I’ve been meaning to make the leap for some time, but I had a hiccup with Mint a little while ago, and my key reason for choosing Mint above all others has disappeared. My Windows machine is doing the usual “you’ve had this installed for a while so it’s just going to keep getting slower unless you do a fresh re-install” thing that Windows seems to do, and I’ve got more time on my hands than last time I tried, so I figure why not put that time to use.
The first thing is that I’ve got an nVidia card. I’m not allergic to having to play around with settings and download drivers, but it’d be nice to have something that just works with that card and which is designed to work with that card, rather than having to bodge something together out of sellotape & string.
I also have 3 monitors. And they don’t all connect with the same kind of socket/lead. I believe that both nVidia & multiple monitors, and especially nVidia and multiple monitors is a bit of a sticky point with many distros.
I am something of a gamer, but I don’t tend to play stuff which is resource-intensive. No AAA titles. Think more “games which cost £20 or under on Steam”. So I don’t think I need a distro which is optimised for gaming, but I would like one where I’m likely to be able to play most things I own with a minimal amount of fudging.
I do have some utilities that I use. I’d like to avoid dual-booting, if possible, but I understand that it might be necessary. Reaper has a native Linux version, so that’s not a problem, but if I understand correctly using vst & clap plug-ins might need some attention? Again, if that can be done with as little difficulty as possible, then that’d be great. I also have a usb keyboard/controller (piano, not typing), so if there’s any potential issues with that, it’d be nice if the distro had been built with something like that in mind.
I also do some video/photo stuff, which don’t have Linux-native versions. I use Affinity (v2 and the newly-released version), Magix Vegas, and Wondershare Filmora. I don’t know if it’d be possible to run any of them in a virtual machine or something. I have tried the Linux-native alternatives, and while they have their merits, I won’t be able to use them as full replacements.
Now, perhaps unusually for a newbie, when it comes to wanting something I’m familiar with, I’m actually not bothered by having an envirnment which resembles Windows. In fact, I think it’d probably be a plus if the distro does things differently. It’s fun to try different things, and if someone’s genuinely thought “this is a better way of doing this”, then I’m happy to give it a go. As long as there’s decent documentation. I’m not allergic to the idea of the terminal or otherwise having to use typed commands (I have a Raycast-ish-like app on Windows which I use to launch apps and search for files, for example), but I’m also not very experienced with that and would need very good, very newbie-friendly documentation.
And for customisation, I’d like to be able to be able to make it look pretty. Juxtopposed’s recent Linux video was very cool, and I could see myself wanting to do something like that but, unlike her, I’ve got very little coding experience and if there were any coding involved I’d need even better documentation than I would for the command line stuff. And, this really isn’t important, but ATM I run an app called Lively Wallpaper, which allows me to make it look like the glass looking onto the desktop has rain running down it. If there just happens to be a reasonably simple and non-resource-hogging way to have animated wallpapers, then that’d be a lovely bonus.
So that’s it. Sorry for the long, rambly wall of text, but I feel like for responses to be truly helpful, people should know exactly what it is I’m looking for. Please ask any follow-up questions if that’ll help with suggestions. I think I’ve said everything which could be important, but I don’t know what I don’t know.
On any Fedora based distro you can quite easily install the proprietary nvidia drivers (this is necessary for a good experience btw). For windows programs you could take a look at winboat, it basically spins up windows in docker and it doesnt need any configuration whatsoever. For an animated wallpaper, KDE Plasma has a wallpaper engine plugin. Its a bit fiddly as I remember and not every wallpaper works, but its good enough for me.
Thank you
Use Lutris and Libretro
Thank you
Pop!_OS and CachyOS are the two I always recommend for people with nVidia. The best option for Linux, quite frankly, is to switch to AMD. However, both of those should be preconfigured for your GPU. I’ve been loving CachyOS, and my friend with nVidia has been too.
Thank you. The consensus seems to be Cachy OS, so I’m going to give that a go.
I really love CachyOS. It’s so fast. I’ve been seeing lots of reports of performance issues in The Outer Worlds 2, and I’ve gotta say I’m not experiencing any of that.
Just make sure you familiarize yourself with some of the quirks of Arch, such as why you might want to use a program like Timeshift for backups, or the risks of the AUR.
