Update 1: Thanks for all the responses! I’ve gotten a lot of very good comments saying I should stick with Mint, and that’s sitting comfortably in my top two picks right now. Between new distros, I’m most interested in Arch’s rolling release model, as it provides some benefits for me for reasons I didn’t really get...
That’s along the lines I was thinking, too! Using terminal regularly on Arch isn’t a deal breaker for me, I’d like to hone my Linux-fu anyways :-) Definitely a leading option for me, and I’ll probably be trying it out to see if I’m smarter at Terminal than I think I am.
Most of my library is on Steam, so I’m not too worried about whether my games will run. It mostly means I’m more interested in rolling distros like Arch for their latest support, I guess. :-)
Great points, all in this thread! Yes, I’m aware of GNOME extensions, and I’m considering sticking with Mint more seriously now, given the response. I think the broader point here is very sage advice, and most users at this point in their Linux journeys, including me, need to hear that. I do intend to try out other distros in a VirtualBox VM for at least a week or so before nuking my current Mint install - however long it takes for me to be sure it’s a better fit than Mint, which I imagine that many candidates won’t be. For instance, I’ve decided from a quick try at Arch in a VM that it’s still a good ways over my head - and may never be right for me, which is fine. I can say I’ve tried it now, and trying different things is good. Such is the nature of the beast! :-)
I’m not expecting a huge difference between my Mint Cinnamon and something like Manjaro KDE Plasma (the most interesting option to me right now.) I’m a tinkerer at heart, though, and while I’m not experienced enough with Linux yet to appreciate the differences for what they are, I do fancy myself the kind of person to care about those things… as soon as I figure them out, that is. :-)
While I understand now that I’m unlikely to see much of a UX change by hopping distro - thanks all! - I’m now mostly interested in an Arch-derived distro like Manjaro because I feel like its rolling release model is better suited to my personal tastes than Mint and the Ubuntu umbrella’s stable releases, good as Mint has been to me. It’s largely a preference thing for me, though, and I’ll be investigating further before deciding whether it’s what I want.
I’ve taken a good look at Endeavour, and it might be a winner for me! Admittedly, the terminal focus might be a bit much for me to start out, but it seems a lot more approachable than bare Arch, and I got comfortable with pacman and the other basics in an evening of messing with it in a a VM (with the Arch and EOS docs both being very helpful!) It just might be the push I need to let go of my reliance on GUI left over from Windows :-)
The only two draws that are really pulling me away from Mint are my taste for a rolling release model and my preference to learn the terminal if it’s there. I’m no power user just yet, but I’m determined to learn to use the tools available to me in the Terminal for if/when my GUI tool inevitably breaks. Having a fallback is always nice… but dual booting into EndeavourOS or Manjaro is a good motivator to get acquainted with the terminal, and quick, which is a level of effort I’m not at all opposed to and for knowledge I see as very helpful; knowledge I feel I’d take much longer to get in a distro that’s well-cloaked in GUI like Mint. Taking this advice in stride, though; I’ll certainly be hanging onto the foothold I have in Mint until I get confident with Arch-based and can personally assess my options with my own experience in both, whenever that (hopefully!) happens. :-)
It definitely helps that I’m on very compatible hardware (all AMD) :-) But I was also lucky not to have any of the installation hiccups many seem to, just make bootable drive with Rufus/Balena, launch from in BIOS, profit - maybe some people have a green thumb for their distros of choice, who’s to say?
New Linux user, here is my use case. Distro recommendations?
Update 1: Thanks for all the responses! I’ve gotten a lot of very good comments saying I should stick with Mint, and that’s sitting comfortably in my top two picks right now. Between new distros, I’m most interested in Arch’s rolling release model, as it provides some benefits for me for reasons I didn’t really get...