Switching to Linux from Win(11) - which distro is best for me?

[V3SPER]

 

1. TLDR:

   • pc specs
     • Ryzen 5 2600x CPU ; 1x16gb @ 3000MHz ram and the 8gb VRAM ; MSI variant of AMD's Rx570 ; PSU(600/650w 80+bronze) ; OS drive - WD Black 256gb NVME SSD (gen3)
   • which distro suits me more and how much flexibility can i have w it
   • mining on Nicehash (just for fun nothing serious)
   •  
   • for gaming
     • aware of Lutris and ProtonDB
     • cs:go(steam)
     • gtaV(epic)
     • battlefield[4 and5](origin)
   • major distros i have my eyes on are Manjaro Arch(Garuda OS at the moment) and PopOS
     • pop!_OS(Gnome) running on a VM
     • Garuda OS (dragonized gaming skin/distro) running on a VM
     • like the feel and ease of use(and use of terminal) of Garuda more than Pop
   • FOR GARUDA 
     • has anyone here used it?
     • what would be your suggestions to a literal 1st time Linux user if i do go ahead and install it on my system?
     • what have your hiccups been like while using the OS?
     • what challenges could i as a newbie Linux user face with regards to the OS?
     • are there better alternatives you'd like to recommend keeping my situation in mind?

   
   
   
   hello
   i'm currently on win 11 which works fine but i kind of want to switch things up
   a few things i still want to be able to do though is ofc access all my software suite w/o hassle (or w as least hassle as possible) that includes but isnt limited to

   • for gaming: steam, epicgames, origin and valorant(although i think riot doesn't support vanguard on Linux)
   • my adobe suite workflow, davinci resolve, autodesk etc.
   • Also my MS office suite (office 365 for devs)
   • regarding browsers I'm currently rocking brave as a main and i dont think it should have issues running on Linux
   • and ofc discord and other socials

   
   the major distros i have my eyes on are Manjaro Arch(Garuda OS at the moment) and PopOS currently pop is the major winner as i've been reading a bit on reddit and stuff(also vids on YT including [if i'm not mistaken] 1 on LTT) that it offers direct support for most of the games i'll be playing in the future
   what are y'alls views? ( ie which distro suits me more and how much flexibility can i have w it....yes flexibility matters cuz i tinker a lot (hardware not software....overclocking and such))
   speaking of which i also would appreciate if someone could confirm if fan control by Remi Mercier(epic software for desktops btw ; can be found on git if anyone wants) will work on Linux too
   
   I'm aware of Lutris and ProtonDB my major games are cs:go(steam), Valorant(vanguard not supported as far as i know) and some casual gtaV(epic) and sometimes battlefield[4 and5](origin)
   i do a bit of mining on Nicehash too (just for fun nothing serious)if it matters
    

    

    

2. UPDATE: is there any particular OS you'd recommend? atm i have pop!_OS running on a VM
   also what about the adobe suite of editing softwares? i use them BIGTIME so compatibility is a major plus... also for fusion360 and ue4/5 if anyone knows
   UPDATE: I currently have Garuda OS (dragonized gaming skin/distro) running on my VM and i am liking the UI (more than Pop!_OS)…
   has anyone here used it? what would be your suggestions to a literal 1st time Linux user if i do go ahead and install it on my system? what have your hiccups been like while using the OS? what challenges could i as a newbie Linux user face with regards to the OS? are there better alternatives you'd like to recommend keeping the situation in my above msgs in mind?

   
   if someone needs a reference to my pc specs I'm currently rocking a modest Ryzen 5 2600x CPU, 1x16gb @ 3000MHz ram and the 8gb VRAM, MSI variant of AMD's Rx570, PSU(600/650w 80+bronze), OS drive WD Black 256gb NVME SSD (gen3)
   thoughts criticism tips all are welcome thankyou : )
   
   (tip received on the PCMR discord - Linux) 
you could end up accidentally deleting all your data during installation so be careful about that
   
   i was aware of that, a query with regards to the same: say if i have some software or file/document (any type) on my current system's boot drive(win11) and i want to also have it at the same location in the new OS (Garuda Linux) is there a way to just not touch it and have it present in the new OS? i.e. i don't have to make a copy of all my files before i switch my OS also if i have another hard drive in my system i don't need to format that right since it isn't my boot drive?(keeping in mind the transition from win to Linux)

 

 

 

 

[pythonmegapixel]

Don't even bother trying to run Adobe Creative Cloud stuff on a Linux machine. Regardless of distro, it doesn't work, and seemingly won't for the foreseeable future.

