14h ago

Planning to switch to Linux for my next PC

So all I know that the Linux mascot is a penguin and Arch users meme about using Arch. Jokes aside I’m planning on making to the jump to Linux as I’m planning on getting a tower PC. I recently got a steam deck and that kinda demystified the (unrealistic) expectation I had of Linux was all command line stuff and techno babble. This all very future oriented questions* as I haven’t even picked out hardware (probably gonna go prebuilt since I do not trust me) and there’s also the matter of saving up the money for a new PC.

As for my use case (cus I know some software is wonky on Linux compared to windows) it’s mostly between games running on steam, which most of my games play fine on the steam deck, and essays and note taking for my college classes, which I use libre office and obsidian (with excalidraw to hand write my notes) saved to my proton drive and also sync those documents between my surface laptop and home laptop

My ideal OS would be plug it in, let it do… things… and it’s ready to be a PC to install steam and stuff

But first question, as someone who isn’t tech inclined and tinkering is pretty much just a few VERY basic settings in the settings app on windows, so is there a Linux… idk what to call it, type? OS? Thing??? that runs out of the box without me having to install additional software manually or at least automatic setup wizards because like hardware, I do not trust me with setting it up. As for installing it after I wipe whatever computer I choose I assume I’m gonna have some OS installer on a USB and let it work its magic.

Second question, is there any specific hardware that works easier with Linux, I can’t really think of any examples cus with installers and updaters I just the computer handle it, like updating Nvidia stuff in the GeForce app for all I know it’s genuinely performing dark magic during the automated updates

Anyways I probably have way more questions that I have no idea I had, but to wrap up I’m not super tech inclined since I let automated stuff do its thang on windows (if the computer can manage and install it I’m gonna let it do that) and my pc mostly just plays games and do documents on libre office and obsidian

99 comments

I'd just recommend against NVIDIA GPUs if you don't want to tinker, I'm sure it's not as bad as it was back when I had NVIDIA cards, but faffing around trying to get NVIDIA drivers to play nice was the bane of my existence (and where I was forced to learn the most about Linux).
Oh and the screen tearing was a nuisance too that went away as soon as I got an AMD card.
Looks like you got lots of great advice on the OS. Good luck, and enjoy whatever you end up doing!
- I have nvidia 4 series and my linux skill is low enough that I think its insane gnome doesn't have right click-create file by default and I have had 0 issues. You just need to disable secureboot or enroll keys.
- Yeah I was probably gonna go with bazzite and it sounds like there’s some demo installer I can play around with but yeah definitely gonna break my nvidia streak (past 2 and my only gaming laptops) to finally get a proper tower with an amd gpu

Imo you should get a System76 computer, it comes with a gaming focused Distro and its the most well respected Linux brand (in the US, for EU I would reccomend Tuxedo). Their mini PCs cost $799 and for a decent full sized PC (with a GPU) prepare to pay over $1.5k.
- So kinda standard PC prices

Seems like you've got a lot of distro recommendations haha which is good - go for one of those and you should be ok (I'm on mint for the record). My suggestion if you have a bit if extra money and less time is to buy a prebuilt system with linux already installed, tuxedo and system76 are two big names but I can't comment on what to go with there.
However the advantage with buying an integrated system like that is that the hardware is all guaranteed and you can ring them for support if needed.
My other suggestion is to BACKUP your files!

I run Linux Mint for years and years, I think you will be happy with it.
- Yeah mint and bazzite are gonna be the ones I check out and I was leaning towards bazzite at first but now I just need to do a bit more research and figure out what the heck it what but at least I have a starting point now
  
  Go with Bazzite (if you end up liking it, you can install it on your steam deck, which will be the same process you use to install it in your laptop… but that's for the future.)
  Mint is okay, but it's a bit behind and you have a greater chance of something going wrong than with one of the atomic distros (Bazzite). With atomic distros all the important stuff you can't really touch and the only things you can change are your personal files that are important to you but don't affect the system at all.
  As long as you reboot your computer from time to time, it'll always be the latest everything. And if something goes wrong with an update, you just choose to boot into the previous version you were just using and everything is back to how it was. Non-atomics you can affect files that are important and you have to stay on top of updating.
  Between that and being built for gamers it'll have everything already installed for you, though if something is missing, just click to install from the "app store".
  When you go to bazzite.gg to download it, you answer a few questions about your hardware, and pick a desktop environment. Some others have touched on Gnome and KDE for desktop environments, the choice is yours. Do you want a desktop that looks more like windows (or desktop mode on your steamdeck) or do you want it to look more like a Mac? Windows and highly customizable is KDE, Mac and just use it as is but still able to customize through extensions, is Gnome.
  Really the hardest part is going to be installing it, but it's really not too bad. There are plenty of guides, but it's use a software to get the downloaded Bazzite file onto a flash drive, boot your laptop from that flash drive, follow the prompts and wait. Don't try to dual boot (keep part for windows part for Linux). It's possible, but from how you described yourself, not worth the headache.
  
