this post was submitted on 13 Mar 2024
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Windows has been a thorn in my side for years. But ever since I started moved to Linux on my Laptop and swapping my professional software to a cross platform alternative, I've been dreaming on removing it from my SSD.

And as soon as I finish my last few projects, I can transition. (I want to do it now).

Trouble is which I danced my way across multiple amazing distros, I can't decide which one to land on since the one software I want to test, Davinci Resolve doesn't work on my Intel Powered Laptop. (curse you intel implementation of OpenCL).

So the opinions of those of you who've used Davinci Resolve, Unity/Godot, and/or FreeCAD. I want it to be stable with minimal down time on hardware with a AMD Ryzen 5 1600x and a RTX 3050. Here's the OS's I am looking at.

CentOS (alt Fedora)

  • Pro: Recommended by Davinci Resolve for the OS, has good package manager GUI that separates Applications and System Software (DNF Dragon), Good support for multiple Desktop Environments I like. Game Support is excellent and about a few months behind arch.
  • Con: When I last installed Fedora my OS Drives BTFS file system died a horrific and brutal death, losing all of my data. Can't have that. And I personally do not like DNF and how slow it makes updating and browsing packages.

Debain (alt Linux Mint DE)

  • Pro: The most stable OS I've used, with a wide range of software support both officially in the distros package manager, or from developers own website. I am most familiar with this OS and APT

  • Cons: Ancient packages which may cause issues with Davinci Resolve and Video Games. An over reliance on the terminal to fix simple problems (though this can be said for most linux distros). I personally don't like APT and how it manages the software.

EndevourOS (alt Manjaro)

  • Pro: The most up to date OS, great for games with the AUR giving support for a lot of software which isn't available on other distros.

  • Cons: Manjaro has died on me once, and is a hassle to setup right and keep up. EndevourOS has no Package Manager GUI, and is over reliant on the Terminal. Can't use pacman in a terminal the commands are confusing.

OpenSUSE Tumbleweed

  • Pro: Like Fedora but doesn't use DNF, good game support

  • Cons: Software isn't as well supported.

Edit: from the sounds of thing, and the advice from everyone. I think what I’ll do is an install order while testing distros (either in distro box or on a spare ssd) in the following order.

Debain/Mint DE -> OpenSUSE -> EndevourOS -> CentOS

This list is mostly due to stability and support for nvidia drivers.

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[–] TCB13 4 points 8 months ago

You already know why you should pick Debian:

Pro: The most stable OS I’ve used

About your "ancient packages" that's an easy fix, just install all your software using Flatpak/Flathub and you'll get the latest software on your rock solid base system.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I’m using EndeavourOS and I use DaVinci Resolve. The only issue I’ve had is a strange bug in DaVinci 18.6.x where my footage will start flickering after a few minutes.

I shoot in SLOG3. The flickering looks like my colour grade flashing on and off for a frame or two. It will persist until I turn off all of my colour nodes, save and quit, open Resolve again, and turn on the nodes again.

I haven’t figured out what is causing it yet.

[–] the16bitgamer 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Did you install Resolve via AUR or from their installer? How was updating the software? Did you find the performance in fusion to be worse in Linux or in par to Windows?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago

I’ve installed it both ways. When installing via AUR you will need to download the zip from black magic. The AUR will look at your downloads folder and use the zip as the installer.

Updating is very similar to Windows. You’ll still need to download the new version as a zip and then install it again.

I don’t use fusion too often since my GPU is a little underpowered but I’ve not noticed any worse performance. If anything it’s been the same or better across the board.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago

I wouldn't recommend any of those. Since you have Nvidia go with Linux Mint or Pop os as they both have good support for Nvidia.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago (4 children)

I was once in the same boat. Here is what I did, put a second drive into my PC and separated my root and home partitions then kept hopping distros until I found the one that worked for me. That way, I didn't lose my important files while hopping. The distro I landed on was endeavour OS. I have been using it for 3 years now. Not suggesting that you should use it, because every distro works differently for different people depending on many factors. But try this and see if you find your own endeavour OS. Good luck :)

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago

If you are using davinci on your system a lot, you can try their pre-packaged iso. They recommend rocky Linux nowadays and also provide an iso for it.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (2 children)

Gotta throw my vote in for tumbleweed. Its IMO the best distro to get the latest packages while still maintaining stability. Their built in roll back feature is great.

Software not being well supported is kinda a sticking point. Though honestly its becoming less and less of an issue each day. Flatpaks are available for almost everything, distrobox covers the rest. I really haven't run into any situation that prevented me from doing what I wanted. I've been using it for a few years now across my desktop, laptop, and my computer at work. Suse is enterprise Linux after all, its still got great support

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago

Cannot say for other programs you mentioned (although I'm sure they work fine as well) I'm using Godot on EndeavourOS and it is perfect. If your only concern is terminal, EndeavourOS has built-in scripts for updating your system. Also using an AUR helper would make your tasks easier, which "yay" is pre-installed. You can basically type "yay package_name" and it will guide you.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago

If you are interested in something arch-based but like having guis for stuff, I highly recommend Garuda Linux. I've been using it for about a year on my everyday desktop for gaming and it's been great. I also have really liked fedora bazzite on my laptop for almost the same time period.

I'd stay away from manjaro, I wouldn't touch it again with a 10 foot pole. Every time I've tried to use it, it just breaks itself every 3-6 months. I know some people swear by it, but I just have to assume they either have extreme tier knowledge to prevent trouble before it starts, are so used to fixing problems they are blind to their time spent doing it, or they are just incredibly lucky.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago

Imo go straight to archlinux. With Archinstall it is significantly less work than people say, I got mine working in less than an hour, with minimal issues. I was on Manjaro for a while and loved the experience, shame about the issues they have. EndeavourOS seems alright but i had issues with the live image (no wifi)

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago

Mint DE. Enable backports or whatever if you want to. Get a newer kernel. I'm on 6.1

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago

I use Opensuse leap. It works for me. If i cant find software i want i use the nix package manager

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