Best distro for steam /gaming for someone kinda new to Linux?
- Thread starter mattyfez
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For what its worth, I tried Nobara and it failed miserably to do anything on the test PC.
I also tried a VM under Windows ( My usual first point of call with new distros ) and that did nothing also!
It just got so far then seemed to just hang.
I am for the moment, staying with MINT as that has a STEAM setup thats near to flawless and every game that I want is either fulyl supported, or PROTON takes care of the few that are not.
Plus, when you have a setup tahts been tweaked and fettled with and its near to perfect for you... I dont like to change it. Thats why ALL my Linux PCs Desktops look identical.
I also tried a VM under Windows ( My usual first point of call with new distros ) and that did nothing also!
It just got so far then seemed to just hang.
I am for the moment, staying with MINT as that has a STEAM setup thats near to flawless and every game that I want is either fulyl supported, or PROTON takes care of the few that are not.
Plus, when you have a setup tahts been tweaked and fettled with and its near to perfect for you... I dont like to change it. Thats why ALL my Linux PCs Desktops look identical.
What do you mean? ... You weren't able to download the ISO?
I thinking of trying something else.. Steam works great on nobara for me and Xbox pad if I wire it via USB, bi I just can't get the bluetooth to play nice with my Xbox pad and my Asus bt/wifi card. Wifi is fine though.
I thinking of trying something else.. Steam works great on nobara for me and Xbox pad if I wire it via USB, bi I just can't get the bluetooth to play nice with my Xbox pad and my Asus bt/wifi card. Wifi is fine though.
No, at the time, I was NOT getting the downlaod link, but yes, I did get it in the end.
Thenm whenever I tried to install it, I was just greeted with a blank screen after it tried to install.
For what its worth, I threw it into a VM last night, and I had a few niggles with it... I tried to install it onto a GTP but it kept failing to boot properly.
Then I tried a normal MBR and it still failed to boot???
And yes, I know how to install onto either, I have done it plenty of times.
I will re-try onto an actual PC later on, and I will try the old AMD A10 as that half decent and never gets used anymore, but AFAIK its got SuSE Tumbleweed on.
I'm not saying I reccomend it, I plan on trying Bazzite at some point to see how that is, and I've used mint and ubuntu years ago, so i'll see how I go.
basically (when i can be bothered) I want to migrate from windows as my main OS to some sort of linux.
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Its ok. Even when recommending something, you always have to understand, that everyone has their own thoughts an d opinions and likes and dislikes and that Linux gives pretty much everyone a good distro thats right for them, and this may not be right for others.
So yeah, recommend or dont, it makes no odds.
I have made the transition or maybe I am still in the process... I am lucky to have a bundle of PCs and so I can use Linux or Windows, and I have options with my Linux Setups too!
The Linux setups may have different distros but they all have pretty much exactly the same software and data on them. To keep things up to date, I do copy stuff to and from every so often, and I dont just jump from one to another for no reason.
I have over the last couple of weeks, been using Linux more and more and in fact, I have not started up the Windows PC for a few days now.
I use a KVM that switches between
1 - Master ( Windows 11 )
2 - Second Linux PC ( SuSE )
3 - Main Linux PC ( MINT - Currently MATE but usually been Cinnamon )
4 - Server ( Windows SVR 2016 )
So, I dont need to do any more than press a button to slect the PC I am using and maybe power it up if its off, but I usually have PC 1 on all the time and recently, its been PC 3
There is almost nothing that Windows does, that Linux cannot now, and since Windows went with 11 and now that Windows 11 is a bit laggy compared to Windows 10 and its not as responsive as it was with Windows 10, Linux has now overtaken it in terms of speed and even the games I play are seemingly a tiny bit snappier, so yeah, I am now moving to Linux on a more permanent basis.
Microsoft have simply gone too far for my liking.
I loved the look and feel of Vista and Windows 7 with their GLASS Theming... I absolutely adored it.
I hated Windows 8 and 10 at first, but to be fair with Windows 10, I was finally able to not have to reinstall Windows and it kept itself really snappy and quick after several years, but then it installed Windows 11 qand ever since, iots been a real pain in the bum with so many small things , that I am simply sick of it.
So, Linux it is!
So yeah, recommend or dont, it makes no odds.