  Practice in a VM. Go from the base install to setting up all the apps to customizing the look of everything (commonly called "ricing"). That should give you a sense of what to expect.
  When you think you're ready, maybe give a few Live ISO's a demo to see if there's any immediate glaring issues when it's running on bare metal. If not, then proceed to install when you've picked the one you like the most!

Linux mint is a common recommendation but I think a bad one (for beginners anyway), I highly recommend bazzite with kde, I have 15 years of linux experience and am willing to do infinite troubleshooting if you add me on matrix (which is on my profile) I've onboarded many people and this is my experience with beginners
in short, linux mint is bad vs bazzite with kde for 3 reasons
kde is much more well supported and developed than cinnamon, it's not even close especially if you care about security
immutable distros are much more forgiving for new people, immutable means that the core OS can't be modified.
and finally bazzite has more up to date software, linux mint is a "stable" distro, stable in the linux context means unchanging, not unbuggy
if you don't know what any of that means, go bazzite over mint, you'll have an easier time.
- So I think another comment talked about this but I’m having a brain fart so mint or bazzite (the distro) is like the os but how does plasma the desktop environment fit in?
  
  The desktop environment is just the graphical interface. The OS doesn't handle the GUI(not directly), some people run Linux without a GUI at all, opting for life in the command line. (Don't do that) Plasma is just a flavor of it that looks more windows like (but customizable beyond a windows user's wildest imagination). Gnome looks more Mac like.
  You might run across the term Compositor, this sits between the OS and the DE. IT handles graphical input(mouse, game controllers) and display. Wayland is newer with modern features, Xorg is technically more reliable but legacy and missing some modern elements. You don't have to worry about this unless it comes up in a prompt when you install your distro. If it does, go with the suggested option in the prompt. Otherwise default to Wayland.
  
  the simplest way to think about is the distro is your app store
  what versions of apps available and how many as well as when they're updated are determined by distro
  the desktop environment is the thing you interact with aside from the installation of software, the entire gui
  
  A whole bunch of software goes into making a distro a distro, and the desktop environment is a major component.
  If you were to compare, say, Kubuntu to Fedora KDE edition, they would look fairly similar because both are using the KDE Plasma desktop environment. On Kubuntu you'd have the APT package manager, on Fedora you have the DNF package manager.
  In a lot of cases, a distro will have their underlying tech, "We use this package manager and this feature and that feature, and we publish versions with the Gnome desktop, KDE desktop, xfce desktop and i3 window manager." Or some combination thereof. Linux Mint for example offers their own Cinnamon desktop, MATE, and xfce.
  If you've ever used an Android phone and swapped out the launcher, it's kinda that.

The various versions or flavors of Linux are called "distributions" or "distros." There are several that are intended to be ready to go out of the box. Linux Mint is a pretty good one for general desktop use though they're kinda behind the times with Wayland and such. I see a lot of folks recommend Bazzite but I personally know nothing about it. I'm using Fedora KDE, Fedora is meh, KDE is pretty good.
If you're building a gaming desktop specifically for Linux, I recommend going with AMD GPU and an Intel wi-fi adapter. There are some Wi-Fi adapters that don't play nice with Linux but Intel's drivers are pretty good. AMD releases their drivers right into the kernel, there's nothing you need to do at all to get AMD GPUs working on Linux, Nvidia is a bit more of a pain. Also, with desktop peripherals, avoid anything that needs one of those configuration utilities, they tend not to be available for Linux. I use a Coolermaster MasterKeys Pro M keyboard which all configuration happens on the board, they don't offer any software for it. Highly recommended.
Oh also: Asrock's RGB lighting weird and non-standard. If you want to use open source stuff to control your RGB lighting and that's important to you, I recommend against Asrock. Just so happens my build's RGB is controlled via a controller built into my case.
- Thanks for the info good to see another point for point mint haha. But I was gonna get a prebuilt rather than build my own
  But some other comments and my own y point towards getting a Pre-built with an AMD, as for the WiFi thing is there anything in specific I should be looking for while shopping
  
  I just make sure that the word "Intel" is used somewhere in the bullet point about the Wi-Fi. If it's built into the motherboard or on a separate card.

