Don’t use Mint or Ubuntu, use Bazzite. It actually is “just works” with the added benefit of “you can’t break it”. It’s perfect for both beginners and experienced users who are looking to do work rather than tinker with their OS.

And if you have a graphics card (which you probably do since you mentioned gaming), Bazzite comes with Nvidia or AMD drivers preinstalled, so you don’t have to do anything extra to get it to work.

But if you really want to follow the YT influencer Linux memes, at least go with Ubuntu instead of Mint. Mint is just Ubuntu with a different default desktop, but worse in every other way less reliable (edit: toned down the exaggeration)

As long as you don’t pick Ubuntu, you’re good to go!

(p.s. not to scare you lol, if you pick ubuntu you’d be fine, just some of their decisions on where they are taking their os have been bad imo)

As someone who’s been in this for a while, go with Mint.

It’s not a “beginner distro”. You can start there, you can stay there as long as you don’t develop any super niche prerequisites. Even then, Mint can probably do it.

The developers are sane and it’s a popular system that has been in development for years with many tweaks and improvements. There’s a big community around it if you need help/guides.

You just can’t go wrong with it.

Linux is linux. In the end it’s more your personal taste with just a little sprinkle of use case that decides.

The main differences are:

• Update speed: How quickly are the repositories getting updates. That’s a spectrum between getting cutting edge version in days or weeks or having things unchaged for up to several years. Or in other worlds you will see more bugs in freshly released software, but also bugfixes often within days. Compared to getting new feature only after years, but rarely any bugs (the very few ones that slip through… well, you will get the fix in a few years). That’s also where use case plays a bigger role. If you use very new hardware and want software that uses their newest features, a rather stale slow updating distro might not be the right fit for you.

• Update scheme: Fixed vs. continues release. Continues releases are slowly but constantly changing over time but once installed they can basically used forever. While fixed releases are mostly just shipping critical bugfixes and security patches and doing everything else in big release steps (think in terms of Windows upgrades here: You mostly have the same thing for years but at a certain point there is a newer version that might bring changes in defaults, new pre-installed software, UI changes etc. and after a couple of years you lose support if you don’t do that step).

Also more depending on your personal taste and habits:

• How much are you willing or interested in tinkering? Basically all distros give you access to all software. But what is pre-installed changes, both in what is provided by default and also how much software is there already. For example do you want stuff for video editing set up already or don’t you care as you will test out all the options available anyway?

• The same is true the basic desktop environment. Gnome and KDE are the two big ones (with some more oftens based or forked from those two). And it mostly a difference of “here is our environment exactly as we think it’s best with very little customisation” (Gnome - also the one with most forks, by people who did not agree with the Gnome devs vision) and “have fun customising” (KDE). Is customising stuff to your liking your thing? Or do don’t care and also prefer something as close to what you are used to on Windows? Again: Distros have all the options available. But some have one environment or the other pre-installed. Or they come in different flavors from the beginning. If customisation isn’t your cup of tea the decision on a certain distro matters much more.

Other considerations:

• Immutable distros are more on the newer end of things. They are basically designed more like for example Android. There is a base system that rarely changes and allows basically a “reset ot factory settings”, with updates and additionally installed software provided as incremental changes and/or highly containerised. That has benefits (you can revert screw ups easily) but also drawbacks (decades of available linux instructions are now worthless until you really understand where that regular config file you can’t edit anymore is now located in some separate container only used by one specific piece of software - and most people that google for such solutions don’t). Again this is mostly decided by habits. Are you expecting to tinker with your system or do you just want something that works on its own that neither you or an upgrade cannot possibly break. In the latter case an immutable distro can be the thing for you. And as always… you have all the options and you can also setup most other distros with extensive systems of “save points” to revert problematic changes anyway.

Things to not consider:

• ignore the answers speaking about “it provides WINE for running windows stuff” or “it comes with NVIDIA drivers” because they basically all do (minus the already mentioned combination of running cutting edge hardware with very slow updating distros - that’s not a good idea). At the worst it usually requires clicking some “Yes, I don’t insist on open source stuff exclusively but will also to use proprietary drivers if available” checkbox in the installer.

Bazzite for a first try. If you never hit a wall needing to make system tweaks, stick to it in the long term. Otherwise, I’m really liking Fedora. KDE/Gnome is personal choice.

