7
votes
Best Linux Distro for gaming/noob
Hey y’all. Recently picked up a Cyberpower prebuilt. Looking to install a Linux distro on it for gaming. Currently have Ubuntu on my laptop, so I’m not a total noob, but my experience is still low. Not a big fan of having to use the terminal. Any distros y’all would recommend? Am leaning toward Pop_OS or SteamOS.
In my opinion, Pop!_OS is the correct solution for the vast majority of gaming desktops. It's got plenty of support, both for itself and for its parent distro, Ubuntu. It's got a good system for installing proprietary drivers and supports Steam perfectly in my experience.
I wish System76 would maintain a KDE-based version of their distro because I really don't like GNOME.
In fact, for users new to Linux and used to Windows, GNOME can be quite a hurdle. The fact that you need to install additional software just to get minimize and maximize buttons on your windows is going to be jarring for some.
Yep, I agree. I personally do not love GNOME, though I do use it often and without lots of extensions. That said, GNOME is the desktop environment with the most formal usability work and research behind it, so I understand why it's the default for many distros.
I wish they'd rebase off Debian and stop having anything to do with Canonical, so I could actually recommend their OS to people, but that's just me.
Thanks! I’d read some comments that Pop_OS had been having some issues with bugs and requiring a lot of updates. I’ll probably still give it a go when I install.
Also, took me forever to realize you’re the user previously known as @tindall. Glad to see you back.
This is possible! My experience has been very smooth, but that's not a representative sample. That said, it'll be no worse in the "requiring updates" department than Ubuntu, which is pretty standard.
Aw, thanks! I should've known my blatant Pop fangirling would give me away :P
Id say Pop!_OS or mint, both for the same reasons that mtset mentioned.
Seconding Mint here. It's my first and current distro and so far I've been very happy with it.
Thanks! How does Mint compare vis a vis gaming versus the others?
It's similar to Pop!_OS in that its ubuntu based, is easy to install, and provides first-class support for installing proprietary drivers. Its a bit older than Pop!_OS, and has a more established community, but on the other hand, it doesn't have as big cooperate backing.
First: SteamOS sounds good, but is only an appliance OS. It's got some cool stuff in it, based on Arch, using ostree for system management, but it is intended as a game console OS, not a general purpose OS, even if people have managed to use their Decks for full productivity setups. As an everyday OS I wouldn't recommend it unless you want to play around in its guts to improve your desktop experience. Through the creative use of containers and packaging of runtimes, Steam, and its games, runs more or less the same on all distros these days.
I think Ubuntu is a perfect general purpose OS if you want something that just works, and you already have it on one system. If you just want to fire and forget for two to four to five years, use LTS, and if you want something newer just follow the regular six month cycles. Mint and Pop!_OS are based on the LTS cycle, but each offer their own take on QOL improvements and desktop environments.
For something more current, with an adjustable update schedule you could always just use Fedora. If you're not into the immutable OS thing, Fedora can be updated every six or 12 months, as any release is supported for 13 months with critical updates after the initial 6-7 month period. I will say that if you want a more up to date distro, but not rolling release (which I wouldn't recommend to somebody more interested in applications than operating systems), Fedora's probably the way to go. It's got a great community, a large, established packaging standard behind it so if you need something you'll likely find it, with a success rate only beaten by Ubuntu. There's a package provided by an easily available third-party repo for Steam if you need it.
If you're into the immuatble OS part of SteamOS and don't see yourself needing/wanting to fiddle with internals, SilverBlue is a great concept and is intended to just work. You can get many FOSS games/engines as flatpaks anyway, as well as steam, after enabling the full Flathub repo (shouldn't be too fiddly).
I will say that I don't use any of these, but they're on my list of distros to hop to should Arch (my choice for 12 years) disappear today. As a part of your consideration, unless you're also looking into the OS itself as a hobbyist endeavor, I would recommend using the same distro on everything for consistency. I like to do this because if I have to do some sort of funky process I can learn it once and do it twice.
Thanks for input! Laptop is going away after I get files off. Work desktop (U.S. Government Property!) is Windows. This will be my one and only personal device. I do like Ubuntu, but I’ve still found myself using terminal more than I’d like (I know, sacrilege!). I’d like to try and dial back to something more basic. I’m definitely on the side of LTS. I don’t want to deal with frequent updates.
