Tempted to try Linux

[Sacro]

I keep coming back to the idea of wanting to try out Linux, and the latest Pewdiepie video has piqued my curiosity.

 

I'm a complete newbie to linux (unless you count trying ubuntu for 3 days in 2007)

 

So I figured I'd ask around for the best option for my use case.

 

I heard games on steam mostly work fine on Linux these days so thats not an issue but my main game is wow so I need a distro that can do it with the bare minimum (or preferably no) fuckery, same goes for the programs used for updating wow addons (curseforge)

 

I use a razer blackshark v2 head set and a razer naga pro mouse so I'm hoping there is support for synapse (I'm aware there are probably open source options for this but I am trying to avoid having to deal with too much crap like that at the start)

 

I also run a 3080rtx and I've heard nVidia drivers are kinda ass for Linux.

 

Any recommendations. I don't mind doing some trouble shooting on my own, but I kind of want to keep it too a minimum as I dip my toes into the linux pool.

[WereCat]

Any of the more popular distros should work just fine for your use case. IMO, just pick any rolling release distro to get newest features like Arch or Fedora and the main decision will be on which desktop environment you want to use. I like GNOME a lot but if you want Windows-like UI then stick to KDE.

I personally use Fedora.

 

For WoW all you need is to install Lutris and then you can install Battlenet trough it and download WoW and just play.

 

For Razer software, OpenRGB can control the RGB and for more control you can use OpenRazer https://openrazer.github.io

Obviously, Synapse itself does not work. I don't see reason why you would even want to use it, it's absolutely horrible and buggy software that does not work properly often even on WIndows.

 

You should be fine with 3000 series NVIDIA card and newer. The drivers are mostly fine on these cards. The main issue is with the older cards these days on NVIDIA side.

However you may need to do some effort on installing NVIDIA drivers while on AMD they just work without you having to do anything. How to install it may differ from distro to distro so you'll have to search how to do it, it shouldn't be difficult though.

[Sacro]

4 minutes ago, WereCat said:

pick any rolling release distro to get newest features like Arch

I'd heard Arch was the "hard" distro.
 

5 minutes ago, WereCat said:

I don't see reason why you would even want to use it

I know I'm just trying to limit the initial learning curve is all. I was planning to go open source eventually, just trying to be gradual.

[WereCat]

1 minute ago, Sacro said:

I'd heard Arch was the "hard" distro

It's the most cutting edge distro so there is chance something will break even if you don't mess up. It's not recommended for beginners but that does not mean you can't use it even as a beginner.

I picked Fedora because it's also rolling release but with far more stability and I never really had issues with it.

 

3 minutes ago, Sacro said:

I know I'm just trying to limit the initial learning curve is all. I was planning to go open source eventually, just trying to be gradual.

Understandable. Still, the biggest learning curve will be wrestling with issues you'll eventually run into.

I switched about a year ago and I can tell you that the biggest issue for me was when I didn't even knew what to search for. Depending on what you will try to do things may get considerably more difficult until you figure them out. If you're mostly just gaming and web browsing then it should be smooth sailing for the most part.

 

All you really need for gaming is to install Steam and in 95% of cases it works just like on Windows.

Lutris for launchers like Battlenet.

HeroicLauncher for GoG games, ...

 

You will probably also want to install MangoHUD to get FPS lock capability and monitoring like with MSI Afterburner.

[Eigenvektor]

15 minutes ago, Sacro said:

I'd heard Arch was the "hard" distro.

If you want something Arch-like that's not quite as cutting edge and much easier to set up, go with a distribution like Manjaro or EndeavourOS. Both come with a graphical installer. They are also rolling releases, but purposely hold back updates for some time to allow them to stabilize a bit.

[WereCat]

6 minutes ago, Eigenvektor said:

If you want something Arch-like that's not quite as cutting edge and much easier to set up, go with a distribution like Manjaro or EndeavourOS. Both come with a graphical installer. They are also rolling releases, but purposely hold back updates for some time to allow them to stabilize a bit.

Main advantage of Arch is it's AUR repository. On Manjaro it's not enabled by default for good reason... if you want to use it like Arch with all it's main features you will likely break it sooner than later. EndavourOS is a safer bet IMO.