I have made the transition or maybe I am still in the process... I am lucky to have a bundle of PCs and so I can use Linux or Windows, and I have options with my Linux Setups too!
The Linux setups may have different distros but they all have pretty much exactly the same software and data on them. To keep things up to date, I do copy stuff to and from every so often, and I dont just jump from one to another for no reason.
I have over the last couple of weeks, been using Linux more and more and in fact, I have not started up the Windows PC for a few days now.
I use a KVM that switches between
1 - Master ( Windows 11 )
2 - Second Linux PC ( SuSE )
3 - Main Linux PC ( MINT - Currently MATE but usually been Cinnamon )
4 - Server ( Windows SVR 2016 )
So, I dont need to do any more than press a button to slect the PC I am using and maybe power it up if its off, but I usually have PC 1 on all the time and recently, its been PC 3
There is almost nothing that Windows does, that Linux cannot now, and since Windows went with 11 and now that Windows 11 is a bit laggy compared to Windows 10 and its not as responsive as it was with Windows 10, Linux has now overtaken it in terms of speed and even the games I play are seemingly a tiny bit snappier, so yeah, I am now moving to Linux on a more permanent basis.
Microsoft have simply gone too far for my liking.
I loved the look and feel of Vista and Windows 7 with their GLASS Theming... I absolutely adored it.
I hated Windows 8 and 10 at first, but to be fair with Windows 10, I was finally able to not have to reinstall Windows and it kept itself really snappy and quick after several years, but then it installed Windows 11 qand ever since, iots been a real pain in the bum with so many small things , that I am simply sick of it.
So, Linux it is!
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Really strange Nobara didn't work for you. I think for gaming you'll typically want to use a distro with a more up to date kernel. The reason distros like Ubuntu and Mint are so popular as "newcomer" distros is they're stable and their LTS variants use older kernels which is very much at odds with using the latest hardware for the latest games.
You mention using SuSE - if you're using the stable release of SuSE which is currently Leap 15.6, it uses Linux 6.4; almost 2 years old at this point.
You mention using SuSE - if you're using the stable release of SuSE which is currently Leap 15.6, it uses Linux 6.4; almost 2 years old at this point.
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I have had a play and it does kind of mess me about!
But hey, I used to love Sabayon and I swore by it for many years but then v15.XX had some issues and then it worked again for a bit and then it failed, and of course it no longer exists and I no longer use it, but it was so solid for me for so long and then... NOTHING!
But a few distros have done this to me over the years... Fedora has been a pain in the rs as has CentOS... I have installed Fedora just fine but it has always failed me 100% of the time on 100% of the systems that I have tried it on, and yes I still try it now and then and yes it still fais me.
CentOS is another that I have NEVER managed to install..
Even Ubuntu with the MATE Desktop has been somewhat problematic for me. I did enjoy the Cinnamon Remux for a bit.
I could go on... I have dozen and dozens of distros... I might even have almost every distro there is as I have NEVER deleted a single one even if I never use or plan to... I am a hoarder in like that. And I have tried possibly every one and I sued to be a KDE and RPM Die hard, and I despised Gnoe and DEB but then when KDE went to KDE 4 I didnt like it as much and that is when I went to Gnome and of course Gnome is now rotten and so MATE/Cinnamon are my choices now, and I moved to Unubtu while it had the Gnome Desktop but the moment they went with this, I lost it with Gnome too!
Hell, I dont half waffle!
SuSe - Well, Tumbleweed sure, and its not my main Linux PC but my Number 3 and its OpenSuSE of course... The version of the Kernel makes no difference to me, as long as it works then it works. I dont use it that much as its using the KDE 5 desktop and I bloody hate that. PLASMA or whatever its called? I hate it. Yes, I miss the Aero in Win Vista?
But hey, I used to love Sabayon and I swore by it for many years but then v15.XX had some issues and then it worked again for a bit and then it failed, and of course it no longer exists and I no longer use it, but it was so solid for me for so long and then... NOTHING!
But a few distros have done this to me over the years... Fedora has been a pain in the rs as has CentOS... I have installed Fedora just fine but it has always failed me 100% of the time on 100% of the systems that I have tried it on, and yes I still try it now and then and yes it still fais me.
CentOS is another that I have NEVER managed to install..
