Hello there!
After some lurking on r/Unixporn and its Discord, I’m more and more tempted to try Linux as a daily driver. While I’m by no means a pro, I’ve been using WSL at work the past year and generally I can fiddle around finding solutions when something doesn’t work.
These being said, the main requirements I would have from a distro is to be able to run League of Legends (saw that it’s pretty straight forward using Lutris) and not be insanely complex from the get-go (wouldn’t want to jump straight into something like Arch), I intend to use something like Hyprland.
So far I am split between OpenSuse Tumbleweed, NixOS, Fedora and EndeavourOS, but would gladly hear alternatives.
As you can see there’s lots of excellent choices. Check out distrosea.com if you want to get a feel for different ones without installing. FWIW I prefer Fedora and RPM based distros as I’ve found their hardware support to be a bit better than Debian based. This is just personal experience though so your’s may differ. Please report back on what you ultimately choose.
I know this thread is old, but let me add this to the conversation: Look into distrobox, it essentially allows you to use packages from any distro inside of your current one.
Warning: not space efficient
That said, this takes the question of “what packages do I want” out of the equation when choosing a distro
Thanks for the suggestion, I decided to give EndeavourOS a try and so far I’m really happy with it.
Linux Mint is perfect! Avoid Ubuntu, which has a very shady history… Despite Mint being based on Ubuntu/Debian, it doesn’t have any spying software. Like Ubuntu used to send all the search queries to Ubuntu when you were searching locally on your system for a file or an image.
Windows been doing this since at least win10.
Can’t click shit with out it starting to ping bill gates or live.com
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I’m not as focused on privacy (don’t stone me to death pls), but I am not very keen on Ubuntu, having dabed a bit into it in the past.
Well you can in that case still try out Linux Mint… I mean, why not?
I recommend Fedora. It’s rock solid while also having really up-to-date packages coming often. Not bleeding edge but deffo leading edge. Also has a decent amount of info online when you hit an issue.
I used to use Ubuntu but the older packages, and Canonical with their obsession with SNAP and becoming a baby Microsoft kept me away.
Arch is a good option and TONS of information online for help (some of the best) but it is a bit more DIY and is a rolling release so very up-to-date package but keep clear of Manjaro, just do base Arch. The folk managing it keep dropping the ball so not worth the headache
NixOS can become quite complex, so maybe stay away from it until you know more about how to manage your system ;)
The other options you’ve mentioned here are good, but EndeavourOS is based on Arch, so that may be contradictory to what you’ve said earlier.
I’ve recently switched to NixOS and I’m loving it. I’d say that it’s as much of a learning curve as Arch, but without the breakage when you screw something up.
You install all your packages and do all your configuration from the main config file. Should something somehow break you can simply switch to an older generation (a state of your computer, basically) and go on with your day. Also, if you configure something incorrectly it will warn you and refuse to apply it. You can even check the config file into git and keep track of your changes!
The new terminology can be pretty daunting, especially when people start talking about flakes. My suggestion is to simply avoid those until they’ve matured.
I can’t comment on it’s ability to game, but I’d definitely give it a try :D
My NixOS install games as well as my Arch one does. Actually better than it since the latest Steam UI update.
I’d definitely recommend against starting with NixOS. Learning resources are way more sparse than something like Arch. Things like the division with flakes and the fact that everyone sets up their configuration differently means that finding examples that work in your config when you’re starting out is even harder. Combined with learning how to setup a Linux system is too much for a beginner imo.
If OP is really interested in Nix they should install the Nix package manager on another working Linux installation so they can learn at their own pace.
I vote Fedora
I’ve tried lots of different ones. Arch is cool if you really wanna set up your system how you like it. But Fedora works well right out of the box and updates don’t break the system. Keep in mind… I’m a Gnome-ist. I think it’s the best WM for Linux.
Seconding Fedora, as it’s very polished while not adding extra cruft to the UI that isn’t needed. I honestly prefer apt as a package manager, but stick with Fedora because the user experience is just so darn good.
I’ll give a third to Fedora, it’s definitely a good option (though I’ll admit I prefer KDE to Gnome, so I tend to go with the Fedora KDE spin). I’d also agree with several of the other commenters suggesting Linux Mint. It’s a pretty good distro to get started on, and the Cinnamon desktop environment is reasonably familiar to those coming from a Windows background.
I have tried Debian, (K)Ubuntu, Fedora, and OpenSUSE Tumbleweed. For myself, I use OSTW, because it supports both x86 and x64 (regarding UEFI and/or CPU) which I need due to my mess of really old and really new devices. Also, YaST (like Windows’ Control Panel) is absolutely wonderful when I just want to get something done now and graphically. Also, due to its quick update release cadence, I get the newest updates immediately. It lacks a few important packages despite/due to this though, like WayDroid, so if you use the Windows Subsystem for Android, use Fedora instead.
OSTW also isn’t 100% stable. There is the occasional bug. The Fedora KDE Spin, on the other hand, because it by default isn’t a rolling release distribution (its release cycle is more like Windows stable, whereas OSTW’s is like Windows Insider Dev/Canary) it’s amazingly stable. It is very barebones though when compared to OSTW, since it doesn’t have any custom distribution-specific features at all, not even YaST, so you’d need to be vaguely more familiar with the commandline unless you can find 3rd-party graphical apps for everuthing you want to do. This is probably possible, but I don’t bother since I have YaST.
I’m not going to recommend Debian to you, because until last month, it didn’t even come with proprietary drivers by default, and the technically-not-yet-official image with them in is hard to find. It’s also very much an LTS distribution. However, it wasn’t on your radar anyway.
