Help choosing Linux distros?

[Linker]

In a recent LTT video it was suggested that one should use a rolling release distro from gaming, as it would have better support. This got me thinking about possibly changing my distro.

I switched full time from windows over a month ago, and am currently running a Mint install, but dual boot Windows 10 for gaming.

Linux Mint has worked great for me so far. I can just do things easier and simpler, buts it's not perfect.

My video/graphical performance has been pretty poor- CSGO stutters significantly sometimes and when scrolling in firefox there is often notable screen tearing.

Because of this, I am considering switching to one of the distros mentioned, but have some concerns.

 

First off, my requirements/Usescases

Gaming-

My super basic windows install is a backup solution to poor gaming experience, but I am slowly making my desktop an important part of my network (it's hard drives are my central storage) Having it not booted into the correct operating system sometimes might be an issue, especially while I am remotely managing it from afar. It doesn't have to run all games, but I would prefer to get as many as I can working on it with pleasing experiences. I unfortunately have a GTX 1070, so yay nvidia drivers.

 

Preferably Cinnamon desktop option (or at least windows-like)

Cinnamon was the main reason I choose mint originally and it feels like what I wanted windows to be. I love it, but am still open to other options.

 

KVM Virtualisation-

I have been wanting to get into KVM for a while, as I've wanted to use virtual machines for a while, but have had issues with poor performance in things like VirtualBox. Ideally I would have a Windows 10 virtual machine I could VNC remote into with my crappy laptop at home for a better experience. (Many applications I use on my laptop are windows-only so I haven't switched to linux on it yet, but the specs are really barebone so it isn't always the best to use.)

 

Pros and Cons

Monjaro

Pros

• Updates for days
• Cinnamon edition!
• Arch/arch-based looks like a distro I would use in the future after I gain more experience

Cons

• Less novice friendly/diot-proof guides out there (How-to-geek etc. tutorials help accomplish a lot of things)
• Software download is most likely to be in .deb package, less native software

 

Pop OS (Or honestly any other ubuntu based system you recommend)

Pros

• Ubuntu based- strong repository and can use .deb packages

Cons

• No cinnamon edition (I am aware you can install it manually, but I would prefer not to)

 

Thanks for reading my wall of text, any help is appreciated.

[OmicronEta]

I have used base Arch Linux before and my main use case was gaming on an older laptop around 2 years ago before Proton and only WINE was around. I find that as long as you can read the wiki( Which they massively understate in the video, It literally has steps and guides to anything) it can be done. Do a bit of research on DistroWatch ( https://distrowatch.com/) to see what Ubuntu based distros might have Cinnamon Native. I am personally going to try manjaro as a boot USB on my aforementioned laptop as i have moved the hard drive into a better desktop system and put windows on it. I'm not sure about the deb files, but the Official repository and User(unofficial) repository work generally the same for my experience with arch.

[SenKa]

Im running Monjaro on one of my laptops and in a VM. I would 10/10 recommend it.

[Linker]

2 hours ago, OmicronEta said:

I have used base Arch Linux before and my main use case was gaming on an older laptop around 2 years ago before Proton and only WINE was around. I find that as long as you can read the wiki( Which they massively understate in the video, It literally has steps and guides to anything) it can be done. Do a bit of research on DistroWatch ( https://distrowatch.com/) to see what Ubuntu based distros might have Cinnamon Native. I am personally going to try manjaro as a boot USB on my aforementioned laptop as i have moved the hard drive into a better desktop system and put windows on it. I'm not sure about the deb files, but the Official repository and User(unofficial) repository work generally the same for my experience with arch.

2 hours ago, SenpaiKaplan said:

Im running Monjaro on one of my laptops and in a VM. I would 10/10 recommend it.

I'll make... another freaking partition or something and install monjaro I guess.

Thanks for the input.

[Koeshi]

While it won't always work, there is a program named debtap that will convert .deb files to .tar.xz for Arch based distros.  You will also most likely find that most programs are either in the Manjaro repos or the AUR.  In the event that they aren't I tend to find them to be small projects without binary releases who are basically asking you to pull straight from Github.

[Nettly_]

Step 1. Get Pop!_OS
Step 2. Install Cinnamon
Step 3. Change to the Cinnamon desktop (if you do not know how, Google it.)