Best Linux for gaming and for beginners?

[Cyber2B]

BIG UPDATE: After playing around for a bit with Linux versions, POP OS and KDE NEON are one of my favs RN, if any of you guys are new to linux like me, you gotta check these two out before anything else!


Plan to try out one of them... in a VM before thinking of switching.

I don't have any CS knowledge, I am just a casual computer user that browses the web and plays video games and online banking.

So any suggestions?

[RGX12]

My number one choice would be MX Linux. It's a well-designed, easy to use OS that has almost everything you need write from the get-go. That's my daily driver. Some other good beginner-friendly distros would be Peppermint OS or maybe one of the Linux Mint editions. Most of these would be good for gaming "out of the box" (well, besides installing your games and Steam).

Another one could be Manjaro with XFCE desktop, it was recently voted "best Linux edition for gaming" by readers in some online article (which unfortunately I can't remember where I saw this, but you can search for it).

[TheRandomGuy]

Ubuntu is user-friendly and has several different "flavors" which alter the desktop environment. Think of the Ubuntu flavors as Skins for the OS.

Manjaro is also good, it has up-to-date packages and is a rolling release, meaning you get kernel upgrades and such faster than say, Ubuntu, where you get them once a year unless you actively update it yourself. It also comes with current NVIDIA / AMD Drivers.

Pop!_OS is a variant of Ubuntu which comes with up-to-date NVIDIA / AMD Drivers as well, whereas on Ubuntu you have to grab them yourself.

Linux-Mint is also an Ubuntu Based Distro which is based around User-Friendliness and is aimed at making Linux easier for people who are coming from Windows.

In Linux, with Steam especially, Drivers for AMD and NVIDIA are important for performance just like they are in Windows.

Also, with Steamplay, it's helpful to try new releases of the program, as they fix issues with certain games.

For Non-Steam games, Lutris is likely your best bet for installing things like Blizzard's Launcher, EA Origin, or even the Epic-Games-Store. These will not be as seamless as Steam however, as they rely on WINE, whereas Steam has a Linux-Native client. The main thing to remember is while stuff can work, you shouldn't expect a program to work like it does in Windows unless it's made for LInux. Steamplay does offer Windows-Like performance seamlessly in many titles though.

[HypersleepyNaputunia]

windows is for games only, do serious stuff on linux

[x_wing]

I think that Pop!_OS is an excellent first option but Linux Mint usually is easier for novices. Try to test a little bit all your options with a VM and check which is the one that is more confortable for you (a live usb may be a better option to start testing)

BTW remember to install Steam from your distro repos.

[Astro_80 (WASH YOUR HANDS!)]

Ubuntu

PuertoRicanStripeHeadedTanager eredeti hozzászólása:

Don't use linux for gaming...

Why not? Do you have any valid reasons why someone cannot game on Linux? Please, do tell us.

[Cyber2B]

RGX12 eredeti hozzászólása:

My number one choice would be MX Linux. It's a well-designed, easy to use OS that has almost everything you need write from the get-go. That's my daily driver. Some other good beginner-friendly distros would be Peppermint OS or maybe one of the Linux Mint editions. Most of these would be good for gaming "out of the box" (well, besides installing your games and Steam).

Another one could be Manjaro with XFCE desktop, it was recently voted "best Linux edition for gaming" by readers in some online article (which unfortunately I can't remember where I saw this, but you can search for it).

Do those options give me good security? I do online banking and want my stuff protected

[HypersleepyNaputunia]

cause only 25% of steam library works with linux for me at least

[Overseer]

Linus Tech Tips also recently did a video on Linux Gaming which can give you lots of information:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Co6FePZoNgE

And don't even bother with a VM. Just put a distro on an USB stick and boot it on the fly. That way you can even install programs as long as you don't run out of RAM.
Which is also a very secure way to do online banking. As the system is completly volatile.

[Talby]

HyperplanetiaSaturnia eredeti hozzászólása:

cause only 25% of steam library works with linux for me at least

same here, however I do have quite a few older rigs running linux, and it is always great fun to fire up the oldie source games (CS/HL, Red Orchestra, etc) and the like. Not to mention, Steam Play is making some stride in getting more of your library compatible.

I have used many distros however on any that I play steam games it's Ubuntu or one of it's derivatives since it's used by Valve to test, for me has been the least painful in that respect.

[CravenCoyote]

Many distributions can be tested by burning to a disc and booting into a live environment, so you don't have to commit to one before installing it.

If you're serious about learning Linux then I would definitely suggest trying Arch Linux. Arch allows you to build your OS exactly how you want it - small and simple, or big and complex.

