help me choose my next distro

I'm resetting windows 10 on my Thinkpad T580 for work but would like to create a partition for linux. It's an older laptop and really chugs through games like Minecraft or RuneScape but I enjoy playing relaxing games while I listen to audiobooks at night. I grew up using windows which is why I've mostly used Ubuntu and ZorinOS in the past but I'd like to expand my horizons to something like kubuntu. I value good UI/UX design and something lightweight for my old potato. Any recommendations on Linux distros?

** Thanks for all the input! I tried Fedora first but it felt kind of clunky to me. Then I tried out Mint xfce and it's right up my alley! I can run a separate Firefox profile right off the task bar that runs outside of my VPN which is perfect for Netflix and other sites that have issues. So far loving how customizable it is. Minecraft runs ok off GDLauncher, and lutris is really cool. I forgot I had a boat load of old GOG games that are perfect for this laptop. I really fucking love Linux 😆

uthredii,

Fedora is a good choice. It is stable while being fairly up to date. The only issue is that (I think) proprietary drivers aren't included by default.

DarthRedLeader,

This is true but I've only had issues with Nvidia drivers, which wouldn't impact OP.

But definitely worth a word of caution for anyone else new to Fedora following this thread.

Martinligabue,

latest update makes it easy to install them in the installer

feetongrass,

Regata OS is a gaming oriented customization of Opensuse Tumbleweed. I’ve been using it for a year without issues.

unix_joe,

Debian.

You can install any desktop environment, it is the base for all of the Ubuntu distributions.

Debian 12 (bookworm) will release in a week, but you can install it now from here:

https://www.debian.org/devel/debian-installer/

For your T580, you will need the amd64 installer: https://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/bookworm_di_rc4/amd64/iso-cd/debian-bookworm-DI-rc4-amd64-netinst.iso

Install Debian, choose a desktop environment, then use flatpaks for anything that you need up to date.

Your T580 is still a strong laptop. I suggest Debian + KDE Plasma and then set up flatpaks here:

https://flatpak.org/setup/Debian

Once you have set up Debian, you can pretty much stick there and install whatever you want. It's a solid place to learn Linux, and to learn that you don't need to change distributions for everything. It is a rock solid platform. Some people have been running the same install, just upgrading hardware and then upgrading from one release to the next, for 20+ years.

Tretiak, (edited )

To any user that reads this comment, only install Debian if you can understand this quote, else, you may want to consider otherwise!

sandblast,

As someone who is also new to linux, they're all pretty simple to use. I honestly struggle to find any major differences in any distros other than the command to get applications not in the repo store. Personally I use pop os on wayland on an old macbook and the battery life had been stupendous. On desktop I'm on fedora 38. Gnome 44.1 has been extremely polished.

raccoon,
@raccoon@lemmy.ml avatar

If your laptop is on the potato side I would personally avoid kde, it's much lighter now than it used to be but still heavier than other options. Mint looks good in my personal opinion and, again in my opinion, is a better alternative if compared to ubuntu, it's based on it but with some improvements. The default flavor comes with cinnamon, but if your laptop struggles it's also available with xfce, which even older machines should be able to handle.

RassilonianLegate, (edited )
@RassilonianLegate@mstdn.social avatar

@raccoon @Triage8420 @linux_gaming
I put xfce on a garbage laptop for my parents (who are used to much older windows) and they loved it, the laptop ended up breaking eventually but that was a hardware issue and they regularly ask me when I'll be able to replace it

FeralDomestic,

deleted_by_author

    •
    raccoon,
    @raccoon@lemmy.ml avatar

    IMO one should never recommend manjaro. To suggest an easy arch endeavouros should be the way to go, why? Because the manjaro devs make way too many mistakes and a mistake or two can happen to anyone, but when it happens often it becomes a pattern, one where I wouldn't want someone to deal with if it can be avoided.

