Best version of Linux to use,

[Inception9269]

Pretty much what the title says.

 

I've been thinking for awhile now about giving Linux another try, (I used it for a couple of days when i built my previous pc over a year ago before i had a windows key, the version i used was kind of meh). but I want to give it another shot. (Windows 10 pro will still be my main OS, plan on doing a dual boot).

 

I'm looking for a version that has the best compatibility with software such as games. (reason being some older games I have don't work that great with win10 so I would use 8.1 in those kind of situations).

[v0id]

Only distro I've had dealings with was Mint, and I heard from a friend it was a good one to start with if you're new to Linux and coming from Windows, as was I. But if you're concerned with games, there's always Steam OS. Have no experience with it, so can't comment directly, but I've heard it's great if you wanna keep gaming.

[Jade]

Ubuntu has the best compatibility -- steamOS is based on it.

[Inception9269]

Only distro I've had dealings with was Mint, and I heard from a friend it was a good one to start with if you're new to Linux and coming from Windows, as was I. But if you're concerned with games, there's always Steam OS. Have no experience with it, so can't comment directly, but I've heard it's great if you wanna keep gaming.

 

I think Mint was the version I tried out back then. The version i tried out back then was called Cinnamon, not sure if that and Mint are the same thing.

 

From what i hear games get very low fps with Steam OS.

 

From what i've seen i heard WINE can be used to play games meant for Windows. how reliable is that?

[2FA]

Elementary OS. It's based off of the base LTS Ubuntu.

[Azgoth 2]

You have a few options.

 

Ubuntu and Linux Mint are the two biggest names in the field right now, I'd say, for newcomers to Linux.  Mint is based on the LTS version of Ubuntu, so it (like the version it's based on) is super stable and has access to a large number of very stable programs in its repository.  The default desktop environment, Cinnamon, is clean, intuitive for a Windows user after just a few days of use, and not particularly resource-intensive (though it hardly classifies as a "lightweight desktop environment" like LXDE).  Being based on Ubuntu, it has access to the same software repositories, is compatible with all the same software (or enough of the same software that "all" is sufficiently accurate), and has a comparable level of support.

 

Ubuntu, on the other hand, is the version of Linux that probably the largest number of currently produced versions are directly based on (Ubuntu itself is based on Debian, but I think more stuff takes Ubuntu's code and modifies it than takes Debian's code directly).  It's also developed by a proper corporation, Canonical, which has the benefit of lots of money and professional-grade development being put towards the OS.  Contrast this with Mint, which is developed much moreso by the community, rather than a corporate entity.  Ubuntu is the version of Linux that most programs will target for compatibility, but anything based on Ubuntu (like Mint) will generally have the same level of compatibility as Ubuntu itself.  Ubuntu's normal desktop environment, Unity, is somewhat polarizing, though.  Some people really like it, and some people (like me) really don't.  But aside from the fairly unarguable fact that Unity hogs a lot more resources than almost any other desktop environment, and that it offers a bit less in the way of customization--you can't move the dock/taskbar/panel/whatever you want to call it to anywhere except the left side of the screen without manually tweaking some code or probably downloading an extension, for instance--most gripes about it are a matter of personal preference.

 

Another OS to look at is Elementary OS, which goes for more of a Mac/OSX look and feel, but is still based on Ubuntu.  There's also Manjaro Linux, which is based on Arch (but to my understanding, strips out a lot of the configuration steps and such), which I don't know a huge amount about but which seems to get a lot of good press.

 

Or, if you're really into the free/libre software ideology, there's Trisquel, which contains no software that is not completely free and open source, as per the Free Software Foundation's definitions of the terms.  Or there's Debian, which the FSF has said does not comply with their definitions, but which does strive to use only free/libre software.  I've heard tell that Debian can be a bit of a hassle to install compared to other distros, but I imagine that's changed since I last heard a year or two ago.

 

I personally use Mint, and always recommend it because I can vouch for it.  It just works right out of the box with almost no setup needed after installation, and is a great and friendly environment.

