My current rig is featuring an I7 10th gen and a nvidia 4070ti. Is there a distro that you recommend me to use as a linux beginner that is also good for gaming and streaming, that will work with my pc parts? Because I heard that intel and nvidia are famous for causing issues on Linux.
I boarded my friend on arch and he took it like a champ. Beware, it has a very steep learning curve and needs patience. But otherwise, a more pre-configured distro is better. Cachy os, endeavour, or as much as hate to say, fedora.
The more important thing is the DE. I strongly suggest Plasma (kde).
Fedora Kinoite or Bazzite (which is based on Fedora Kinoite).
Both are “immutable” which all you need to know means they are essentially impossible to meaningfully break.
Both use the KDE interface which is very similar to Windows and very tweak-able.
They’re very similar, but Bazzite is the one to go with if you do a lot of gaming. It’s basically the Steam Deck OS plus a little more. I’ve tested Bazzite with an Nvidia card and had no issues whatsoever and performance was nearly identical to what I was getting with Windows.
I thought Bazzite was now dying?
I had very few issues with a GTX 970 and i7-4790k. The only issues I hear about with either any more is the linux kernel not supporting some of the features of newer GPUs (e.g. I know ray-tracing was a pain-point at one point).
I don’t like recommending distros based on such a general use case, mainly because every distro can be tweaked and configured to exactly what you want. Instead, you should research the different mainline distros that have been around for decades—Arch, Debian, Fedora, Gentoo, Guix, NixOS, OpenSuse, Slackware—and see what they’re about, what sets them apart from others, what the maintainers’ philosophies are, and what kind of package management system they work with. Once one sounds better than the others, look into it and try it out.
#Dos and Don’ts:
Don’t try a niche distro. They are harder to troubleshoot and less likely to be actively maintained.
Don’t use Ubuntu. It’s just a suckier version of Debian. It used to be user-friendly Debian, but now Debian is more user-friendly than it.
Don’t dual-boot with windows. This just solidifies your reliance on windows, especially if you’re the type to give up on problem-solving issues that you didn’t have in Windows. It also can cause issues with making Linux unbootable.
Do try a live usb with persistence before you commit entirely. It’s not exactly the same as a complete install, but it’s close enough to let you know how the OS feels and what hardware will or won’t work with it. Some people say try a VM first, but that won’t have direct hardware access.
Do problem solve the little things. Anything that irks you or bothers you or just slows down your workflow. It doesn’t have to be an actual bug or glitch, just anything that could be better. This not only solidifies the feeling of ownership over your OS—you no longer have to settle for anyone else’s lousy design choices—it teaches you the resources for troubleshooting larger issues.
Do plan around things not being plug and play at first. Want to test if a game runs on Linux? Great, set aside a couple of hours beforehand: first to install steam and set it up, then to figure out Proton, then to troubleshoot the game not even booting up, then to fix any glitches or whatnot, then to get your controller working. This won’t always be the case, but it will irk you a lot less when it is if you expect it. The more you make time for solving these issues now, the less time they’ll take up in the future (either they’ll be gone, or you’ll immediately know how to fix them, or your troubleshooting will be more streamlined).
Do set aside time to learn about Linux “under the hood.” You don’t have to become a computer scientist, but it will save you a lot of headaches, show you cool things you can do, and make your computer a smoother experience. It especially helps if you take the time to learn as they come up: e.g. installer asks you what “bootloader” you want, but you’re not sure what that is, what it does, or why it’s necessary? Now’s the best time to take a little learning detour.
Do ask questions on forums.
Don’t listen to the people who shame you for asking.
Do listen to the people who try to show you a better way of doing things, even if it’s not your way.
I’ve been using Mint for almost a year now and what few problems I’ve had have been fixed with a few easy searches and a bit of forum help. Love it! :)
👆🏻 This is what I install everywhere for others that I’d need to maintain as I can leave it for 6 months and then do an update.
For more advanced users that want to play & learn, plain vanilla Arch. You learn what the hell is in your own machine.
But, as someone else said, get a feel for different desktop environments (DE) as Linux has many whereas Windows only had 1.
Mint or Fedora(KDE) are great choices. Kubuntu, PopOS or OpenSuSE might also be suitable for beginners. Stay away from Arch-based distributions until you are at least a bit more experienced.
Intel (anything) works without problems on Linux (in fact, Intel is among the most Linux-supportive companies out there and most or all of their drivers are open source and part of the kernel, as it should be in the Linux world).