I will be the black sheep that strongly recommend against Mint. I have had more hardware compatibility problems trying to run Mint than any other distro. This is anecdotal, but consistent enough that I would make bets on it. Secondly, I hate Cinnamon, the default desktop environment. There are better choices.

Instead, I’ll suggest Fedora KDE. It’s rock solid, reliable, and the KDE Plasma desktop is the best currently available whether you leave it stock or customize it.

If you want to try things out, set up a spare thumb drive with Ventoy, which will let you boot to any ISO you copy to it. Most distros have “live” versions that you can boot to from the thumb drive and try out before installing. That said, most linux distros install in 5 minutes, so don’t be afraid to try anything and everything you’re curious about.

Also, avoid Cachy or other Arch based distros for now. They are great, but a far more hands-on. Something for the future, when you are more comfortable with linux in general.

Aurora, it’s the desktop version of massively popular Bazzite (which targets gaming). That means you’ll find tons of up to date tutorials online (Bazzite tutorials are usually applicable unless they are about the few features Bazzite and Aurora diverge specifically).

I explicitly advise against Ubuntu and Mint for the reasons I outlined here. Ubuntu and Mint have the added downside that almost none of the guides you’ll find about SteamOS will work: Different desktop, different philosophy.

People need to realize that since the success of Steam Deck the “old classics” of newbie recommendations are out of the window and what helps these users the most is a Linux distribution as close as possible to SteamOS but SteamOS is not available for random PCs, so Bazzite/Aurora are currently the way to go. Personally I like Fedora KDE but I shifted my stance since the linked post and trying out Aurora.

Seems like Mint is the consensus and I don’t disagree. Just some things to consider when choosing:

1. Desktop Environment/Window Manager (DE/WM) this is the software responsible for displaying your desktop and managing the opening and closing of graphical windows. Window managers are very bare-bones and might offer an experience significantly different than Windows. (See tiling WMs). Desktop environments do the same and more, and are often bundled with launchers and useful default programs like terminals and editors.

2. Package manager. Package managers are responsible for managing your installed software. There are a variety of options, and distros typically will choose one as their default. Pacman for Arch, Aptitude for Debian, RPM for RedHat, and others. These are mostly interchangeable for the end user, but each has slightly different commands and frontends. So just be aware there will be a bit of an extra learning curve moving from a distro that uses one to a distro that uses another.

3. Release cycle. Different distros offer different styles of releasing updates. Ubuntu and Debian periodically release updates in a cycle with major and minor releases. Some releases are marked for long term support and others marked as short term. Upgrading releases has been hit or miss for me, so I prefer rolling release distros. These distros don’t distinguish major releases and simply upgrade in place. Each has it’s own advantages, just be mindful of how often you will have to upgrade.

Start with Mint. You can always try something else when you’re more comfortable with Linux.

Mint or Fedora. You’ll get tons of responses, and none of them are wrong, because no one can tell you what’s best for you, but those are the most popular choices among newbies, and they are very user friendly and approachable.

The best advice I can give you is try a bunch of different ones and see which one you like best. They’re free and easy to reinstall if you end up liking one over another.

Best of luck and I hope you find one that you truly love. :)

Do you know anyone in real life that has some experience with Linux, and is willing to help you out with it? If yes, use the same distribution (distro, or “OS”) as they do.

If not, as others said, Mint is a good start.

Mint is popular for beginners. I went with Debian KDE because I wanted something a little more minimalistic and boring. Fedora and OpenSUSE are also good options.

If you want to stick with a Windows-like desktop, pick a KDE distro over GNOME.

editing videos

What program will you use?

I have heard that DaVinci resolve is very hard to set up. as for Kdenlive, I have used it few times, and it felt very clunky.

I would go with mint if you have older hardware and bazzite if you have new hardware (especially nvidia graphics card). If you really want windows-like layout check zorin OS.

for actuall advice: I would try a bunch of them and stick with one where video editing works.

Go with Mint until you learn more about how Linux filesystems work and then you can go wherever you feel comfortable. Mint just has a really easy install.

This question is probably as old as Linux itself. While many (me included) do not like Ubuntu anymore, I still think its a good operating system for newcomers to Linux. Not at last because of the community it has. Ubuntu is only by those dislike who are long enough in this game. There are also different variants with different user interfaces and such (like Kubuntu).