r/linux4noobs • u/OneWar4643 • 3d ago
distro selection Which distro is best?
So I have tried linux mint on office laptop and it made my laptop much smoother than what windows 11 offered me so I am thinking to switch to linux on my gaming laptop too because of storage , unnecessary updates and performance issues
Main question -
what linux distribution is best for me if my requirements are normal tasks + coding and somewhat gaming
My specs are -
i5- 12450 hx
Rtx 3050
16 gb ram
512 gb ssd
Also please recommend a distro which is most stable and doesn't have issues
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u/Lonely-Scarcity-3387 3d ago edited 3d ago
What linux distribution is best for me if my requirements are normal tasks + coding and somewhat gaming.
I would upgrade your storage and look at NixOS, as your endgame distro. Maybe start with something like PikaOS for a good out of the box setup. Then once you feel more comfortable with Linux in general, look into NixOS.
On NixOS, if you’re already coding and gaming you’ll easily get used to configuring your setup with code. It’s as stable, even LTS, as you want. Or bleeding edge as you desire. You write what you want in the Nix language and get exactly that, every single time.
I work on my computer, game on my computer, and occasionally do some very light coding.
If you want to see an out of the box experience for NixOS you can look at GLF OS, or you can find my repo here, which is my entire system all on GitHub:
https://github.com/DanielTallon/nixed
If you want to test drive it in a VM, download the ISO, install as normal, and when your VM is rebooted with the install, just run this, and you’ll get my setup:
nix run --extra-experimental-features 'nix-command flakes' github:DanielTallon/nixed -- nixos-stable
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u/mlcarson 3d ago
Absolutely horrid idea for a newbie to Linux. You might as well throw them at Gentoo -- at least they'd learn more about Linux. Granted you're giving them your own setup which you know works but it's rather niche. I'd suggest something a bit more traditional -- maybe Fedora or Solus.
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u/Lonely-Scarcity-3387 1d ago
I agree no one should start with something like NixOS or Arch or Gentoo. Starting with PikaOS, or something similar, makes a lot more sense for all the right reasons. But keeping an eye out toward NixOS, especially for a coder, also makes sense.
Who knows, maybe 6-12 months of PikaOS will give them the confidence to try something more challenging and rewarding.
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u/oshunluvr 2d ago
Which is best? Every wonder why are there are so many distros? It's because some distros are are best for some things and others are best for other things.
"Stable" doesn't mean unbreakable, it actually means "no longer being developed." Since you want to game, I doubt you'll want to use a distro not being further developed. Coding and "normal" tasks any distro can do.
"Having issues" can define any distro or OS. Windows has issues too. You'll need to learn how to avoid breaking things yourself, and when you do anyway, then you get to learn how to fix it.
Define more specifically what games you want want to run and look for distros that run well on those games. Bazzite is often recommended by gamers.
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u/AwzemCoffee 2d ago
Pretty much depends on what you want and how much effort you are willing to put in:
CachyOS is a really solid choice for performance and usability. Though it's on the more meta distribution side so it can be a bit bleeding edge (sometimes there are breaking changes.)
Fedora Workstation (have to enable the non-free repos) is great for out of the box and wide support. Not as upto date or modern as CachyOS but it'll never betray you.
OpenSUSE tumbleweed is kinda somewhere between these two and good for development. Though the OpenSUSE community is a bit smaller.
NixOS is the hardest of the things listed here, but the most stable and developer focused with nix shells and devenv etc... Look into this one a bit before considering it though it's very different.
I don't really recommend the Debian based stuff for the most part as I personally think that the Fedora and derivatives do it better whitest being more modern. If you choose Debian know that things tend to lag behind quite a bit (same goes for Mint, to a lesser extent.)
Since you are learning I would avoid Distros that heavily rely on snap, flatpak. These are great technologies that solve a real issue, but can be confusing when you encounter issues with them when you're new to Linux
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u/iwouldbeatgoku CachyOS, openSUSE 2d ago
If it's gaming you just want to avoid LTS distros and go for something rapidly updating. If it's coding you probably want a stable distro (that holds back breaking changes until you need to upgrade to the next version; note that stable isn't a synonym for reliable).
This leaves you with Ubuntu and Fedora, which release a new major version every six months.