Even Ubuntu with the MATE Desktop has been somewhat problematic for me. I did enjoy the Cinnamon Remux for a bit.
I could go on... I have dozen and dozens of distros... I might even have almost every distro there is as I have NEVER deleted a single one even if I never use or plan to... I am a hoarder in like that. And I have tried possibly every one and I sued to be a KDE and RPM Die hard, and I despised Gnoe and DEB but then when KDE went to KDE 4 I didnt like it as much and that is when I went to Gnome and of course Gnome is now rotten and so MATE/Cinnamon are my choices now, and I moved to Unubtu while it had the Gnome Desktop but the moment they went with this, I lost it with Gnome too!
Hell, I dont half waffle!
SuSe - Well, Tumbleweed sure, and its not my main Linux PC but my Number 3 and its OpenSuSE of course... The version of the Kernel makes no difference to me, as long as it works then it works. I dont use it that much as its using the KDE 5 desktop and I bloody hate that. PLASMA or whatever its called? I hate it. Yes, I miss the Aero in Win Vista?
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Nobara has been a nightmare for me every time they do a distribution version upgrade, everything breaks for a period of time.
I’ve been using CachyOS which has been great, and as long as you use the right file system and bootloader (chosen at time of install) you get automatic snapshotting and easy rollback if anything does break. Which, on bleeding edge distros, they certainly can do.
I’ve been using CachyOS which has been great, and as long as you use the right file system and bootloader (chosen at time of install) you get automatic snapshotting and easy rollback if anything does break. Which, on bleeding edge distros, they certainly can do.
The same is true with OpenSUSE Tumbleweed. You can use btrfs snapshots and if one of the updates breaks your system you can just revert to the last working snapshot with one or two commands. Probably my favourite distro.
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I have today installed Bazzite on a spare PC I had as I’m getting fed up with Win11. Only an hour in but so far very much enjoying it.
11700k, RTX 4080 and it’s quite snappy.
11700k, RTX 4080 and it’s quite snappy.
Well, I have been having a play about on my older Linux PC and I am trying to go with a KDE / RPM Distro.
Of course I want to use NOBARA but I have been having serious issues with it.
The main one is that it has installed just fine, but when I try to boot it up for the frist time, I get dumped on the GRUB Command line all the time?
I also tried Fedora and like usual, it installs and then gets funky and also, just for the kicks and giggles, I went with KUBUNTU 25 for a laugh and to try that, and it seemed ok, but in the end I went back to SUSE Tumbleweed.
Now, that went installed just fine, however it did sdb and sdc the wrong way around.
These drives I usually have setup for /home and /home/data but they were the opposite way around and so it was good that I never formatted it, but what I do try to do usually , is have my home page renamed and so I can then copy the stuff I want to keep back over, and then delete the old home.
But without being able to see the stuff as there is no LIVE version, I ended up putting the /home onto the second drive... Sure, I editted the /etc/fstab file to get he stuff back, but now I was presented with 2 home folders neither of which I can delete.
Now, I do still have a SuSE setup on another PC so Im not keeping this one. I wil keep on trying some other KDE / RPM Distros but I feel that I may be running out of luck... It seems to me taht he ONLY distros that are reliable for me are MINT
Of course I want to use NOBARA but I have been having serious issues with it.
The main one is that it has installed just fine, but when I try to boot it up for the frist time, I get dumped on the GRUB Command line all the time?
I also tried Fedora and like usual, it installs and then gets funky and also, just for the kicks and giggles, I went with KUBUNTU 25 for a laugh and to try that, and it seemed ok, but in the end I went back to SUSE Tumbleweed.
Now, that went installed just fine, however it did sdb and sdc the wrong way around.
These drives I usually have setup for /home and /home/data but they were the opposite way around and so it was good that I never formatted it, but what I do try to do usually , is have my home page renamed and so I can then copy the stuff I want to keep back over, and then delete the old home.
But without being able to see the stuff as there is no LIVE version, I ended up putting the /home onto the second drive... Sure, I editted the /etc/fstab file to get he stuff back, but now I was presented with 2 home folders neither of which I can delete.