[Inception9269]

 

 

I'm downloading Ubuntu (i have 1 minute left). I do have a question though, how would I go about installing drivers for my pc? I know nvidia has drivers for linux, but what about my motherboard drivers? Normally i download MSI live update and that handles my mobo drivers.

 

Also I have 4 storage drives, how does Linux read them? do i need to set them up any special way or will they just show up normally.

[elkenrod]

I'm downloading Ubuntu (i have 1 minute left). I do have a question though, how would I go about installing drivers for my pc? I know nvidia has drivers for linux, but what about my motherboard drivers? Normally i download MSI live update and that handles my mobo drivers.

 

After you install Ubuntu type "terminal" in the start menu.

 

run the command "sudo apt-get install nvidia-current"

 

it will ask for your password and then it will install the latest nvidia driver.

 

After you reboot however, you may have to press "e" at the boot menu and add "nomodeset" in order to avoid the black screen of death.

 

just youtube "linux nomodeset" for an explanation.

 

 

 

As for your motherboard and storage drives.  You're good.  Ubuntu will detect everything.

[Inception9269]

After you install Ubuntu type "terminal" in the start menu.

 

run the command "sudo apt-get install nvidia-current"

 

it will ask for your password and then it will install the latest nvidia driver.

 

After you reboot however, you may have to press "e" at the boot menu and add "nomodeset" in order to avoid the black screen of death.

 

just youtube "linux nomodeset" for an explanation.

 

 

 

As for your motherboard and storage drives.  You're good.  Ubuntu will detect everything.

 

not sure what the deal is, but I installed ubuntu correctly (followed videos) but when starting up my pc goes to win10 and doesn't show the option to choose OS

[elkenrod]

not sure what the deal is, but I installed ubuntu correctly (followed videos) but when starting up my pc goes to win10 and doesn't show the option to choose OS

 

Did you install Ubuntu on a separate physical drive?  If so, you need to change the boot order in your BIOS/UEFI

[Guest]

aoeu

[Inception9269]

Did you install Ubuntu on a separate physical drive?  If so, you need to change the boot order in your BIOS/UEFI

 

it's on another partition on the same ssd.

[Inception9269]

http://askubuntu.com/questions/666631/how-can-i-dual-boot-windows-10-and-ubuntu-on-a-uefi-hp-notebook

 

tl;dr Probably disable Fast Startup.

 

Also, give https://www.bunsenlabs.org/ a spin.

 

looking online, grub bootloader is supposed to let me select the OS, but i guess it wasn't installed or something

[ohJey]

Install grub to /dev/sdX

[IreMinMon]

IMHO, Ubuntu has the best compatibility and Linux Mint uses alot of Ubuntu's stuff so the compatibility should be quite similair. Linux Mint is specifically designed for people moving from Windows to Linux, I use Linux Mint with KDE desktop (Cinnamon is kinda meh). However, those are distribution mainly meant for beginners. Cannonical (Ubuntu creators) did confess it collects your data and sends it to Amazon on the OS level, so I think they are abusing your data even more than what microsoft would've done. Linux Mint also comes bloated with software that is hard to remove - like biult in browser extensions.

For more advanced users, your next target distros should probally be Debian and ArchLinux (which is based off Debian, SteamOS, Linux Mint, Ubuntu are also all based off Debian). These distros allow for very low-level OS configuration and are for that reason a little harder to use. Debian is very popular with servers, because of its' mathematical approach to everything, simplicity and control it grants the user. Arch Linux is popular because it is cool, because it wants you to customise it and again because it is cool. Arch might be slightly bloated with proprietary software, while installing the right software with Debian will grant you full free software OS.

Professionals and crackers (hackers) tend to use even more extreme Linux OSs, but I doubt we really want to get into that. In case you'te really interested in software freedom, there's list of fully free distributions on gnu.org.

[Inception9269]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not sure if it's me or Windows 10, but for the love of god i can not dual boot Ubuntu and windows 10. Maybe if Ubuntu was my first os, but i am not deleting my current one and going through the hassle of reinstalling it later.

