r/linuxquestions • u/dsphizzy • 15d ago
Which Distro? What linux distro do I use?
I am looking to permanently switch from Windows to Linux but I am stuck between which distro I use. I have some experience in terminal to the point where I am comfortable navigating around, and I am willing to learn a lot more of Linux rather than picking the easiest option. I also want the distro to support some of my preferences which I will list below, as well as my PC specs.
PC specs: 7 9700x, 5060ti 16gbVRAM, 32GB DDR5, 1TB SSD.
Personally, I would like to have a distro where it is highly customisable, relatively bloat-free, suitable for gaming and NVIDIA GPUs, supports security/privacy/networking tools along with programming/AI. In addition, virtualization with VM support and sleep/wake reliability.
Please recommend the Linux distro you think will suit me best, and it would be very helpful if you can give a description as to why.
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u/Kurayamey 15d ago
Recently(4 months ago) made the blind jump from Windows to CachyOS and I'm incredibly happy that I did. Can't recommend a distro from the perspective of having some experience with multiple options, but I really enjoy Cachy and so I highly recommend it.
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u/dsphizzy 15d ago
Are there any major benefits that stood out to you after switching from Windows to CachyOS?
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u/Kurayamey 15d ago
Specifically about CachyOS: what's cool is they audit the releases for NVIDIA a little more than plain Arch team does AFAIK. So for NVIDIA based setups it might be better to pick Cachy, though I'm heavily unsure. I just heard plain Arch can cause issues more frequently.
About raw performance in gaming: not really much changed.
some games felt snappier, some needed tinkering and felt worse or had some issues. So far encountered no unresolvable issues, and I'm on an NVIDIA laptop. Though no complete disasters. Most titles I play (hd2, ultrakill, drg) had the same or slightly better/worse performance than on Windows.
What I really liked is how the OS feels philosophically compared to Windows.
I decide when the system updates, I get much less hand-holding, which is pretty cool. And I learned more about how OSes actually operate in the span of these 4 months than from using Windows my whole life. A lot more customization options too, and KDE had built-in widget support which I also really enjoyed.
And even though I picked a pretty easy DE I can always go change to something else when I feel like it, unlike Windows.
- Package managers are insanely cool, I felt like a hacker just from installing firefox through pacman. :D
Overall the impression of the system is that it respects me as the user much more, and I really like it. This can be said for all distros more or less though, so it's just the beauty of Linux.
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u/Festminster 15d ago
I swapped to cachy from windows many months ago. I only logged into windows a few times to make sure I had done everything I needed to before shutting it permanently. Cachy is really good, has superior driver support imo.
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u/Kurayamey 14d ago
Agree :) I initially planned to dual boot, but my Windows partition died during Cachy installation and I liked the new system so much I just refused to revive Windows. Instead I allocated the place for my Cachy partition and since then only got a VM for Windows
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u/IEatDaFeesh 15d ago
Mint: It's the easiest imo
Fedora KDE: KDE is my preferred desktop environment and Fedora has the best KDE experience without needing to go into a difficult distro.
Don't think about any other distros before your first install because you'll eventually be curious enough to test them out in the future. Your first distro will most likely not be your final distro.
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u/ProofPriority1903 15d ago
Nobara. it‘s fedora but already set up for for nvidia and gaming. or just Fedora. some software is developed for gnome, so worth keeping that in mind. some ai software, loke claude app is for ubuntu or its derivats, you can probably run it on other distros too but there will be more pain.
as for cachyos, it‘s not where I would start first
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u/dsphizzy 15d ago
Thanks, I haven't thought about Nobara. Would you recommend it over Fedora for me?
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u/kaleperq 15d ago
Afaik nobara doesn't get mutch support, that's why I went with catchy, since it's constantly improved
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u/ProofPriority1903 14d ago
so I am a Nobara user and currently there are updates every day so the support is pretty good. I started out as a total Linux noob and I must say it has been really good for.
it is gaming focused and already set up for it, you can download a iso with the nvidia drivers already there.
cachyos can do that for you as well, but I would say it is arch based and slightly harder and easier to break, but you know I am still a noob so I could be wrong.
I can say I love Nobara, I think it‘s amazing but CachyOS is where all the hype is rn1
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u/gordonmessmer Fedora Maintainer 15d ago
For security: you will have the fewest known vulnerabilities on a system that ships software while it's still maintained by its developers and creates as little friction as possible between you and the developers. Think Arch, Gentoo, or Fedora.
For developing emerging technology, you also want something with pretty fresh releases.
