Hi, as many others I am looking to switch to linux before microsoft kills win 10. I read a lot of advice online for distros, but my main needs are not really discussed. I need a distro that runs well for game dev specifically unreal engine 5.4-6.
I am currently aiming to try mint, as it has been recommended to be stable and i already dabbled a little bit with Ubuntu on my laptop.
I am not afraid of some tech journey, but even though arch seems the coolest, with Wayland, kde, hyperland customization, i am not confident enough to use it for work. I heard it can completely crash your system if your a noob.
So in essence i need something stable that is relatively easy to use and has great ue5 and gaming perf. Thanks in advance for all the help.
I want to recommend pop OS but it would be wise to switch to it after there is 24.04 (or later release)
In my personal experience pop os has been absolute rock solid especially with flatpaks However latest stable is quite old (they are working on new desktop environment before upgrade).
I tried UE5 on Debian Testing and it seemed to work fine.
If it works there, it’ll probably work on almost anything.
Personally, I dislike Ubuntu, but if it’s been working for you, you shouldn’t have problems.
I really like Debian and think it’s not too difficult, but it isn’t for everyone and might not be your thing.
EDIT: Looking at the website for UE5, almost any distro released in the past 3 years should do the trick so long as the distro works on your hardware.
For the new people on Linux, think of my impression playing with the different OS;
Similarities between Windows 10 and macOS is around 15%.
Similarities between Windows 10 and Linux Mint is around 20%.
Similarities between Linux Mint and Ubuntu is around 95%.
Similarities between Linux Mint and Fedora\OpenSUSE is around 90%.
Similarities between Linux Mint and Arch\CachyOS\Manjaro is around 85%.
And with Flatpaks/Snaps I would even now narrow the difference in the Linus OS as 95, 92 and 90% similarity. For what linux cannot do for you, unless it needs high processing or gaming anticheats, a Virtual Machine with Windows will just cover you without any problem.
What makes look different in Linux is the desktop environment (KDE, Gnome, Cinnamon…), no much the distro per se. Find the distro environment you like after playing 20min with it, and choose the Linux flavor you are ideologically/persuaded with the most… don’t worry about the rest.
I don’t recommend Bazzite. I’m far from an expert (I’ve only used Mint), but I see a lot of people recommending Bazzite. You should definitely test on Bazzite, but it’s immutable and so that’ll probably cause a lot of issues. I’d recommend strongly against Bazzite for gamedev.
I think basically any major distro will work (Ubuntu, Mint, OpenSUSE, Arch).
You’ll probably need to run the software in bottles, so if it supports bottles then it should work for your needs. Only go with Arch if you’re willing to sign up for some extra work.Be sure to make backups. That way it won’t matter if you brick your OS.
EDIT: It supports Linux, I was on the wrong page.
It explicitly supports Red Hat (Fedora) and Rocky Linux, OpenSUSE is similar to them, so go with one of those three I guess.EDIT 2: They recommend Ubuntu. Test on Ubuntu and Rocky. I’d go with Rocky just because I hate Ubuntu (on an emotional level, I don’t think they’re evil or anything).
I am using bazzite for gamedev and it is AWESOME.
It is immutable but ships with distrobox and boxbuddy, which lets you easily create linux containers with mutable systems (i.e. I am currently developing on a fedora container with Qt Creator, for example) and you can install your packages in that terminal.
No chances of breaking your main OS.
I set up my instance like follows:
Boxbuddy -> New distrobox container -> Fedora -> Give it a name.
Wait for the installation (should be about 300MB IIRC).
In the start menu you will now be able to run your instance’s terminal (search for your instance name).
sudo dnf install qt-creatorBack in boxbuddy, in my instance I selected “show installed gui applications”, selected Qt Creator -> Add to applications menu.
Qt Creator then shows up in the start menu (search for either Qt Creator, or your instance name).
It will run in the container, but has full access to your home directory for development.
I could then install all my other required packages from the same terminal that I installed qt-creator from.
