I’m a windows loser looking to make the plunge into Linux. I was thinking of switching my gaming PC to Linux in the near future. Before I make up my mind, I’ll probably try out VMs of distros.

I’ve lurked a few Linux communities here and on lemmy.ml, some I’m gonna regurgitate some things I half remember in the hope of being being corrected and starting discussion about what I should be doing.

  • Ubuntu isn’t good
  • Mint is good despite being based on Ubuntu. Made with former windows users in mind
  • Debian is good because of their packages or package manager or something. Recently sold out, but there are spinoffs that don’t use proprietary software like Duvian.
  • Fedora seemed to get some good word but I can’t remember why.
  • Arch and it’s spinoffs require a shit ton of finagling to get right but can do a lot of cool things
  • There are different desktop environments like GNOME, Cinnamon, and … others? I honestly don’t know what a desktop environment is.
  • Wine (or the fork Proton) can run windows native games on Linux
  • There are snap, flat something or other, and … other ways for installing software.

I’m sure I’m missing a lot and got some things wrong. Any help getting started is appreciated.

Edit: I ended up going with a KDE plasma spin of Fedora 36. Once I figured out how to get the nvidia drivers set up it was smooth sailing.

  • allinwonderornot@lemmygrad.ml
    0·
    2 years ago

    PopOS is good enough for most beginners. Also try to substitute gaming (especially modern gaming) with learning programming and robotics, music instruments, and reading.

      • allinwonderornot@lemmygrad.ml
        0·
        2 years ago

        Yes, I read another comments saying that gaming isn’t smooth on Linux, which I think isn’t an issue at all. People shouldn’t be choosing OS based on gaming.

        • Arsen6331 ☭@lemmygrad.ml
          0·
          2 years ago

          And besides, Linux gaming works well. Not perfectly, but certainly well enough for casual gaming. Maybe it’ll need some tinkering for some particular games, but there are very nice installers like Lutris that attempt to handle that for you, so you don’t have to.

  • federico3@lemmy.ml
    0·
    2 years ago

    Debian is good because of their packages or package manager or something. Recently sold out

    Huh? Debian is not sold out.

    but there are spinoffs that don’t use proprietary software like Duvian.

    That’s not correct. There’s no proprietary software in the official Debian repository “main”.

    • Faresh@lemmy.ml
      1·
      2 years ago

      I think they may be referring to Systemd, which is not proprietary, but an init system very heavily criticized by some people. When Debian switched over to Systemd, there was fork made called Devuan that doesn’t use systemd. But I think the init system used by a distro shouldn’t be too much of a concern for a first time user. Instead they should try some popular and easy to use distro at first and then switch over to something that better suits their needs, tastes and concerns, in my opinion.

      Unlikely, but they may also be referring to the fact that Stallman doesn’t endorse Debian: https://www.gnu.org/distros/common-distros.en.html (though neither does he endorse a lot of other distros OP mentioned that are a lot worse in that regard)

      • federico3@lemmy.ml
        1·
        2 years ago

        When Debian switched over to Systemd, there was fork made called Devuan that doesn’t use systemd.

        That’s not correct. Debian distributes both SystemD and sysvinit. Any use that does not want to use SystemD can install the latter.

        Additionally, the large majority of distribution switched to SystemD as default - often before Debian. This is in no way a Debian-specific topic.

        • Faresh@lemmy.ml
          1·
          2 years ago

          That’s not correct. Debian distributes both SystemD and sysvinit. Any use that does not want to use SystemD can install the latter.

          Then I was mistaken. Sorry. Seems like they were bothered by the fact that systemd was going to be the default (and some more things).

          This is in no way a Debian-specific topic.

          I know, but OP mentioned “Duvian” which sounds very close to Devuan, which made me think that’s maybe what they mean.

  • freagle@lemmygrad.ml
    01·
    2 years ago

    Honestly, the distribution doesn’t matter. Just get started! Remember, Linux is about control over your tools. To develop mastery requires failure. I installed probably 5 distros before finally getting good at managing Linux. I learned so much from exploring and failing.

    Don’t listen to crowds on this topic, please. Get one person to be your phone-a-friend and you’ll be fine. If you don’t have this person, you will suffer, regardless of distro choice. This person should be someone who is already comfortable with Linux, any distro will do. If you don’t have this person in your life, I will be that person for you.

    Everything else you can learn, first get the hardware you want to use (probably already done), then get a Linux friend, then go exploring!!!