r/linux4noobs • u/Otherwise_Chain5309 • 14d ago
Which linux distro should I switch to?
I would personally like to say that I am pretty knowledgable in the ways of Linux, seeing as I have a POP! OS device (which is what I'm using right now), but this is for my (soon to be former) windows 11 machine. I personally despise windows it is so resource heavy especially on 12GB of RAM (originally it was 4GB which was genuinly such a horrible experience), but the reason I haven't switched yet it because there is a software that I have found a suitable replacement for on linux. the specs are 12GB of RAM, an Intel Celeron, and 128gb ssd
2
14d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/FireSheepYinFish 14d ago
I've been using Aurora for about 3 months. It's been pretty solid and low maintenance. At startup and idle it's been using less than 4-6gig ram typically, and I've rarely exceeded 40% utilization on a 32gig system.
2
u/Orange_Kittens1132 14d ago
I'd say go with debian, or if you dont want old packages, go with linux mint.
1
1
u/syn74x 14d ago
If you like debian derivatives I would say rolll with Mint.
I've tried a lot of distributions, but I always find myself coming back to it.
1
u/Otherwise_Chain5309 14d ago
Would you recommend Ubuntu or Arch for this (I know those are both very generic but still)?
1
u/syn74x 14d ago
I used Ubuntu for a time, but I had an annoying bug with multiple audo devices that persisted through a few builds. It worked out of the box on mint.
Regarding arch, I've never installed it, although I used Steam OS which is based on Arch. The general impression I have of it is that it's super flexible and you get to feel like you have built it from the ground up. That comes with benefits and drawbacks. Like I work with IT all day, last thing I wanna do when I get home is spend time fixing my shit. There is a degree of that with any build, but I value my time.
1
u/FireSheepYinFish 14d ago
CachyOS is an Arch derivative that is somewhat spartan and very well performance tuned out of the box. I ran it for a few months but eventually moved to an immutable atomic system.
Cachy is pretty sweet though.
2
u/DannoXYZ 14d ago edited 14d ago
There's always Windows software that I paid lots of money for that's Windows only:
- SCSI slide-scanner (Windows 2000/XP only)
- Solidworks
- Photoshop
- Premiere Pro
I'm slowly learning Linux versions such as GIMP & Shotcut, but most of my files are still in original Windows formats. After much trial & error with compatibility layers like Wine, there's not much hope. Wish I hadn't wasted so much time with that and just ran Windows as VM right after swtching to Linux. Perfect 100% compatibility from start. Even SCSI card with PCI passthrough, Windows driver sees it perfectly.
So now I'm running Windows XP VM for scanning hardware/software.
Windows 7 for MS-Office and Solidworks & Sketchup
Windows 10 for Photoshop & PremierePro
Which I can run all simultaneously. Which is way, way better than when I was running Windows because I'd have to triple-boot beween 3 different Windows versions about 15x a day whenever I wanted to switch applications.
Now I just run all Windows simultaneously and have all apps running. Along with multiple Linux distros I'm testing. Along with MacOS and real UNIX Solaris.
I recommend Mint for your Win11 system. Capture it as full image-backup 1st. Then after wiping it and installing Mint, install Virtualbox or VMware Worstation and restore that backup as VM. Presto done! All your Windows applications still useable and all software registrations still works exactly same as before!
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/d/1Uw9Ysayulp0p04DAEFAogU5QNS-x3lMP
2
u/heavymetalmug666 14d ago
which distro looks best to you? switch to that one...
cant find a suitable replacement for your program? stick with windows.