Generally, Linuxmint is the go to distro if you want something that holds your hand, but due to your limited needs outside of gaming and already having a Steam deck you should take a look at Bazzite, which is basically the desktop mode of the Steam deck for PCs.
As for hardware, one thing that can be annoying is NVIDIA (drivers), but that shouldn’t be a major problem with these distros as mint has a built in manager that does everything for you and with Bazzite you just need to specify your GPU when downloading and don’t have to do anything.
My recommendation is download the distros you want to try, get Rufus put them on a USB and then play around with them in demo mode, make sure everything works (graphic card, printers) and if you like the distro then start the installer. If you don’t like it you can just unplug the USB and reboot without anything persisting.
- Yeah I was gonna check out bazzite first then Linux mint
  Another comment said that mint will wipe the windows install if I “run” it from an external usb so would I just boot windows like normal
  Also does bazzite do the same thing cus I’m probably gonna use that first
  As for that Rufus tool is the demo mode something I would use on the new pc
  
  If you start the demo mode there will be no changes to disk until you open the installer for both distros. Most distros will boot into the demo mode directly from the USB and then have a shortcut to start installing. Once you have created a bootable USB it will work with any device so you can test the distros out now with your current machined and when you get the new one you can just plug it in there and see if there are any hardware specific issues
- Super happy with Bazzite as a gaming PC. I think only a power user might find the "immutableness" of it annoying. You can still install OS packages, it's just highly discouraged. 90% of the time you'd just be running Flatpaks (a mostly self-contained app that is easy to install and remove). I'm using it with an old-ish NVIDIA card and at first it was troublesome but I think it worked itself out after a few updates. AMD has better compatibility from what I understand.
  
  The difference between NVIDIA and AMD/Intel is that Linux has a different way of handling drivers compared to windows (all drivers are part of the Kernel). AMD/Intel respect this. NVIDIA develop there drivers like on windows even though Linux is not designed this way. Also sometimes a new standard is made (eg Wayland) but NVIDIA has little to no support for a long time. Additionally there drivers are proprietary which limits how distros can/want to ship them.

Try Bazzite:
https://bazzite.gg/
It will give you an experience that's familiar compared to the Steam Deck, and everything will "just work" out of the box.
It already has Steam installed and is a great desktop for general use.
- Bazzite is probably the best recommendation out of everything I've seen so far. It is meant to like the Steam Deck experience on any machine, and if OP is already familiar with that, why not transition easily?
  Couple the familiarity along with Bazzite being an immutable distro, OP can just roll back if they break something.
  
  So what does immutable mean?
  But I’ve seen it’s similar to the decks desktop mode from some other comments as well so that seems nice
  I haven’t really interacted with desktop mode outside setting up emudeck (mostly DS and switch games)
- Yeah I’ve seen bazzite pop in a few steam deck discussions, some other comments recommend Mint how do they compare/differ
  But like I said in another comment I’m not looking to tweak much, if anything at all, so I think it might be a good fit, definitely gonna take a look at that link when I’m off work
- Cool I've never seen this.
- I completely agree, cannot recommend Bazzite enough. Installed it a year ago, first time linux, has been just smooth sailing
  
  Alright good to hear. I was gonna try bazzite first then mint if I couldn’t get it going

is there a Linux… idk what to call it, type? OS? Thing??? that runs out of the box without me having to install additional software manually or at least automatic setup wizards
The word you are looking for is called a distribution, or distro for short.
I'm surprised no one else has mentioned Bazzite, which should be exactly what you're looking for.
is there any specific hardware that works easier with Linux
An AMD GPU for sure. Nvidia drivers have come a long way, but they don't generally behave as well out of the box like AMD.
- Yeah bazzite seems like a recurring topic here so I think I’ll check it out first since others have all said it’s similar to the steam decks setup (which has been limited to me installing emudeck but seeing familiar stuff might help me

I really like fedora out of the box but if you’re used to windows some will recommend Linux mint. In fedora there are a lot of packages installable via the software store as well as downloading app images and RPM files.
- Mint vs fedora is completely irrelevant here. GNOME vs KDE is more important and fedora supports both.
  Which packages can be installed is also completely irrelevant since you can use nix and distrobox and flatpaks on all distros. Package availability is no reason to choose one distro over another.
  