What are you doing in the command line that you would rather not be?
I find whatever distro I use I wind up having to use the command line at one point or another, but I also sort of just default to it.
Just dealing with installs for stuff.
Oh yeah, that's always a thing, unfortunately.
It is true, I’m dealing with it right now for openRGB, but at least I didn’t have to deal with it for Discord, Wine, and Steam.
I'll toss this out there: Keep a backup laptop or something around, especially if you run Linux. If something breaks on your distro, it's a lot easier to fix if you have a backup computer to use for browsing and flashing drives. A USB hard drive enclosure can work miracles.
If you're looking for almost-0 CLI for linux gaming, I'd give ChimeraOS a try. I gave it a quick test drive before, and was quite impressed. That said, it's geared toward the game console experience and not general computing, so YMMV.
My gaming rig has a secondary hard drive, which I will use to keep non-gaming files on. And I live with momma, and she has a laptop I can borrow in a pinch.
Ended up going with Pop_OS. Liking it so far.
I use Kubuntu 20.04 LTS, and though it hasn't been without its hiccups (even in popular distros stuff can unexpectedly break), I was able to finally permanently break away from using Windows. This is now my daily driver OS on my gaming PC.
This is an old thread but since I'm having a similar question and there are few replies, I thought I'd revive it for new opinions. I'm throwing together a new PC and I'm wondering what kind of daily driver set ups other people use that they like, in particular with regards to gaming.
Right now I use Arch + KDE and while I'm having fun with Arch, KDE is a tad too unreliable for me. I have a dual-GPU laptop with Nvidia meaning I'm constantly fiddling around to get things to work. For instance Nvidia Prime + X11 + Lutris doesn't work whatsoever, so I'm having to switch back and forth between Wayland and X11. In addition there are several bugs in the DE that I come across regularly. I guess the lesson here is to stick to AMD graphics cards for the new build.
I've had more luck with Linux Mint, which is stable, but there were some problems with black screens while gaming on Cinnamon, so if I tried it again it'd probably have to be Xfce Mint. I like Fedora and PopOS too. The downside to these options however, is that I like to spend time setting up and configuring lower-level things myself, rather than the OS doing it for me.
I posted a longer post as well, mainly for other users. There are probably bits in there that are useful for you as well.
You are correct about Nvidia, the drivers are quite mediocre, especially with dual drivers. People are working on a new Nvidia driver though, which looks promising. Sadly though, it is still a ways off.
On the point of tweakability: one mistake I made at the beginning, is that I thought that an easy-to-use distro meant that nothing could be changed. This is generally not true. In Linux, as oppose to Windows or MacOS, everything can always be changed. The question is of how easy it is to do. That being said, some distros are more focused on tweaking, especially on things like what technology stack is used (Pipewire vs Pulseaudio vs no audio etc.). What specific kind of tweaking are you thinking about doing?
Nobara is an option. It's a Fedora based distro focused on doing a lot of that lower-level configuring out-of-the-box. Personally, I've been happiest with Garuda Dragonized for gaming, since it's basically Arch with all the gaming optimizations I'd have to do already done.
One more distro alternative: Solus.
I use it with Steam. It's been rock solid for me so far.
As there are probably going to be more people asking for this question, I started typing out a general "choice-guide" for linux distros and it got a bit out of hand :).
General disclaimer: this is all my own opinion. Look around, watch videos (The Linux Experiment and Techhut are great Youtube Channels for this) and do your own research. That being said, if you have anything to add or have any questions, I would love to hear them.
Also take a look at Distrochooser. I don't think all questions are relevant, but it is a good starting point.
Glossary
FOSS: Fully Open Source Software. Sometimes called Free Software or Open Source Software. Software that is free as in free beer and free as in freedom. Freedom in this context means that users can see how the program works and copy the source code, among other things. FOSS software is also developed by a community of volenteers most of the time.
Related terms: OSS, Open Source software, Free Software, Libre software.
Choosing a Distribution and Desktop Environment
TLDR
A distribution and a Desktop Environment are two seperate choices. For Desktops, it comes down to if the goals of the DE align with yours, for distros it is a trade-off between stability and 'cutting-edgeness'.
