So ive use windows pretty much for everything and ive kinda had a enough of windows. i was thinking of trying linux on an old laptop that i just upgraded to 8gb of ram and im not sure wha tos to put on it. i was thinking something lightweight maybe ubuntu mate? i need somethign like windows that will allow me to game and do other things liek gaming maybe even streaming or reading? idk. also what are some neede dsoftware, browser so rthigs needed for linux. i com efrom a family who has never trie dlinux and hates it because its “the smar advanced coders os” somethign liek that.
anyways im a noob so go easy on me please als i may have ben linux distro hopping but i still feel lost.
Have you considered steamOS? It runs a fair number of games and the Linux kernel.
I think it still isn’t officially out yet. At least the new version and I wouldn’t recommend the old one.
On integrated graphics (which I assume op has) gaming should work generally the same across ditros. I use mint personally and that’s a great way to start off. Simple, similar layout to windows, and I have run into any issues with games.
Bad idea for general purpose system. Most of what SteamOS does on its own right now is Steam Deck integration. You can run all the games on any other Linux system with graphics drivers and Steam. It’s not hard to get going
AFAIK SteamOS is still not released as a general distro for PCs and some people have had some issues with HoloISO.
Great suggestion otherwise, if OP manages to get it installed there’s a whole ton of SteamDeck help and projects to get going with it.
ive thougth about it but i though it was only for games, and i need to do more than game you know?
It’s not a good Windows replacement in its current state.
You can’t officially run steamOS on hardware other than the steamdeck (yet), but you can use holoiso.
SteamOS isn’t available for general computers and is not good with nvidia
Linux mint is fairly good in this case
Have any experience with it ? I considered it but some comments seem to indicate it’s still really rough to be used as a computer OS
SteamOS isn’t available for the public?
SteamOS 3 still isn’t widely available AFAICT, and the older versions are well and truly out of date. And HoloOS isn’t quite reliable enough to recommend in my opinion.
I wouldn’t recommend it as a general purpose OS at this point either, but it may be a good option down the line.
SteamOS requires some thinkering. It’s probably not the best beginner OS. You can get really good compatibility with other distros, you don’t need SteamOS to play Windows games