I spent all of yesterday building a PC (NOT easy, Jesus Christ) and now it needs an OS. Fuck windows, or course, so I want a Linux OS. I’ll be mainly using my PC for gaming and editing videos, and I’d much prefer something that works similarly to Windows just for comfort purposes since I’m already familiar. Also I’ve heard Linux is incompatible with some games?
So, nerds, what do you recommend?
You must log in or # to comment.
Please don’t call it that. By reverting you gaining, not losing
Linux Mint is good, pretty easy to set up and use. Has a similar interface to Windows by default. It’s also popular, so it’s usually easy to find a solution to your problems when you run into them.
I second this. I installed Mint 10 days ago and it just… Works? Like, things aren’t exploding, I get automatic backups, easy graphical interface, and everything simply works. Highly recommended.
FYI Mint’s default included automatic backup system, TimeShift, backs up your system, not your personal files. Pika is probably what you want for backing up personal files automatically.
Timeshift can back up your personal files too… it is just set not to do that by default.
Oh sick, that’ll simplify things! Thanks
Actually, how do you set that on? I’m trying to find it and have not been able to so far. Looking it up mostly I see “it is recommended to use another backup system for your personal files.”
If you open Timeshift, go to Settings then the Users tab you can change it from Exclude all files to Include All Files or Include Hidden Files
I turned on Include Hidden Files a while ago and suddenly found I had a 500GB snapshot in timeshift… it was backing up my ~/.steam folder which I definitely did not want… you can further customize what you want it to back up in the next tab, Filters
Thank you that’s actually so simple!
yep, you’re welcome!
i suggest anything that advertises itself as atomic, as long as you don’t break the seal you will never have your system break
Linux Mint. Reliable, works out of the box on a huge range of hardware.
Message me anytime if you need a hand! Happy to help people escape Windows.
Edit: Huh, I could have sworn Mint had an official KDE version. My mistake.
3·2 days agoThere is no KDE version of Linux Mint? At least not from their download page
my rec would be the KDE variant of bazzite. i use it as my daily driver and to play games in. the KDE desktop environment is very windowsy, but far more customizable and configurable to what you liked about windows.
KDE is love. KDE is life.
my normal generic recommendation is fedora, but i hear bazzite is good for g*ming
I’m also exploring Linux for basically the first time and have a pretty similar spread of use cases as you; gaming, emulation, streaming, video editing, gamdev, etc. I’d recommend looking at your preferred software and seeing if there’s a native Linux version available. For example, I use OBS, Resolve, and Godot – all three have Linux builds. Most emulators have Linux builds as well.
Gaming is where things get a bit more nebulous. Some have native Linux builds, others run through compatibility layers. Again, I’d look at the games you are playing and look them up on ProtonDB, which is a community-run site dedicated to cataloging how well games on Steam run on SteamOS/Linux. For example, Battlefield 6 doesn’t run on Linux likely due to anti-cheat. Other new stuff like Silent Hill f seems to work fine.
I haven’t started experimenting yet, but I had a post earlier this week that got a bunch of comments on here and the general consensus seems to be Bazzite for gaming purposes, especially for new Linux users. It’s an “immutable” distro, which by my understanding means the core OS is read-only so it’s difficult to really mess your system up. I’ve also heard a lot about CachyOS as well, which might be somewhat more performant for gaming since it’s built on Arch.
Either the KDE or GNOME edition will work, depends on your personal preference.
Also I’ve heard Linux is incompatible with some games?
The only games that don’t run on Linux are games you shouldn’t be playing anyway :p like online shooter slop or league of legends.
editing videos
The main video editors are Kdenlive, blender, shotcut and Davinci Resolve (proprietary but the most mature).
If you aren’t doing anything too wild (like making a feature length movie with complex VFX etc) you can use kdenlive, if you already used davinci on windows then you can use it on Linux as well.
Which distro is davinci the best to install/run on?
Bazzite. They offer a convenience script `ujust install-resolve"
Also most games are compatible through proton at this point, but you can find out for specific games at ProtonDB
Usually anticheat support is the main thing that causes incompatibility