Nvidia GPUs used to be problematic in the past, it’s better now, still not as great as AMD GPUs are on Linux (they’re literally plug and play these days) but I think when going with the distro mentioned above it’s going to be just as easy Just make sure to enable support for NVidia drivers or “enable 3rd party drivers/repositories” (you’ll be asked during setup) so that those distributions will also install those slightly non-standard Nvidia packages which they might not do otherwise for “purity” reasons.
Stay away from the “bandwagon” distros for your first time. Bazzite, Pop_OS, Cachy, etc. There’s nothing wrong with them, but a lot more people use and have been using the more established distros such as Debian, Ubuntu, Mint, Fedora, etc. So if you run into any weird edge case issues it’s much more likely that someone else has already been there and discovered solutions. Once you’re comfortable with Linux you can start exploring the more niche distros that are better tailored to you. Have fun!
I’m not sure about this. I’m my experience, 90-99% of the solutions originally for Ubuntu worked for me in Pop.
1: You’re not yet ready for Arch and Arch derivatives (CachyOS, EndeavorOS, etc.)
2: Fedora KDE
3: Fedora KDE
4: Fedora KDE
Linux Mint is good, but it, like Ubuntu and Debian, are “vintage” linuxes that are very behind on software versions. Things are moving very fast right now with a lot of back end linux stuff changing rapidly to support more people and programs coming off Windows. Fedora is the best “middle ground” in that it’s not Arch bleeding edge, but it is also not Debian stable “vintage”.
You do need to install RPM Fusion for Fedora to go from nvidia open source driver to nvidia proprietary driver, though.
KDE is a fully featured desktop that will give you familiarity with Windows-like layouts. Some other desktops, like GNOME, tend to reinvent the wheel and have very different desktop workflows. You’ll have to boot the live discs / sticks and poke around to understand what I mean.
To make a boot disc, use an 8GB+ usb stick and rufus - https://rufus.ie/
This sounds like a good idea.
I started my Linux journey with Mint. Installation was fine and everything worked, but gaming performance was terrible. I think because not properly supporting my 9700 gre.
Then I installed nobara (fedora) and was really happy. Everything work smoothly. Also the gaming performance was at least as good as on windows. But the fact, that this distro is a small project of a single person I started too loog around for an alternative.
This led to me installing CashyOS (Arch). The setup was a little more complicated and I needed to install more additional packages, than on nobara. It has been a few weeks now, everything is working without much problems, but still… I somehow do not feel at home, like when running nobara.
I thought about switching back to nobara, but maybe fedora KDE is also an option…
I’ve been using fedora for 3 months now and second this. fedora gud.
Every Linux distro will work with your hardware, aside from edge case components in certain situations. There is no difference in distros for hardware compatibility, unless you’re thinking of running a very old versions of something. Anything will work.
There is also no major difference between distros for gaming performance. The only difference in “gaming” distros is that they have certain software preselected and installed. You can just do this yourself anyway.
I currently suggest Fedora for beginners because it’s dead simple. The big difference between any distro is going to be the default Desktop Environment, and you can choose whatever you want after you install anyway.
If you like Windows’ UI, give KDE a shot. If you want something more like MacOS, go for Gnome. Either work great.
If you want to try multiple, download some LiveUSB images, start em up and poke around a bit. If you change your mind after install, you can just install a different DE and switch over without needing to reinstall the entire OS.
I really like Fedora, but please correct me if I’m wrong, isn’t it a bit difficult for a beginner to install nvidia drivers on it? Like, in Linux Mint you can simply open the Driver Manager app and install them
Fedora is a great distro. IMO it and Mint are the “it just works” distros. Mint just works, unless it doesn’t - usually a result of bleeding edge hardware. That’s where fedora comes in - newer stuff but without the downsides of something like arch.
The thing with fedora is that it’s “pure”. You have to install codecs and whatnot. Once you realize that there’s a team (rpmfusion.org) that is dedicated to making these things easy - fedora becomes much more tolerable for a newcomer. While it’s a bad idea to copy commands and jam them into the terminal - in this one particular case, I tell people to just copy and paste the commands and just do what they say. Boom nvidia and codecs installed and everything just works.
Fedora is a great distro. IMO it and Mint are the “it just works” distros.
Hard agree:
- Mint = “Just works”
- Fedora KDE = “Just works but also has a bunch of useful features and up-to-date packages”
That’s why Ultramarine exists. It’s just Fedora with RPM-Fusion (the non-free repo) preconfigured and the Nvidia drivers preinstalled.
Push button just like anything else. Same issues exist on Fedora that exist elsewhere, which is really an Nvidia problem, and has nothing to do with the distro.
