Which to choose (Linux)

[MrXeno]

So I'm a old linux user, back from CentOS 5 and Ubuntu 12.04 LTS 

And I am thinking about giving it a try again seeing that Proton and SteamPlay has come a long way so far.

But where I am stuck is in the "Which distro to pick for general use"

 

My general use is this:

Everyday stuff- Discord, Spotify 

Gaming - steam games and Epic

Work applications - Outlook and Office (I know how to use thunderbird and libra office so no issue there)

webbrowing (firefox is fine for that need until Microsoft releases Edge)

and that is pretty much it. 

 

I will keep windows on a disc if I ever need it for some reason or just boot a VM up.

 

What distro would you people recommend?

 

NOTE

I am using a Nvidia gpu and is fully aware of the weird stuff about the drivers etc which is still the same sh!t like it was years ago

[Fr33K!e]

Ubuntu is my go to for anything that I don't need Windows for although I am liking Windows 11. I have tried various distros over the years and always gone back to Ubuntu as I just feel more at home with it.

 

 

[MrXeno]

Just now, Fr33K!e said:

Ubuntu is my go to for anything that I don't need Windows for although I am liking Windows 11. I have tried various distros over the years and always gone back to Ubuntu as I just feel more at home with it.

 

 

Hmm that could be a good option as always. I have seen that dell still makes drivers for it for there business laptops. I will keep that one in mind

Thx!

[Fr33K!e]

Just for your info I run a Core i9 10900KF and a RTX 3090 in Ubuntu and it all just works nicely.

[MrXeno]

2 minutes ago, Fr33K!e said:

Just for your info I run a Core i9 10900KF and a RTX 3090 in Ubuntu and it all just works nicely.

That's good to know!

 

My main issue with CentOS and Manjaro (which is probably just me) is stuff breaking out of no where on boot

[Guiltyxz]

Arch supremacy, or Manjaro as well. Use Arch daily along with VM Win 10 for gaming and am loving the switch

[idkfelix]

I would recommend arch for its package manager, decently easy to set up and get going but if you want to run windows exclusives you can always do a bit of reading on vfio and setup a gaming vm. Alternatively if you like a challenge i would definitely encourage you to try out gentoo for better in game performance. 

[Fuzen.py]

I’m reluctant to recommend this as it is a very nice distribution and a lot of Linux guides do not work for this distro (including some scripts… ) but NixOS is a good distribution if reproducible builds with rollbacks for almost any changes you make. It will be a bit of work requiring you to learn an entirely new language, nix, some get it easily some don’t. It’s like a fancy YAML in its most basic form but has some complexity to do some complicated stuff. You also have nix flakes as a more modern and somewhat advanced solution to some problems. If you have a laptop nix-hardware probably has a config you can import to speed up that setup process. Some things such as enabling a desktop manager enabling a browser. Setting up audio etc is super easy you just flag something in the nix file as true or add it to your package list. You can also enable automatic updates without worry since you can always roll back things with a reboot as previous generations of your system remain as a config. Now if all that sounds daunting for you then I’d suggest something simpler like PopOS, EndeavorOS or Garuda Linux. If you just don’t want potential compatibility issues than arch Linux 

[norgaladir]

I was also an old ubuntu user from around the same time as you (hardy-lucid), but stopped due to a combination of not liking unity or gnome shell (or any other DE) and windows just working pretty well for me on the laptop I had at the time. 

 

I returned a bit over a year ago and tried a few different distros, ended up sticking with Pop after seeing it featured here and falling in love with their customized version of gnome shell, and being pretty familiar with it since it's Ubuntu based. I feel like Pop is what Ubuntu could/should have been if they kept up their original momentum from back in the day.

 

I also gave Manjaro a try and love the AUR, it literally has everything and way better than adding additional repos/ppas. I tried the budgie version and it was pretty good, although I just run it in a VM for development, and not as my daily driver. Although once the pop shell/cosmic package for it stabilizes a bit (https://forum.manjaro.org/t/call-for-testers-manjaro-cosmic/86899), I may give it a try as my daily driver (I'm also strongly considering using SteamOS 3 as my daily driver when it comes out)

 

[MrXeno]

9 hours ago, WY6 said:

Arch supremacy, or Manjaro as well. Use Arch daily along with VM Win 10 for gaming and am loving the switch

Hmm are you using GPU pass through for the Windows VM? and if so which software are you using for it

[MrXeno]

7 hours ago, idkfelix said:

I would recommend arch for its package manager, decently easy to set up and get going but if you want to run windows exclusives you can always do a bit of reading on vfio and setup a gaming vm. Alternatively if you like a challenge i would definitely encourage you to try out gentoo for better in game performance. 

I will remember that recommendation, thanks!

