Linux Noob here with some questions.

[Mack_Shadow]

OK. Im sure this question is asked alot, and im sure it has been ask b4 in this Forum, but im some what lazy to go digging at least in this forum. Any how Im thinking about switching from windows to Linux. Ive had vary little experience with linux except i took a class in collage like early 2000's with Redhat and i know things have changed since then so... moving forward. I know Linux has its own culture and would like to learn more at least enough to move away from Microsoft, so ill try to be little more specific on what im looking for. I would consider my self a average PC enthusiast, I have some time invested in my rig (Ryzen 5800x,64gRam,6900xt,3x m.2's). so my system is fine. Im also a more casual gamer, vary little in streaming, but i might get back into it. No ESports, so im looking for more down to earth simple, or as close as you can in what you have to do in the OS setup. Im really looking for the best Linux Distro for just simple gaming and online browsing. 

 

Over all Im looking for long term stability, Easy to know what i need to get things to work properly. 

 

Im sure ill have more questions. If there are any links i can got for more detailed info on what to look for would be appreciated. 

Im sure there are more places too look then anything, im just looking for a good place to start to help me make the best choice. 

 

Thank you for your time.

Mack

[PDifolco]

Simplest way (that's what I did) is to dedicate a drive for Linux, create a Linux distro image with Balena Etcher or Rufus (I use Mint), and install it on said drive

With a dual boot you don't lose anything and can learn Linux ropes

There's just a ton of vids and tutorials around for that, just google it

 

[Mack_Shadow]

Is there a way to compare the Distros side by side with pros and cons for a more over all view? (like comparing hardware in a store)

[Arokan]

Good choice using AMD components then!

So the thing with distros is, it's always only a starting point. Using a distro doesn't mean you can't essentially switch to the next one without having to install it from scratch. Most of it is just desktop environments, package managers and some handlers, so don't feel like your choice must be a definitive thing.

People tend to recommend the "easy" distros for beginners, because they don't want people to leave frustrated, but seriously, it doesn't matter that much!

 

"The Gaming Distro" is mostly named POP!_OS, which is Ubuntu-based, which in turn is Debian-based. The biggest reason people tend to recommend it is because they handle the NVIDIA-Issues very well. This is not your problem though!

Not so much for Gaming, but also very capable with the simplest user-experience would be Mint imho. Also Ubuntu-based, but with a different preference on user-experience.
 

The Arch-side of Gaming-Distro would be Garuda, but Arch can be quite heavy in the beginning and isn't as stable as Debian distros, stable mostly meaning here that it forgives more user mistakes. If you wanna go down the rabbit hole completely and don't like to change at some point, I'd recommend that, although it's usually not for beginners as the roll-outs of updates can be unstable.

 

On the opposite side, we have Debian, the father of most Linux distros, which is stable as hell, but uses very old packages. This isn't too much of a problem as you can still update anything to newer versions, you then just have to do it manually. It's also quite slim and promises the best resource- and power-efficiency.

 

Whatever you choose, keep in mind that theoretically, you won't need the terminal, but I haven't have seen a single Linux-user, who didn't break that thing at some point and needed it to fix it. Regular backups are very recommended, and people here will help you on how to do that for sure. Also, once you experience the freedom of Linux, you'll really want to use it! It's efficient and fun!

So leaving Window$ is a great choice, but from experience, it's definitely a journey in which you'll have to learn a lot of stuff. I love/d it though! Most people I know who tried Linux are never going back.

[Mack_Shadow]

How is the security? Atm im using Pc Matic to keep my pc health good. it may not be the best option for windows, but it is surly better then MacAfee, and Norton. I here there isnt much worry about security, what kind of tools that are trusted for web security and system maintenance?

[Arokan]

You're in damn good company using Linux. Some hardliners say, that you really don't need any further security measures in Linux, and mostly, they're right.
Viruses are usually not of concern and the permission hierarchy is really save.

 

I'd maybe recommend using a proper firewall, (ufw=uncomplicated fire wall is the way to go, super easy to use), for remote access ssh-keys instead of passwords and get used to do anything as user, not admin, that doesn't strictly requite root-access.

Security-wise Linux is waaaaaay better than windows by any objective measures.

[CybeastEXE]

[Mack_Shadow]

Thanks for the info its greatly appreciated. It looks like i will try out Popos it looks like something i can sink my teeth into. Thank you for your time and help. Peace

[RollyShed]

Do as PDifolco and I do, use Mint. The Cinnamon desktop.

Viruses - lots of discussions and no examples of any ... ever.

There is a very good helpful discussion forum for Linux Mint. Google it. (forums.linuxmint.com)

If you want to try different Linux versions, put them on USB sticks and run them.

 

Personally I've been running Mint for over a decade, my partner since 2018. I've done about 50 installations and there are 4 computers around here at he moment being used to set up disks. If you want speed, get an SSD and put Mint on that. You can keep the Windows disk "off" the computer and copy files across using a SATA to USB cable. Then put the Windows disk on a high shelf and forget it.

