os help

[JohnLee19869]

Looking for linux options, hope to move from windows but need a good option for my new pc, need an operating system that deals with web browsing and running multiple browsers with multiple tabs open and is good with watching videos or movies but is also very good at playing games and is easy to use, would prefer something similar to windows look wise as i am used to that. any thoughts as i really want to move from windows and this could be the right time, i will be able to test it out on my older laptop to see what i think.thanks

[Thomas53]

The difficulty is with the games and the Desktop Environment, and not the Distribution.

The most recommend Distribution is Linux Mint and either the Cinnamon or Mate Desktop Environments.  Others are either Zorin or Q4OS. But there are others

For gaming Bazzite is highly rated.

For browsers themselves, there are Mozilla Firefox, Chromium, Google Chrome, Brave, Opera, SeaMonkey, Vivaldi, Tor, LYNX, Microsoft Edge, Opera, Vivaldi, Midori, Epiphany,Falkon, among many others. NOTE: Not all of these are available from a particular Distributions App Store but can be installed from either the developers own website or other on-line site,

 

I recommend that if you're not sure and want to experiment first is to download and install Ventoy, it's the one I use to make a bootable Flash drive where you can copy the different .iso files and when booting from it allows you to choose which one you want to live boot into. 

 

Live booting install the distribution into RAM and allows you to familiarize yourself with it. It does not have any effect with whats already on the computer already and when you close it when you're done, clears everything from the RAM and when you reboot it's like it was never there.

[JohnLee19869]

thanks for the reply, will have a look.

[Thomas53]

Forgot to add WELCOME TO THE LIGHT.

[Zando_]

24 minutes ago, Thomas53 said:

For gaming Bazzite is highly rated.

^^ +1 for Bazzite. It'll ship with KDE Plasma (the desktop environment, how the operating system looks basically) which defaults to a windows-like layout. It defaults to a nice app store for Flatpaks (a way of packaging apps) and there's a Flatpak for about everything you could want. And it's on a current kernel (core of the OS itself, lots of drivers and fixes for the ways apps talk to your hardware are in here) not held back multiple versions like Linux Mint - or any Ubuntu LTS based OS - is. For gaming, the Flatpak version of Steam can have some issues if you use multiple drives, but if you're just installing to your main drive like normal, it's fine in my experience so far. 

 

In less-linux speak: Bazzite is nice, it looks similar enough to Windows that you'll have little problem adjusting, and it has a simple GUI App Store to install about anything you can think of. 

If you want to get in deeper, you can look into what an "immutable distro" is and how it works. Bazzite is one, it's based on Fedora Silverblue and they just add everything you need for normal gaming, so you don't have to think about it or figure it out. Regular Fedora is nice (I again recommend the KDE Plasma spin of that) if you don't want an immutable distro. I didn't have issues running games there either. 

[TudorFinalBosz]

For gaming, CachyOS is currently the most popular.

[JohnLee19869]

thanks for the replies will have a look at the ones mentioned.

[maplepants]

15 hours ago, JohnLee19869 said:

very good at playing games and is easy to use

Which games? Because if you’re just playing games that are Steam Deck Verified or Playable, the Bazzite will be great. 
 

If you want to play popular online multiplayer titles, Linux will not be the most fun you’ve ever had. 

[JohnLee19869]

2 hours ago, maplepants said:

Which games? Because if you’re just playing games that are Steam Deck Verified or Playable, the Bazzite will be great. 
 

If you want to play popular online multiplayer titles, Linux will not be the most fun you’ve ever had. 

hi, will be mostly be single player games like cyberpunk or Indiana jones things like that.

[JohnLee19869]

17 hours ago, Thomas53 said:

The difficulty is with the games and the Desktop Environment, and not the Distribution.

The most recommend Distribution is Linux Mint and either the Cinnamon or Mate Desktop Environments.  Others are either Zorin or Q4OS. But there are others

For gaming Bazzite is highly rated.

For browsers themselves, there are Mozilla Firefox, Chromium, Google Chrome, Brave, Opera, SeaMonkey, Vivaldi, Tor, LYNX, Microsoft Edge, Opera, Vivaldi, Midori, Epiphany,Falkon, among many others. NOTE: Not all of these are available from a particular Distributions App Store but can be installed from either the developers own website or other on-line site,

 

I recommend that if you're not sure and want to experiment first is to download and install Ventoy, it's the one I use to make a bootable Flash drive where you can copy the different .iso files and when booting from it allows you to choose which one you want to live boot into. 

 

Live booting install the distribution into RAM and allows you to familiarize yourself with it. It does not have any effect with whats already on the computer already and when you close it when you're done, clears everything from the RAM and when you reboot it's like it was never there.

thanks for the advice about the live boot will try that

[Thomas53]

To update Bazzite, in the terminal enter: "ujust update"

[Ralphred]

On 10/1/2025 at 3:04 AM, Thomas53 said:

Vivaldi, Falkon

These are my two favourites. Vivaldi is my "daily driver", Falkon is for my bank, supermarket and "regular suppliers".

On 10/1/2025 at 3:38 AM, Zando_ said:

KDE Plasma

This my recommendation for "windows users"; I used it for years whilst still forced to use windows professionally and it has the smallest "paradigm shift" to be able to use both. If it's non-power users I tend to recommend the default mint environment (Cinnamon?), it's settings GUI is less "busy" - but both are easier to navigate than Win8+

 

8 hours ago, Thomas53 said:

Bazzite

On 10/1/2025 at 7:58 AM, TudorFinalBosz said:

CachyOS

I don't use either, but hear the scuttlebutt and both are strong contenders.

On 10/1/2025 at 2:32 AM, JohnLee19869 said:

my new pc

How new? Not is an "new to me" but as in "how long has this chipset been available": If it's "very new" we can do some cursory research on drivers, which may sway your decision.

[Thomas53]

2 hours ago, Ralphred said:

How new? Not is an "new to me" but as in "how long has this chipset been available": If it's "very new" we can do some cursory research on drivers, which may sway your decision.

If your computer was made any time after 1950, there is at least one or two Linux distributions that will work in it, you'll just need to do some research.

[Ralphred]

7 hours ago, Thomas53 said:

If your computer was made any time after 1950, there is at least one or two Linux distributions that will work in it, you'll just need to do some research.

As someone who has been building their own kernel for over 20 years, I can quite confidently say you have no idea what you are talking about, but that's OK, users from all across the experience spectrum post here, that's what makes it unique.

[Thomas53]

As that most users don't build their own kernel, I stand by my suggestion. And for those that do, I congratulate you on your efforts and encourage more people to do so.

 

And specifically as a new user, it more likely that he will cause himself more problems than what it's worth. After some time using a new OS, then it's a good idea to learn how to rebuild the engine and know what parts aren't needed.

 

[Dat Guy]

On 10/1/2025 at 4:04 AM, Thomas53 said:

The most recommend Distribution is Linux Mint

 

Note that Mint is built upon Ubuntu, which has a long history of bad design decisions. I'd recommend Void.

[JohnLee19869]

what is void?, not heard of it.

[Dat Guy]

https://voidlinux.org