  So nothing in that sentence made sense to me lol, mind explaining?
  
  Good point. I still use what it came with, gnome, but kde is more windows like
  
  Some distro's still require you to setup those things yourself and in the terminal.
- Agreed here. On CPU side, don’t go with Intel 13th or 14 th gen, mostly due to the manufacturing defects, check gamers nexus on YouTube if you want to catch back up to speed, the new Intel stuff is fine manufacturing wise, terrible performance, check if the prices are good. GPU, NVIDIA usually has kinkier/ more annoying drivers, but if you want to play with AI or anything like that, NVIDIA is still better.
- So I think I’ll look at mint then considering I have no idea what you mean by RPM files but app images ring a bell when I was getting yuzu set up on my steam deck
  
  Definitely go Linux Mint. Especially if it's your first time with Linux.

Pro tip is to install a virtual machine like virtualbox or something on your Windows system. They're super easy to set up with loads of tutorials on youtube.
From there you can install any number of linux distros (I recommend Mint or Pop!) and try them out without having to commit to real hardware. I would put the VM in fullscreen and pretend it was a real system, and use it as my dedicated machine for as long as possible. You can even install steam to get a feel of the setup process (bear in mind you'll need to set up stuff for graphics acceleration to play most games but the basic setup should be fine!)
As for setup. Most Linux distros are as easy to set up as Windows or MacOS: USB in, boot, select a few basic options and stick to defaults. Reboot. Install stuff. You don't even need to deal with drivers (even Nvidia is cared for by most installers) which was nicer than burrowing through NV/AMD's websites to get their driver installers set up.
At that point you won't be wondering if youve made the right choice when it comes to your next build, and you can get right down to actually using your PC instead of googling things. Good luck!
- Yeah a few other comments were talking about the installation process but I just run windows like normal on the new PC then run the Linux installer

You can just buy a system with Linux preinstalled. My laptop is from System76. I usually build desktops/towers from scratch but they sell those too.
Installing apps has always been easier on Linux then on Windows as Linux has had large free app stores back 30 years. The question is more are the apps you want in the app store. If not things get harder. I like Debian based distros like Ubuntu or Linux Mint as they have large app stores.
You might want to look at distrowatch.com. Mint is currently at the top.

I also recommend Linux Mint. It's been hands down the best experience of all the Linux distros I've tried.
The installation is done with a USB stick. In short, you download the Linux iso image and create a bootable USB stick with a software. In Windows I have always used Rufus for that.
The Linux installer gives you a choise to wipe everything and install Linux. Installing Mint has always been very straight forward.
I can't comment on hardware since I've only used Linux on +5 year old laptops. They seem to work fine.
There most likely will be many new things that can feel confusing in the beginning, but I'm sure you'll get the hang of it. There also are tons of good tutorials of everything.
Best of luck to your Linux project!
- Oh nice, so I just boot windows as normal then “run” the installer from a usb. As for whatever an iso image that makes no sense to me is that just the “program” that the installer is?
  A lot of people have recommended bazzite so i might try that first but mint definitely sounds like a good “I have no idea what I’m doing just start working distro”
  
  I touched on this elsewhere, but seeing your comment here… sort of.
  iso image is like a .zip it's a specific type of file… one that opens into a larger image, namely your entire distro. So you could install windows with an iso file. In order to be useful though, you need to get it onto a flash drive, but not just dragging and dropping. Programs like Rufus, mentioned elsewhere, will take that iso of Bazzite and open it onto the flash drive in a way that the computer will be able to read it later and do something with it.
  After you have a working flash drive, you do not boot windows like normal and run the installer from a USB. You'll have to figure out how to tell your laptop (different but similar for each brand of laptop) to boot from the USB. This usually involves having the USB in the drive, restarting your computer and hitting a specific key to tell it not to boot normally to windows, but instead boot from the flash drive.
  I haven't used Windows in a while and I think there's also a way to restart windows and tell it to boot from USB as you're exiting. But that's what you'll have to figure out for your specific device. That'll be true no matter what you end up installing.

