Why should I primary Linux for Home Desktop and which one do you recommend?
I’ve always used Windows and am super comfortable with it. I have set up a dual boot with fedora but don’t use it because I have never identified a need to use it. I see a lot of windows hate, so what does Linux have that I need? What can motivate me to migrate? What is a good Linux to have for a desktop + steam?
I’ll preface this with: If you like Windows and don’t particularly care for Linux experiences, that’s ok. Not everyone needs to use Linux - the world is more interesting with variety.
For me, I hate when my computer does things that I don’t tell it to. I also hate ads. These, along with but really using it for a decade were deal breakers for me with windows.
Some things that Linux has that Windows does not:
Native package managers: Realize that you need to use an image editor and don’t have one installed? You can just install it with your distro’s package manager. It will usually take care of any dependencies and make it easy to update or uninstall if you decide you want to. Some distros have particularly massive offerings in their package repos.
Freely customizeable UI: Tired of how your system looks and want to try something else? Install a tiling window manager through the package manager. Or, maybe Gnome or KDE or XFCE. Huge amounts of customization in your GUI are possible.
Programming: Interested in programming? Install some development tooling through the package manager.
Embedded Programming: Interested in programming but want it to be more physically tangible or automate parts of your home? Setup the Arduino IDE, or Mu, or go old school and use vim/emacs. Then, compile and push it out to your microcontroller. Or, you can use something like Blinka on a Raspberry Pi or similar SBC and directly interact with sensors and devices across the built-in GPIO pins.
Tinkering: Enjoy just poking about? The kernel being open-source means that its APIs are well documented and you can find lots of tools to tweak your system’s behavior or do so yourself.
Job opportunities: The Internet runs primarily on Linux servers. If you’re interested in tech work, getting familiar with Linux can’t hurt.
Tux: What is Windows’ mascot? A window? How about an awesome penguin? Distros and DEs often also have their own, like a chameleon, wildebeest, or dragons (2/3 of the examples can readily smash a window while the other one could at least get an E for Effort and scream at it in german).
For distros that work well with steam, I definitely suggest Linux Mint or Ubuntu for beginners. They’re just way more “batteries included”. However, if you could also give SteamOS, the distro developed by Valve (on top of Debian) a try and it will probably work quite well.
Most of all, have fun, whether you decide to take Linux for a spin or not.
This is a positive take. No OS is perfect, but there are lots of reasons to give a Linux distro a whirl. Tech right now IMO has become disappointing, but Linux continues to be a shining beacon of fun and hope.
+1 for the package manager. No need to find some website to download what you want while having to worry about whether you’re at the right one and if you’re going to download a virus or ransomware or something. I can’t believe that’s the normal way to install software on windows, download something from a website and hope it’s the right thing. Much better to browse a bunch of software that is designed to work well on your system and is free besides.
One big thing for me is that linux doesn’t try to push you to do anything. I run simulations and they are a pain to set up again sometimes so having the computer decide to update itself out of the blue is completely unwanted. Linux will wait until you are ready. This can have a downside if you don’t keep up on updates, but it’s far less a concern than it is in the Windows ecosystem.
The updates issue is real. My spouse uses some specialized hardware and software for work in a non-technical field. Windows would regularly, due to poorly-QA’d auto-updates break the drivers every few weeks, leading to a lot of list work. As much as I’m not a fan of Apple, this us to purchase a Mac Mini as stability and reliability on Windows for this specific use case was pure garage and I don’t have the time to run support at home and my day job.
So I ended up going with mint XFCE (?) and I really dig it. It’s comfortable. Now I’d have to work on migrating proper documents and files over but I might just keep them separate (have spread out over different drives anyways) until I get some hdd/ssd updates.
If the games you want to play work well on Proton then it's fine. You'll receive a minimal performance hit, or on very rare occasions, none at all. Unfortunately something like half the top 10-20 games on Twitch either don't run on Linux at all, or run really poorly and require a lot of workarounds.
Yes, I think it's mostly anti-cheat causing the issues. Still, these are some of the most popular games in the world like Fortnite and Destiny 2 and Valorant.