[Eigenvektor]

3 minutes ago, WereCat said:

Main advantage of Arch is it's AUR repository. On Manjaro it's not enabled by default for good reason... if you want to use it like Arch with all it's main features you will likely break it sooner than later. EndavourOS is a safer bet IMO.

My Manjaro install is almost 4 years old. I use AUR for a select few packages (primarily Android Studio & IntelliJ for development), but imho if you're just getting into Linux, you probably don't really need it at all.

[GOTSpectrum]

I like Ubuntu (With the Unity DE) 

I'm not a wizz in Linux and I find Debian-based systems to have the most support. 

BUT, any of the main Distros have that level of support these days, so it's not like it used to be. 

My advice, try a few, dual or triple boot and see what sticks 

[Sacro]

Guys, less arguing about distros and more helping the newb would be great.
My main goal is as little friction as possible at the start. I don't have the most patience in the world.

[GOTSpectrum]

3 minutes ago, Sacro said:

Guys, less arguing about distros and more helping the newb would be great.
My main goal is as little friction as possible at the start. I don't have the most patience in the world.

I hope I'm not included in that haha 

[Eigenvektor]

2 minutes ago, Sacro said:

Guys, less arguing about distros and more helping the newb would be great.

You've asked for opinions and recommendations, which is bound to lead to arguments, since there are no fact based answers to that. There is no such thing as "best distro" since a lot of it depends on personal tastes and preferences.

 

If you want actual help, rather than personal opinions, you'll need to ask a more concrete question that isn't open ended.

 

As was said above, any popular distro should work, they all have their strengths and weaknesses. My personal recommendation would be to stick to something that is easy to set up, i.e. anything but Arch. Otherwise, just pick a random distro and try to follow their setup instructions, e.g. https://ubuntu.com/tutorials/create-a-usb-stick-on-windows#1-overview

 

If you get stuck, that's when asking for help makes more sense.

[WereCat]

2 hours ago, Sacro said:

Guys, less arguing about distros and more helping the newb would be great.

Nobody is really arguing though.

2 hours ago, Sacro said:

My main goal is as little friction as possible at the start. I don't have the most patience in the world.

Then stick to what already works for you. There WILL be friction regardless of what you pick, that's just reality of trying something new. The most difficult part will be the beginning while figuring things out regardless of which distro you pick.

[xAcid9]

Go with rolling/bleeding edge distros if you want to play/use newly release games/hardware.

 

5 hours ago, Sacro said:

I heard games on steam mostly work fine on Linux these days so thats not an issue but my main game is wow so I need a distro that can do it with the bare minimum (or preferably no) fuckery, same goes for the programs used for updating wow addons (curseforge)

Found Curseforge on AUR. 

Spoiler

 

Also found WOW addon manager for Linux

https://github.com/ogri-la/strongbox

 

You can install Battle.Net via Lutris or WINE. 

 

5 hours ago, Sacro said:

I use a razer blackshark v2 head set and a razer naga pro mouse so I'm hoping there is support for synapse (I'm aware there are probably open source options for this but I am trying to avoid having to deal with too much crap like that at the start)

No Synapse in Linux. 
There's RazerGenie though.

 

5 hours ago, Sacro said:

I also run a 3080rtx and I've heard nVidia drivers are kinda ass for Linux.

True, expect performance regression compare to Windows and dodgy/no support for Gsync/HDR. 

 

5 hours ago, WereCat said:

Main advantage of Arch is it's AUR repository. On Manjaro it's not enabled by default for good reason... if you want to use it like Arch with all it's main features you will likely break it sooner than later. EndavourOS is a safer bet IMO.

What's the problem? I've use it since day one (4 years ago) and nothing break, yet.

[NoLeafClover]

5 hours ago, WereCat said:

I picked Fedora because it's also rolling release

Just for completeness and disambiguation, as I see this way too often, Fedora is not a rolling release distro, certainly not in the traditional sense. I can see why people get confused though, as you still get regular updates in-between releases. If one were to be pedantic, Fedora kind of sits somewhere between a regular release cycle and rolling, but it still relies on regular release schedules for any actual major changes.