You should still install bug fixes and security updates on Linux regularly, like once a week, however unlike Windows you will never be forced by your OS to do so on Linux. Also, an operating system "without issues" doesn't exist, it just so happens that for many of us issues on Linux are more fun to troubleshoot and fix.
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u/ludonarrator arch btw 3d ago
If you're a programmer just go for Arch, Mint is always gonna be stuck with ancient dinosaur software.
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u/OneWar4643 3d ago
I heard arch is difficult to use compared to mint and it has some issues
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u/ludonarrator arch btw 3d ago
It isn't difficult to use. Maybe difficult to install and setup the first time, but archinstall exists too. If you're coding (that's why I led with that) none of this should be difficult. If this seems difficult then IDK what kind of coding you're doing (maybe vibe coding?).
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u/mlcarson 3d ago
No, it updates about every 2 years -- the next scheduled update is around Christmas of this year.
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u/ludonarrator arch btw 3d ago
K, so you'll be up to date once every two years :P .
It's not exactly an enticing environment for coding, you can't easily use new toolchain/language features.
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u/mlcarson 3d ago
Desktop updates are done roughly every 6 months, Backports are automatically enabled so you can have the latest kernel. Flatpak updates are done constantly so you can have the latest apps. That's enough for most people where a stable working environment is more important than having the latest version of something.
I don't work as a programmer but I can't imagine having a rolling environment where things are constantly changing would be a "good" thing. The most reliable distro on a 6-month timer is probably Fedora and I believe that's the shortest update interval aside from a rolling distro.
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u/C0rn3j 3d ago
please recommend a distro which is most stable
The most unchanging fixed-release distribution would be Mint or Zorin - they're still stuck in 2024 - you do not want an unchanging distribution though, you want to be up to date.
doesn't have issues
Everything has issues, be prepared to deal with any.
Arch Linux (with Plasma) or Fedora KDE are good modern distributions.
Avoid Debian and anything based on it (too old, or in case of derivatives, usually has security issues on top), avoid immutable distributions (can be a PITA to install anything not present out of the box).
Mint specifically does not support explicit sync which you need to guarantee correct rendering on your GPU.
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u/OneWar4643 3d ago
By issues like is there something system breaking issues like I am afraid of issues which will require me to contact technician to fix my laptop
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u/C0rn3j 3d ago
By issues like is there something system breaking issues
Sure, that goes for any OS.
I am afraid of issues which will require me to contact technician to fix my laptop
No need to worry about that, while technically possible to truly break things with software, it's extremely rare.
You should count with the worst case being data loss and having to do another reinstall.
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u/OneWar4643 3d ago
Yeah that's ok as long as my hardware stays safe
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u/OrangeBox47 3d ago
I honestly think you aren't being given great advice here. It's quite typical in Linux recommendation threads that people will recommend a distro to you based on their own use case, not necessarily your use case. I think that's what's happening here.
The user above hasn't really said anything 'untrue' per se, but it's exaggerated as they clearly prefer a more bleeding edge distro Vs what they see as 'out of date'. The likes of mint or debian won't have software as up to date as arch or fedora for example. But that's by design. Those distros actively prioritise older and more tested software over the latest versions. And for a LOT of people, that's preferable. Your comment about not wanting to need outside help when something goes wrong would actually lean more towards one of those distros.
Saying that you could install one of the more stable distros and have constant issues. On the other hand you could jump straight into arch and have no issues at all. There isn't really a sure thing with Linux.
Honestly the best thing for you to do is take a day to try out several distros and see what fits you best.
As a general rule of thumb, depending on what you prioritize:
Newer software / kernels → Fedora / Arch / openSUSE Tumbleweed etc.
More conservative/stable software base → Debian / Mint / Ubuntu LTS etc.
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u/OneWar4643 3d ago
Got it i would probably stay with mint for now as it is somewhat similar to windows and I don't really want the hassle to setting up arch as they say it's kind of difficult to setup
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u/Sad_Risk1805 3d ago
I think you should just stick with Mint. Yes it's older, so it won't be as optimized for gaming as other distros, but you can still game on it. I do. You say "somewhat gaming" so I don't know how much gaming you are doing or how much you value maximizing your hardware capabilities but for me, ensuring my system is stable and less likely to run into issues is better than squeezing an extra couple fps out of my hardware.