A friend is due for a gaming PC build. But he’s super pissed it needs to run windows 11. I told him just run something else. He said his job needs something that runs windows-only and on the odd occasions where he needs a desktop to do something he’s not buying a second computer just to run windows.
Dual booting exists but Microsoft likes to clobber boot loaders. So I reminded him he could just run windows 11 in a VM when he needs to, everything else in bare metal Linux.
He’s now sold on moving to Linux.
The question is where should he start? It used to be as simple as “if you aren’t sure, use Ubuntu.” But his use case kinda seems like what everyone has been crowing about using bazzite for.
I have zero experience with bazzite but the page does describe something built for his use case. There are 3 concerns I have though.
- Is it common enough that he can Google an answer?
- it’s an atomic distro, so classic Linux answers he might find online won’t always be applicable here.
- selinux, ugh.
What’s a good gamer Linux distro? He’s not super into tinkering. He just wants it to do the thing without Microsoft’s invasive bullshit.
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For gaming, start with Bazzite. It “just works” and is almost impossible to break.
If your friend wants more control, switch to Fedora KDE.
If your friend is very technically inclined — comfortable on a command line — and wants even more control, switch to CachyOS.
Whatever you choose, I strongly recommend using the KDE Plasma desktop environment.
I do not recommend Mint, even though it is very popular here, since it does not support the KDE Plasma desktop environment, the Cinnamon DTE is ugly and outdated garbage, and Mint has more hardware problems than other distros on newer gaming hardware.
Fortunately, switching Linux distros is fast and easy, unlike Windows. So you can quickly and easily try different things to see what you like. Consider putting Ventoy on a USB drive, since it lets you copy ISOs straight onto it and you can boot directly to whatever you want. It’s a handy way to test drive any distro you want that has a “Live” image.
If you absolutely must keep Windows around, install it to a separate physical drive to prevent it from destroying your bootloader. Then configure BIOS to boot to your Linux drive.
Linux Mint
After I left Bazzite I switched to Garuda, it is also gaming and performance focused, works with Nvidia, and has been super easy as a beginner.
It may be worth a look.
We aren’t building with nvidia. Absolutely not.
I mean … it’s not required. So, good for you, I guess.
It’s a matter of their ties with palentier at this point. We aren’t paying for that.
I mentioned it because a lot of people already have a card they need to accommodate, not to try and convince you.
Mint (LMDE). It might actually be easier to use than windows. My dead dad could use it and he was a moron. I held out for quite a while to try out ‘cooler’ distros but yeah, Mint is what I’m telling anyone moving from windows to use now.
My dead dad could use it and he was a moron.
I really was not prepared for that sentence 😅
I’m still reeling
I have a specific use case for CachyOS but I see two categories:
- Bazzite, not intending to use the terminal much. Also less frequent updates which ought to be very stable. Atomic.
- CachyOS, using the terminal and frequent updates. Rolling, and good support base.
Both use flatpaks which will keep apps sandboxed. A lot of users don’t seem to like snaps being pushed by Ubuntu so flatpak is the big choice.
Cachy at least doesn’t do flatpaks out of the box.
Ah my mistake, I must’ve installed it shortly after installing CachyOS.
I am not too clued up to say this or that, but Mental Outlaw on YouTube has been doing very good breakdown on loads of Linux stuff to noobs.
So I will link to this, https://youtu.be/3MwJbRq3-rM
I saw no one mention ZorinOS.
I personally love Mint, tried different distros but I keep crawling back to green Ubuntu
Bazzite
Echoing what others have said, a “gaming distro” really isn’t necessary. I have used Ubuntu for years on and off. When I switched my gaming PC to Linux earlier this year I went with Kubuntu, because it’s just Ubuntu and I like KDE Plasma better than Gnome. I do feel like Ubuntu is one of the easiest to find support for when you’re looking online.
While I generally agree, the benefit of it being gaming focused means if he has to look something up any community or support he finds will already be familiar with exactly what he’s trying to accomplish. It will help the newbie when I’m not available to.
I have bazzite, it also includes graphics drivers ready to go which is nice. If you’re going to use steam for gaming i find it great. But this distro is not needed for gaming, one can install and game on any of the popular distros. You’re friend needs to try a few and see what feel best for them.
Honestly, my recommendation for new users who are into gaming is Bazzite. Just install everything through the software store and it just works. Well, everything that’s available as a flatpak at least. Steam comes preinstalled, as do all the drivers (among some other various gaming-oriented things like kernel optimizations and Lutris), so it’s basically just install and done. The software store, Bazaar, will find basically anything a normal user needs. The nice thing about atonic distros is that you generally don’t need to do anything through the command line,as installs are perfectly consistent across all computers (so no random things breaking in the background without someone else noticing and either filing a bug report for you in the beta, or fixing the issue outright). After over a decade of Linux use, I’ve never found an easier distro. I honestly have switched to it as my main distro because I love Fedora, and the atomic features are nice (and Bazzite is just a little nicer for my use case than Kinoite).
When I set someone up with Bazzite, I just tell them to install everything through the software store, and I rarely get questions other than “how do I install this software that isn’t available on Linux”, which I usually meet with a recommendation for an alternative, or if it’s really critical, I’ll have them install through Bottles or something. I always mention the “no Adobe or Autodesk” caveot before they install, so I never really get questions about that except for “well, what would you recommend I use instead?”
Kubuntu is fine. I’ve been running that without issues for months now.
Bazzite is good too. But do push for the KDE version.
Or GNOME! GNOME is good too.
Gnome is good if you want a Mac-lite interface and have zero plans on customizing it. Install more than 2 or 3 extensions and your DE breaks.
Or just install any other DE and have a working distro again.
Garuda, Bazzite, Zorin, Pop OS…and get a seperate machine for work. Hell no, I’m not letting my employer on to my personal machine.
The employer should have a way for you to remote in. There is no reason for you to have a work machine at all anymore.
And I am not talking a VPN.
Don’t even get me started
Try them all 🤔
I don’t have a recommendation other than don’t recommend something to your friend for which you’re not willing to provide tech support.
Dual booting is fine. Microsoft destroying bootloaders is mostly a meme off a few bugs. Any distro that ships an up to date kernel and drivers is good. Fedora/Ubuntu. Bazzite is kinda weird for gamers because it just makes every problem harder to solve. If you never tinker then its fine but Bazzite feels more restrictive than windows without knowing how it works.