Games manage to have good anti cheat that doesn’t do that though, I rarely encounter cheaters in overwatch for example and if I have they’ve been really subtle about it
Last time I investigated this, Overwatch used a very poorly-designed client-side solution called Warden. It's a signature-based detection system, similar to antivirus. It looks for process IDs of known cheats. There is also some server-side heuristic detection which looks for impossible player stats that reveal rage-mode cheating. Again, this is easily defeated to the point that it doesn't work at all because cheaters know about it and spend the first few minutes of the match firing into walls and floors to dilute their stats. Detecting process IDs is useless when you can just make some minor changes and recompile every few days, which is exactly what the subscription-based hacks do. It is a naive and amateur solution, and because of its flawed architecture it can never be effective.
The only serious anti-cheat in any game is in Valorant. It's a kernel module that can detect low-level hacks. Overwatch's anti-cheat runs in user mode, and all the serious hacks use HID drivers that are recompiled periodically to prevent signature detection.
But how often realistically do you run into people who have spent money on clients like that? I’m going off perceived experience in the game and I have very noticed cheaters, and if they’re around they aren’t OP enough to ruin a game single handedly or it’d be obvious
Cheating estimates are hard. I think my Fortnite games are plagued by cheaters, but maybe I just suck and everyone else is competitive level. This study found that 32% of gamers had admitted to cheating, and 12% claim to cheat regularly. This study found astonishingly high levels of people searching for cheats for their games, with Sweden topping the ranks of cheaters.
Bottom line: if it's not a problem for you, that's great. It's a big problem for me and others, and I'm grateful to give up a little privacy in exchange for a cheat-free experience, which Valorant does.
Telemetry and Tracking, you need to sign in to legitimately use your Windows 11 Machine and it does collect data you would not want to if you would know which and what data it is.
Psychology feels different. You could actively be creative and do everything you want because noone watches you and there are no absurd backdoors on Linux.
Linux Desktop with KDE (?) or Gnome (Fedora) it is… or Cinamon (Which mainly Linux mint uses). You have a wide variety to choose your Team that develops all the features into your comfort zone and if you elaborate with your Linux Desktop you will notice that many useful features exist since many years that enhance productivity or comfort. Like Window Tiling, set your window Always On Top or Always Below your windows, use Widgets (depends on which Desktop), make your windows wiggle or break in a quantum pattern or Fire when closed and discover more things that would not be possible on the hardcoded private Windows 10 or 11 Desktop.
never ever update your PC again with Linux! Just get the newest Security updates and have a system running that will never force you to reinstall the shit again because a new Windows 12 came out and the transfer tool does not exist or deletes all programs. (Depends on Distro, Ubuntu needs complete upgrades that may break system, but Arch and Linux mint were perfect)
Interested in encryption? No problem, it was always secure and easy to install with most GUI installers at OS install.
Nicest way to install programs? Just use the easy to use package manager and be 3 clicks away to install the official and legitimate way of Steam, Blender or other application instead of needing to search the internet.
Its satisfying and has a nice file structure.
Learn your OS to the roots. You can learn how the details work if you want or are interested in a specific thing.
Nerdy community instead of casuals who downplay you for not knowing that its obviously Wednesday patchday or another irrelevant day for Microsoft. (You also can get bad communities that downplay you anyway in Linux communities, but are very rare in my opinion compared to Windows focused ones)
Btw, if you don’t feel like the current distro feels comfy, just try a different one with maybe a different Desktop or different Desktop design. The best part about Linux is, its perfect. But there is no perfect fit for every Human, thus why I hate Windows for trying this “fit for all” Philosohpy, but maybe its just that I have setup a perfect Arch Linux System with KDE after using Kubuntu, Pop OS, Manjaro for 3 years and gaining knowledge about Linux.
This. The same that Torbrowser is Firefox and not Chrome. Tails is Linux and not Windows.
uhm, you should update your software. Maybe I understood you wrong. Best update process is Fedora immutable, switch to a different image, reboot, no problems. Rolling distros might be good, but are too unstable for many.