Easy peasy.
Disclaimer: Typing from my phone. The instructions may not be exactly like I said, but those are the steps.
No terminal magic is needed in Bazzite to make this work.
arch seems the coolest, with Wayland, kde, hyperland customization
While I have no experience with Unreal Engine, so I can’t give an informed recommendation, I just figured I’d point out that you can do this with every distro
Coming from Windows, OK with a bit of tech journey and into gaming here is my take in no order of preference.
- TuxedoOS if you are inclined to Debian/Ubuntu side. Slow updates but it has latest KDE and very stable in my experience.
- If you just want set and forget (minimal updates) Linux Mint (Ubuntus fall here too) Now, it is not very appealing aesthetics.
- Fedora. Probably the best overall, but if you have beef against IBM/Red Hat, ditch it, its superiority is very marginal. Gamers like the spin Nobara, some performance increase but minimal.
- Arch is not that unstable as portrayed, but one time in a critical time is bad enough, even if very rarely occurs. You assess your risk. The popular baby today is Arch’s CachyOS due to catering to gamers.
- OpenSUSE’s Tumbleweed is maintained quite good and very close to Fedora in being perfect overall, but fewer people behind and less support. I would only go with it if you have a specific reason why (German, Yast tools, rolling release but stable,…)
At the end, like many people say, it is likely you will hop… until one day you find that distro hoping is pointless and that all are actually very close to each other and could easily coexist with any of them all. The difficult and uncompromising aspect usually is with the desktop environment like KDE Plasma, Gnome, Cinnamon…
Everyone overthinks it, and you are too.
Mint is great. It may not work for you if you have super new hardware.
Fedora is great. It’s mint but with newer stuff.
Arch is great. Bleeding edge. But it’s not “set it and forget it”.
Linux is great. There’s a million other options. Any of them work if they work for you. Find someone bashing Ubuntu - they would HAPPILY choose Ubuntu over win11.
And you have to realize the “what version I’m on dependency hell” thing is a thing of the past for the most part. Flatpaks just about solve this problem. You’ve got containers and vms too. Switching to another distro ain’t hard either as a nuclear option.
Just install mint or fedora like everyone says. Your requirements aren’t special, and both options are great.
Find someone bashing Ubuntu - they would HAPPILY choose Ubuntu over win11.
This is both : funny and true (more true than funny though ;) )
This needs to be pinned to every single “looking for a distro” post.
Go with Bazzite, if you don’t like it, just switch. You only need to backup one folder, your /home dir.
If you’re new to Linux, you won’t stay with the distro anyone recommends for more than a month. It’s a truism.
I’m not you. You’re not me.
That said. Ubuntu isn’t the Ubuntu of old. The real selling point is the zfs, but you have all the other NIH stuff like snap etc. I’m not a zfs fan but I appreciate that it’s got a huge fan base.
One thing to say is that you don’t have to have a one and only. I have at least two distros I use daily for workstation stuff. I use Fedora for typing and Arch for backups, debugging, rescue, and other fiddling about stuff (because Fedora gets in the way sometimes). Every distro has the same set of commands.
distrowatch.com is your friend.
Mint is a great choice, it is very stable, and it really holds your hand via the Software Center.
However, stable also means old: it does not support the latest hardware.
If you have hardware that released after (rough estimate) April 2024, consider something based on Fedora, such as Bazzite, instead. It comes with modern drivers and should support modern hardware much better.
Bazzite was heavenly promoted for gaming, but there was no mention on using it for work. Does it work well for regular productivity, code, graphic design, 3d?
I’m not sure about unreal, but installing godot was pretty easy. That said if you end up needing to install any languages, tools, etc OSTree makes it a PITA
They’re actually working on making a version specifically for game developers, but it isn’t released yet. There is also a more generic version for developers. dev.bazzite.gg
Sounds cool ill check it out when its ready
You can do that on Bazzite. The only thing I would say is that Bazzite is an atomic fedora distro meaning that the core OS is immutable and everything lives on a layer above the base OS. This helps stability for the OS and make rolling back and repairs much easier. But sometimes installing apps, especially apps that interact with the base OS can be a bit of a pain. On top of that, atomic distros are less common, which means that if you are looking for help, it will be a little harder to find stuff online.