 

Office 365 is fine if you don't mind the browser-based versions, but if you need the desktop versions and can't settle for LibreOffice for some reason - again, it simply won't work.

 

If you're fed up with Windows, try to gradually switch away from Adobe and Microsoft products over a longer period of time, finding Linux-compatible alternatives that you like. Then once most of your needs are met by Linux anyway, you can finally switch operating system.

[V3SPER]

1 minute ago, pythonmegapixel said:

Don't even bother trying to run Adobe Creative Cloud stuff on a Linux machine. Regardless of distro, it doesn't work, and seemingly won't for the foreseeable future.

 

Office 365 is fine if you don't mind the browser-based versions, but if you need the desktop versions and can't settle for LibreOffice for some reason - again, it simply won't work.

oh okay thankyou

[Ralphred]

KDE desktop environments are more similar to a windoze desktop when you are first switching over, this means you can concentrate on the underlying differences between the OS's and not just the way the UI is presented to you. Once you are confident with your "linux backend" you can then switch to any desktop* environment you like, without the pressure of productivity requirements forcing your hand (or learning curve).

 

*Desktops in linux are just a piece (or collection) of software, and can happily co-exist on the same set-up, the same way you may have 3~4 browsers or media players co-existing in doze. The is nothing constraining you, get a feel for what's out there, find out what you like and what you don't.

 

[JogerJ]

Fedora 36 offers a balance of latest features for latest hardware but not too bleeding edge as Arch based distros. For beginners, anything Ubuntu based will be okay, but don't expect updates to come as fast, which isn't necessarily a bad thing because compatibility matters. I used Arch before and all too often I get broken packages now and then, although they get patched soon enough but some things are not just worth updating/fixing if it ain't broke.

Skins/desktop environment is a trivial matter which you can customize any way you want on any distro. My go to preference for desktop environment is Plasma KDE, if you want Ubuntu bundled with KDE you get Kubuntu. Same with Fedora with spins. Pop os defaults to gnome and doesn't offer KDE preinstalled isos, so it requires an additional install. My preferred Ubuntu-based distro is Linux Mint, though a stable release for 22.04 base is still coming next month.

You will have generally a good time dealing with drivers as you use an AMD card. Give up your dreams on Adobe as with everyone. As with gaming, anything goes except anti-cheat protected games that don't have native binaries (overwatch/valorant/etc.)

Regarding install location, you need to free up your disk (shrink a partition, fit the new linux install there)

[Dat Guy]

If your reason to switch away from Windows is to try something else, a Mac could be a good alternative for you, especially as it runs most commercial software.

[V3SPER]

22 hours ago, Ralphred said:

KDE desktop environments are more similar to a windoze desktop when you are first switching over, this means you can concentrate on the underlying differences between the OS's and not just the way the UI is presented to you. Once you are confident with your "linux backend" you can then switch to any desktop* environment you like, without the pressure of productivity requirements forcing your hand (or learning curve).

 

*Desktops in linux are just a piece (or collection) of software, and can happily co-exist on the same set-up, the same way you may have 3~4 browsers or media players co-existing in doze. The is nothing constraining you, get a feel for what's out there, find out what you like and what you don't.

 

i believe the GarudaOS dragonized is also running on KDE.
What do you mean by the underlying differences between the OS's?
and what exactly is the "linux backend"?

[Ralphred]

19 minutes ago, V3SPER said:

What do you mean by the underlying differences between the OS's?

The whole paradigm shift from the desktop being the only way in which you interact with the system in windows, as opposed to the desktop being just a GUI to access the guts of the OS via pretty software.

Quote

and what exactly is the "linux backend"?

So all linux systems will have a kernel, and a bunch of libraries to link it to user space, libraries for 3d, audio etc. This is the underlying system, or backend. You pick a desktop like KDE or XFCE or LX**, they are going to work and look the same (within reason) no matter which distro you have laying underneath them.

 

The things to pay attention to when picking a distro are package availability (if you have to source things outside of a distro's ecosphere this can become tiresome), hardware compatibility (if your chosen distro uses a 8 month old kernel image and your hardware is 6 months old, you are gonna be tinkering out of the gate), userbase (you want people are doing similar things to you, at roughly the same level of XP, you'll quickly find useful answers for any issues you have). As a new user (with no knowledge of software names etc) it's nice to have good "package manager" and GUI browser for it too, I've been using linux for over 20 years, and I can guarantee there are software packages listed in my package manager that I have no idea what they do, but the ability to filter and search through these packages makes it easy to find some things that do what I want, test them out and pick the one I like best (I actually did this recently but can't remember what the software use case was...).

