I’m sick of Windows, and especially what it’s become, and the way its trending looks like it will only get worse. I’ll be building a brand new PC this summer and want to choose a Linux Distro instead. In preparation, I’d like to try out a virtual machine with a Linux distribution. I am solidly familiar with Ubuntu, but I think it’s time to try something that may cater to my specific needs more.

I use my machine for work and gaming (mostly Steam). I am a fullstack software developer and use a second MacBook as well for my daily work needs.

I’ve had Manjaro, and OpenSUSE recommended to me by a friend who likes both of them but he doesn’t game much and doesn’t need various software development tools.

Are Manjaro or OpenSUSE good choices? I know there’s a tonne of distros out there, and I’m trying to narrow things down a bit. Hopefully this community has some helpful advice.

Thanks in advance!

  • penquin@lemm.ee
    0·
    6 months ago

    To me, a distro doesn’t really matter (unless you’re gonna be gaming), as long as you pick one of the popular ones. It’s the desktop environment that you’ll need to choose. My only advice to you is to go full red with your new PC, AMD all the way. That way, you won’t need to mess with drivers or any of Nvidia’s shenanigans. Everything is baked into the kernel and is plug and play. I write software, too, and I use Endeavour OS, and have been for the last 2.5 years. Not suggesting that you use it (this is something you’ll have to conclude for yourself), but this is what I use and I love it. For gaming, I’d pick a distro that ships new packages (rolling release), so you’re always caught up on the latest improvements for gaming on Linux. We also have distros that are fully dedicated for gaming, like Nobara, Bazzite… Etc.