Overall, I like fedora. I have used basically all of the DEs, but tend to hover between KDE and Gnome. Fedora is a little more recent than Debian, but it isn’t a rolling release like Arch or OpenSUSE. This means you get some of the newer kernel features, but the updates are still staggered and released at intervals and tested. I find it to be very stable.
If you want gaming, check out POP OS (ubuntu/debian,) Garuda Linux KDE Gaming Edition (Arch) or CachyOS (Arch.)
Of course you can, why wouldn’t you? It’s Fedora Kinoite with added stuff for gaming. There is a special edition for devs in the making, in case you’re interested in keeping an eye on that: https://universal-blue.discourse.group/t/introducing-the-bazzite-developer-experience-alpha/7342/64
I read a lot of advice online for distros, but my main needs are not really discussed.
You’re not special and Linux distros aren’t that specialized. They differ in packaging, upgrade philosophy, etc. There is no Linux distro that can’t do the things others do.
You dabbled with Ubuntu. Stick with it, you’ll be fine. Unless you really want mint, then go for it you’ll be fine.
The urge to distrohop can be a distraction, but an itch that needs to be scratched now and then. I tend to always end up where I started, but when I do I feel better about it.
For a lifetime Windows user, going to Mint has been very painless. Gaming is very good as well.
I agree. The transition has been fairly smooth, and cinnamon edition looks great.
Sry for the link it is unrelated and i only put it there because i though i need to add my Instance.
I think Fedora using either Gnome or KDE would be a great place for you to start. Ubuntu or Mint aren’t terrible choices either.
On the topic of Arch, there’s a Distro I use called EndeavourOS. It’s billed as an Arch based distro that’s geared towards the terminal, but unlike Arch it comes all of the basic software you might need right out of the box, and offers a long list of desktop environments (KDE, Gnome, and XFCE being the best choices on the list)
I use Hyprland on it, but Hyprland isnt advisable until you have some solid experience with a different desktop. Because it is geared towards the terminal, it expects you to install and update your software from the terminal. Not a difficult task, but it might not be ideal when you’re just getting started.
I saw endeavour os and though that might be the way to get arch benefits without getting too technical, but i heard its not the most stable.
If you run endeavour, you are basically getting Arch with a familiar installer, a few useful helper scripts, and a friendly community. You are still expected to know your hardware and your install. You are still expected to keep up with the Arch news, and make any manual interventions required. If you do that, endeavour is remarkably reliable.
I’ve been running it for a long time without issue. But how “stable” it is depends on how much you read the documentation and developer announcements, and how much you fiddle with things you don’t understand. That can be true in mint or Ubuntu as well, none of them prevent you from breaking things.
Recently endeavour changed the way they deal with some firmware related packages, this would cause an error when updating, causing a handful of packages to not be upgraded. A quick DuckDuckGo search of the error message took me straight to a forum post by the devs explaining that you have to uninstall one of the related packages, and run the update again. If you didn’t think to look you’d probably panic and think your system was broken. Just an example of how the operating system itself doesn’t hold your hand. It’s up to you whether that’s acceptable or not.
On the topic of stability, save your important files on a separate drive. It’s been said elsewhere in the thread but bears repeating. As long as your files are stored in a separate drive, if you run into issues you aren’t able to fix, you can just wipe and reinstall, it maybe takes 20 minutes depending on your hardware, and while you’re experimenting and learning, it wouldn’t be uncommon for you to break some things.
Operating systems are rarely unstable. Users are the most common source of instability.
Recently endeavour changed the way they deal with some firmware related packages
Actually, that was Arch and as Endeavour uses the Arch repositories + the AUR, and their own repository for their additions, they were naturally affected.