Also, get a flash drive and back up your important files, just in case. I have done full system upgrades every time I upgrade, and I haven’t had issues with my system yet. But with Arch, you gotta be careful.
I would recommend bazzite as although it is gaming orientated it has nvidia version, is hard to break and by default uses KDE the same desktop enviroment juxtopposed used. But for the editing software I can’t help with that maybe winboat would work.?
Thank you.
Bazzite.
nVidia? Check.
Gaming? Check.
Customization? Yes…ish*
If you want a bit more tradition (by that i mean it works like a typical linux system) and a good base, choose CachyOS.
nVidia? Check.
Gaming? Check.
Customization? Check.
(extra) The AUR? (the second biggest software repo in the entirety of linux) Check.
.
If you aren’t much focused towards gaming, choose Pop!_OS.
NoVidea**? Check.
Gaming? No.
Customization? Check.
*Jux customized KDE Plasma using Kvantum (an extra package, not preinstalled), Panel Colorizer, System Settings and RTFM. Some of those packages may be hard to install or unavailable on Bazzite due to it’s atomic (something either happens or not) and immutable (you are phohibited to touch system directories) nature.
**=joke
Thanks. I think I’m going to start with trying Cachy.
Good choice.
fun fact: you can choose your DE/WM while installing, and all* of them are available with customizations in the looks :)
fun fact#2: there are deck images too
+1 for Bazzite, it’s working perfectly with Nvidia for me. Only have one monitor, so don’t know about multi-monitor setup (might be a desktop environment thing, as well?)
Bazzite on AMD with ultra-wide and 1440p dual-monitor setup here, zero problems
I have been using pop 24.04 with cosmic DE since alpha and it’s great. I use it for all desktop needs but also have had no issues gaming with it.
I am aware you can game on Pop. But, it’s not focused towards gaming. You can game on every distro nowadays.
But, it’s not focused towards gaming.
Except it is
Should go for arch. Vanilla arch or cachy os would be great for you. I know on KDE there’s a wallpaper engine extension that might be good for this use case, not sure if there are any other alternatives
Thank you. Cachy OS seems to be the majority suggestion, and that’s Arch.
Others have answered your question but nobody’s explicitly mentioned GNOME so I think I should.
Most distros have the option to install with GNOME or KDE (or a different one). Never pick GNOME. GNOME is very “my way or the highway” desktop and it’s way is to emulate an iPhone.
Thank you.
XFCE’s been going the longest and strongest, unbroken.
Though, the user can install them all, try them all, on almost any distro. GNOME, Mate, Trinity, KDE Plasma, XFCE, Cosmic, Cinnamon, etc etc. And/or just window managers, Icewm, i3, fluxbox, for a fairly easy time from the start, or more fangled things like xmonad, herbstluftwm, dwm, etc. … I dont know the wayland things. Dozens to try.
Point being, well raised here, is that the distro does not matter so much, and new users need introduced to what the freedom means, specifically in how when you select your distro, you’re not stuck with the desktop environment it first provides.
PS, GNOME’s bad news, on multiple levels. Don’t get me started. NSFL horrors lurk.
I actually would recommend it for that reason. It’s different from traditional desktops and polished at the same time, you dont need to fiddle with it. I think it’s good way to show people that alternative (to windows) doesnt mean bad.
I have not once had a good experience with gnome since the gnome shell was introduced. And I exclusively used gnome before for years.
I’m enjoying Cosmic desktop.
Unfortunately, disagree.
Last time I checked it still had double menus all around the place, not a sign of a “polished” experience.
And since a lot of users still recommend to install the dash to dock extension before doing anything else, doesn’t seem plug & play, either.
Well GNOME can be recommended for new coming macOS users tho
The first thing is that I’ve got an nVidia card.
This can well cost you a lot of extra frustration and time. You have been warned.
Yeah, I’m prepared. I hope.
Normally I’d say go Bazzite if you want easy NVidia support.
Since you’ve got some “other things” then an immutable distro might not be the way you want to go. In which case I’d check out Nobara or CachyOS. I really like CachyOS
Thanks. The consensus seems to be Cachy, so that’s what I’m trying first.
