Hello,
Basically I want to pick a distro and like most beginners I’m coming from windows. I don’t want to go on a full learning process from the start but I can probably handle some level of terminal usage. I, like most people play games(or thinking about playing games and it’s one of main things I’m looking into but because this isn’t the only thing I’m thinking of doing and do)
So here’s what I’m looking for to give a good idea,
-Can play steam games(since steam is compatible, this is mostly always checked(I think))
-Can play other games outside steam(like from GOG where you download the setup. Heard about apps like “bottles” but idk how good it will be)
-Video editing softwares (Resolve works but I might want to use another)
-Can run a CAD software(I do like designing and stuff so I do look forward for this(I have used some on windows and don’t know how its will be in linux. I know blender works but it’s more of a modeling than CAD))
-Programming(I don’t think this will be a problem)
-Microsoft like apps(Spreadsheet and stuff, Just need to be able to do work)
-Not sure if this is needed but I do sail the seven seas sometimes
My laptop has these if details are needed for compatibility
-GTX 1050(dedicated)
-intel i7 8th gen
-Intel UHD 630(integrated)
I heard a distro called “Pop! OS” which supports Nvidia GPUs but I also wanna know how intel stuff works too(cpu and Igraphics) It will be helpful if I can get details on how much change of performance I might have(increment or decrement as my pc is pretty weak) I just need your recommended OS and a brief explanation on what to look for in the OS and what to expect on the stuff I looked into (I’ll try doing my research according to your recommendations)\
Apologies if this is another “recommend me an OS” post, I do see all gaming related stuff but just doesn’t see much of the things that I look for
Thank you for reading!
As far as i can tell, all distros are capable of doing what you want (or if there were a problem, no distro could help)
I honestly just use ubuntu, because its user friendly, has long term support builds that are well tested. Especially if you are new, use a major distro like mint or ubuntu, not cschyOS or PopOS. I personally like the gnome interface, which ships with ubuntu.
other than that: decide if you like distro hopping as a hobby, if not, just stick to a major distro and thsts that.
- Nobara
- Bazzite
- PopOS
- fedora
For more info, take a look at this
Thank you, I’ll look into it
Bazzite, built for gaming
Check out Distrosea. Its a website where you can test different Linux distros, before installing anything.
Woah, that’s wild. If you run the browser in fullscreen mode (F11) it’s almost like you’re running it on your own machine. Pretty cool service.
& https://distrochooser.de/ may help you choose which to try.
(& https://distrowatch.com/ 's search too, of course.)
Nobarra, Bazzite, or CachyOS.
I’d say Nobara or Bazzite are better for ‘I install it and it just works.’
Cachy is better for the learning aspect. It’s not hard, but there are more choices to make, and you’re closer to the Arch wiki and all its excellent resources/tutorials.
I am biased, as I run CachyOS and I love it. I also love how much stuff is in its repos, including everything you need to game optimally, and how easy CUDA is (which is part of what you need for CAD).
Whatever you choose, do not, I repeat DO NOT install Fedora, Debian, or anything that doesn’t explicitly support Nvidia laptops by default, out of the box, or you are in for a world of pain. If any guide starts with ‘install these 3rd party repos’ or so, you have entered a danger zone, and you will hate linux.
since you’re on a laptop with a dedicated nvidia GPU DO NOT use Mint, Ubuntu, or hell anything Debian based. it won’t go well for you.
As other’s have said Nobara, Bazzite, Cachy, or Pop
Deb based on nvidia always went well for me.
* Shrug *
I ran pure Devuan for a couple years on such hardware. (Besides that, all Suse, Sabayon, Gentoo, BedrockLinux, VoidLinux, all happy, did go well.).
I use zorin and the nvidia drivers been fine.
I don’t know why people keep saying this. I wonder if it’s an old thing? I’ve got three people with dedicated Nvidia gpus on mint and they’re just fine. The driver manager just works.