[SkaterDudeBro41]

19 hours ago, MrXeno said:

webbrowing (firefox is fine for that need until Microsoft releases Edge)

In case you aren't aware, Microsoft has released a beta version of Edge for Linux. They provide .deb and .rpm packages, though it also seems to have been adapted to work for Arch via the AUR.

https://www.microsoftedgeinsider.com/en-us/download?platform=linux-deb

 

As for distros, I don't think you can go wrong with any Ubuntu-based distro. Their ubiquity means that it's easier to find support when Googling any problems you run across, and they have a very large pool of readily available software. That said, I'm personally using Manjaro with the KDE desktop and I think its fine. I haven't run into any issues like not being able to boot suddenly, which happened to me when I ran Pop!_OS in a VM oddly enough.

[10leej]

Why are Arch and Nix in this thread? I mean seriously?

If people use those distros it's because they consciously chose to use them. Don't recommend them please. There's enough bad support threads here.

[idkfelix]

6 hours ago, 10leej said:

Why are Arch and Nix in this thread? I mean seriously?

If people use those distros it's because they consciously chose to use them. Don't recommend them please. There's enough bad support threads here.

"harder" distros arent harder you just need half a brain and the wiki, anyone can use them and they deliver much better performance compared to other "beginner" distros.

[idkfelix]

16 hours ago, MrXeno said:

Hmm are you using GPU pass through for the Windows VM? and if so which software are you using for it

from what ik most single gpu gaming vms use kvm-qemu with virt-manager and the setup follows a variation of the rising prisim wiki

[10leej]

6 hours ago, idkfelix said:

"harder" distros arent harder you just need half a brain and the wiki, anyone can use them and they deliver much better performance compared to other "beginner" distros.

I didn't say anything about the distros being hard. I'm saying you should make the concious decision to use them. Not the blind one.

[MrXeno]

Hmm from what I can ready Pop!_OS seems a bit buggy because of how much it ships, and Manjaro seems to be a hit or miss. Then there is ubuntu which seems to be the stable one of the bunch but also the one with the best support in gerenal when it comes to fixing issues. The main reason I am swhitching from Windows is because of some issues with software plus some other stuff which is simply not working anymore

 

So would Ubuntu be the go to for this? aka daily use 

[LBrocato]

On 10/19/2021 at 10:02 AM, 10leej said:

Why are Arch and Nix in this thread? I mean seriously?

If people use those distros it's because they consciously chose to use them. Don't recommend them please. There's enough bad support threads here.

your friend dt recommended them on his youtube video.  Ya bad chooice.

  Linux mint  or mx linux or even lmde4 will  work well for most people and is easy. you going to want to learn one of them and possible move to another  distros as distros change and evolve . i know i have

 

 

 

 

 

[LBrocato]

On 10/19/2021 at 4:56 PM, idkfelix said:

"harder" distros arent harder you just need half a brain and the wiki, anyone can use them and they deliver much better performance compared to other "beginner" distros.

if you feel this way  why not Slackware Linux or Gentoo Linux ? why does it have to be Arch all the time ?

 

[10leej]

10 hours ago, LBrocato said:

your friend dt recommended them on his youtube video.  Ya bad chooice.

  Linux mint  or mx linux or even lmde4 will  work well for most people and is easy. you going to want to learn one of them and possible move to another  distros as distros change and evolve . i know i have

 

 

 

 

 

He recommended them for people that want to actually learn linux, please go back and rewatch that video and not take it out of context.

[LBrocato]

2 hours ago, 10leej said:

He recommended them for people that want to actually learn linux, please go back and rewatch that video and not take it out of context.

Even so Garuda and Arch based distros  are not the only way to learn linux.

 

if they really want to learn they should install 3 different distros  Debian,Fedora and arch. if you see the vide again He recommended only ones in arch family

 

 

[kanyewestlover911]

On 10/18/2021 at 2:57 PM, WY6 said:

Arch supremacy, or Manjaro as well. Use Arch daily along with VM Win 10 for gaming and am loving the switch

manjaro is really bad mine would shit itself every update i use Arch now and Arco on a few other PCs 

[MrXeno]

Well I'm giving Pop!_OS a try (seems to be working some what fine but some stuff is broken like the bottom bar)

and if Pop!_OS doesn't do it for me I will give Ubuntu a go or Kubuntu. Heck I might even Mint a go again after these many years

[Fuzen.py]

On 10/19/2021 at 11:02 AM, 10leej said:

Why are Arch and Nix in this thread? I mean seriously?

If people use those distros it's because they consciously chose to use them. Don't recommend them please. There's enough bad support threads here.

I specifically made a warning before even promoting the existence of nix and highlighted the many reasons you shouldn’t do it. Sometimes people want to be a bit adventurous and showing them a distro that is truly different from the rest isn’t a bad thing. 

[idkfelix]

15 hours ago, LBrocato said:

if you feel this way  why not Slackware Linux or Gentoo Linux ? why does it have to be Arch all the time ?

 

I do use gentoo, but for someone who is used to binary packages taking up to an hour to install a browser is not going to be a good recommendation