I’m going to be building a new computer soon for myself. (Going AMD for the first time, since intel microcode issue.)
I would say I’m an expert or advanced user, as been using pcs for 25 years and set up arch and slackware in the past. I have tried many distros and would like some feedback.
I mainly use my pc for gaming. I want something customizable, KDE ish, and without bloatware. A good wiki is a plus.
I think that i may end up with arch… is it better for gaming since it’s bleeding edge and isn’t steamos built off it?
Side question is distro chooser accurate?
Because others already suggested Arch/ EndeavourOS, I’ll be suggesting something else: Bazzite.
It’s part of the image based (“immutable”) Fedora series and is basically Fedora Kinoite, with all drivers and codecs already set up for you, self managing, with many gaming tweaks included.
It’s rock solid and basically unbreakable, while also being extremely modern and updated. On Arch, even if it doesn’t break, you always get the newest stuff, which might not be as polished. On Fedora, it matures a few months, while still being very modern.
The main target group is “For Linux users who don’t want to use Linux”, meaning, it runs all your favourite stuff (KDE, etc.) without having to care for anything. It even updates itself automatically in the background without any interference.
If you prefer something with less “bloat” (a lot of optional tools and software to choose from, but nothing mandatory), then check out Aurora, which is basically the same, but without gaming stuff.
For more information, check out universal-blue.org
Just a small heads up for OP: You have to do quite a lot of (advanced) things differently from now on if you choose Atomic.
Use containers (Distrobox, etc.) for everything you can, avoid installing stuff on the host if possible, etc.
Just use Flatpaks for 95% you do graphically, and for CLI stuff or software that isn’t available as Flatpak, I would recommend you to create an Arch Distrobox container (already set up IIRC) and use that. You can even install stuff from the AUR and export it, so it works just like it is supposed to.
Thanks for the detailed response. Yeah I’m reading up on distrobox.
If you are an expert, why are you asking pee ons like us?
Things change, the reason linux exists is from communities. I wanted to see what this community was running and get a feel from others. Also, I like experimenting and wanted to see if there’s a distro I didn’t take into account.
It looks like arch, debian, and gentoo are the main ones I’m looking at.
Each with pros and cons.
We are not worthy!
So you have a lot of suggestions in this thread.
I have an unconventional one:
Red hat.
You can use it for free as long as you register on their website.
The benefit: lots of documentation, a significantly different way of thinking about things (it asks you to define a compliance posture out of the box lol) and a package manager that does a lot of things right.
You said yourself youve been in the game for a while. Why not try being agent smith instead of neo?
No, thanks.
Anything arch based. :)
Yeah, if going arch based, whya not arch itself?
Would 2nd this suggestion. It is also often possible to swap to using the arch repos after you’ve got the install setup and you are happy with it on these distros.
Unpopular opinion but for gaming I believe windows it’s better than Linux, I use Linux but I’m not a gamer.
Yeah, there’s some issues with it, but I’m really tired of windows and don’t really want to install 11 or pay for it.
Thanks for your response.
As a Linux only user, I totally agree with your message.
People who downvote you aren’t of good faith, are delusional or just dumb.
Linux is better in every single category except ease of use for non-technical users and gaming.
Let’s stop with this bandwagon of MS bad, Linux good; Linux is good enough for us to not lie and speak the truth…
I’m not downvoting, but the fact that kernel malware games don’t work is a feature to me. It would be a full time job to keep from installing anything that demands obscene access for no legitimate reason on Windows. “It doesn’t work” is way easier.
Pretty much everything else on Steam works without effort.
I don’t have anywhere near your experience, but the key points (customizable, no bloat, good wiki) all scream Arch, as you predicted 🙂
Understood
Aurora is cool, if you’re okay with using an immutable distro. It is Fedora Atomic-based with KDE on top, so it is stable, but relevant. All necessary drivers are set up out of the box, but less pre-installed apps than Bazzite.
I like CachyOS
i use a minimal arch with the zen kernel and hyprland for home, work and play. no kde/gnome. for me it’s just right. except screen sharing in teams or discord, which haunts me… now it works, now it doesn’t.
Vencord or equicord can sort that out tbh.
I use webcord and ferdium. But I also tried the official apps and even the web apps with Firefox, chromium or zen. Nope.
Damn lol. I wish you luck in your streaming .
I just installed NixOS and the repeatability of it is pretty neat. I like the idea of having one file that sets up 90% of any pc going forward. Not sure how often I’ll use it, but feels neat.
Interesting, the coders use it at my work for easier rolling out the setup. I didn’t think about using it as a gaming pc.
I switched to it also because my debian host got out of date and now it’s difficult to upgrade and I’m scared to reinstall it. If it was NixOS I would be able to redo the whole thing in a few minutes. So I’m creating / learning how to create a template to roll it out to my other builds.
Have you perused Distro Watch?
Lots of good info & news, and info on just about every distro there is, stuff you’ve never heard of. Years and years ago this was my introduction to FreeNAS that made a huge difference in my life. You should check it out if you haven’t already.
I have forgotten about that site. Thanks.
I use Debian stable because I’m tired of constantly twiddling with breaking stuff, I just want a distro that keeps working without issues and tinkering.
If you still want to learn Linux stuff and debug packages, then go for a bleeding edge distro.
Understood, thanks for the response.
I always come back to OpenSuse Tumbleweed. Once I have everything setup, it’s stable as a rock and kde works really well on it.
Not many of you left these days it feels, any debate I always see openSUSE is missing, I don’t use it myself atm, but it was my rock in the past. Either openSUSE community is not vocal or it’s just very tiny on lemmy.
OpenSuse Tumbleweed.
Check out Garuda Linux. Comes with a preset catalog of gamer related nonsense on KDE - or - they offer a minimal KDE version as well if you’d rather set things up your way.
I started with the preset one and then switched my machines over to the barebones one once I had a handle on Linux. It’s been a smooth ride. Things only break when I break them touching things unnecessarily out of curiosity because I don’t know what I’m doing.
Garuda is arch btw
Why not just install arch then?
Easier install and a cromulent setup out of the box. It’s why I went with Endeavour.
Rock solid suggestion too