 

I couldn't find any usbs to use to install the iso to (I had 2 usb sticks but they both disappeared, and my 3rd one was corrupted and couldn't be used). So i burned it to a dvd rom as shown on their website somewhere, I'm able to install it but when i restart my pc at the end it goes straight to windows 10 without giving me the chance to go to Linux. I tried it several more times, tweaking the install settings but it won't work. I used the windows command prompt to go through and repair my corrupted usb, so now it's usable, and i installed the iso to it using this tool http://www.pendrivelinux.com/universal-usb-installer-easy-as-1-2-3/#button however unlike with my cd rom, when it gets to the final step, installation, using the usb drive it doesn't install at all (i even left my pc on last night and it didn't install). I restarted my pc and for the linux screen it lets you check the integrity of the install file and it said it was missing 2 files. I figured maybe the download for the iso was bad so I redownloaded it from their site, put it on the same usb and tried it again, still didn't work. Figured maybe that usb wasn't working right, since it was corrupted before. Went out and bought a new usb stick, tried it again. Still didn't work. It gets to the final step, the installation, and it just sits at 0 and never moves.

 

It's like god doesn't want me to use linux. I'm trying a different strategy now, I ordered a 120gb kingston ssd from Amazon (a 60gb and 120gb were the same price so i went with the 120gb). I'll install linux onto the ssd, and if that works all i have to do in the future is when i want to go into Ubuntu is press F11 at start up and choose the ssd to boot to.

 

A big reason why i want to get into linux is because windows 10 pretty much ruined my laptop (I'm using my desktop, which windows 10 works perfect on). but it destroyed my laptop, where there's many issues on it now, such as the brightness being destroyed where it's always on very low brightness. (my laptop was a $700 one with an i5 in it)

[Saburoux]

Personally I've only ever used Linux Mint which I liked just fine, but Windows 10 does its job. For Installing Linux a friend showed me was  LInuxLive USB Creator: http://www.linuxliveusb.com/ which I found to be a great tool for making a Linux USB. Also a small bit of advice, have you considered running a Virtual Machine to test out Linux in a sandbox environment?

[Inception9269]

Personally I've only ever used Linux Mint which I liked just fine, but Windows 10 does its job. For Installing Linux a friend showed me was  LInuxLive USB Creator: http://www.linuxliveusb.com/ which I found to be a great tool for making a Linux USB. Also a small bit of advice, have you considered running a Virtual Machine to test out Linux in a sandbox environment?

 

I never tried setting up a virtual machine before. I probably could just look up videos, but not sure. Besides, I still want a second OS on my pc to use (such as if something on my main one screws up or something)

[IreMinMon]

Not sure if it's me or Windows 10, but for the love of god i can not dual boot Ubuntu and windows 10. Maybe if Ubuntu was my first os, but i am not deleting my current one and going through the hassle of reinstalling it later.

 

I couldn't find any usbs to use to install the iso to (I had 2 usb sticks but they both disappeared, and my 3rd one was corrupted and couldn't be used). So i burned it to a dvd rom as shown on their website somewhere, I'm able to install it but when i restart my pc at the end it goes straight to windows 10 without giving me the chance to go to Linux. I tried it several more times, tweaking the install settings but it won't work. I used the windows command prompt to go through and repair my corrupted usb, so now it's usable, and i installed the iso to it using this tool http://www.pendrivelinux.com/universal-usb-installer-easy-as-1-2-3/#button however unlike with my cd rom, when it gets to the final step, installation, using the usb drive it doesn't install at all (i even left my pc on last night and it didn't install). I restarted my pc and for the linux screen it lets you check the integrity of the install file and it said it was missing 2 files. I figured maybe the download for the iso was bad so I redownloaded it from their site, put it on the same usb and tried it again, still didn't work. Figured maybe that usb wasn't working right, since it was corrupted before. Went out and bought a new usb stick, tried it again. Still didn't work. It gets to the final step, the installation, and it just sits at 0 and never moves.

 

It's like god doesn't want me to use linux. I'm trying a different strategy now, I ordered a 120gb kingston ssd from Amazon (a 60gb and 120gb were the same price so i went with the 120gb). I'll install linux onto the ssd, and if that works all i have to do in the future is when i want to go into Ubuntu is press F11 at start up and choose the ssd to boot to.

