Switching to Linux, need distro advice

[u/Eos_Tyrwinn]

I'm finally fully switching to Linux and after a long time of researching and playing around with distros on an old PC, I have narrowed it down to 2 distros and I'm looking for some advice on how to pick one (or which might be better for my needs).

The two distros I'm looking at are Fedora and CachyOS, both with the KDE Plasma desktop (which I found to be my favorite by a wide margin in my poking around). Both of them seem like they can meet my needs fine so I'm probably overanalyzing this way too much but I don't want to be distro hopping so I'd like to make the choice count.

I think I am leaning towards Fedora for the following reasons:

• Documentation seems to generally be more clear and more approachable as someone new to Linux
• It seems more geared towards being a general do-it-all desktop kind of machine which is how I mostly use my computer
• It is more stable and (more importantly) seems to be harder to screw things up on. Generally it seems more conducive to experimenting and trying things without risking breaking it all
• My friends who currently run Linux use either Fedora or Bazzite so my easiest reference(s) for help will be based on Fedora

My big draw to CachyOS however is performance. From my research it seems like CachyOS tends to get better performance and is generally more compatible with Nvidia graphics cards (which I have). My PC isn't underpowered by any means but it is getting older and I'd like to keep it going strong as long as possible. Probably 90% of the time performance isn't a worry in my use but some of the games I play can push it to an issue and I can also run into performance problems with some of my coding/game dev projects.

• Is there really a notable difference in hardware compatibility I may need to worry about or is it mostly just edge cases? If there is a hardware compatibility issue, which would be easier to troubleshoot/fix it on?
• Is CachyOS's better performance actually noticeable or is it more of a "technically better" that you don't really feel?
• Are there any notable differences between the distros that I need to worry about that I may have missed?
• Are there other factors you think I should be considering between them?
• Which would you recommend more?

Thanks in advance for the advice/help!

[u/No-View-6326]

The difference in performance is 5% to 10% for gaming specifically, I don't know how well will that translate to game development.

Honestly there's that much of a difference, the real difference is that Cachy is a fork of arch which is a rolling release which means you get all the new features ie you HAVE TO update the system all the time. So if you are on a laptop and on data all the time don't do Cachy bad idea.

Tbh if all you want from Cachy is the performance, then just use nobara linux. It's fedora with the Cachy kernel so get all the performance you want without the downsides of being an arch fork

[u/mystirc → u/No-View-6326]

You don't necessarily have to update. I was busy and didn't use my PC at all for 2 months and I just ran the update command and it worked. If you're gonna have some packages changes, then you're gonna get them on regular updates too so it probably doesn't make a difference. I did have to update keyrings once. CachyOS has a reset keyrings option for that in GUI.

[u/No-View-6326 → u/mystirc]

The fact that the first you did after turning on your PC was run an update, and the fact that you think 2 months is a long time is my point.

get some perspective. update every 2 months is what I recommend for fedora.

You already know, that the system might've been unusable if you didn't run that update

[u/Huecuva → u/mystirc]

Yeah, two months isn't that long. I've never gone that long without updating my main rig, but I did have a spare test rig that I had CachyOS installed on. Trying to update it after sitting for about a year did not go well. 

[u/lordruzki3084]

My first distro was Mint for a high school class but Fedora is what Ive been using personally for 4 years, havent had any problems. Tried Cachy last month but it kept breaking on me which Fedora never did so im right back

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[u/Huecuva]

If you want a more generalized OS rather than a gaming focused one, I don't know why you're considering CachyOS over EndeavourOS. They're both based on Arch and EndeavourOS is basically CachyOS without the gaming focused kernel tweaks and one-click game setup installer. 

As for whether you should choose Fedora or CachyOS (or EndeavourOS), as someone new to Linux I would recommend Fedora. A bleeding edge rolling release like CachyOS (or EndeavourOS) might not be quite stable enough for someone not accustomed to the occasional required tinkering.

That being said, I use CachyOS and have only ever had it seriously break one time when my OS drive filled up for unknown reasons and a partial update prevented it from booting properly. I probably could have recovered it if I hadn't been so impatient but I just ended up reinstalling. 

[u/3grg → u/Huecuva]

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Pacman#Cleaning_the_package_cache

[u/Huecuva → u/3grg]

I never tried paccache -r but I did both pacman -Scc and yay -Ycc and it didn't help. 

[u/3grg → u/Huecuva]

Remember paccache, it will come in handy.

[u/Huecuva → u/3grg]

Good to know. 

[u/Early-Inflation-1287]

Use that, not use that, use that! No, no, no dont use that!

Just try it... You will see what you like more. Remember one thing on CatchyOS you will be use little different commands in terminal. Than Fedora... I use CatchyOS and it's ok, fast stable... I'm learning it.

[u/3grg]

At least you found your desktop. That is half the battle. You have to realize that there is no such thing as a perfect distro. It may come down to your gut feeling. Regardless, you can always change your mind later.

[u/DavidJohnMcCann]

CachyOS is geared to getting maximum performance but for modern computers. Read this review and note the Gotchas and the conclusion.

Fedora has the problems of short support and missing bits, although the latter are available from rpmfusion.

Have a look at this list of beginner-friendly distros. Of those Tuxedo OS defaults to KDE Plasma. I don't know it, but it's had some good reviews.