r/FindMeALinuxDistro

Ciao ragazzi, doveva arrivare anche per me questo giorno.

Mi accodo alle tantissime domande simili.

Ho finalmente convinto la mia ragazza a provare Linux sul suo PC personale, ormai vecchio e inservibile.

E quindi si pone il problema: quale distro?

Non ha mai usato altri all'infuori di Windows, e tendenzialmente lo userà principalmente per il browser.

Dalle mie ricerche, degli alleati per farmi vincere questa battaglia potrebbero essere Kubuntu o Zorin OS lite, confermate? Leggo anche di Linux Mint Xfce, che avevo provato in passato e apprezzato, ma confesso che a livello estetico non mi appagava molto.

Da un lato serve un SO che funzioni e basta, perché lei non ha voglia di applicarsi. Dall'altro, punterei ad un aspetto grafico per convincerla a restare (ovviamente so che va trovato un equilibrio altrimenti il PC rallenta).

Mi aiutate con qualche suggerimento?

HP Laptop 15s: CPU AMD 3020e (2 cores, 1.2 GHz), integrated AMD Radeon GPU, 8 GB RAM (6 GB usable).

Grazie!

I'm not very experienced with linux but i want a challenge so i don't need a very noob-friendly distro.

Also i need all my windows games to work or at least most of them. At last my laptop is pretty powerful but id like most of my resources to go to a good cause, not on my system.

I’ve only just heard about this distro with the release of version 6 – have you had any feedback? Particularly regarding stability, given that it comes with a recent kernel version, etc. I’m currently using Zorin, which is very good, but as I’m on a fairly new PC (Galaxy Book 5 Pro 360), there are still a few minor compatibility issues. If you’ve tried it, please do share your thoughts.

I want to switch my os from windows to linux , what i never did before.I want to know which linux would be better for me.

I don't any experience with linux before. Want to chose linux, because want my laptop run faster. On windows he can do 100% cpu with several not hard apps running

My mom got an old laptop from her work and asked me to format it. I was going to install a Linux distro since the pc isn't very good, but I'm afraid she would have trouble using linux.

She isn't completely clueless about technology, but definitely doesn't know enough to use more complicated linux distros.

She's just going to use the laptop to use the browser (watch videos, shows, access recipes, ...), so it doesn't need to have a lot of functionalities and stuff.

Is there any distro that you would recommend for this specific case? And I think that I'm prioritizing user friendliness over being lightweight

TLDR: I think I have an NVIDIA GPU, I do very lightweight gaming on Steam not that often, will do VS Code, GitHub and Dockers, general web browsing and willing to take a learning curve. Seek stability above cutting edge. Thinking about Ubuntu, not sure if Mint fit my needs. Worried the GPU won’t allow Linux to work. Arch is likely too much.

Hello ladies, gentlemen and everyone in between. I bought a PC about 6 years ago and I didn’t used it for a year or two since it has an HDD, takes 5 minutes to boot and I broke the SSD I bought for it by accident. I got a laptop for my school work and I’be been using it since. I study in IT and I’m pretty new to the whole Linux, though I think I’m starting to understand the difference between distributions? I am willing to have a learning curve if needed and use the terminal, that’s not an issue. We all know Windows is called that way because this is where you’re gonna throw the PC after it implements Copilot into loading screens, but I might stick around with it on my laptop until graduation to make sure I don’t encounter software compatibility issues.

Usage
So, I think I’ll be using it for a lot of common web browsing stuff. No big surprise. However, I will use VS Studio Code a lot and I will be experimenting with Docker and stuff. As much as I **despise** Cisco Packet Tracer and I wish to never use it again, I might need to use it again. I heard that it was only compatible with Debian or Ubuntu based distribution so that already guide mu choices.

As for Gaming, I don’t really game on my PC often. I prefer consoles to separate entertainment and work/studies. Maybe a few lightweight games like One Finger Death Punch, some Lego games and Potion Craft Alchemist Simulator on Steam. I don’t like big competitive multiplayer games so I don’t think the kernel anti-cheat will matter to me.

For my specs, I think it’s about 8-12Gb of RAM, upcoming SSD and I think it’s an intel CPU and an NVIDIA GPU, which might be a problem. Iirc, Linux enjoy NVIDIA as much as a child enjoys broccoli and it might just straight up bit work? Hopefully I don’t need to buy another PC because my budget is as stable as the little pig’s straw house.