 

Arch, Gentoo, Fedora Rawhide, Debian Testing, just to name a few, on the other hand are rolling release distros (or versions of such) as they do not have any release schedule at all - things get out the door as soon as "ready".

 

As to OP's original query, I agree with existing advice. Any choice of a "major" distribution would be a good choice. Personally, I think Ubuntu (and its *buntu variants) is the worst possible option and everyone should stay away from this hideous distro.

 

I'm also of the opinion that "gaming distros" don't offer significant value over whichever distro they are based on, except they are more likely to disappear into obscurity at some point. There's nothing that can be done on a gaming distro that cannot be achieved on any of the well known ones with good upstream support. Application distribution tools such as Flatpak have made installing things like Steam reliable and universal, so the only major factor for games would be hardware support through driver and kernel updates. Any distro that is rolling or with decent release cadence should address this.

[WereCat]

18 minutes ago, xAcid9 said:

What's the problem? I've use it since day one (4 years ago) and nothing break, yet.

Their repositories are not in sync with main Arch repositories so if you use AUR packages a lot (which is the main reason to go for Arch distro) then you can get dependency issues really fast. If it works for you then good. You probably know what you're doing.

 

15 minutes ago, NoLeafClover said:

Just for completeness and disambiguation, as I see this way too often, Fedora is not a rolling release distro, certainly not in the traditional sense. I can see why people get confused though, as you still get regular updates in-between releases. If one were to be pedantic, Fedora kind of sits somewhere between a regular release cycle and rolling, but it still relies on regular release schedules for any actual major changes.

 

Arch, Gentoo, Fedora Rawhide, Debian Testing, just to name a few, on the other hand are rolling release distros (or versions of such) as they do not have any release schedule at all - things get out the door as soon as "ready".

 

As to OP's original query, I agree with existing advice. Any choice of a "major" distribution would be a good choice. Personally, I think Ubuntu (and its *buntu variants) is the worst possible option and everyone should stay away from this hideous distro.

 

I'm also of the opinion that "gaming distros" don't offer significant value over whichever distro they are based on, except they are more likely to disappear into obscurity at some point. There's nothing that can be done on a gaming distro that cannot be achieved on any of the well known ones with good upstream support. Application distribution tools such as Flatpak have made installing things like Steam reliable and universal, so the only major factor for games would be hardware support through driver and kernel updates. Any distro that is rolling or with decent release cadence should address this.

Yeah, I tried to keep it simple but you're right. Fedora is not an actual rolling release but it's close to cutting edge while maintaining stability and you never have to wait long for new features to get implemented.

 

I agree with Ubuntu/Debian based distros not being a good fit for gaming as they focus on stability a lot which also means you get very delayed updates for new features.

[NoLeafClover]

7 hours ago, WereCat said:

I agree with Ubuntu/Debian based distros not being a good fit for gaming as they focus on stability a lot which also means you get very delayed updates for new features.

The main personal beef I have with Ubuntu is not so much its suitability or not for gaming, as it also has ~6mo release cadence, has a huge user base, and tends to be the "go to" test platform for games. But rather Canonical. You either do things the Canonical way, or take the highway. Some issues that I've experienced in the past - difficult, if not impossible to completely remove "netplan" if you don't want to use it which can interfere with other network management tools; aggressively pushing snap packages, including Firefox through snap, which could interfere with workarounds for non-snap packages; breaking updates between major versions; and probably some others that I've long forgotten. It goes against fundamental principles of being able to use the OS in the way you want and pick alternatives as you wish without going through additional, sometimes painful or short lived, hoops.

 

Debian, on the other hand, may have less regular releases, but that thing is rock solid. I've never had a major upgrade issue since Debian 3.0. Debian Testing is also surprisingly stable, despite its name  

[BirdieTX]

12 hours ago, Sacro said:

... I don't have the most patience in the world.

Just from this sentence alone, I would probably steer clear of Linux. Stuff is going to break. There is going to be a lot of stuff that doesn't make any sense. It's not something I reccomend to anyone unless you really want it and are willing to accept all the limitations and frustrations that come with both learning and using it. I'm just being honest here because I feel like no one has been honest enough about it yet. If less friction is what you want, you won't find it on Linux.