Choosing a Desktop Environment (DE)
The main difference between Desktop Environments is their end goals and vision of what a DE is supposed to be.
I think DEs can be divided in a few categories which follow a certain philosophy:
Curated
"Users use their computer through their DE, so a DE should focus on an easy-to use and streamlined user experience with the apps looking coherent and pleasing."
Lightweight
"Users use a computer for the apps and want them to perform well, thus a DE should use as little system resources as possible."
Tweakable
"Users have different preferences, thus a DE should accomodate tweaking as much as possible so that they can tweak their DE to be just right for them."
Familiar
"Users don't really care about their DE, they just want to get on with their day. Because of this, a DE should be familiar, and shouldn't change too much over time."
Gnome and KDE are the main DEs. They have the following philosophies:
Gnome is a curated distro: Its philosophy is to give a relatively narrow curated experience which is thoroughly tested. Think of it as the MacOS of Linux. An important difference is that it is only similar in user experience, but not in the walled garden way: Gnome is still very much FOSS and community guided.
KDE is a tweakable distro: its philosophy is quite the opposite to Gnome: They believe the end user should be able to tweak a lot about the distro. This does not mean that the default experience is bad (I for one use KDE and have barely tweaked it). It does mean that KDE development is spread out over more code and as a result the experience is less curated and polished (both in UX and bugs) than a more curated distro like Gnome.
Besides KDE and Gnome, there are also XFCE/LXQT and Cinnamon. XFCE (and LXQT) focus on being lightweight and tweakable. The only difference (that I am aware of, I do not know them very well) is that they use different underlying technologies (XFCE uses Gnomes GTK and LXQT uses QT, which KDE also uses).
Cinnamon is mainly bound to Linux Mint (more on distros later) and focuses on stability and familiarity for Windows users.
There are many, many more DEs, but these are the main ones and the ones I would consider.
TLDR:
DEs can be divided in a few categories roughly in order of popularity (DEs in italic are in multiple):
Curated:
Gnome
Elementary OS
Budgie
Lightweight:
XFCE
LXQT
Mate
Tweakable
KDE
XFCE
Familiar
Cinnamon (Windows)
Zorin-OS (Windows)
Elementary OS (Mac-OS)
Choosing a Distribution (Distro)
In a distro, I see the choice mainly as a trade-off spectrum. On one side you have stability and on the other 'cutting-edgeness'.
A perfectly stable distro is exactly that: stable. A good example is Debian. It uses packages and technologies that have been proven to be reliable. A side-effect of this is that it is behind on new features. This does not just mean quality-of-life features, but also features like new versions of drivers, which can result in crashes or slowdowns if you apps that require or benefit from up-to-date drivers. The same goes for other software, but this is usually less of an issue.
On the other side is a perfectly cutting edge distro. I think the best example of this is Arch. A cutting-edge distro uses the newest technology stacks (like Wayland) and the newest (main branch) versions of apps. This means that it has a complete feature set and gets speed ups and new drivers pretty much immediately. This also means that they are the first to experience issues and bugs.
If you have the spectrum I would probably order mainstream distros from stable to cutting edge as follows:
Debian --- Ubuntu (or derived, like Kubuntu, Linux Mint etc.) --- Fedora (derived, like Norbora) --- Arch
The outlier here is Linux Mint and Ubuntu, because Ubuntu uses a cutting edge technology stack, but a more stable version and Linux Mint uses both older technology stacks and versions.
General advice
Linux is not difficult to use per-se, but it is different. One of the most important differences is software installation. On Windows, you go online to download a file to install a program. On Linux, this is not the way to go.
Try downloading the app in the app-store first (yes, just like on your phone). 9/10 times, the app will be there. Only if this is not the case, should you go look online. Keep in mind which 'family' your distro is a part of. For example: Linux Mint is derived from Ubuntu, which is derived from Debian. This means that you can use an installation file which is labeled as "Ubuntu" or "Debian".
A lot more apps work on Linux than you might expect. Lots of apps can be used in the browser, like Whatsapp and Netflix and the majority of FOSS apps have Linux versions. Examples of apps that have native Linux ports are: Discord, Spotify, Chrome, Firefox, Thunderbird, OBS, Visual Studio Code.