Disto I had in mind
For my choices of distributions, I heard of Mint and a few other beginner friendly OS. I don’t really know if Mint would work for my needs since for all the hours of YouTube guides I’ve watched yesterday, they made a big emphasis on separating “beginner disto” from the “programmer disto”… so what gives? I am thinking about using Ubuntu for that reason, any other disto you would recommend for a Windows refuge who still need to do programming? You guys know better than me. Thanks a lot for your time in advance, might take some time to answer since I’m in the middle of my final exams rush.

Any ideas?

I'm mainly looking for Ubuntu's stability and apps, but with a friendlier experience and without snap.

I recently started with homelabbing when I got a refurbished server. Then when I started actually WATCHING traffic over my network after setting up DNS filters, I realized my windows computers are using a ton of requests for just random bullshit. Now they’re shoving AI into everything and trying to force me into the cloud by trying to disable my local windows account. I’m just tired of all the “it’s inconvenient to figure out how to control your technology so we’ll default to what we want every update” so I want out. Also, VSCode slamming AI into it has me angry as well.

I just want a Linux distro it’s easy to game on (right now I like FFXIV and Factorio) and can be easily used for software development. I’m alright familiar with Debian (I setup a Proxmox setup for my refurb server) and I actively use Redhat for my job. I built my current PC a few years ago with an AMD 7800 3DX cpu and 7800 XT graphics card so hopefully that won’t cause any issues (doubt it)

I want to try out Linux but don't know anything about it.

I don't plan on using it it on my main rig for now.

The maschine I have for it is a Lenovo ThinkPad 15 Edge.

My only Linux experience so far is making and using a truenas server.

I wanted debian at first but wasn't sure if its the best for gaming. I'm not sure Arch based is for me so I looked into Fedora.

Now I'm not sure if I should go for Nobara or Fedora Workstation. I'm using my PC for gaming 90% of the time but need it to do regular stuff aswell.

What exactly are the differences other than visiuals.

Edit: Thanks all. I'm testing Fedora KDE now. While it's still early, I do see why it's recommended. I think I like it better than Kubuntu, but as I experiment with all three of them I just find myself gravitating towards CachyOS. Something about it just clicks with me. We'll see if that changed by the time my new computer arrives.

---

Hey all - I've been test driving both CatchyOS (with KDE) and Kubuntu on different test machines, and I like them both.

I have a new gaming desktop arriving soon (picked AMD hardware for higher compatibility), so it should run well under either environment.

I'm open to other distro suggestions, but I really like the KDE Plasma desktop.

I tried Bazzite for desktop, but I don't like the immutable OS experience.

My use cases:

- Gaming (mostly steam)

- Software development (node, .net, docker, godot and whatever else I decide to dabble in)

- Graphics (Inkscape, gimp, krita, Wacom tablet support)

My concerns are as follows:

- CachyOS has nice gaming perks built in, but it's a rolling release, and I've already had one or two minor situations where an update was a little wonky, but got fixed relatively quickly.

- CachyOS has a lot of software available through Shelly since it can access pacman, aur and flatpacks in one interface.

- Kubuntu seems more stable for the long run, but isn't tweaked for gaming. Might take more work to get the same performance.

- Kubuntu can install deb packages from the Internet, as well as having access to flatpacks. Most software that supports Linux has a deb package, but there's a gap left that's not filled by not having AUR.

Machine specs:

- CPU: AMD Ryzen™ 7 Processor 8700F 8C/16T 4.1GHz [Turbo 5.0GHz] 24MB Cache AM5 65W [NPU AMD Ryzen™ AI]

- MEMORY: 64GB (32GBx2) DDR5/6000MHz Dual Channel Memory

- MOTHERBOARD: ASUS X870 MAX GAMING WIFI7 DDR5 ATX w/USB4, Wi-Fi 7, 2.5GbT LAN, (4)PCIe x16, (3)M.2, (4)SATA

- VIDEO: AMD Radeon™ RX 9070 16GB GDDR6 Video Card

Thanks!

So I would like some Linux distro suggestions for my HP Pavilion 360, intel i7 and Nvidia mx250. Ideally it would be a gaming/productivity machine on Linux, dual booted with windows for lighter stuff.

I tried Linux mint and attempted installing pop os, but the one that really stuck out to me was Ubuntu Studio. However upon installing, my graphics cards seemed to not be recognized. It wasn't a driver issue, according to the bios messages it was not powering on during startup. Secure boot was off and I am sure it was a software issue, not a bios issue.

Is there a distro (preferably updated more frequently that linux mint) that will play fair with my older hardware?

Ive seen countless posts asking. Figured id start a poll...maybe if we all vote the outcome may help newbies?

This isnt a poll for your favourite distro.

This is a poll for "im moving from windows and play games" ease of movement.

If you want to comment about prefered distro or one that you ended up on and why - all useful!!