There are a couple distros that install Nvidia drivers as part of their package selection, but they also have the same issues, because, Nvidia.
Linux Mint is generally the best “it just works” case, focused on stability (to the detriment of speed of updates), ease of use and visually reminding of Windows.
Also Mint comes with a few official visual* changes, but if I might suggest, go with Xfce, not the Cinnamon one. The Cinnamon version of Mint has too many animations that only add micro workflow delays, while Xfce doesn’t have all the fancy effects making it faster to use.
*avoiding technical jargons to not confuse the OP
Mint is for sure an excellent option but I recommend Fedora Kinoite (or Bazzite) these days for someone used to Windows because their immutability makes them even more solid and harder to break.
Also regarding Nvidia, I don’t have great experience with it, but Mint Cinnamon and Mint Xfce work rather well with the RTX board my laptop has, just having to add a control tool to change from the default Intel one.
And dunno how it is nowadays, but there’s a third version of Mint, LMDE, that when I tested, was very problematic to get the Nvidia board to work. Though that was over a year ago so maybe they fixed it since.
LMDE is Debian based whereas the regular Mint is Ubuntu-based, which probably explains issues you’ve experienced.
I’d suggest getting Linux Mint or another distro with a large user base like Ubuntu, Fedora, Suse or Debian. That way if you do run into problems, there’ll be a lot of people online that can help you.
The main advantage of gaming-focused distros like Bazzite is that Nvidia’s proprietary drivers and Steam come pre-installed. However, if you’re a gamer and a streamer, you’re probably used to a little tinkering, so you should be able to install both of those by hand. (Both can be done through a GUI.) You might also get marginally better performance from these, but IMO this won’t be noticeable enough to be worth the trouble.
If you do choose to go with Mint, I recommend installing the Nvidia drivers through the “Driver Manager” and a newer kernel through the “Update Manager”.
Nvidia is the problematic one. But in most cases that just means that you have to install extra drivers after installation. In most distributions that just means installing an extra package and rebooting. Don’t go to the nvidia website for that.
If you are already familiar with a Linux distribution use that. If you have a friend who uses Linux use the same thing they do. Or just use Mint.
You can change the way your system looks and works by choosing a different desktop environment. Many distributions just have one default but you can always change that later on. The big ones are Gnome which is a bit more like Mac OSX and KDE which is more Windows like. KDE also offers much more customisability.
You’ve already gotten several good replies, and I’ll add a couple more details that might be related to your use case:
Bazzite is a “gaming distro” with built-in Steam integrations. It’s great if all you do on the machine is game and do gaming-related things, like streaming. It’s what I use on my dedicated gaming PC, under my TV. Things mostly Just Work, and I’ve only had to mess with configuration files when setting up things like wake-on-USB and my custom Network shares.
Gaming and streaming will work on basically any distro. And if you pick a distro based on Debian or Fedora, it should be stable and fairly easy to get used to.
Don’t wipe out Windows yet. Install Linux on a separate partition, or even better a separate drive. That way, you can switch off between them until you’re fully used to Linux. Let yourself transition over a few months. That way, if you struggle to do something in Linux, you can switch back over to Windows and get it done.
Some folks try to change all at once, then get frustrated if they hit a stumbling block. It’s safer to keep Windows as a backup, so you don’t feel trapped if something goes wrong.
Bazzite isn’t only good if you’re only using it for gaming
Yeah Bazzite is excellent all around. It’s usually what I recommend to anyone with Nvidia.
Oh yeah, totally correct. But it bills itself as a “gaming distro.”
I’ve had a great experience as a Linux noob using Garuda. It comes with an Nvidia version and has worked great out of the box.
Ubuntu, linux mint, Bazzite… they’ll all work great. My advice? Download all ISOs into a USB with Ventoy installed in it, so you can drag and drop .iso files into the usb, and boot each live image so you can play around for a bit and see which one you like more.
Good advice on the Ventoy front. It makes trying out things very comfortable, if you have a large enough thumbdrive (>32GB).
Don’t push beginners towards immutable distros such as Bazzite though. Some things there can only be installed within distroboxes, and expecting beginners to fiddle with containers and images of other distros is way more than they should have to contend with.
As a Guix user, I recommend Ubuntu. If you stick with it, there are specific distros for gaming, but, Ubuntu has such a large user base it makes it very easy to get answers to questions that are specific to your distro. Ubuntu makes it easy to install nvidia and other ‘3rd party drivers’, it’ll just work. I do recommend installing software in the terminal, the Ubuntu app store I feel has some rough edges.
