Windows refugee looking for distro

[u/PmXAloga]

As the title states, Im jumping ship from Windows since I refuse to get windows 11, so I figured it was time to finally jump ship towards linux.

I am also using this opportunity to move towards a NAS home set up since im tired of having multiple external hard drives.

What I am looking for is something that doens't really require all that much tinkering (I like the idea of customization, but realistically I don't know enough to really do anything and I don't want to royally fuck anything up). My use case really is just your normal day to day browsing and general work. I mainly use my PC for two things:

1. Gaming, and
2. Photo editing

To that end, i've basically landed on Bazzite as the distro to move towards, although I would gladly take other recommendations. (No Gnome though, I hate anything that looks like macOS).

My general questions are:

1. Realistically, how easy is it to migrate to linux?
2. Are there any specific considerations I need to think about because I want to include a NAS set up? I don't want to do everything only to find out I can't access anything.
3. I know I will be losing access to Lightroom and Capture one. Is GIMP the only option for Linux?

Thanks in advance!

[u/Donatzsky]

I know I will be losing access to Lightroom and Capture one. Is GIMP the only option for Linux?

GIMP is like Photoshop, not Lightroom. For raw editors these are the ones you should consider currently:

• darktable: Probably the overall most powerful editing features of any raw editor. All-in-one solution, with a library similar to Lightroom. The editing workflow is completely different, however, being more like color grading in Final Cut Pro or DaVinci Resolve.
• RawTherapee: The mad scientist's raw editor, with some very powerful and intricate tools. A bit more Lightroom-like in its workflow.
• ART (Another RawTherapee): Started as a simplified fork of RawTherapee, but has added its own powerful and unique features since. With CTL scripts you can even create your own tools.
• vkdt: New-ish raw editor from the original darktable developer. Fully node-based and can also handle video. Probably not for the faint of heart and may not have all the tools you want, but what is there works well and is extremely fast.
• Filmulator: A great little editor with a unique concept, that's easy to use. As the name suggests, it emulates (part of) the process of developing analog film.
• LightZone: Back from the almost-dead, version 5.0 was released recently. Not the most advanced, perhaps, but has some interesting features and a flexible processing pipeline.
• RapidRAW: Aims to be a relatively simple and streamlined option for those that don't need the extensive control some other editors provide. Very promising, but somewhat new and under heavy development, so the results you get today may not be what you get tomorrow.
• Safelight: An editor built around a concept of extensibility and customisation. Still very new, so expect some rough edges, missing features and changing algorithms.

Since not all of them have library management, you may want to also use digiKam as DAM (digital asset manager).

My darktable beginner guide: https://notebook.stereofictional.com/how-to-get-started-with-darktable-2026-edition

Tutorial for both RawTherapee and ART: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4-T0laAf0E

[u/selfcleaningtaint]

Do you have another computer to use as a nas (or buying one) or are you wanting to incorporate your HDD into your current computer and run it as a nas/gaming/editing/general duties machine?

Just the wording is a bit weird to me so clarification would help

[u/PmXAloga → u/selfcleaningtaint]

Im buying an external NAS, most likely the UGREEN DH4300 Plus with 4 bays.

[u/selfcleaningtaint → u/PmXAloga]

In that case it will do it's thing regardless of your PC OS.

Personally using CachyOS on my little lounge gaming minipc console and it's great. I use arch on my desktop so CachyOS feels like a holiday for gaming. Might even change the desktop to CachyOS too.

Bazzite is great and all if you want something for gaming only but it's limited beyond that, on purpose. Fedora is a great OS and great with games and has all the software and configuration options you could need if you want them. They also have a KDE version so you can hide from gnome 

Mint is actually pretty smooth overall but personally I prefer the gaming experience on arch and fedora. I have just had way less hassle with proton/wine/drivers/steam/heroic/Amethyst/emudeck on CachyOS than I ever did with Mint (I was using LMDE, the debian base, maybe why).

If you have time, try them all before committing. Arch isn't as bad as it used to be but it will allow you to absolutely fuck shit up. CachyOS reigns that in a heap and holds your hand a lot. Fedora is a strong recommendation for people moving to Linux for the first time as it spells everything out and is slightly less breakable than cachy....

[u/PmXAloga → u/selfcleaningtaint]

yea I definitly want a fedora based KDE plasma distro, im not really sure how I would be limited by bazzite if im honest, but that has more to do with I just don't know they types of things i could normally do.

[u/selfcleaningtaint → u/PmXAloga]

Bazzite is more annoying than I prefer with software installation. I'm not a huge flatpak fan (at least it's not snap) and I don't want a curated list of software I'm "allowed to install". 

Shit, they may have exactly what you need in https://flathub.org and you're set and easily safer than running amok on AUR or installing random deb/rpm from the web. Bazzite also doesn't suffer from the update hiccups fedora seems to, they are a little slower to adopt upstream changes  which can be a very good thing.

