that, you should have read the man page.”
Ill die on this hill but give pop_os! A try, last time i tried it it was really polished.
Pop’s the distro that made me go full linux. It let me tinker and have the linux experience without a lot of setup or preexisting knowledge.
Linux Mint
What sort of “simple” things did you have trouble with in Mint?
You could try popOS, Fedora, or Ubuntu. But without knowing what you struggled with, Mint should still be the best choice of you’re new. Your troubles could just be the desktop environment you picked, or enabling third party/proprietary repositories. Or they could be a legit issue that is easily fixed using a different distro.
Well i did it beffore one month so i dont remember wheat happened clearly but i remmber the first problem i have was the net then the sound then steam games and porton that problem when i tried to fix rust not working i Accidently broke the system the second time i was careful with everyting i did everyting right then after one day of using i start to have black screens lag crashes and sometimes the games dosent open and sometimes when i play the game just close and dont open i am not talking about just rust i tried another games. I left the games alone i tried to just update something i don’t remmber what was anyway from the update manger then screen just off i didn’t know what happened i just re install it again and this time i did everyting right but i wasnt happy with the appearance so i did a lot of things make the system cool but when i start in the wallpaper yp you know i destroy the system while trying to make wallpaper engine work so i just left mint i was having a lot of problems but that was when the system died and what i remember of it
Looks to me like Nobara might be what you want, it’s fedora based and is tailored toward gaming. I haven’t used it myself, so I can’t comment on how it’s different from fedora, but Fedora itself is pretty darn solid