    FeralDomestic,

    deleted_by_author

    •
    CheshireSnake,

    Definitely try it. I started Linux with Mint since it's the closest to Windows I could find. Later on I wanted to try bleeding edge but vanilla Arch was too complicated for a noob like me. Until I found EOS. The transition was smooth and painless. I learned more about Linux in a few months with EOS than years on Mint, but that's a me problem. Now I have vanilla Arch on my VM and EOS on my laptop bare metal. It's pretty stable, and that one-time Grub issue was the only hiccup I ever experienced that was not due to my stupidity. Lol.

    Now I want to try Gentoo, but man it's even more complicated.

    zedro,

    I think Arch Linux could be for you. You can install it with archinstall script. It's relatively straightforward.

    Stardenver,

    Not sure, as even Manjaro was too complicated for op.

    toolschism,

    Use Pop OS for my wife's gaming VM, but I use Arch for my main gaming PC. Would absolutely recommend it. We're kinda spoiled these days, gaming on Linux has never been easier.

    png,

    If they want to tinker, but dont want to install arch from scratch, endeavour is the way. If they want their system to just work, they should go with Pop!.

    HegemonSushi,

    If you're on well-documented hardware, I agree that Arch is definitely a contender. I've been using it on my gaming pc for a few years now and it's been more stable than any Windows install, not including the occasional self-inflicted damage from tinkering.

    UrbenLegend,

    I'd say give a few Arch-based distros a try, or just straight up Arch if you're feeling adventurous. Arch distros are just slim and speedy, which could be good for your old laptop. The new official archinstall tool makes it relatively easy compared to installing Arch the manual way, but if you're looking for more ease of use EndeavourOS is a great option.

    Stardenver,

    2nd this! EndeavourOS ftw :)

    jjsearle,

    One of the Fedora spins, or if you are feeling brave Fedora Silverblue or Fedora Kinoite.

    cityboundforest,
    @cityboundforest@beehaw.org avatar

    I'm personally using Kubuntu because a lot of programs I like are built for Ubuntu already and while I'm fine with messing with building from source for some things, for most, I like my binaries prebuilt on a distro package service. Also I like KDE Plasma.

    GandalfDG,

    If you want to shake things up with an arch derivative you can try EndeavourOS, there are a lot of different DEs you can choose straight from the installer

    Stardenver,

    +1 for EOS

    biscuitsofdeath,

    I'm using pop os, but it I build a new PC I might switch to fedora or steamos

    RassilonianLegate,
    @RassilonianLegate@mstdn.social avatar

    @biscuitsofdeath @Triage8420

    Part of me wants to use HoloISO (community SteamOS) on a future PC and plug it in to the TV for my partner, but another part of me is Living in hope that official SteamOS 3 will finally be released by valve any day now

    biscuitsofdeath,

    I'm in the same boat, but I was told it's just better to run Fedora and add the steam shit to it and will effectively be the same thing.

    RassilonianLegate,
    @RassilonianLegate@mstdn.social avatar

    @biscuitsofdeath
    Yeah I like Fedora, it's what I run on my Laptop (with KDE)

    Stardenver,

    Wouldn't use SteamOS on a PC. It only supports a certain set of hardware, is not really meant to be used on a desktop pc and they don't seem to provide updates that frequently/often. Also installation is not that easy for non-technical users. But feel free to give it a try.

    biscuitsofdeath,

    In another thread I mention that I was thinkingabout using Fedora with steam installed which is basically what steamos is. I think I'm settled on fedora, but my new PC plans are on hold. Might get a steam deck or meta quest, idk.

    Barbarian,

    I'm a Linux vet who's been around the block. I've tried all the major distros, used Gentoo for a few years, Arch the same, and a bunch of smaller distros.

    Nowadays, I just want my computer to start up and run my programs with as little fuss as humanly possible. I'm far too lazy to rice or optimize anything, and I have little patience to troubleshoot the next big awesome thing.

    Consequently, I use Kubuntu with Wayland. It chugs along and does everything I need it to.

    DarthRedLeader,

    Basically the same thing here, but with Fedora Workstation. I had my fun, now I just want to work in peace without having to fiddle with something every few weeks.

    raccoon,
    @raccoon@lemmy.ml avatar

    Same but with mint. I used arch when it didn't have an install script, now I'm far too lazy for it. I'm not as experienced as other arch users or gentoo users but I could set my arch up no problems. Now I just don't see the point, it's not like my pc can't handle some bloat.