Home/Office use
So, what if I use my computer mainly to surf the web and edit documents? The DE choice is all personal preference. For the distro choice, anything can work. The thing is: for home use you do not need cutting edge software. This means that for beginners, it is better to stick to more stable distros, although I would not reccomend Debian, because it can cause problems due to the software being too stable.
Besides Debain, there is still plenty of choice. Linux Mint is a very good safe option, otherwise its up to you.
Alternatives to Windows software
In this chapter, I am going to suggest some alternatives to Windows apps that do not work on Linux.
If you need an alternative to any other app, take a look at Alternative To. You can filter on Linux (and open source).
Word (Office Suites)
Microsoft Office (Word, Excel etc.) does not work on Linux. At least, not the full app. You have several alternatives.
The first is Office Online. This would be the easiest transition, because it is most similar to the full apps. It does miss some features though. Google Docs is a good alternative for the same reason.
As for FOSS alternatives, you have Libreoffice and OnlyOffice. Libreoffice is more feature-complete but Docx support can be hit or miss. Onlyoffice has great Docx support, but doesn't have all features.
You can also consider using Markdown, Latex or both. This is my go-to for personal files nowadays. I especially like using Joplin for note-taking and prefer it a lot over any WYSIWYG editors like Word now. I have also heard good things about Obsidian. Besides that, I am keeping an eye on the developments at Typst because it hits a sweet-spot for me personally. It is sadly still in Alpha, so nowhere close to ready for general use.
Disclaimer: I do not often use photo editing or video editing software, but I have written down everything I know from what I have heard
Adobe Photoshop (Photo Editing)
Photoshop (or any Creative Cloud app) does not work on Linux as well.
Photopea is an online Photoshop clone which I have heard a lot of good things about.
Gimp is always an option, although the interface can be intimidating.
I've heard that Krita can work well for digital drawing.
Adobe AfterEffects / Sony Vegas (Video Editing)
Kdenlive is by far the most complete FOSS video editor on Linux.
Davinci Resolve is a paid (non-FOSS) option which supposedly works well.
For light editing (think Moviemaker), there are tons of apps. I personally sometimes use Openshot which reminds me of Moviemaker. Shotcut seems to be a good Sony Vegas alternative, although I have used neither.
Gaming
So what do you need to look out for in gaming? Well, like I said, gaming greatly benifits from recent drivers and software. Because of this, I would not recommend Debian. Besides that, it comes down to personal preference. If you have tried Arch, but found it too unstable, try using something else. I personally use Fedora because I like it has a leading edge technology stack, but uses stable versions.
If you like Fedora, I would personally go for Norbora because it has gaming-specific optimisations made by a well known Proton developer: Glorious Eggroll.
If you go for Ubuntu derivatives, I would advice against Linux Mint, because it is behind on their tech-stack. This is an advantage for home-use but a disadvantage for gaming. Because of that, I would look into Pop-OS, as it also has gaming-specific optimisations.
If you want to try Arch, just Arch is fine (maybe using the new Archinstall). If you want a GUI installer you can look into Garuda Linux or EndeavorOS. Whatever you do, do not install Manjaro.
Steam
I could write a whole essay about Steam (Yes, even larger than this one), but there are already many videos about the subject online, so I will try to keep it brief. The important bit is that Valve (the company behind Steam) has released the Steam Deck, as you might know. The Steam Deck uses desktop Linux, so Desktop Linux has piggy backed a lot of Valves work for the Steamdeck.
Especially useful is Proton (derived from Wine) which allows Windows games to run on Linux. To see if your game works, take a look at Protondb. You can even log in with Steam (don't worry, it is not a company-run website) to see what part of your library works. Most games work except...
Multiplayer games and Anticheat
Multiplayer games are hit or miss on Linux for a simple reason: anticheat. Most anticheat software have Linux versions and even work with Proton, but developers block it out of fear for cheaters. This fear has never really been proven and there are easier ways of cheating than through Wine, but I digress. The end-result is that some games do not work on Linux, or ban you players for using Proton.
Other launchers
Launchers beside Steam are not officially supported, but there are solutions: you can still use Proton with them though with FOSS clients. Examples are Lutris and Bottles for multiple launchers, and Heroic for GOG and Epic Games. PlayOnLinux is considered outdated and has de-facto been replaced with Bottles.