 

I've literally just finished a quick rundown available DE's on a standard Debian 11 install, I'll drop them in order of preference

1. LXDE (very responsive, I like the settings tools)
2. XFCE (dependable workhorse, needs TLC to become "productively yours" though)
3. LXQt (not as mature as LXDE, a bit sparse)
4. Plasma (was somewhat broken on this VM/Debian, so scored low)
5. Cinnamon (pretty, seemed OK)
6. Mate (pretty, not as OK as above)
7. Gnome (literally 1/10, would have been 0/10 but right click on desktop to access display resolution settings saved it, it's a computer, not an iPad)

Garuda seems like a good starting point TBH (after a quick look at it), just try some different things out on it and have fun.

[V3SPER]

22 hours ago, JogerJ said:

Fedora 36 offers a balance of latest features for latest hardware but not too bleeding edge as Arch based distros. For beginners, anything Ubuntu based will be okay, but don't expect updates to come as fast, which isn't necessarily a bad thing because compatibility matters. I used Arch before and all too often I get broken packages now and then, although they get patched soon enough but some things are not just worth updating/fixing if it ain't broke.

So arch has the most quick updates (either buggy or stable) Fedora has an almost at par updating system BUT has more stable ones. (although i can have a backup of my system from timeshift right?)
i'm not as keen on Ubuntu as we had that in our school class systems(the smartboard ones) and it just didnt sit right with me for some reason. I'm liking garuda as i has a custom installer which sets me up from the start with most of what i'd need (discord steam editing softwares etc.) 

 

22 hours ago, JogerJ said:

You will have generally a good time dealing with drivers as you use an AMD card. Give up your dreams on Adobe as with everyone. As with gaming, anything goes except anti-cheat protected games that don't have native binaries (overwatch/valorant/etc.)

Regarding install location, you need to free up your disk (shrink a partition, fit the new linux install there)

no adobe... for valorant cant i run it via a windows VM? 
partitioning disks will mean a dual boot scenario...is that good? 

[V3SPER]

5 hours ago, Dat Guy said:

If your reason to switch away from Windows is to try something else, a Mac could be a good alternative for you, especially as it runs most commercial software.

not really keen on MacOS but will give it a look 
thankyou

[V3SPER]

 

3 hours ago, Ralphred said:

nice to have good "package manager" and GUI browser for it too

which, in your opinion are better package managers? (pacman pacmac and (if) others)
i believe the Garuda settings has an inbuilt GUI browser (unsure at the moment will check and confirm)

[Ultraforce]

10 hours ago, V3SPER said:

So arch has the most quick updates (either buggy or stable) Fedora has an almost at par updating system BUT has more stable ones. (although i can have a backup of my system from timeshift right?)
i'm not as keen on Ubuntu as we had that in our school class systems(the smartboard ones) and it just didnt sit right with me for some reason. I'm liking garuda as i has a custom installer which sets me up from the start with most of what i'd need (discord steam editing softwares etc.) 

 

no adobe... for valorant cant i run it via a windows VM? 
partitioning disks will mean a dual boot scenario...is that good? 

For Valorant specifically you cannot run it via a Windows VM as Valorant is pretty special with how it's anti-cheat works. The main recommendation for using Linux and playing Valorant is dualbooting. Though in theory if you have multiple PCs you could run one as a server and access the server on your windows system.

Valorant's anti-cheat is a kernel driver which means that the internal thing at the core of the operating system and was specifically designed for Windows.

Ubuntu is actually what Pop! OS is based on though it's highly customized.

[Master Disaster]

5 hours ago, Ultraforce said:

Valorant's anti-cheat is a kernel driver which means that the internal thing at the core of the operating system and was specifically designed for Windows.

And without going too deep, running closed source fully proprietary software at ring 0 to protect a video game from you cheating is one of the absolute dumbest things I ever heard. Its akin to giving the keys to your house to the security guard you hired through a third party and had no say in the vetting process while you're on holiday just in case someone does break in. It becomes MUCH more likely the security guard is just gonna use the key, empty the fridge, shit in your toilet and sleep in your bed than a criminal actually breaking in,

 

Windows users are slowly being desensitised to this type of software and being taught that its normal for a fricken anti cheat to need complete and unfettered access to your entire system kernel.

[cretsiah]

On 5/19/2022 at 12:58 AM, V3SPER said:

for gaming

• aware of Lutris and ProtonDB
• cs:go(steam)
• gtaV(epic)
• battlefield[4 and5](origin

well its kinda bigger than that

 

for Epic and GOG there is also

Heroic Launcher

Bottles

 

Bottles has some pre-built game installers/ launchers and also has other uses

but i use it for gaming