Which Linux distro should I use?
Which Linux distro should I use?
You can use whatever you like best. The power of Linux is choice. I've used Linux since oooh.. 1996~ about? So I know quite a lot about it and for most of that time it's been used as my primary desktop. Some Distro's I like. Gentoo/Funtoo (probably too hard for a beginner), Sabayon, OpenSUSE, Red Core. (So yes.. pretty much in the Gentoo camp because I like a lot of system flexibility.) Intel has a very very fast distro called Clear Linux that isn't just for Intel hardware. I also like a lot of the BSD and you might take a look at GhostBSD (though this is more for servers) Environments I like. Gnome, XFCE, KDE, LXQt .. Gnome and XFCE have the least amount of problems but aren't perfect.. KDE is ok.. but resource hungry. Any Linux distro can game pretty much. Almost all support Steam and there are a surprisingly large amount of tipple A titles on steam for it. Linux is very good at emulation so all your retro game emulators will run fine. And... you can do windows games with Wine.. Wine is kind of a funny boat as it often slow or buggy but can be very fast (even faster than windows native) .. it takes a lot of tuning and practice an easy way to get into Wine is the app PlayOnLinux. Your performance in games is going to depend a lot on the drivers, Linux tends to get new drivers later than Windows. Both AMD and Nvidia have pretty decent drivers though. Windows usually pushes more raw frame rates on a wide range of titles, however Ubuntu has been shown to run faster that Windows in some benchmarks when everything is equal. (Linux tends to have a faster scheduler than Windows). Vulkan is very fast on Linux. DirectX is still the most popular library though and it's Windows only (sometimes Linux ports pass DirectX calls to OpenGL making them slower) One thing to note.. a lot of people say "Linux has no software" and that is just not true. You can do just about anything on it you can do with Windows (and sometimes more) the trick is figuring out what app to use and what apps are good. Look around for app reviews sadly there are not enough of them but I'm delighted every time I find a new one that is great. Most of the Linux software stores are bad so you'll have to re-learn how to find new software. The process is different than windows and that throws a lot of people off and leads them to the false conclusion there just isn't any software. By in large Linux apps tend to be very clean and free of nagging ad's or bundled software.. and almost all of them are sinkable and match your desktop theme. Some nice themes to look for are Numix (of course), Faba / Moka, Pop, Paper, Papyrus and Ark. Nice fonts are Noto Sans and Droid.
Ubuntu will be the most straightforward to set up. It offers excellent guidance and aims for simplicity. It’s designed with beginners in mind. Arch Linux provides top performance for gaming yet comes with a steep learning curve. It’s not ideal for newcomers, though its documentation is outstanding. Fedora stands out as a balanced option, offering ease of installation similar to Ubuntu but with some challenges when dealing with DRM content (like watching Twitch). It leans toward developers, but I enjoy gaming on it. There’s nothing to worry about with Fedora.
Well, many of your suggestions aren't really tied to a specific distribution. More accurately, the setup relies on the desktop environment rather than the underlying OS. Common DE choices include Gnome, Unity, and KDE. Lightweight options are Mate, XFCE, and Cinnamon – though this isn’t an exhaustive list. Usually, a single distribution can support many of these, but sometimes one becomes the standard while others remain compatible. Playing with Linux gaming can be a bit challenging for various reasons, which I won’t explore here (what counts as "good" depends on your perspective). Avoid installing the base Debian (or any older LTS version) and steer clear of Fedora unless necessary. The real factor isn’t the distribution but the graphics card you pick; opt for a NVidia chip, or go with a rolling-release distro like Arch if you prefer flexibility, and pair it with an AMD GPU. What aspects do you want to tweak? Typically, distributions handle these well. If you’re focused on customization, KDE is often highlighted as the most adaptable, especially for beginners. Those who enjoy deep dives can program and work with source code in any distro – though some lack convenient tools for that.
Wine claims to be suitable for newer titles but struggles with DX12 games. Under it, Photoshop has experienced crashes when handling large raw files. The recommended approach is to use a virtualized setup that routes through the GPU. I've observed a video demonstrating this method for playing GTA V.
Well, we're diving into the details here, but according to the standard idea of an emulator, wine isn't one. Wine is a set of libraries that mimic the behavior of Windows applications on different operating systems and interfaces—typically Linux or X.org/OS X. It acts as a compatibility layer. It only works with hardware or architectures that support Windows. It can't (and won't) replicate an entire computer, nor does it emulate a complete system. The distinction may seem minor, but it's important and meaningful.
It’s Mint Cinnamon for me. It isn’t the most visually appealing distribution, but it’s functional. At least everything functions and the software centre includes most essential applications. Ubuntu ranks close behind, though performance isn’t quite as smooth. The other Ubuntu variants seem overly promoted (in my opinion). With other Linux distros, you’ll need to master the terminal for installing packages that aren’t built-in, then navigate through various repositories... Perhaps it’s not that complicated.
For gaming? Not at all. Windows is the top choice for gaming. Linux shines only when you want a lighter system for media tasks (watching videos, music, browsing) or when you're a developer or require it for servers or specialized applications.