this post was submitted on 09 Jan 2025
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Would this be a good distro for a noob who's thinking about switching from Windows? Or is this more advanced to maintain and use as a daily driver?
I advise against using Bazzite as a Windows convert, unless you're happy to do a lot of reading to understand what you're actually signing up for. The founder doesn't really care about Windows Gamers (or anyone outside of the professional linux world), according to a comment they made earlier today in response to criticism of the description "cloud native".
To save you a click, the conversation was about the description of Bazzite as "cloud native" on the bazzite homepage* can be confusing or even misleading for people who assume it means "will run in the cloud". The founder explicitly commented they'll keep doubling down on the term until people no longer complain about it.
Their argument was that there is an entire foundation for Cloud Native Computing and that the concept is "an incredibly common thing in any professional paid Linux job." They understand that Windows Gamers in particular might have the aforementioned misconception, but they don't care if you get it.
That doesn't necessarily make Bazzite a bad distro, but I'd be wary about the level of assistance you can expect from people who think that a technical word soup featuring terms like "build our images" and "deploying Linux environments to users" is enough to explain that "cloud native" actually just means the development process and the end product has nothing to do with the cloud.
*Specifically, the homepage's text opens with:
"Bazzite is a cloud native image built upon Fedora Atomic Desktops that brings the best of Linux gaming to all of your devices - including your favorite handheld."
I don't know why they'd lead with the development method, rather than describing what the OS actually does, but apparently that's what they care most about.
As an aside, I don't see any obvious description what "atomic" means on the Fedora Atomic site either.
Thanks for that insight, Lucifer
I would be skeptical of Lucifer's insight on this. By his own admission, he has never actually used Bazzite, and is basing his opinion on a single argument he had with one of the many dev's in another post. To quote Lucifer directly :
Obviously switching to Linux will cause you to encounter new terms you won't be familiar with, or terms you are familiar with used in new and novel ways, devs and users will be opinionated and have arguments over these terms (and everything else an opinion can be had on frankly). And Lucifer's concerns on this front are not without merit, but he is overstating the severity in this case and painting a wildly inaccurate picture. And you don't actually need to gain a deep understanding of all these terms anyway. (Right away or at all depending on your goals)
But through all of that, what really matters at the end of the day is how useable is it, and how solid is the community surrounding it. And on that front I can say Bazzite has been hands down the easiest distro I have ever used for plug and play Linux gaming, and the community has been endlessly helpful and beginner friendly. I'd recommend it fully, and if you hop into their Discord, or read over their homepage and guides, it quickly becomes apparent how hard they work to make it beginner friendly.
There are some good alternatives, Mint for example is a very easy distro to make the switch from Windows. As is Pop_OS!. And with how easy steam has made running games, it's harder to find a bad choice in general nowadays.
To shift topics, I'd say the most important thing to a "smooth switch from Windows" is less the distro you choose, and more the Desktop Environment. (Which, for the point of this recommendation, is the catch all term for what your OS "looks like", where the "Start Menu" is, where your "tool bar to switch apps" is, etc) For a new Windows convert, I'd say find one that uses "KDE", as it is very similar to Windows. Bazzite offers this when you are downloading the installation image. But it's quite popular, so many others will anyway.
Sorry for the extended rant, hope this initial mess didn't make you less likely to try Linux! I was a Windows convert just a couple years ago and can say it was one of the best decisions I've ever made! Feel free to ask any questions, or hop over to the Bazzite Discord to get some helpful insights!
No apologies necessary! That's very helpful and makes me more likely to take the plunge. Thank you for the rant!