    Resources not being used are wasted resources so... may as well use them for quality of life.

    alienBlues,

    I'm using Linux Mint with the Cinnamon desktop on a Thinkpad older than yours, and everything works fine for me. I've seen somebody saying that the Xfce edition is slow for them, but maybe the MATE one is lightweight enough for you.

    OsrsNeedsF2P,

    XFCE is usually lighter than MATE, whoever is saying it's slow has done a goofy

    PeterPoopshit,

    I like XFCE. It feels like a retro early 2000s-like gui and is up to date enough to be reasonably usable. Would be nice if there was a way to get a search bar in the start menu and window snapping (that thing where dragging Windows to the edges of the screen makes them resize to take up half the screen).

    OsrsNeedsF2P,

    Look up Whisker Menu for XFCE to get search

    d3Xt3r,
    @d3Xt3r@lemmy.ml avatar

    XFCE supports window snapping. Just go into Settings manager -> Window Manager and at the Advanced tab, you will have the option to check Windows snapping

    Hexadecimald,

    Check out Fedora Silverblue.

    I really think having a stateless root is the future of computing. Silverblue has a big focus on using Flatpak and containers to cover most use cases.

    The only issue is the default Gnome would probably be too heavy for your hardware but (as others have mentioned) you can overlay KDE and use that instead.

    Kierunkowy74,
    Kierunkowy74 avatar

    Or rather go on with Fedora Kinoite (Silverblue but KDE)

    jjsearle,

    I switched to silverblue a few months ago and then again a few weeks ago kinoite. I think the immutability and revert updates super easily is great. I think ostree is the future and I'm looking forward too seeing how it matures.

    d3Xt3r,
    @d3Xt3r@lemmy.ml avatar

    Flatpak apps are a PITA for interoperability and modifications though, so I'll stick to traditional RPMs thanks. I prefer the ease and flexibility of tinkering with my system more than anything else.

    Hexadecimald,

    I actually disagree. I use Flatpak and also maintain a Flatpak myself and I think nowadays they're mostly af parity with regular applications.

    They also solve dependency issues in neat ways which is nice. For example the application I use makes use of a Wine extension that tracks an older Wine, which is something that is particular annoying to deal with outside of the Flatpak environment IMO.

    d3Xt3r,
    @d3Xt3r@lemmy.ml avatar

    Then let's agree to disagree, in my experience they've been more of a hassle to deal with. Eg trying to fix the weird DPI/tiny cursor issue in the flatpak version of Steam was a pain, same with trying to pass custom flags to flatpak Edge. It's just one hassle after another. I can deal with a couple of apps here and there, but I can't imagine having the entire system depend on Flatpak as a crutch.

    As for your Wine example, I'm not sure which application you're referring to, but Wine is basically portable and doesn't need installing, eg for Wine-GE, you just need to download and extract the tarball and set the correct WINEPREFIX/path, so you can easily have multiple versions of Wine on your system without Flatpak or anything complicated.

    noplexa,

    I think plain, vanilla, mutable Fedora is still a more solid choice for newcomers, it's just easier to find help with a "regular" distro.

    I've been trying uBlue on my daily driver laptop, and so far, the immutability of the system has not really hindered me, but I still think it's not ready for primetime yet.

    Hexadecimald,

    Probably true, but I find that new users tend to try to solve problems by installing random RPMs they find online and tainting their systems.

    Pushing an immutable OS puts up a barrier that may be annoying, but forces them to do things in a more reasonable way (or they can overlay those random RPMs, with the advantage that they are easier to track since rpm-ostree status will always show a list of manually overlayed packages)

    Lobstronomosity,

    Can you explain what is meant by "stateless root"? I can't find a decent answer online.

    Hexadecimald,

    The root filesystem is read only so neither you or applications can write to it. If you wanna find better results it's probably more often referred to as "immutable" since calling it stateless is maybe a bit loaded on my part.

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