A friend is due for a gaming PC build. But he’s super pissed it needs to run windows 11. I told him just run something else. He said his job needs something that runs windows-only and on the odd occasions where he needs a desktop to do something he’s not buying a second computer just to run windows.

Dual booting exists but Microsoft likes to clobber boot loaders. So I reminded him he could just run windows 11 in a VM when he needs to, everything else in bare metal Linux.

He’s now sold on moving to Linux.

The question is where should he start? It used to be as simple as “if you aren’t sure, use Ubuntu.” But his use case kinda seems like what everyone has been crowing about using bazzite for.

I have zero experience with bazzite but the page does describe something built for his use case. There are 3 concerns I have though.

  1. Is it common enough that he can Google an answer?
  2. it’s an atomic distro, so classic Linux answers he might find online won’t always be applicable here.
  3. selinux, ugh.

What’s a good gamer Linux distro? He’s not super into tinkering. He just wants it to do the thing without Microsoft’s invasive bullshit.

  • IsoKiero@sopuli.xyzEnglish
    0·
    12 hours ago

    I don’t really follow what’s going on between different distributions as Debian has been my workhorse for decades, but a few weeks ago out of curiosity I threw bazzite on a desktop which was left ower due to work changes and that hardware is now just for gaming. Installation was pretty much just next-next-next and it after boot there was a steam login window ready to go. Every game in my library so far has been just as flawless experience than with windows, if not even better. I don’t have any the new AAA-titles and I’m not a fan of any online-multiplayers, so YMMV. For Epic I installed Heroic-launcher and (atleast games I’ve tested so far) everything works.

  • nutbutter@discuss.tchncs.de
    0·
    13 hours ago

    If not Bazzite, Nobara is an option. It is based on Fedora, but is not an atomic distro, and iirc, it replaces selinux with apparmor, but unless you’re getting into development, docker/podman etc, selinux will never be an issue.

    Nobara is maintained by Glorious Eggroll, who also maintains proton-ge. Is also comes with an iso with built-in nvidia drivers, and also comes with an HTPC iso.

    I have been using it for a few years, now. The documentation is also well detailed. And anything that works on Fedora will work on Nobara.

  • kieron115@startrek.websiteEnglish
    0·
    23 hours ago

    I’m throwing in my vote for CachyOS. Not because it’s the easiest to use (though it isnt difficult imo) but because it works out of the box, then they have nice wiki to guide you through simple things (like using Lutris and Proton). It’s also Arch based so there’s the arch wiki to fall back on also. I ran Windows for 35 years and just switched to Linux in like October, fwiw.

  • shadshack@feddit.onlineEnglish
    0·
    24 hours ago

    Echoing what others have said, a “gaming distro” really isn’t necessary. I have used Ubuntu for years on and off. When I switched my gaming PC to Linux earlier this year I went with Kubuntu, because it’s just Ubuntu and I like KDE Plasma better than Gnome. I do feel like Ubuntu is one of the easiest to find support for when you’re looking online.

    • muusemuuse@sh.itjust.worksOPEnglish
      0·
      17 hours ago

      While I generally agree, the benefit of it being gaming focused means if he has to look something up any community or support he finds will already be familiar with exactly what he’s trying to accomplish. It will help the newbie when I’m not available to.

  • BlameTheAntifa@lemmy.world
    0·
    24 hours ago

    For gaming, start with Bazzite. It “just works” and is almost impossible to break.

    If your friend wants more control, switch to Fedora KDE.

    If your friend is very technically inclined — comfortable on a command line — and wants even more control, switch to CachyOS.

    Whatever you choose, I strongly recommend using the KDE Plasma desktop environment.

    I do not recommend Mint, even though it is very popular here, since it does not support the KDE Plasma desktop environment, the Cinnamon DTE is ugly and outdated garbage, and Mint has more hardware problems than other distros on newer gaming hardware.

    Fortunately, switching Linux distros is fast and easy, unlike Windows. So you can quickly and easily try different things to see what you like. Consider putting Ventoy on a USB drive, since it lets you copy ISOs straight onto it and you can boot directly to whatever you want. It’s a handy way to test drive any distro you want that has a “Live” image.

    If you absolutely must keep Windows around, install it to a separate physical drive to prevent it from destroying your bootloader. Then configure BIOS to boot to your Linux drive.

  • Fell@discuss.tchncs.de
    0·
    1 day ago

    I can’t speak about Bazzite, but I installed Mint for a friend about two months ago and he was totally able to web search himself through a few problems. I didn’t have to intervene at all.

  • buwho@lemmy.mlEnglish
    0·
    1 day ago

    Garuda, Bazzite, Zorin, Pop OS…and get a seperate machine for work. Hell no, I’m not letting my employer on to my personal machine.

    • sneaky@r.nfEnglish
      0·
      1 day ago

      I came here to say this also. First bad update and then both would be broken and pretty stressful for your friend…

      Pile in if I’m wrong, but I dual boot win11 and linux it works fine. The only condition is it has to be separate physical disk. I wasn’t able to use the same hard drive with just partitions had to be completely different drives.

  • IronKrill@lemmy.ca
    0·
    1 day ago

    On dual booting, I’ll say I’ve been running Win11 through several updates with GRUB and Mint installed on a second SSD with no issues for over a year now…

    • muusemuuse@sh.itjust.worksOPEnglish
      0·
      1 day ago

      do you think it could be safer to dual boot if windows an linux are on separate physical drives? he really doesnt want win11 but for a few of his games he’s going to need it.

      • dogs0n@sh.itjust.works
        0·
        15 hours ago

        Sounds weird they are mixing work and pleasure on the same machine, but anyways +1 for dual boot.

        VMs haven’t been a great experience for me if you need to get real work done.

        I’ve been dual booting on one drive for years, never experienced any issues. Heard doing it on separate drives is even better though.

        Probably extra points if your linux partitions are encrypted.

  • rustinmyeye@lemmy.mlEnglish
    0·
    1 day ago

    Arch or Debian. Depends on their personality and use case. I prefer Arch, but have no problems with recommending Debian and use it on one machine myself.

    Edit: after re reading I’d say Debian. Little more stability but it is more annoying if they ever do wana tinker more. OpenSuse is an honorable mention as well!

  • notaviking@lemmy.world
    0·
    1 day ago

    I am not too clued up to say this or that, but Mental Outlaw on YouTube has been doing very good breakdown on loads of Linux stuff to noobs.

    So I will link to this, https://youtu.be/3MwJbRq3-rM

    I saw no one mention ZorinOS.

    I personally love Mint, tried different distros but I keep crawling back to green Ubuntu