I want to install linux, What distro to pick?

[MrShiba]

Hi I don't want to pay for a windows licence ever again, I mostly play DOTA 2 and CS GO. I'm a graphic designer so I use mac at work.

I know Valve sponsor Unbutu distro, however I've been reading that unbuntu is not going to support the wayland graphic server. A couple of friends told me not to go unbuntu.. so I'm confuse now on what distro to pick.

The other possible issue is that I have an AMD 7870 card, I've read that AMD drivers work poorly on Linux.

What do you guys recommend, thanks!

[Fibbs]

If you're gaming with XFCE I'd recommend disabling the built-in compositor as it's a bit crap.

Settings manager > Window Manager Tweaks > Compositor [Tab]

If you're feeling adventurous you can replace it with Compton which is a much better compositor, though you might want to hold off on that untill you're more familiar with the operating system.

[UnkendTech]

Oprindeligt skrevet af kot-barbos Linux:

Oprindeligt skrevet af Doc Holliday:

i say Linux Mint Mate or Linux Mint Xfce it will be on the xserver for a long time

Oprindeligt skrevet af Doc Holliday:

Far as i know Xububntu is going to use Xmir that will end up bad do to it not working on any Driver's but intel's

wut?

Ubuntu in 13.10 was going to Dropped the Xserver for Xmir and far as i know it only run's on intel Driver's atm

[blackout24]

I also think you should first look at what desktop enviroment you want to use. They'll all be the same no matter what distro you are using. You should be comfortable with the workflow the desktop provides. Windows User friendly Desktops are KDE, Cinnamon, XFCE. The first two aim for a modern look while XFCE is somewhat the Windows XP desktop for Linux. Not particular pretty but functional.

Something with a Ubuntu base like Ubuntu or Mint with the respectiv desktop of your choice will be the best distro for you. The desktop is just the look and feel while the Ubuntu base means you'll be able to install Steam without experiencing any unexpected issues due to the lack of support for other distro. In general Steam works on all Linux distros on some distros it needs some massaging, though.

Valve only supports Ubuntu, because they have to pick some distro and Ubuntu is aimed at beginners and has support from a company that they can rely on as a partner.
The display server issue is not that important for you and has nothing to do with this.
For decades Linux distros used X as their display server. Applications are programmed with toolkits to get a GUI or to use the hardware and they have a backend for X. Support for current applications therefore won't be dropped any time soon or overnight.

[MrShiba]

Oprindeligt skrevet af AbartigerNorbert:

I also think you should first look at what desktop enviroment you want to use. They'll all be the same no matter what distro you are using. You should be comfortable with the workflow the desktop provides. Windows User friendly Desktops are KDE, Cinnamon, XFCE. The first two aim for a modern look while XFCE is somewhat the Windows XP desktop for Linux. Not particular pretty but functional.

Something with a Ubuntu base like Ubuntu or Mint with the respectiv desktop of your choice will be the best distro for you. The desktop is just the look and feel while the Ubuntu base means you'll be able to install Steam without experiencing any unexpected issues due to the lack of support for other distro. In general Steam works on all Linux distros on some distros it needs some massaging, though.

Valve only support Ubuntu, because they have to pick some distro and Ubuntu is aimed at beginners and has support from a company that they can rely on as a partner.
The display server issue is not that important for you and has nothing to do with this.

Ya In the other hand I just want to play dota 2, if unbuntu is good for that.. then might as well pick the beginner distro.

I have a 4 gb HD, so Im gona do a couple of partitions one for mint and one for unbuntu.. and I'll see what work best with my system.

[UnkendTech]

Oprindeligt skrevet af AbartigerNorbert:

I also think you should first look at what desktop enviroment you want to use. They'll all be the same no matter what distro you are using. You should be comfortable with the workflow the desktop provides. Windows User friendly Desktops are KDE, Cinnamon, XFCE. The first two aim for a modern look while XFCE is somewhat the Windows XP desktop for Linux. Not particular pretty but functional.

Something with a Ubuntu base like Ubuntu or Mint with the respectiv desktop of your choice will be the best distro for you. The desktop is just the look and feel while the Ubuntu base means you'll be able to install Steam without experiencing any unexpected issues due to the lack of support for other distro. In general Steam works on all Linux distros on some distros it needs some massaging, though.

Valve only support Ubuntu, because they have to pick some distro and Ubuntu is aimed at beginners and has support from a company that they can rely on as a partner.
The display server issue is not that important for you and has nothing to do with this.
For decads Linux distros used X as their display server. Applications are programmed with toolkits to get a GUI or to use the hardware and they have a backend for X. Support for current applications therefore won't be dropped any time soon or overnight.

a lot of AMD user's have a hard time getting Cinnamon or Gnome 3+ to work on AMD card's

[blackout24]

I have not heard of that but could be possible. In that case it would be the easiest to just intall Ubuntu 13.04 (64 Bit) and install the Catalsyt driver for AMD through Software Center -> Additional Drivers. After that he should be good to go.