View Poll

As a long term (non-technical) windows user I want to switch to Linux. And would like some advice on a distro. I have tried many and have found some things that I like and dislike. Also, NVIDIA drivers are not an issue, I have an AMD card.

Things I know I want:

- KDE Plasma, hands down my favorite DE

- Ability to play steam games (Ik this is most distros)

- Support for containers (I will need to run Siemens NX in a windows vm, it has to be this CAD program as it’s the one my school pays for)

- Something that I mostly don’t have to tinker with to get working everyday. Thinking comes with Linux, but I’m not a coder, (AKA no arch btw)

Things that would be nice:

-Debian based, this isn’t necessary art but I would prefer to move away from red hat. However, if fedora is the way then fedora is the way.

- no or opt-in telemetry

- online community that can provide support if asked nicely enough (or better yet has docs I can read)

From these criteria I think I am left with three options, Zorin OS, Debian, or Fedora. I have tried all but zorin. Debian was good, but it felt constraining in its philosophy of stability over usability. Debian has incredible community support and documentation. However, I am not knowledgeable enough to understand all of its documentation (though this is probably my fault.) as for fedora I really liked it, up to date with lots of support. I don’t love red hat and I did have some issues getting containers and some steam games to work on it. Zorin seems like a good option but I know little about it.

If you all can provide some feedback, suggestions and help it would be much appreciated. I will try to answer any questions as they arise. May the war in the comments not be too bad :)

TLDR: want system with KDE for beginners that runs containers for CAD programs with relative ease.

I'm getting a new Laptop in 2 days (Lenovo Yoga 7 pro 14ASP10) and I'm torn between two distros. Void and Gentoo.

For some reason I'm really curious about Void but I know Gentoo fits me well, since I used it back in 2002-2004. I did a stage 1 install back then (WHAT WAS I THINKING?) and tinkered around with it for years. I remember printing 90 pages just for the installation alone but I loved every second of it.

Ubuntu came out, I installed it over gentoo and it killed my love for linux for some reason, making me go to apple for a few years. I just recently switched to back to linux 5 months ago after a decade of windows 10 and one week of windows 11 (windows 10 was fine for me) and I'm also planning on pursuing a career in IT again, so I'm very eager to go back into the depths of linux.

I currently have a FreeBSD with ZFS in my basement as a NAS and arch linux on my other 3 machines, but that new laptop is supposed to replace my old Lenovo as a daily driver. I absolutely want a minimal system, with wayland, no systemd (the part that didn't make a lot of sense to me, since using linux again, hence why I want to abandon arch), a rolling release, a repo that's decently up to date with a few "more" packages but I don't need AUR. FWIW I'm using MangoWM and want to keep the footprint low (currently sitting at 500MB of RAM with almost no CPU cycles wasted - my battery loves it).

For some reason I feel bad for wanting gentoo because it's like "going back" and I think typing emerge the first time will feel very weird... I don't know much about Void but from what I've read it might be a very capable, organized distro for me.

So I'm asking you: Cons and Pros of each? I don't mind if things become complicated I only mind it when it becomes unnecessarily complicated.

I don't code, I might add.

Cheers and thanks for your open ears and eyes!

Been running it for over a year its so bad. Slow, always crashing, no video player and now it won't even boot or login. Pls recommend some Linux distros that I can sync with messages and Gmail etc thanks

Specs: t14s gen 1: i7 10610u, 32gb ram ddr4, m.2 nvme ssd 256gb, igpu 620 uhd, touchscreen 1920x1080 HD screen, fingerprint, and backlight keyboard.
Needs: latest updates, customizable, will make me never distrohop again, rolling release (gonna add incase you think of the "latest updates" something else), minimal, lightweight, HUGE Repository, fun.

Hello! I’m thinking about installing Linux for the first time on my uni laptop in my June break. I’m sick of windows chugging ram in the background and having to clean up all the bloatware. My uni uses Onedrive so Gnome seems right for the integration of Onedrive into the file manager. Most of the software I use is open source and thus has a Linux version EXCEPT for the NI myDaq driver I’m required to have to run in conjunction with provided MatLab LiveScripts. It seems insane to let one app bind me to windows - I thought maybe winapps or wine would solve my issue? But I’m not sure if that would work for drivers or if I should instead use a virtual machine or something (I don’t have any experience with that though). I mainly use my laptop for TexStudio, Matlab, Vscode, Blender, Godot, Gimp, Zotero, and Steam.

I'm looking for a Linux distro that works with the moto g fasr. I've looked around on postmarketos and Ubuntu touch and Graphine OS and it seems like the only thing i can find is apps. I'm wanting to mess around with Linux on my extra phone. Any help would be appreciated