I think I meant debian but I actually don’t know how long security updates are done. Maybe I was a bit in the wrong. My main focus was Arch Linux and OpenSuse but not sure how it behaves when you only do security updates and no normal packag updates. But the main thing stays true that you don’t need to reinstall anything like you need to with Windows 10 to 11 transistions and other versions
That should be the other way around, no? What do you need that Linux has (and Windows doesn’t). Otherwise it’s a case of “solution in search of a problem”. You presently do not seem to have a need as you have mentioned, so ideally you should leave it at that and continue using Windows.
What can motivate me to migrate?
While as I implied above only you can answer that authoritatively for yourself, a few examples of what other people seem to like about Linux might help perhaps -
“Free as in beer”, so not having to spring for another license if you build another rig
"Free as in Freedom", which matters to many but not necessarily everyone
Better environment for development
Less susceptibility to malware (not necessarily because of inherent security, but also because Linux is not targeted as much)
Heavily customizable, at the kernel, desktop environment, other software-level
Choice of software update mechanisms as well frequency of updates depending on use-case
Reviving of old computers where Windows would typically struggle to run
Community participation, though this can be a hit or a miss depending on where you hang out and who you interact with
… and so on.
What is a good Linux to have for a desktop + steam?
There are many, but I generally recommend Linux Mint or Pop! OS for this use-case.
personally i prefer mint, in large part because i love the cinnamon desktop and mint seems more stable than pop os in my experience. (and if you have nvidia gpus i know pop os can have it pre installed but getting it installed in mint is the click of a few buttons)
Edit to add: See what desktop environments you like, than find a distro that ships with that environment, that will tend to lead to great levels of stability for you.
This is the best reply in this entire post. I personally prefer Linux-based OSes and use them for pretty much everything these days, but if you don’t know what you want or what you’re looking for, I’d feel bad telling someone to jump headfirst into a new world. As much as I hate what the Windows platform is these days (imo, an advertising/data collection platform first, operating system second), I wouldn’t suggest someone change their workflow unless they’re truly interested in learning something new (which, depending on your use cases, could be better).
If OP really wants to use Linux instead, be it for fun or utility, I agree with a lot of people’s suggestions for Pop!_OS or Linux Mint. I’ll also suggest sticking with Fedora or trying Nobara (a gaming-focused distro based on Fedora). I use Fedora for my daily use and Steam works great for my games. Nvidia drivers are easy to install if you need to.
Overall, anyone who’s going down the path of replacing Windows with Linux should have two things: patience, and some decent web sleuthing skills. Switching to Linux can be incredibly rewarding, but you have to have patience (especially in the beginning) for learning new things or changing default settings to make your OS work for you. I know this is just another drop in the sea of long-ass rants in this post, but maybe this has some helpful info here.
Less susceptibility to malware (not necessarily because of inherent security, but also because Linux is not targeted as much)
It is always funny visiting sites that you know are riddled with malware and slipping right past as their scripts attempt to install stuff that isn’t even compatible with your computer.
Most answers you will read here will have technical reasons at its core. For a normal average user that gew up with it, windows is fine. But as soon as you get a bit more tech savvy and/or privacy minded you suddenly see a lot to be desired. Most people switch to linux because they want more control, because its structure is more technically elegant, more responsive and because they don’t trust microsoft to respect their privacy.
Windows is 50GB on disk to install. An insane size for an OS. Windows often calls home without any indicaton or transparancy why. In linux you can control everything yourself. Windows is often slow or inefficient… On windows you have only limited ways to craft and costomize your desktop experience, which in linux allows fully. And more reasons like these.
As you can see for tech savvy people linux offers the tools to take control over your computing needs, if you have or develop the skills to do so. For more mainstream grade experiences distros like Ubuntu or Pop!OS provide a great environment that allows people to ignore the more technical stuff and get on with their needs. Using linux as your daily driver will require you to leave behind some old habits and learn some new ones, but its worth it in my opinion.
