this post was submitted on 14 Dec 2023
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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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From my experience, download many distros from Linux Mint to Zorin, maybe Fedora and OpenSuse if you want something non Ubuntu bases, or Manjaro and Endeavor OS if you are up for a challenge.
Then install them in a Virtual Machine like Virtual Box. This way you can test which OS you like, and see if the software you want works.
In my experience the Desktop Environment makes the biggest impact on your user experience.
Followed by the package manager (app store)
Then available software (steam lutris libre office)
Finally the terminal for when things go south (or you installed arch)
Absolutely!
I started with mint. Hated it.
Ubuntu, Pop_Os. Hated it.
Fedora. Hated it.
Archlinux, okay, but not so much.
Manjaroo, hated it.
And now I settled with Garuda and Nobara. Like them.
I used Nobara for niche gaming (rarely use it now).
And Garuda Linux for dev work, and downloading and installing stuff, including proprietary packages. And I don't have to configure all the things to make it capable of allowing me to download stuff from all the nice mirrors, such as the community arch mirror.
Nobara, on the other hand, is great at handling compatibility issues kinda out of the box. Such [Edit1: as GPU] drivers.
The reason I disliked the aforementioned distros was solely because of how much involved I had to be to configure them to integrate with my rare WiFi chip drivers, which triggered me when I banged my head at the keyboard for hours only to find out that my WiFi driver was not supported.
But Garuda and Nobara or a blessing, and a chef's kiss.
That's coming from a person who tried more than 20+ distros and/or their derivatives.
[Edit2:] All in all, I would recommend what the comment above suggested, as that will help you find your own path. The samurai path, the kenjutsu path, or the kendo path, the peaceful path, or the hackers path. ;)
[Edit3: sorry Debian users, but I DID try your distros, I just didn't want to bother with them much as they had compatibility issues too !]
I've been wanting to do this for years, and tried several years ago but my AMD graphics card didn't have available drivers. I now have an rtx 2070 super, do you know if it's compatible?
I saw in a comment above that mint cinnamon is great for gaming, does that use wine or something similar? The gaming aspect is really holding me back.
Also slight concern with my dev environment but I'm sure that's been solved 100 different ways.
Drivers. I've yet to run across any major issues except for Intel Compute not working with Davinci Resolve but that's well documented.
Now for gaming on Linux. There are 2 ways to game on Linux.
Native ports. Most valve games and some third parties (mostly indie) are natively compatible. I've had no issues playing these ports and they run like any other application.
Windows Compatibility Layer. Now asking for 20+ year old games to be ported to Linux is a bit of an ask. Let alone asking devs to add Linux support to their games when Linux had such a small install base.
So what some very smart devs did, was make 2 pieces of software that makes playing native Windows games on Linux possible.
WINE, or WIne Is Not an Emulator, is a compatibility layer to run native Windows Software in Linux. With a primary focus on Windows System Calls. Gaming in wine isn't graphically the best.
Then there is DXVK, or Direct X to Vulkan compatibility layer, which translates DX9-DX11 code to the open source Vulkan that runs in Linux. Intel's Arc graphics uses this for their legacy compatibility.
Now you don't need to worry about installing any of this since Valve packages these apps, and some choice software like .Net Runtime in a package called Proton. This is a checkbox in Steam and when Steam Play is enabled, the Windows versions of games will be installed and will work.
Compatibility is very good at this point but there are edge cases that still need to be ironed out. Like anti cheat, DRM, and more.
Lutris is another prices of software that can be used like Steam Play but for non steam games. Its also good, but can be fiddly.
Install process is no more involved than actual Windows, but when a Ubisoft game crashes it won't take your entire machine down with it.