NixOS is though, and whilst an incredibly stable distribution that’s been around for ages and has undoubtedly the best (cross-platform! yes, it works on Windows too) package manager, it needs basic technical skill to configure. I have no idea whether you have that.
Of those I think I’d recommend Tumbleweed, it’s a great polished distribution with some extra helpful administrative tools (yast for instance). It’s rolling but feels as stable as a normal dist to me.
The others are far from bad though! I just have a soft spot for suse and opensuse :)
Ubuntu or pop_os could be nice starting choices as well since they’re so big and well supported.
Also recommend Tumbleweed. I’ve distro hopped for many years, and currently am using Tumbleweed and have no plans of leaving soon. It really is the best I’ve ever used.
I wouldn’t recommend doing a Hyperland setup right away on first time ever using linux. Just run with KDE or Gnome for a while until you’re comfy then you can try Hyperland. The reason I say this is check this page:
https://wiki.hyprland.org/Useful-Utilities/Must-have/
“Must Have
This page documents software that is critical / very important to have running for a smooth Wayland / Hyprland experience.
DEs like KDE / Gnome will do this automatically, Hyprland will not (because you might want to use something else)
A notification daemon
Starting method: most likely manual (exec-once)
Many apps (e.g. Discord) may freeze without one running.”So you have to do a LOT more setup and configs to get Hyperland up and running. Just use KDE lol. Tumbleweed rocks with Plasma.
Not really fancying about Ubuntu to be honest.
Do you have any Tumbleweed tips/hints? (˵ •̀ ᴗ - ˵ ) ✧
Not the other person, but openSUSE is amazing. You just have to add the Packman repos as explained on their wiki. Haven’t used it for gaming and such yet so can’t really give more specific tips regarding that.
I don’t think NixOS is a good option because you’ll have to learn a lot more than any other distro. Tumbleweed and EndeavourOS are good , for more graphical tools you could also consider Manjaro and maybe switch to unstable if you want more up-to-date packages, but I am a little biased as you can see.
Also heard about Manjaro, but from what I’ve seen several people say it’s not ideal.
The maintainers have slipped up a couple of times, mostly their website’s SSL certificate expiring, but it has never affected me really.
people will usually send you to this lovely website but it’s been a while since the maintainer’s last felony.
If you’re concerned about the stability of the AUR then you could simply switch Manjaro to Unstable, so that the repos are synched with Arch.
Thanks I have been using Manjaro for a few years now and like it, but didn’t know about those issues. Like how aur scripts are not checked. Maybe it’s time to switch around again.
The only reason I switched from Mint to Manjaro was that my new laptops video card wasn’t supported (like mint wouldn’t boot). But that was a few years ago, so it’s probably not an issue anymore.
I used to like Ubuntu but hated Unity and hate snap.
Linux Mint turned snap off back in 2020 and replaced the snap packages with debs again.
I couldn’t boot Linux Mint unless I switched from UEFI to Legacy so after 2months of using it I switched to Fedora and then Manjaro.
To this day Kali Linux and Linux Mint cannot boot on my device if it’s using UEFI. I tried searching around, asked on forums and nothing came out of that, it’s really weird.
Manjaro considers Arch unstable, but itself stable?
No:
Unmodifed packages synced from Arch repo are considered stable as they have already been vetted by Archlinux Community.
It considers the AUR, and Manjaro’s new tools unstable when they enter the unstable branch. Please read the notes.
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But then they release it and ask in the forums “We released a new update. Did we break anything for you?” instead of actually performing integration testing.
No matter how much you test, you’ll never hit every edge case.
Just let users tell you what problems they faced, put their feedback under the update page on the forum, users open the forum page for the update they’re about to install and they see all the problems people faced, it’s a very good idea.
Those all sound like good distributions to me. Although I would probably scratch NixOS off that list if you don’t want to start out with something complex. It is an extremely unique distro which does things very differently than most distros. Which isn’t a bad thing, but unless that’s specifically what you’re looking for, I’d probably choose something more traditional as first distro.
Thanks man ╰(´꒳`)╯
Of the remaining ones I’d say Fedora is probably the safest bet. Not as cutting edge as the other two, but well engineered and stable.
Rolling releases like Tumbleweed and Endeavour can be more interesting and partifularly good for gaming because they always have the newest stuff and patches and performance improvements. Which can also bite you a bit in the back though if you have an Nvidia graphics card. Nvidia doesn’t play too well with open source and they don’t put a lot of effort into it, so the newest versions of their drivers occasionally break or do stupid stuff. Which isn’t a big deal if you have a system that can rollback (tumbleweed can, dunno about endeavour) but might be a bit annoying sometimes
After having tried many distros, I settled on Fedora. It’s a boring choice, but it has been a great experience for me. Everything pretty much works without issue, and the OS gets out of the way for me to do my work.
I also think that having a trustworthy company and team behind it matters. It’s hard to trust some obscure distro to provide proper support, security updates, and proper testing.
Also, while I enjoy tinkering and messing around, my main OS is not one of the thinks I would want to tinker with. I have work to do, and I need a stable platform i can rely on.
One I haven’t seen here is Arco Linux. It’s designed as a kind of learning path from getting to know basic Linux concepts to being able to install Arch on your own, so I think it’s a pretty good early choice, tho probably not that good for the first choice.
General recommendation is that you choose something with good community support or at least good documentation. You might also not want a rolling release, because they tend to be more on the unstable side.
Ubuntu?
Ubuntu is the common bistro that everyone gets started on. Lots of advanced users continue to use it, because it works well.
Use Ubuntu or Mint or Pop_OS (both of which are modified varieties of Ubuntu). Watch some Youtube videos to compare them. Pop_OS is supposed to be particularly good for gaming, but I’m not sure why