 

You mentioned wanting to play WoW and use Razer Synapse, WoW will run, but it's not going run nearly as good as it does on Windows. A lot of games do tend to run better on Linux, but this is usually only if you're using an AMD GPU. I've personally not tried running WoW, but I imagine the performance difference is pretty significant because it runs under Lutris and you're using an Nvidia card. Razer Synapse is not available on Linux, instead you'd need to use OpenRazer. I've never used it before, but I think they have a list of supported devices available you can look at.

 

I want more people on the Linux train as much as all the other users, but I also don't think it's fair to not be up front about the problems you will run into if you dive into it. It's so much better than it was just a few years ago, but there's a lot of improvements that still need to be made before I can reccomend it for your exact use case. What I can reccomend if it interests you is dual booting off of a second drive. As long as you're careful not to wipe your Windows Boot drive you can try out Linux to your hearts content.

[BirdieTX]

Also, just to clear up a few things:

• Fedora is not a rolling release (Fedora Rawhide is).
• Ubuntu is not strictly Debian based, it's forked from Debian unstable with essentially version locked (stable) up to date packages and snaps.
• EndevourOS is basically just Arch with custom icons and themes slapped on topped of a DE with pre installed packages.
• Manjaro is basically the Arch version of Ubuntu and Debian (unstable). Arch is significantly more stable than Debian (unstable) not to be confused with Debian Testing. Manjaro devs are wack though.

I don't think anyone here is stupid by the way. All of those bullet points are very common misconceptions within the Linux community.

[needshmeed]

21 hours ago, Sacro said:

Any recommendations. I don't mind doing some trouble shooting on my own, but I kind of want to keep it too a minimum as I dip my toes into the linux pool.

If you're anything like me, and if you want to (slowly) learn what Linux can do for you, you load it on a second machine & learn about its strengths and weaknesses at your own pace. For sure you will discover some things you never knew it could do, and you'll get a better idea about its strengths and weaknesses without worrying about downtime. That's what I'd do.

[Sacro]

1 hour ago, needshmeed said:

If you're anything like me, and if you want to (slowly) learn what Linux can do for you, you load it on a second machine & learn about its strengths and weaknesses at your own pace. For sure you will discover some things you never knew it could do, and you'll get a better idea about its strengths and weaknesses without worrying about downtime. That's what I'd do.

Maybe I should start with dual booting

[WereCat]

2 hours ago, Sacro said:

Maybe I should start with dual booting

It's a good idea because if you run into a problem you will have no time to wrestle with you can easily go back to Windows. But if you will go this route then try to challenge yourself by using Linux as much as possible because if you will go to Windows every time you run into an issue then you will not learn to understand why or how something breaks.  Dual booting is annoying and from my experience I know I would revert back to what worked for me instead of having to constantly reboot between OS.

[needshmeed]

20 hours ago, Sacro said:

Maybe I should start with dual booting

My record with dual-booting is not good. Something always stuffed me up eventually. So I gave up that practice a long time ago. Microsoft becoming so obnoxious were the biggest push for me to try something else. So I thank them for it. They own Github, so I'm not happy about that, but they know that open-source development is not going away anytime soon.

[VirtualDelinquent]

On 4/27/2025 at 6:26 PM, BirdieTX said:

Just from this sentence alone, I would probably steer clear of Linux.

I couldn't have said it better myself, one is going to need to have a lot of patience when it comes to configuring Windows-only games to play on Linux.

 

On 4/27/2025 at 2:37 AM, Sacro said:

Any recommendations.

I recommend Pop OS, it's what I use for gaming. I run games on Steam through Proton, and use MO2 for mods.

The beauty of Linux is that you can install just about any distro you come across on a USB for free, all you need to spend is your time finding which one you like. Don't forget to check the ProtonDB website for any launch commands that people use for their distro.

[Beskar]

I daily drive Linux and switched over about 4-5 years ago, so Ill share my two cents on the matter.

IMHO if you don't have much experience with Linux I would avoid distros like Arch and it's derivatives (ie: EndeavourOS), at least for now... While they are very good distros (EndeavourOS is one of my favourites) they are designed more for those who have some understanding about Linux and can go in and configure things. EndeavourOS is better in this regard, as they make using an arch based distro a bit easier, but be aware that these are "terminal centric" distros, meaning they intend for you to do things like install/remove apps, update the system, etc... solely through the terminal. They don't have an app store like many of the other mainline distros, so it's all done through the terminal. You can try and set up and appstore, but it will take some work to do so...