I daily drive PopOS on my gaming rig and whatever distro that catches my fancy on my development homelab labtop.
If you care about your privacy and you are a kind of IT guy, then never ever just watch into wireshark while using windows. I was so fucking scared about the shit running in my background while I had a really clean windows installation and a lot of services and tasks disabled. Holy moly, I could not tell if this where MS calling home or some maleware. Even a simple netstat was full of messy unneeded stuff I can‘t disable (I figured out how ti disable everything via registry, ending up having an unusable windows) Hint: I was beeing hacked on windows OS some years ago, which makes me paranoid not having any chances on windows to check if some unwanted programm uses your PC and sending data over the ethernet.
Switched to endeavourOs 1y ago and would never go back. Runs 10 times faster, can do 95% of my tasks and games without having huge workarounds, thanks to proton. I have finally the feel the OS belongs to me and I can mostly control what the hack is going on on my PC.
For me the reason I’ve switched is Windows just feels bloated and slow to use especially on less powerful hardware. When I open a program on Linux it just opens instantly, no spinning wheel, no waiting 5 seconds for the start menu to finally decide to open
That and package management, on NixOS I have a list of installed programs and system config all in one place, so no random applications I installed 3 years ago and forgot about, uninstallers that don’t work, dodgey .exes etc
Personally I would say start with Fedora and try Gnome (maybe with some extensions like dash to panel) or KDE. KDE is more buggy poorly, but has far more features. On Gnome you can run some KDE apps too though, Dolphin for example is awesome
In Fedora add Flathub and try to only use Flatpak apps from there.
Then if you think you are happy, you can try an immutable Distro. They will basically never break, but some advanced apps and plugins may not work that well. In theory you can simply install these apps as RPM apps though too.
Fedora Silverblue/Kinoite with Flatpaks is SO ahead of Windows. Updates go in background while running, and after a reboot you always have a completely new system. Updates are fast, and extremely stable, due to the system image being like on Android.
Flatpaks run in containers, isolated from the system. They are getting better slowly, but are mostly not made to run there, unlike apps on Android. So they cant be as secure, but still are waaaay better isolated from the system, you can restrict internet access, state the folders they are allowed to access and way more. On KDE in the settings, in Gnome using Flatseal.
This is also wayyy more modern.
Also, Dolphin, or actually any other file manager. Dolphin runs on Gnome too perfectly. They are soooo much better than the Windows explorer crap. Extensions everywhere. Tabs. Drag-drop menu. Creating links. Windows is so horrible to use.
Also Linux is way better at processing small files. Try starting GIMP, unlocking a big Cryptomator vault (for cloud backups). Windows just crashes sometimes.
Also, Linux has so much more Opensource software for nieche purposes. Windows has a lot, and a lot of old crap like Openoffice, FreeMind and other not maintained software. May not be there on Linux, because its outdated. But just look through flathub.org, its amazing.
I’m in a similar boat—would love a compelling reason to move to Linux but just don’t feel it yet. Many of the things other commenters dislike about windows I don’t experience. I’d consider myself fairly competent at tinkering with windows, so I have a completely local login, don’t see any ads, and it doesn’t install updates until I tell it too (I scripted manually installing the Defender definition updates every day though). I use Actualtools AWM for fine grained control over desktop and window features which I’d need to find the equivalent of in a Linux desktop—doable I’m sure, but it feels like a lot of effort to be exactly where I am right now.
So I’ll keep looking for the opportunity to move, install Kubuntu on an old laptop, and in the meantime just get on with work.
Perhaps it’s compelling that you no longer need to have scripts to stop the OS from doing things you don’t want it to? That there is no need for scripting defender? That the desktop will be as fine grain control as you want without a third party toolkit?
To be where you are now… would require… nothing.
For me it’s speed, stability, easy of printing and scanning, a decent file manager (windows one is just horrible) and knowing my current cycles go to doing work not background crap.
To be fair, to get where I am now would not require nothing—it would be a good few hours at least installing and configuring replacement software, all of which is doable, and I’d be exactly where I am now.