I'm sure I'll catch flack for suggesting Arch because much of it is a manual process before you're set up and running. This includes the install itself - partitioning, installing, adding drivers, and installing and configuring your desktop environment. HOWEVER, there are plenty of tutorials which will show you how to do this and you will learn how Linux works. If something goes wrong, you'll learn how to fix it. It also uses Pacman which is a great software repository and the user repository has even more things available for you to use. It's also rolling-release which means you wont need to reinstall every few years (although this bleeding-edge technology can mean that updates have a chance at breaking something).

If the install scares you that much (it shouldn't!) then you could try Manjaro or Arch Bang, as these distributions were built on top of Arch - although they'll naturally be bloated in comparison. They are both rolling-release distributions.

Linux Mint is a good 'beginner' distribution but I found it too bloated and resource intensive for my needs, though I'd actually suggest that any Debian based distribution is great for beginners that might feel intimidated by Arch.

Also keep in mind that if you're using 32 bit hardware, your Linux choices will be slimmer. I'd personally recommend antiX if this is the case.

[Damian]

DeusVult™ eredeti hozzászólása:

Plan to try out one of them... in a VM before thinking of switching.

I don't have any CS knowledge, I am just a casual computer user that browses the web and plays video games and online banking.

So any suggestions?

Download Manjaro and you can talk to Omega in my FL,.. (he gay tho)

[Cyber2B]

RGX12 eredeti hozzászólása:

My number one choice would be MX Linux. It's a well-designed, easy to use OS that has almost everything you need write from the get-go. That's my daily driver. Some other good beginner-friendly distros would be Peppermint OS or maybe one of the Linux Mint editions. Most of these would be good for gaming "out of the box" (well, besides installing your games and Steam).

Another one could be Manjaro with XFCE desktop, it was recently voted "best Linux edition for gaming" by readers in some online article (which unfortunately I can't remember where I saw this, but you can search for it).

Just installed linux mint Cinnamon on my VM, il try out MX linux though

[RGX12]

DeusVult™ eredeti hozzászólása:

RGX12 eredeti hozzászólása:

My number one choice would be MX Linux. It's a well-designed, easy to use OS that has almost everything you need write from the get-go. That's my daily driver. Some other good beginner-friendly distros would be Peppermint OS or maybe one of the Linux Mint editions. Most of these would be good for gaming "out of the box" (well, besides installing your games and Steam).

Another one could be Manjaro with XFCE desktop, it was recently voted "best Linux edition for gaming" by readers in some online article (which unfortunately I can't remember where I saw this, but you can search for it).

Just installed linux mint Cinnamon on my VM, il try out MX linux though

The issue with Mint and some of the other Ubuntu-based flavors can be poor driver support out of the box, specifically involving WiFi and graphics cards (due to their proprietary drivers). The nice thing about MX is that your WiFi should work immediately, and the OS provides a user-friendly utility to download any required graphics drivers right away (specifically nVidia). This will usually obviate the need for a Linux beginner to be forced into running commands like lsmod, modinfo, etc., at the command line in an effort to investigate what's missing.

To answer your other question, yes, any of the aforementioned distros should be very secure. MX is based on Debian stable, for example, with all the upstream security patches that that base provides.

[x_wing]

RGX12 eredeti hozzászólása:

The issue with Mint and some of the other Ubuntu-based flavors can be poor driver support out of the box, specifically involving WiFi and graphics cards (due to their proprietary drivers).

Wifi drivers were a problem in the past, nowday any distro with a recent kernel shouldn't give you any problems.

Regarding GPU drivers, it depends of your GPU brand. Setting the right PPAs on a Ubuntu LTS will keep you quite up to date with them. And also, Pop!_OS is a Ubuntu based distro that takes care on keeping on the latest stable version the gpu drivers.

In the end is more about selecting the distro on which you feel more comfortable.

[Cyber2B]

RGX12 eredeti hozzászólása:

DeusVult™ eredeti hozzászólása:

Just installed linux mint Cinnamon on my VM, il try out MX linux though

The issue with Mint and some of the other Ubuntu-based flavors can be poor driver support out of the box, specifically involving WiFi and graphics cards (due to their proprietary drivers). The nice thing about MX is that your WiFi should work immediately, and the OS provides a user-friendly utility to download any required graphics drivers right away (specifically nVidia). This will usually obviate the need for a Linux beginner to be forced into running commands like lsmod, modinfo, etc., at the command line in an effort to investigate what's missing.

To answer your other question, yes, any of the aforementioned distros should be very secure. MX is based on Debian stable, for example, with all the upstream security patches that that base provides.

One thing Il say is that the OS itself is VERY VERY SMOOTH! The OS is so light that most of my system resources aren't even being used, especially the ram.

Problem I have is that 80% of my games are not available sadly. So I won't be making an immediate switch, Il continue to use Win10 as my daily driver til then but i'll continue to experiment with Linux on my VM. I was thinking of trying out Lakka so I could use it for Retro games.

If anyone one has a crappy laptop, getting Linux will be the best choice anyone can make, fast and light, and it will make you feel like you just bought a brand new computer.