I personally started out with Debian given that a vast majority of distributions are Debian based, typically paired with KDE Plasma 5 for my desktop environment, and learned from there.
Now Debian is really stable but does require command-line configuration quite often so it may feel complicated but if you’re capable of reading & following documentation then you should be all good.
- I made the mistake of trying Debian on a new system. While I will eventually transition to Debian for it's stability, it's glacial speed of change means that new hardware isn't very compatible. I tried the half-step that was LMDE (Linux Mint Debian Edition) and even that was missing some support for my hardware. Not until I moved to Ubuntu-based Linux Mint did I finally have everything working, after some poking and prodding. I'm guessing once Debian Trixie comes out, I can test again.
  You have to have more mature hardware if you go Debian. It's not something I'd tell anyone to install on a new build.
- So a lot of people have recommended bazzite so I might start with that and move to mint if that doesn’t work out for me, how does plasma and Debian fit in cus that stuff is ringing a bell. Like plasma being separate than a distro
  
  how does plasma and Debian fit in cus that stuff is ringing a bell.
  Distributions like Ubuntu, Kali Linux, Linux Mint are actually based off of Debian however, each distribution provides their own packages and typically have system files in different places, so packages made for Ubuntu may or may not work with Debian and vice-versa.
  Like plasma being separate than a distro
  KDE Plasma is a Desktop Environment (aka your desktop). When you install a Linux distro on your computer you’ll typically be given an option on which software you want to pre install. You’ll see software like GNOME, KDE Plasma, Xfce, Cinnamon, etc and by doing a little research into them you can pick the environment that suites you best.
  GNOME gave me MacOS vibes while KDE is more Windows.
  Hope this explains things easily!

I recently got a steam deck and that kinda demystified the (unrealistic) expectation I had of Linux was all command line stuff and techno babble.
Outside of gaming, browsing and flatpaks it still very much is. People here will lie and tell you it's not. It is. But as long it's just Steam gaming, it's very simple.
so is there a Linux… idk what to call it, type? OS? Thing??? that runs out of the box without me having to install additional software manually or at least automatic setup wizards
Not really sure what you're asking here but I think it's a "package manager". Basically an app store for Linux. Discover store in KDE or "software" in GNOME. Open it, search for your software, click the "install" button and be done.
Outside of the package manager, installations become complex quickly.
is there any specific hardware that works easier with Linux
Yes, generally new hardware won't work as well. Linux drivers are a second class citizen. Also you'll likely experience lower performance and extra difficulties with Nvidia vs. Windows.

if you liked the design of older style windows (think like windows XP), you could look into Q4OS. I use it for my laptop and it's Debian based so you will have pretty decent support applications wise and it has a pretty simple UI. I had never heard of it prior to a few months ago but I have had no issues with it.
Being said, I can't remember if it has UnattendedUpgrades by default, but that program can be configured on any debian based system to allow for automatic updates. It does take a little bit of configuration if it isn't pre-installed though.
- Ah well windows XP is before my time so I think I’ll look at mint and bazzite for now but at least you gave me another name to look into. The more the merrier!
  
  Mint is another good one, I would probably recommend against their Debian Edition(LMDE 6) though, it sounds good but, it's their newer system so it doesn't have all the bugs ironed out yet. I struggled with LMDE when I tried it last summer, which granted a lot of time has passed, but I rarely ever have an issue with their standard Linux Mint releases.

If you have time to learn how your distro works: Archlinux. If you just want to easily install a distro and everything just works: Linux Mint.
- From the post:
  But first question, as someone who isn’t tech inclined and tinkering [...] that runs out of the box without me having to install additional software manually or at least automatic setup wizards because like hardware
  Don't recommend Arch to users who doesn't want to tinker please. I know, I use Arch. Arch regularly requires user intervention, you should see them on the news: https://archlinux.org/news/ You can see, 3-4 times a year you have to fiddle with some settings, otherwise you can get an unbootable system.
  And that's how we get "the (unrealistic) expectation I had of Linux was all command line stuff and techno babble."
  
  There are also "easy" Arch like endeavour or cachy, but yeah, for users like him is Arch based not the best choice
- Yeah I’m kinda looking for a “it just works” since I’m not big on tweaking every little thing and I just really wanna play games and work on my documents
  
  But keep in mind Mint is a non rolling distro, it means you have to upgrade to a newer Version in a periodic time (like win XP to win vista). Rolling release distro (like Arch) doesnt have a Version.
- If you want to really learn Linux, then absolutely Arch is the way to go. But OP is looking for something polished out of the box and probably doesn't want to know much more than that. Some people just want a box that does the thing - and that's totally fine.
  I say all of this as a diehard Arch user (BTW)
  
  Yeah I’ve peeked into some Linux threads from time to time to see if I can even understand what’s happening (spoiler alert: I could not) and I’ve gotten the impression Arch is great for tinkering and experimenting and tweaking which is great, just not the entry point I want lol

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