I don’t know why there’s so much nvidia hate going on here. It’s MUCH better than it used to be. Lots of distros mentioned work out of the box with nvidia cards, and if you pick something else - it’s just a matter of installing the right driver. On fedora for example you just go to the rpm fusion site and follow the very easy directions.
Thank you.
It’s not about just installing. Once you installed, welcome to the nightmare. Secure boot error, Suspend issues, kernel and driver version incompatibility etc.
I also do some video/photo stuff, which don’t have Linux-native versions. I use Affinity (v2 and the newly-released version), Magix Vegas, and Wondershare Filmora. I don’t know if it’d be possible to run any of them in a virtual machine or something. I have tried the Linux-native alternatives, and while they have their merits, I won’t be able to use them as full replacements.
The unfortunate thing is if this is non-negotiable, I think this will kill your Linux dreams at the moment. At the moment, the only ways I know how to run these well is on a VM with GPU pass through which is a pain for people who have tinkered with Linux for ages and damn near system breaking for the average user.
Now, perhaps unusually for a newbie, when it comes to wanting something I’m familiar with, I’m actually not bothered by having an envirnment which resembles Windows. In fact, I think it’d probably be a plus if the distro does things differently. It’s fun to try different things, and if someone’s genuinely thought “this is a better way of doing this”, then I’m happy to give it a go. As long as there’s decent documentation. I’m not allergic to the idea of the terminal or otherwise having to use typed commands (I have a Raycast-ish-like app on Windows which I use to launch apps and search for files, for example), but I’m also not very experienced with that and would need very good, very newbie-friendly documentation.
If the previous part isn’t a deal breaker, based upon this part of your post, I would highly recommend running endeavor os or cachy os which are both run on an arch base. My preferred of the two is endeavor since it is essentially just a base arch install without the hassle that is installing arch. Using one of these distros will require you to familiarize yourself with the package manager pacman and the aur wrapper that they use, but that is the extent of CLI interaction that is needed. This will allow you to have a hassle free install while having the tinkering capabilities that arch is known for, just don’t touch anything that requires sudo without making sure you understand what it is doing.
Cachy is what I’mgoing to try first. I’m semi-resolved to dual-booting for the video/photo stuff.
I’ve also got a vague plan at some point in the future to buy a desktop mac and one of those boxes where you can just switch monitors/input device routing at the press of a button. Maybe put the video/photo stuff on that. Although, that said, I’ve got a colleage who is a graphic designer on the side and the only reason he’s got a Windows machine is that even the biggest mac he owns can’t handle the graphics. He’s an Apple evangelist yet even he says that Apple does not do graphics well.
The stuff I do is nothing like the stuff he does and I don’t need anything as powerful as him, but I am still aware that “get a mac to do video stuff” isn’t necessarily the best plan. But I’m likely getting one anyway for other reasons, so it can’t hurt to try.
Since you are going the dual boot route, I highly recommend that you keep the OS’s on separate drives and never use systemd, or GRUB boot for windows, ie always switch your boot order in your uefi. This is mainly because there are countless formatting and system repair issues with using one drive, and regardless of where the OS’s are, windows has a strong tendency to overwrite your Linux bootloader.
Have you checked out zorinOS? Zorin, popOs! And mint are all great distros. I think anyone trying to switch would be very comfortable with any, but especially zorin as you can make it look like and feel like any os, https://zorin.com/os/
If your into something arch based you and try Garuda Linux. https://garudalinux.org/
I’ve not tried any fedora distros yet.
Thank you.
So that’s it. Sorry for the long, rambly wall of text, but I feel like for responses to be truly helpful, people should know exactly what it is I’m looking for.
absolutely! no reason to apologize
Thanks.
I use Manjaro, an Arch flavor. Manjaro is amazing at identifying and installing the proper drivers. I can’t imagine I’d ever switch to another distro. I use gnome desktop and I like to customize it every so often, keep things interesting. The community is very supportive. It seems like people prefer KDE for aesthetics.
Thank you.
Do you hate yourself? Since NVidia probably needs workarounds for it, Void Linux. It works splendid on my very low-end laptop, though.
No harm in trying, right?
Yep. I’m trying Void on my essentially dead old laptop (Wi-Fi doesn’t seem to be working, and bye bye to the eMMC drive). However, it is still pretty decent.