[arc| Gps]

Oprindeligt skrevet af Etnos:

Oprindeligt skrevet af AbartigerNorbert:

I also think you should first look at what desktop enviroment you want to use. They'll all be the same no matter what distro you are using. You should be comfortable with the workflow the desktop provides. Windows User friendly Desktops are KDE, Cinnamon, XFCE. The first two aim for a modern look while XFCE is somewhat the Windows XP desktop for Linux. Not particular pretty but functional.

Something with a Ubuntu base like Ubuntu or Mint with the respectiv desktop of your choice will be the best distro for you. The desktop is just the look and feel while the Ubuntu base means you'll be able to install Steam without experiencing any unexpected issues due to the lack of support for other distro. In general Steam works on all Linux distros on some distros it needs some massaging, though.

Valve only support Ubuntu, because they have to pick some distro and Ubuntu is aimed at beginners and has support from a company that they can rely on as a partner.
The display server issue is not that important for you and has nothing to do with this.

Ya In the other hand I just want to play dota 2, if unbuntu is good for that.. then might as well pick the beginner distro.

I have a 4 gb HD, so Im gona do a couple of partitions one for mint and one for unbuntu.. and I'll see what work best with my system.

Most if not all Linux distro's have live versions.
You burn an iso to disk, and then you can try it, without installing anything.

Like others said if youre new to Linux, Ubuntu might be the best distro to start with, concerning steam.

An just as userfriendly alternative can be openSUSE, which I use, but like AbartigerNorbert, said, it might need some minor tweaking.
Installing amd driver (catalyst) and steam is very easy on openSUSE though.

Both can be installed by clicking a link on a webpage.

I prefere amd because they support the opensource drivers, but to be honest nvidia is the better choice for now on Linux,
The openGL performance ( both on windows and Linux) is better.
Amd is working on the Catalyst for Linux drivers though.

Two examples of openSUSE live versions.
http://software.opensuse.org/123/en

click live kde or iive gnome.

Just to show you a few of the many options, but Ubuntu and mint are prob the best starting point.
If you don't like them, then there are other distro's to try.

Here is a list of other distro's then ubuntu, which have some steam support.
https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Steam_under_Linux

1.2 Arch Linux
1.3 Fedora
1.4 Gentoo
1.5 openSUSE / SUSE

Most of the people who use one of these distro's have already linux experience,
and aren't afraid to use the commandline.

The comandline is a great feature of Linux, but on the command line, its very simple to totaly mess up your installation. One typo can be fatal.

If youre interested in learning the comandline, install an extra distro to mess around with.

[arc| Gps]

Oprindeligt skrevet af Doc Holliday:

a lot of AMD user's have a hard time getting Cinnamon or Gnome 3+ to work on AMD card's

Is this an ubuntu thingy ? I have not heard of any problems related to opensuse and gnome.
But I do not use gnome, so I might be wrong.

[UnkendTech]

Oprindeligt skrevet af arc| Gps:

Oprindeligt skrevet af Doc Holliday:

a lot of AMD user's have a hard time getting Cinnamon or Gnome 3+ to work on AMD card's

Is this an ubuntu thingy ? I have not heard of any problems related to opensuse and gnome.
But I do not use gnome, so I might be wrong.

openSUSE may have fixxed them but it's a Catalyst thing

[stereoit79]

Well, I can only recommend Fedora 19, it has steam repository, works very fast and is stable. Also the GNOME 3 is at least as good as unity and share a bit more with Mac (workspaces, unififed design across the whole desktop).

[Fibbs]

Is there a modern Linux desktop environment that doesn't support workspaces?

[gelbi-peperoni]

Oprindeligt skrevet af Fibbles:

Is there a modern Linux desktop environment that doesn't support workspaces?

Right now I can't think of one which doesn't support workspaces, but if you don't want to use workspaces, you can simply deactivate them via the system settings.

[MrShiba]

Oprindeligt skrevet af stereoit79:

Well, I can only recommend Fedora 19, it has steam repository, works very fast and is stable. Also the GNOME 3 is at least as good as unity and share a bit more with Mac (workspaces, unififed design across the whole desktop).

Sounds interesting, can I use Gnome 3 on Mint?

[Dedale]

I can and i do use xubuntu. If mir rears its ugly nose it will be time to change then. My 13.04 works well.

[MrShiba]

So guys thank you very much for all your help.

I tried open suse with KDE first, My experience was:

Pros:

-Sleak interface, very snapy and fast
-Boot in seconds

Cons:

-Network wasn't working right away, took me bit to solve
-Installation is somewhat confussing... so you need to go to this weird website to get some package or whatever!? why cant i just download steam and install?

Im currently using Mint Mate: so far so good

Pros:

-Easier to use
-Network was working right away,
-Installing apps is easier (aparently)

Cons

-Interface feels a bit bloated (I may need to play with customization to fit my taste)
-Maybe a bit slower than Suse... might be just my imagination thou.

I cant wait, till the final dota 2 client is out and i can finally delete windows out of my computer for good. Thank you all.