 

A big reason why i want to get into linux is because windows 10 pretty much ruined my laptop (I'm using my desktop, which windows 10 works perfect on). but it destroyed my laptop, where there's many issues on it now, such as the brightness being destroyed where it's always on very low brightness. (my laptop was a $700 one with an i5 in it)

 

Running Linux and Windows on separate drives is good. It's been well known that Windows will cause issues with dual boot one way or the other. I had a trillion problems installing Linux on my laptop, windows boot manager will still always run over my GRUB2. I have to manually select bootloader on startup. Expect problems when trying to set up dual boot machine. I've had the same kind of problems when I originally attempted to set up dual boot. It took me weeks and hell alot of nerves.

[Saburoux]

 

Running Linux and Windows on separate drives is good. It's been well known that Windows will cause issues with dual boot one way or the other. I had a trillion problems installing Linux on my laptop, windows boot manager will still always run over my GRUB2. I have to manually select bootloader on startup. Expect problems when trying to set up dual boot machine. I've had the same kind of problems when I originally attempted to set up dual boot. It took me weeks and hell alot of nerves.

I agree with IreMInMon, dual booting and windows do not get along. I've tired with Windows 10 in the past and the biggest hurdle is getting to run the other OS with out it jumping the gun to 10. So good on you for getting a separate drive.

[patrick3027]

Ubuntu for the reasons mentioned above

[Burusutazu]

I would take a look at a few Ubuntu based distributions and just try the one you think looks best.

[Maesto]

Well as in many cases in the Linux world this is a thing of taste. And it's on you to choose. But the freedom to choose is something that makes Linux interesting. So to answare the question there is probably not "the" best version of linux. But I can give on some of my experience.

 

Ubuntu:

One of the flagships and most used distributions on the market. Some don't like the standard Desktop Unity  and switched somewhere else. But it comes in some different flavors too. (Xubuntu, Kubuntu, Lubuntu)  And it's widely supported. Most people I know avoid it since the "we upload your searches" thing. But you can remove it with some easy commands. But it's not the best coice if you are using an older computer.

 

Mint:

Based on Ubuntu it shares most of it's properties. As in Ubuntu here are different flavors available.

 

Fedora:

Something thats not on most lists. It's based on RHEL and compared to Ubuntu/Debian often offers newer software versions.

 

ArchLinux:

My current distribution of choise but nothing if you want it to "just work". It has a steep learning curve and no click trough installer. But you could try Arch Bang which tries to make Arch Linux a bit more end user friendlier. But the documentation is great and if you are googling your problems of any distro the chances to find the solution in the arch wiki isn't slim.

 

SteamOS:

Well if you ever thought you want Steam as a OS heres your chance. Basically it's Steam in big picture mode. It's mostly targeted to be used as a console type OS.

 

So what to use? For playing games they are almost all equally good, since you can install Steam on all of them. On SteamOS you would't even need to do that. So it mostly comes down to the Desktop environment and what you like most. Since you can easily test Distros with a USB stick its probably the best to just test a few.

 

If you just want a recommendation and currently use XP or Win 7 I would suggest Linux Mint with the LXDE desktop environment. I use it to kill Windows at my family computers and my clients offices if applicable and never heard of any problems whatsoever .

[Burusutazu]

 

Ubuntu:

One of the flagships and most used distributions on the market. Some don't like the standard Desktop Unity  and switched somewhere else. But it comes in some different flavors too. (Xubuntu, Kubuntu, Lubuntu)  And it's widely supported. Most people I know avoid it since the "we upload your searches" thing. But you can remove it with some easy commands. But it's not the best coice if you are using an older computer.

 

 

 

It's just a setting under privacy if you didn't know. No need to use the command line. Unless this is something completely different.

[Inception9269]

It's just a setting under privacy if you didn't know. No need to use the command line. Unless this is something completely different.

 

I went and installed Ubuntu on my laptop. originally i was going to wait til i installed it on my desktop to see how it runs, but seeing as i had to order an ssd for my desktop for linux, i went installed it on my laptop so i could try it out while i wait for the ssd. i like so far. It does seem much different than over a year ago when i tried out Cinnamon