I’m using Mint with a 3060 on my PC, and my wife has Mint installed with one of the very old low powered cards, a gt 710 I think. Neither of us have had problems with them 🤷🏻♂️
Well Mint is technically fine, right? Their Nvidia support is 1st party, so it should work out of the box.
Pretty sure Ubuntu does too.
Debian, specifically, does not though. And I’m not sure how ‘behind’ Mint and Ubuntu are on their DE and Nvidia driver packages these days, which could be an issue sometimes. But I think many remember Ubuntu/Mint from older days when they were worse in this regard.
Isnt Pop_OS in the Debian family since its based on Ubuntu?
I’m extremely happy with bazzite, it’s basically impossible to break, and great for gaming.
Just be aware that it is very focused on flatpaks, so installing anything that doesn’t have a flatpak version does require some extra steps.
And for beginners, a flatpak is a particular way of bundling software so that:
A) all of the dependencies come with the program so you can just download one thing and run it
and
B) it has some level of sandboxing, which means you have some level of control over what the software you downloaded has access to on your machine. In theory.
So what they’re saying is that if some software you want isn’t already bundled as a flatpak, you’re going to have a hard time with bazzite, as it’s geared around making flatpaks easy, and requires more work to install things using other methods. Still works, just not as easy.
Others have answered your question but nobody’s 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.
I run stock Ubuntu Gnome on one of my machines, and I have no idea what you’re talking about with “its way is to emulate an iPhone”.
I’m not a fanboi or anything, and it has a few things I think it could do better at, but it’s a pretty normal DE as far as I can tell?
I wouldn’t say never against a FOSS project. Some people do like GNOME. It’s the best to see for OP’s own eyes. They might like it or hate it. However one shouldn’t be prejudiced. Hate all you want after you tried and found weak points for your usage cases. Some popular distros use GNOME for a reason. Personally I find it too restrictive, but I don’t hate it. You would have rights to hate if it was the only DE around but you have tons of alternative options out there.
If you are coming from Windows, I would say Mint for sure. I have friends that are 20 using it and my parents in their 70’s use it. Both seem to like it and even find it easier to use in quite a few respects.
I’ve been using fedora workstation for about a month now, you really can’t go wrong with it. It’s great for laptop, there are also ways to customize it to work with a desktop. I am running it on amd CPU/GPU, so i don’t know how well it works with nvidia and Intel, I know some distributions do a really poor job managing the drivers. I don’t use CAD, but I have done FPGA design and programming (C/C++) and it works great. Haven’t done much gaming, all I have is minecraft installed, I could imagine you can install steam on there as well. Hope this helps.
I heard that AMD are good with working on linux and that Nvidia is pretty bad with drivers and compatibility. That’s why I mentioned the Nvidia gpu. I’ll try to find more details on the driver supports and others. Other than that, I’ve never actually seen anyone saying this or that bad for fedora. Since I do have a weak gpu which is also old, I think it’s better to find something that has more supports for things I do like gaming and video editing
Yea, I had a server with a nvidia GPU that was orginially on windows. I went with ubuntu, and the installed nvidia driver (when ubuntu asked to install any drivers) gave a horrendous aspect ratio that didn’t fill up the entire screen. I had to uninstall the driver to get it to work.
check out the heroic launcher, can run gog games on linux and it’s super easy to use
Technically all distros support Nvidia since it’s a kernel thing, however some of them have better out of the box experience, so it would be wiser to go with one of those distros. For gaming, it’s usually better to have more recent drivers, if you play different varieties of games and some of them are newer titles. Though depending on the games, even Debian could be a suitable option.
If you don’t want to learn under-the-hood features, Bazzite could be a nice option for you. If you want familiarity with Windows, you might want to go with KDE as your desktop environment. However don’t be afraid of trying new angles if you like the general idea of a distro. So Pop!_OS might look different than Windows, it’s also a solid distro.
If you’ll need Microsoft programs or some Windows-only programs, choose something you can install Winboat on it, which isn’t currently usable for Bazzite, until the devs bring Podman support for it. Know that, Winboat is not the only interface you can install Windows programs, it just makes things much easier. So depending on the programs, Bazzite still could be a good option for you.