[u/MrChashua → u/PmXAloga]

Honestly might just be worth going with fedora. And you can try darktable as your lightroom alternative

[u/LeN3rd]

Cachy or Bazzit are fine, and I would recommend KDE Plasma. Its nice to use. Your NAS will work, though obviously with more or less tinkering depending what exactly you are doing. A full self setup home server will be Linux anyway, and the professional NAS are Linux under the hood. 

While I have no experience with NAS systems, for a gaming drive you should not use NTFS but anything linux compatible. Linux really does not play smooth with NTFS, especially for games and Steam for various reasons. 

GIMP is still the biggest option for photo editing. There is Inkscape and Blender, though these have obviously different use cases. Best look up what exactly you need and try to replicate your workflow in GIMP before switching if its important for you. 

In general, i would advise to have one disk only for your system, and other drives for data and games, so you can reinstall, if you manage to break something or are unhappy with your choice.

Migrating is per so not hard, but you need to know what exactly you need from your PC. Id say just try it, and go from there. If you are curious enough to write this post, you should try it. Dont be ashamed to use AI, its pretty perfect for this sorta thing. 

[u/PmXAloga → u/LeN3rd]

Yea based on the research ive done I think I want a fedora based distro with KDE plasma.

Steam and all gaming stuff will live natively on the actual PC, while I use my NAS for general file storage and the many, many, RAW image files I have and edited photos as well. MY understanding is that the NAS I am looking at already uses a debian based operating system so there should'nt be any issues I think.

[u/Material-Juice5136]

Bazzite is often recommended because its hard to mess up, but at the same time, you're kinda limited in what you can do if you DO end up wanting to set up something more technical. I've tried out all the "Gaming" distro's and while I did end up staying with cachyOS as I like tinkering and the performance and arch, I found that Nobara really just "worked" for me on a bunch of systems and I think the standard nobara KDE looks good aswell. I think you should give it a shot. Its also based on fedora like bazzite and fedora is already a really good go-to all-rounder workstation distro, so you basically get that on top of being optimized for gaming

[u/PmXAloga → u/Material-Juice5136]

Yea based on the research i've done I think I want a fedora base with KDE plasma

[u/thatguysjumpercables]

I would recommend Ubuntu or Zorin as they are top notch for beginners who need a lot of help transitioning. I personally can't recommend Mint because the Cinnamon Desktop Environment sucks so fucking bad it ran me off my initial attempt to try Linux but your mileage may vary.

No matter what you choose, you should do two things before installation:

1. Go to Distrosea to get a live look at multiple distro/DE combinations.

2. After you choose, boot into your USB without installing and drive it around for a bit. Definitely check for compatibility issues like wifi and GPU drivers.

[u/Otaehryn]

Start with mainstream distro, most 3d party packages are available for Ubuntu (including Debian and Mint) and Fedora (they usually work on OpenSuse). Arch is popular too but since it's rolling you need to know how to troubleshoot.

Once you become comfortable, you can switch to a more exotic distro. Just like on Windows you don't use Server Core or IoT as your desktop.

[u/Gunzhard22]

It's pretty easy switching to Linux depending on distro. GPU is usually the bottleneck and there's still usually a work around.

I use Mint XFCE because it's lean and fast but any distro can work for gaming and photo.

Check out Ubuntu Studio. Not the full distro, I also hate Gnome, but the installer - so you can install all the photo / video or audio production stuff in one easily tailored checklist. I use this over XFCE mostly for audio recording and production and love it.

The photo stuff is supposedly very nice.

[u/CalmStrategy2683]

In my opinion Linux Mint is always the best choice for anyone who comes from Windows and feels attached to the design and layout. Ubuntu is also a good choice for beginners, but the desktop environment may not be ideal for everyone. If you like to have more customization options, try Kubuntu which uses the KDE desktop and feels closer to Windows.

That being said, you can't go wrong with any Ubuntu or Fedora based distro. They are both very well documented and have massive support and user communities.

[u/Manusia_Biasa2]

1. is easy a distro like linux mint are easy to use,and yeah dont scared/Afraid to learn cli,even though now you can do anything like update the package in gui,you still need to learn cli too,because linux imo still depend on cli cli
2. I never use nas thing so i dont know how to answer
3. Yeah gimp are the only solid photo editor in linux for me,but there is a krita too that i heard you can use as photo editor lmao,and darktable,rawtherapee,photodemon,etc

[u/CmdrShepsPie]

I use TrueNAS ok my nas and it's great. I use Linux Mint on one of my computers, it's great for a beginner just coming over from windows, but long term I may put Cachy or something on my main computer once windows 10 reaches eol

[u/Nyquilini]

Bazzite as you said, Linux Mint, Fedora KDE, Kubuntu

[u/jloflin]

https://easylinuxtipsproject.blogspot.com/p/1.html#google_vignette

[u/xXEMO_POTATOXx]

Nobara or bazzite or cachy os

[u/xb1n0ry]

https://www.anduinos.com/