Now, I do still have a SuSE setup on another PC so Im not keeping this one. I wil keep on trying some other KDE / RPM Distros but I feel that I may be running out of luck... It seems to me taht he ONLY distros that are reliable for me are MINT
If you’re just playing around with distros then it’s far easier to set them up as VMs.
Could be there’s an issue with your old PC such as a particular BIOS setting or whatnot that’s interfering with your installs. Fedora and Kubuntu are both well grounded and stable distros and neither should give you any problems once installed
Could be there’s an issue with your old PC such as a particular BIOS setting or whatnot that’s interfering with your installs. Fedora and Kubuntu are both well grounded and stable distros and neither should give you any problems once installed
I already do use VMWare and I do test out the distros on that before I take it to an actual PC and yes, I used to use Kubuntu for a fair while, and it has installed and ran just fine to be fair, but I had some small irritations.
As for Fedora, yes, this is annoying but I have NEVER had a good install with Fedora. I want so much to, and yes I am fully aware that its stable and so on, but I just never had a good install.
I keep on going back to MINT as I have never had any issues with that.
Right now, that PC that I have been toying about with, has been running Cinnamon Mint but I want to play with RPM/KDE Setup, or at least a nont debian based setup for a giggle and its had a fair few distros thrown at it... Its currently got NOTHING on it right now.. Or to be more honest, its got a SUSE Tumbleweed setup that installed almost perfectly ... Its just that it took sdb and sdc and seemed to swap them around, so it messed up my setup a little and so I have just run a live setup of Mint Mate and sorted out the home folder again, and its now ready to plop another distro on.
Oh I waffle, so sorry about that.
As for Fedora, yes, this is annoying but I have NEVER had a good install with Fedora. I want so much to, and yes I am fully aware that its stable and so on, but I just never had a good install.
I keep on going back to MINT as I have never had any issues with that.
Right now, that PC that I have been toying about with, has been running Cinnamon Mint but I want to play with RPM/KDE Setup, or at least a nont debian based setup for a giggle and its had a fair few distros thrown at it... Its currently got NOTHING on it right now.. Or to be more honest, its got a SUSE Tumbleweed setup that installed almost perfectly ... Its just that it took sdb and sdc and seemed to swap them around, so it messed up my setup a little and so I have just run a live setup of Mint Mate and sorted out the home folder again, and its now ready to plop another distro on.
Oh I waffle, so sorry about that.
A lot pf people recommend ZorinOS or POP-OS
These are very, very good with gaming.
I myself keep going back top MINT
All of them have very different interfaces...
Zorin uses XFCE and its a very nice and quick GUI with a windows style interface.
POP uses that ridiculous, awful interface that I utterly hate.
With Mint, I would go with Cinnamon or MATE as these are both very much traditional and up to date GUIs.
All 3 are great with beginners in mint plus have fantastic gaming support.
These are based on ubuntu, and so the Ubuntu line of distros are also good options too!
Now, there are plenty of distros that support gaming these days, and so Fedora, or OpenSUSE are very very swish, I myslef have had no louck in installing Fedora for some stupid reason, but SuSE is running on one of my systems and has been rock solid for a few years now.
These are very, very good with gaming.
I myself keep going back top MINT
All of them have very different interfaces...
Zorin uses XFCE and its a very nice and quick GUI with a windows style interface.
POP uses that ridiculous, awful interface that I utterly hate.
With Mint, I would go with Cinnamon or MATE as these are both very much traditional and up to date GUIs.
All 3 are great with beginners in mint plus have fantastic gaming support.
These are based on ubuntu, and so the Ubuntu line of distros are also good options too!
Now, there are plenty of distros that support gaming these days, and so Fedora, or OpenSUSE are very very swish, I myslef have had no louck in installing Fedora for some stupid reason, but SuSE is running on one of my systems and has been rock solid for a few years now.
He chose well for his needs. More channels should be using bazzite on a desktop pc rather than trying to bodge steam os and complaining that it's difficult or didn't work properly.
Soldato
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For those who have benchmarked it, Which would be best for squeezing out the most performance from a game, Bazzite or Nobara ?
Have you had a chance to try Bazzite yet? Ive had Mint on my laptop for a couple of months now and it's been bang on for my needs which these days is just general media. I'm in the process of changing my devices from Windows right now and so far it's been fine with only a slight bit of an adjustment.
Are you still running Bazzite?