I had a look at KDE Plasma a short while ago, and I’m sure it could do everything AWM does, but I’m not certain, and don’t know how to configure it so, hence more time to replicate what I have that’s working fine. I use XYPlorer which is a great file manager, so I also don’t have to put up with the default one.
And KDE might not be the best choice either—so more time and experimentation to find the right distro, DM, WM, and so on. I have already put those many hours into getting things they way I want so I can be productive. Until something forces my hand, I will stick with what I have.
But the next time I have to reinstall the OS, that would be a good motivator to move (I haven’t had to do anything significant like that since bolting Windows 10 down several years ago).
This is where NixOS shines. To get where I am now on a fresh machine would take ~20 minutes, run the installer, drop my config on the machine, rebuild and sign into my accounts
Just wanted to share my experience as a new Linux user. I recently started getting much more serious about privacy and open source over the past year but I didn’t make the leap to Linux until Reddit killed all the 3rd party apps; probably because of all the Linux posts I began reading on Lemmy. I was searching up all posts similar to yours seeing which distro is “best” or to start out with. I decided to take the route of researching what I’m looking for and just trying out different distros and desktop environments.
Fast forward to today and after much trial and error, internet searching for troubleshooting answers, how-to videos, and testing about 7 different distros, I landed on OpenSUSE Tumbleweed and couldn’t be happier.
Linux is fast, customizable, and I no longer have to worry about windows spying on me. It definitely was a challenging switch, even though I’m very tech savvy, mainly because it’s a whole new language (for me). It was also extra challenging because I have a Samsung GalaxyBook3 Pro 360 and for some reason audio is shot on all the distros I tried. Thankfully, some very smart folk on the internet had a guide on how to get audio working (not perfectly though) using a command script and HDA verbs (like wtf are HDA verbs??? Lol). I also had to find a workaround for being able to use my laptop for work as well which heavily relies on Microsoft’s suite of apps. My solution? Install edge alongside my default browser of choice, to be used only for work, and operate entirely from office 365 web apps.
At the end of the day, I’ve found that everything you can do on windows, you can do on Linux (literally even run windows apps) and you can sometimes do things better on Linux. It takes patience, troubleshooting, and you may have to format a partition or two along the way but it’s so worth it. Just dive in and have fun with it. Everyone can give you their opinion on a distro to run or desktop environment to choose but remember they are just opinions at the end of the day and very much subjective.
I’ve been using Linux for 19 years. In that time I’ve very rarely booted Windows.
If you don’t feel comfortable with Linux, then why use it? People who pressure you ir have an elitist attitude have always existed on both Linux and Windows, but they come and go.
The only legitimate complaint someone might generally have is Windows being a weak link on a local network, but in most cases its usually, even then, just someone trying to be part of the in crowd of Linux opposed to actually understanding what they’re saying well enough to have a reasonable concern.
Most people who become interested in Linux go through some kind of phase that involves talking crap about security or privacy or free software rights, but regardless of any of that being true or untrue, most of us just wanted to try something different when we tried it and switched after becoming addicted, then we go through our arrogant phase.
For me Linux is about customization, from windows7, Microsoft is removing a lot of things and trying to force a streamlined way of use it. I hate it.on Linux you have a much more control of your workflow, doing things in your wa, also there is a sense of community, wikies work, tutorials usually are better.
But, if you are super confortable with windows I will suggest you to not change. There is no reason for that, only if you are curious, but none system will be better that one you already like in every aspect and you need nothing.
For a beginners a distro is not even the most important thing, but the desktop environment, i can recommend endevourOS, manjaro, and mint, i the order i like most, and for the DE i highly recommend Cinnamon or KDE since you clearly don’t feel the need to change your desktop so much, Mate is also a greatDE but it is just a little bit uglier but has a good performance if you have a less potent machine
I don’t even know about that, but on w11 you cannot uncombine applications on taskbar, if you have two instances you cannot see that. Also you cannot move the taskbar, it is fixed in the bottom, idk why
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