People here seem to recommend Arch-based distros but I wouldn’t start with them, at least until you get some familiarity with Linux in general. There is no problem using them, but a beginner couldn’t handle if something goes wrong after an update (usually happens with Nvidia). It does not happen a lot, but even once is enough for people who can’t handle it.
There is nothing wrong with Linux Mint. You might find it quite straightforward. It does not have the latest Nvidia drivers most of the time but this might not be a problem for you. If you play newer titles though, then it’s probably not the distro you would want.
I know it has been mentioned in passing a few times but I would highly recommend CachyOS. Just to emphasize how good that is.
Avoid Mint.
Just a reminder, there is 0 mainstream CAD software native to Linux. MAYBE you can get one of the mainstream software working on Linux. Or browser solutions like Onshape or TinkerCAD.
If you do programming and don’t want to go through hoops of containers and sandboxes, avoid immutable OS like Bazzite.
If you want to use your computer to finish projects, not starting a new project, avoid arch-based.
If you want “power user features” like right-clicking on a folder to open a terminal, avoid GNOME.
Your GPU is borderline getting dropped by official Nvidia driver btw.
I also saw more posts on CAD software which says they are not a good with linux base. I might use browser solutions as you have said or keep a bit of hard drive space(or buy an m.2 so I can run two OS (not sure bc i’m pretty broke rn))
CAD is going to be your achilles heel, unfortunately.
If Blender can do what you need, then you are fine, but if you need CAD for things like architecture, I’m afraid it’s one of the most painful gaps in Linux, currently.
Try Bazzite first. If you find you need more control, then switch to Fedora KDE.
Avoid POP_OS for now. Their new desktop environment is currently in beta and it still has some bugs. When it finally releases later this month and the remaining bugs have been fixed, it may be worth a try. The nice thing about Linux is that it’s very quick and easy to install, so you can try different distros quickly and easily.
I recommend getting yourself a dedicated thumb drive and put Ventoy on it. Ventoy lets you selectively boot to any iso you put on the thumb drive. It’s just wonderful.
I might keep my windows just for CAD and other things for a while. Other than that I think I will probably go with Pop OS. I don’t know much but from what I’ve seen, bazzite is an “immutable” OS. It’s a “read only OS”. I’m guessing you can’t modify much stuff as others.
SO about Pop OS, I won’t be installing in the next few days and will be looking to pick one and install mostly by the end of this month. How do I keep in touch with the updates of it to know whether the bugs and stuff are fixed and stable.It’s now slated to leave beta on December 11. I plan on giving it another try at that point, because I loved the Cosmic beta but kept running into frustrating GUI bugs. I’m back on KDE Plasma for now, but keeping a close eye on Cosmic.
For CAD, I really like Onshape. It’s free for personal use and runs in a web browser but is not open-source. I’ve used Creo and SolidWorks before and, IMO, Onshape blows them out of the water for being intuitive and feature complete. But again, web-based and closed source.
First thing I wanna implore you do is create a separate partition on your boot drive for your /home folder. Distro hopping is super normal when you’re starting out, and by separating your home folder makes distro hopping very easy.
Bazzite, like others suggested, is your best bet at a first attempt because it’s much harder to cause irreparable damage with a stray terminal command.
All of the apps you listed should work just fine under Linux. Bazzite ships with Steam and Lutris (it’s a game store aggregator) to get you started with gaming. Use Microsoft 365 online or one of the open sourced alternatives like libreoffice for office apps. The rest of the programs should either be able to be run with wine/bottles/WinApps.
A 1050 is kinda paltry by today’s standards, so just don’t expect a big bump in gaming performance or super snappy emulation.
First thing I wanna implore you do is create a separate partition on your boot drive for your /home folder. Distro hopping is super normal when you’re starting out, and by separating your home folder makes distro hopping very easy.
Nowadays with the various distros’ differences in filesystem preference and layout, I think an external backup would be better.