 

Personally I would stick with distros along the lines if Linux Mint, Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Fedora, etc... These distros are better suited for those new to Linux for a number of reasons. You can do a lot more through the UI (you don't have to rely on the terminal as much), they have big communities making it easier to find solutions and get help, etc... Personally, I daily drive Fedora and really like it. Whats nice about it is that it's what I call a "semi-rolling" release distro. Meaning, they still have a fixed release cycle of every 6 months (similar to Ubuntu), however, they do provide updates to apps, the kernel,etc... in between releases. So while it's not a true rolling release compared to something like Arch, it is a distro that remains fairly up to date in between releases. That being said Ubuntu/Fedora just released their latest versions, so you would be using a fairly up to date distro if you chose one of these. Also, I would consider starting with a distro that comes with a desktop environment (DE) that resembles Windows ie: Linux Mint "Cinnamon", Kubuntu (KDE plasma), Fedora KDE. This will help with lowering the barrier of entry a little bit, since the look/feel is very similar to Windows. Personally I like KDE, as they are one of the more up to date desktop environments when it comes to features (ie: good fractional scaling, HDR support, pretty good mutli-monitor support, etc...). It's also the DE Valve chose to use for their SteamOS on the Steam Deck.

 

As to Nvidia, it is true that Nvidia really hasn't had the best experience with Linux, mostly due to the fact that Nvidia wants to be Nvidia. However, they have been putting in a lot of work into their drivers lately and the general sentiment seems to be that Nvidia on Linux has improved drastically...still not perfect, but it does continue to get better. Just make sure that you have the most recent Nvidia drivers and you should be pretty good to go.

 

If you are still not sure which distro to choose, I would actually try a bunch using Virtual Box and running them in a Virtual Machine. This way you can try them out and get a feel for them before either replacing Windows, or dual booting. While it won't be as performant, nor will you be able to test actual hardware compatibility, it will allow you to try Linux (break things, etc..) without affecting you main system. Once you find something you like, then I would try either replacing Windows, or try dual booting and go from there. Figure out what programs you need, what games you play, etc... and do some research beforehand. While gaming has come a long ways it's still not perfect, things like Anti-Cheat make it difficult, but if your like me and only play single player games (I gave up on online shooters long before switching to Linux) the gaming experience is quite good. For things like Microsoft Office you can use alternatives like LibreOffice (will require some configuration), or use the online versions of MS Office/Google docs. Provided that you only need the basics and do not require the more advanced features of Excel, etc...

 

What I like to tell people who are new to Linux, is to be aware that Linux does things different compared to Windows, so there definitely is an adjustment period. It's no different than someone switching to MacOS, or from MacOS to Windows, especially if they are switching from an OS they have used most of their life. There were plenty of times where I wanted to switch back to Windows, mostly because that's all I knew, but I kept going and now I feel a lot more comfortable with it. That being said Linux is not perfect (heck MacOS and Windows are not perfect either), it's not the silver bullet people think it is... It will take time to adjust and you will become frustrated many times over...I know I did. This always happens when we learn a new skill, or learn a new piece to equipment/technology. At the end of the day you may find that Linux may not be for you and that's ok, but give it time.

[EffeectFTW]

2 hours ago, Beskar said:

 

As to Nvidia, it is true that Nvidia really hasn't had the best experience with Linux, mostly due to the fact that Nvidia wants to be Nvidia. However, they have been putting in a lot of work into their drivers lately and it does seem that the general sentiment is that Nvidia on Linux has improved drastically...still not perfect, but continues to get better. Just make sure that you have the most recent Nvidia drivers and you should be pretty good to go.

 

To be honest, my only issue with Nvidia Drivers on Linux (specifically in Ubuntu) is the server x settings menu that looks like someone cooked it up in an afternoon one day and left it (and a weird occurring issue where it will disable gsync on a gsync compatible monitor from time to time). Otherwise, I think they are pretty good these past few years.