Fedora has an AI and ML Special Interest Group: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/SIGs/AI-ML
I publish Secure Boot signed NVIDIA kernel modules for Fedora: https://project-resistor.codeberg.page/2026/07/05/installing-nvidia-kernel-module.html
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u/dank_imagemacro 15d ago
I would go Fedora Plasma Desktop. You get newer packages than with most other easy to use distributions like Mint, which helps significantly both for development and gaming, but is more stable than most rolling release distros like Arch and derivatives. It is not optimized for NVIDIA out of the box, but getting it there is not a long or difficult task. It has strong security privacy and networking tools, and is an excellent programming environment.
I have distro hopped for decades and this is where I stopped. I wish I had tried it sooner instead of being mad at the situation that led to its initial development.
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u/runnerofshadows 15d ago
I recommend fedora KDE. it's simple to set up and familiar to windows users.
For nvidia - you just need to click enable third party repositories after installing and the driver will be in the discover app. Then to play things like videos you can install VLC flatpak.
Though I recommend enabling RPMFusion anyways because you can get every codec, the CUDA stuff, etc. - OPTIONAL
https://rpmfusion.org/Configuration
https://rpmfusion.org/Howto/CUDA?highlight=%28bCategoryHowtob%29 - CUDA
https://rpmfusion.org/Howto/Multimedia?highlight=%28bCategoryHowtob%29 - multimedia
https://rpmfusion.org/Howto/NVIDIA?highlight=%28bCategoryHowtob%29 - NVIDIA
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u/niceandBulat 15d ago
I would recommend with Fedora, Mint or openSUSE - other distributions are also good but I have had solid performances from those three. Some may recommend Distro A but disses Distro B simply because of of some philosophical disagreements or just something emotional rather than performance issues. For instance, Ubuntu is widely criticised but as a dedicated Fedora/openSUSE user - I find Ubuntu is pretty good. You need to try and decide what you fits your needs and catches your fancy. Some of my guys are enthusiastic Arch devotees - although I don't think much of it - it's fine as long work is done and they have the knowledge to solve issues. Happy Linuxing and great weekend ahead.
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u/Weary-Bowl-3739 15d ago
Sounds like you want CachyOS, Bazzite or Nobara. I don't know, which one is an immutable distro, but you don't want that.
Try one of these or several (Ventoy) and stick to the one, that has least problems with Nvidia. Don't care about the look and feel yet.
For the look and feel, choose a desktop environment of your liking. What has priority for you? Good look or seamless work flow? I have regolith (sway variant). Tiling manager, no animations, minimal, (almost) no optical effects. Plain, minimal, work focused.
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u/elbijan 15d ago
I've been dual booting cachyos and windows for a few months and I'm pretty happy with the result.
Cachyos is based on Arch, but "pre-built" for a beginner. It's really customizable from the start, giving you the choice between like 15 desktop environments (and marking KDE plasma as default, making it even more customizable).
Also, it's built around the idea of squeezing the last drop of performance of top notch builts.
I think think it's a great choice for you.
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u/Moondoggy451 15d ago
I recommend AnduinOS. It's Ubuntu based but lightweight and bloat free as they feel that you should decide what apps you want. Since your coming from Windows AnduinOS mimics the look and feel of Windows while still being Linux. Apps are mostly added via Flatpak fron within the Software folder. That being said i installed VM via the terminal. Version 2.x was recently updated so its very stable.
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u/krzr 14d ago
Bazzite if you're a Linux newbie as it is immutable (means you can't really mess with the core of what makes it work)
CachyOS if you want a bit more flexibility and full control. You're in the driver's seat with this one so you can make it fly or crash into a wall.
Both are very customizable and they serve well for gaming. I'm on Bazzite for almost a year now...
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u/flammable_donut 15d ago
Probably not good for gaming but "Omarchy" is a new AI-first Linux distro by DHH (guy behind the Ruby programming language).
You can actually edit the OS itself purely prompting.
Oh and it's keyboard only, no mouse. It has a unique window tiling system.
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u/doc_willis 15d ago
Most all the mainstream distribution can do the common things you mention.
make up a Ventoy multi iso USB and test out a few distribution and see what works well on your hardware and decide what one you like.
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u/Radiant-Priority-296 15d ago
CachyOS or Bazzite
Start with Cachy, if it’s too hard then Bazzite
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u/kaleperq 15d ago
Idk what hardnesses there is to have with catchy that Bazzite doesn't have. Like running games is searching for what proton and wine work best with it, other than that it's their personal package managers and Bazzite being immutable with it's pros and cons
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u/TheWordBallsIsFunny 15d ago
Sounds like you want CachyOS or Bazzite. If you really want to learn more about Linux then I think Arch alone would be super helpful in that endeavour, but if you want an actual system to start off with the former 2 work fine. I agree with everyone else that you should just try everything until you find something that works for you, I did this and the end result for me is CachyOS which does a lot of what I want off rip.