[Herr.Hoefkens]

9 hours ago, Mack_Shadow said:

early 2000's

damn that must be redhat 7 or so

(i jumped on the linux wagon with  redhat 8 so )

 

 

7 hours ago, Arokan said:

Gaming-Distro would be Garuda, but Arch can be quite heavy in the beginning

i must partially agree and partially disagree with this...  garuda would defenetly be a great choice , for the following reasons

-their gaming editions have everything you need preinstalled or it gets configured installed when you first run it... automagically , tis makes the total experience for gaming the easiest that is out there, arch might not have the beginner friendly stamp but in this case nor pop or ubuntu or any other distro comes even close to the ease of use (for gaming and browsing) to what garuda provides in this space,

-they have specialized gui tools for installing what one would need or could desire for gaming , making the search for suitable tools (for configuring mouse , or gamepad , emulators or even overclocking ) non existen as they are pretty nicely all aggregated in one gui.

- garuda by default sets up a btrfs environment that makes a snapshot every update , if something goes wrong , you can  without any headaches just boot the previous snaphot (and unlike windows recovery or whatever) it wil be as if the update didnt happen , so you can fix what went wrong first or just retry the update, (think of it more like a snapshot in vmware of a vm) but without the wait ,   this is all setup automaticly and needs no human interference to get it working.

[Arokan]

I'm not too familiar with arch-based distros; I've seen arch can be a hassle to get going, garuda seems to take care of that pretty well but doesn't that mean it's quite bloated?

[maplepants]

So you want to do some gaming on your PC, but still want to run desktop linux. I'm here to preach the gospel of wsl. I used to dual boot all my non-Macs, but since wsl 2 launched, I no longer dual boot on my gaming PC.

 

wsl is real linux. It's not translation layer it used to be, it's a real linux kernel and will run anything you throw at it. You can even run GUI apps now, though I've never needed to do it myself. 

 

Obviously if your goal is to ditch MS this solution is no good. But if your goal is to just get some desktop linux in your life, this is a very viable option.

[Mack_Shadow]

OK i have Pop-os installed I have a few things running. i also have a few questions. i have a Asrock AMD Radeon RX 6900xt and would like to tweak the fan curve. now i know Asrock has the software to do it and, ive tryed a few things to try to get it to work like Wine and Bottles. so fare Wine is buggy and wont work at all and bottle is up but wont run the exe. im kinda stumped. it is l8te for me so ill tryy again tomorrow. also do i have to download AMD driver software to utilize the gpu(Amd Adrenaline)? 

 

Thank again for the help

Mack.

[CybeastEXE]

On 8/21/2022 at 9:58 PM, Mack_Shadow said:

 

 

[10leej]

If I told you ultimately there really isn't much of a difference between each distro you probably wouldn't believe me.

 

But really of the thousands that exist, there's really only a handful of distros that are unique.

But here's my suggestions.

 

• Ubuntu holds the power of the Google search result.
• Mint is 2nd to Ubuntu in Google.
• Fedora has by far the most helpful community. Plus it's Redhats upstream so there's some ecosystem familiarity.
• Arch will expect you to be willing to read a wiki, someone will demand it, others will helpfully link to the right page.
• Manjaro has a toxic community, don't even bother because the cooperation behind it is worse.
• No one uses openSUSE until they read this comment and quote me saying "I exist".
• Gentoo, well if your patient enough for it, go for it. You've been warned. However their dev team is amazing and will make cow jokes with you. As long as your willing to use IRC.
• NixOS has my heart, but unless you willing to learn the fundemental basics of programming and syntax don't bother.
• Debian is the mother of Ubuntu and by extension Mint, PopOS, Zorin, and anytbing that uses APT.

 

Anything else your using purely for philosophical reasons

[Nayr438]

8 hours ago, Mack_Shadow said:

OK i have Pop-os installed I have a few things running. i also have a few questions. i have a Asrock AMD Radeon RX 6900xt and would like to tweak the fan curve. now i know Asrock has the software to do it and, ive tryed a few things to try to get it to work like Wine and Bottles. so fare Wine is buggy and wont work at all and bottle is up but wont run the exe. im kinda stumped. it is l8te for me so ill tryy again tomorrow. also do i have to download AMD driver software to utilize the gpu(Amd Adrenaline)?

WINE doesn't directly interact with hardware, even if it did the driver implementations would be incompatible, so anything that needs to talk directly to your hardware likely won't run or will be mostly non functional.

For your GPU fan curve you can checkout CoreCtrl.

 

The Open Source Drivers are part of the Kernel and Mesa Stack, you shouldn't need to do anything, these are the targeted and preferred drivers for General use including Gaming.

If you need OpenCL or AMF support however, you will need to obtain AMDGPU-PRO or at-least it's OpenCL and/or AMF components. Depending on the Software, ADMGPU-PRO can perform noticeably worse or better than the open source stack, it's generally only recommended for Workstations.

[Mack_Shadow]

lol ok i have another problem. If you all dont mind helping a noob. my brain is fryed atm  and i need another point in a direction. Im trying to install Corectrl.... why any of the stores and shops and software outlets in the os doesnt show it who knows. i went to the web side got the corectrl-master.zip. then i extracted it. opened up the terminal and after all the videos and following the web site install instructions all i get is...

even after i added the Ernst ppa-mesarc PPA.

Not quite sure what to do next.

[Mack_Shadow]

After that last post i think i goto a linux forum. Thanks for all the info and help. Peace