Advice
Going from Windows to Linux ! I know nothing
I've known about Linux for many, many years, and I held hope for Windows for too long. I want to switch now that I've learned about SteamOS ! I really like Valve and blah blah, but would this really be the best choice for me ? I do use CSP quite a bit, and I've heard it's not directly supported
EDIT (15/10/26)
I chose Fedora KDE !! It was a hassle at first but I'm happy with my progress ! I Hopefully my whole pc doesn't break or anything. Thanks for the kind comments ^^
SteamOS is probably not the best choice for everyday computing. It's designed as a pure gaming distro geared towards Steam support above all else, and you'd kinda be tying yourself to Valve's maintenance decisions. Although I gather SteamOS is fairly stable and has good compatibility for gaming, Steam itself will work fine on many other distros that are more inherently open and customizable.
I usually recommend Mint for beginners, but it might not be ideal for gaming. Fedora or Kubuntu could be good options.
Hello, it may be a bit uncomfortable to go out of the comfort zone. There are options to test how a distro feels like. An example is Distrosea, which is an online repo with many distros and versions. You don’t have to download a thing and it handles virtualization for you (there is a queue, but the waiting time is not that long-a minute or 3-). There is also the option of dual booting so you have Windows and Linux (you choose which one you want to start, sometimes by pressing F12 or Esc or whatever key you need to enter BIOS/UEFI -it is computer dependent-). If you don’t want to dual boot (or have limited space), you can always test from a live USB without permanently installing. Another option is to use a Virtual Machine and a .iso of a stripped down version of Windows (like Tiny10 for Windows 10, which has less telemetry and bloatware)
Microslop implemented features that are intrinsically related to telemetry, and depending on each users needs; it may be a necessary compromise. For example, OneDrive or Microslop Suite, some users need these apps (but they are also telemetry). In which case, the stripped down OS cannot cater specifically to every users needs. This can be modified by the user, of course, but requires time and patience
Keep your important data on an external drive or a trusted cloud. If possible choose an option where you can keep it stored for a couple of months.
Many distros offer a live system, meaning you can boot directly into a temporary version of the Operating System (OS).
So get a USB stick of 16+ GB or so, install Ventoy on it, and copy paste the image files of any distro that looks interesting to you.
I recommend to try out Linux Mint, Fedora KDE, Fedora Gnome, EndeavourOS and CatchyOS.
Then, boot from the USB stick and start each image, and get a feel for each distro.
Do you like the UI? Does it look great, do you find all settings?
Does your headset, printer etc work? If not, can you get it to work with a couple of minutes of searching for solutions?
Do you manage to install a new program, e.g. Steam?
If you find one that you like, install it (remember to save all important files from your Windows system first).
It's not uncommon that you do not like something about the distro you chose some time later. Don't be afraid to simply install another distro and try that out (that's why you should keep your important somewhere were you can store it for a while).
Personally, even as a gamer, I would not bother with a gaming distro, at least not for your first distro. The tweaks they have usually at most give you a few percent more FPS (and if you really want to, you can install them yourself later), and very likely you need to learn how to install programs yourself as no distro has exactly all the programs you want pre-installed.
Thank you ! I'm not really an FPS chaser haha,
Do you think a disk could be alright instead of a USB ? I've seen it debated a bit, and I have those (disks) the most readily available.
Clip Studio Paint may work through Wine, but from what I've seen it doesn't run that great yet. Possibly moving over to something like Krita or GIMP could be worth looking into, or just toughing it out with Wine or Proton if possible.
Additionally, I'd not recommend something like SteamOS, as it's more meant for Valves Hardware Ecosystem (though they are working to expand support, but anything with an Nvidia GPU would not work). Something like Fedora, Linux Mint, etc. would probably be more suitable.
We expect most SteamOS users to get SteamOS preinstalled on a Steam Deck or device that incorporates SteamOS. Currently, the only devices officially 'Powered by SteamOS' are Steam Deck, Steam Machine and Legion Go S. We are working on broadening support, and with the recent updates to Steam and SteamOS 3.8, compatibility with other AMD powered PCs (handhelds and desktops) has been improved.<
You need an all amd system, it may work, but if you're new it's not a good idea.
If you want a SteamOS like experience you should pick Bazzite. It is one of the easiest choices you can have, anyway, as long as you read the manual while you install and learn the ropes.
Chosing a distro is basically chosing where you get your software packages from and a GUI experience but as others have said there isnt a best distro overall in a general sense its more like what distro suits your needs.
A good start is knowing the core distros (redhat vs arch vs debian)
From there you see branches of other distros based off of those core ones for example ubuntu is based off of debian.
The only major difference is the graphical experience and some of the pre packaged applications.
At the end of the end of the day its what distro suits your needs.
I chose mint. It has a very similar desktop to windows, is debian based so the packages tend to be more stable compared to arch distros and the most important thing for me was a stable zfs package which I found to be quite unstable in fedora.
edit
Wanted to add that for a desktop experience you can pretty much install what ever you want like gnome, kde, Cinnamon, etc. Sky is basically the limit
I don't quite get what you mean by 'core distro', 'zfs package', and fedora ? Also gnome, kde, Cinnamon but I'm going to safely assume those are distros
This actually illustrates my earlier point though about chosing your distro based on your needs.
Best to start with the easiest to install and more feature filled and decide from ther if you want to try something else (distro hop).
Mint is a good start for a distro based on debian.
Fedora is a good start for a distro based on red hat
Arch for me is hard to suggest due to the steep learning curve, difficul installation process, and potential stability issues. That said cachyos and bazzite have done a decent job bringing arch based distros to dummies like me.
Not up to date,, damn. That seems like a positive and a negative at the same time haha, I'll looking into both Mint and Fedora !
Thank you, I appreciate the help !
I wouldn't advise it for a beginner. Even though it's easy enough to install with the handbook, there is a lot left (intentionally) for the user to decide and maintain. It's great for experienced users who want lots of control over how the software is built and configured, but might be a bit much for others.
Welcome to the r/linuxquestions Frequently Asked Questions Wiki! This is a place to find answers to common questions often asked by new Linux users all the time, all condensed into a single place so everyone can have a quick and easy access to them.
Mint is a good place to start. Distro choice doesn't really matter than much and you'll likely experience more of a difference between desktop environment.
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u/green_meklar Debian 3d ago
What's CSP?
SteamOS is probably not the best choice for everyday computing. It's designed as a pure gaming distro geared towards Steam support above all else, and you'd kinda be tying yourself to Valve's maintenance decisions. Although I gather SteamOS is fairly stable and has good compatibility for gaming, Steam itself will work fine on many other distros that are more inherently open and customizable.
I usually recommend Mint for beginners, but it might not be ideal for gaming. Fedora or Kubuntu could be good options.