Which distro is right for me?

Software & Operating Systems Linux
1

Looking for recommendations
I did some research, and from what I gathered, is that I won’t really matter which I pick, as I can change things to suit my needs.
Linux Mint, and Zorin 12 are the ones I have been suggested, I am fine with anything that works.

Will I have any issues fitting the installs on a 100~250gb partition? or should I just give it the full Nvme?

What I want to do
-Input Director Alternative [Synergy/other program]
-PIA either in browser or whole system
-Link Aggregation [Because Win10 pro says no]
-Shift from windows to Linux
-CIFS/SMB connection to Freenas system [This is how things are currently shared to my network]
-Use Wine/Steam for gaming
-Ability to watch media in a program with similar capabilitys of MPC-HC [fine with changing programs]
I intend to run a dual boot for games I cannot run via Wine or standard install in Linux

My Day to day use, is heavy browsing the web, Playing games, Using Discord [Yeti Blue Mic], accessing my file server/ Watching media files from file server.
I plan to dual boot my current win10 and the new linux, I do work on computers and such often, so I will also need windows for when I make boot disks and such. Until I learn to do this in Linux.

System Main/Gaming
i7 7700k
GTX 1060 3GB
32GB Ram
ASUS TUF z270 Mark I

I do also Intend to Dual boot my laptop when I can find a Msata for a good price.
Dell E6440
i7 dual core
16gb ram

Thanks again, you guys are always a big help.

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3

I like OpenSuse. Its one of the distro’s that feels very mature vs other ones.
If you don’t feel like suse, you can hit up Fedora (RHEL), its also mature - lil different tho.

(I dislike Ubuntu based systems, they are mainly trashy - and immature.)
(debian became very similar to ubuntu with gnome 3+, i lost all respect to it.)

In terms of features, software etc; all of the software for linux can be compiled for each of distributions - even if installer or something is not supplied - as long as you have generic linux files you can use it.

4

I like Mint, One thing you can try is if you have a spare PC you can mess around with different distro’s and see which one works best for you

5

Both Mint and Zorin are based on Ubuntu. You need to know Ubuntu puts out releases every 6 months. Every 2 years one of those releases is an LTS (long term support) that is supported for 5 years. The non-LTS releases are supported for 9 months.

The current Mint release, 19, is based on the current Ubuntu LTS, 18.04. Zorin is currently based on the previous but still in support LTS, 16.04.

The vast majority of software available to a Mint user or a Zorin user or a user of any other Ubuntu-based distribution comes directly from Ubuntu’s repositories.

Almost every Linux install ISO can be booted and evaluated in a live mode. If you haven’t done that, do so. It’s a very good way to see if you like the interface AND to check hardware compatibility. (Almost all Linux drivers are in the kernel. You don’t need to chase around for them. So live mode is an effective test mechanism.)

Here’s an important exception: Nvidia does not release an open source driver and does not release enough technical data to allow the open source driver (Nouveau) to be particularly competitive or, in some instances, usable. Ubuntu, and, hence, its derivatives, provide the proprietary Nvidia driver and make it installable via a separate tool, tagged "Additional Drivers or “Driver Manager” or similar. This is probably the easiest and most reliable way to install that driver. (The Linux kernel and the Nvidia driver are developed independently and there is no assurance that the latest release of either will work with the other. Stick with the, at least ostensibly, distro-tested mix of both.)

6

Sounds like you don’t need anything terribly specific, so I’d recommend Ubuntu or Mint, or alternatively Fedora if you want to play around with the system more.

Also, regarding your NAS, consider enabling NFS for your *nix hosts, as it will perform much better. SMB is still possible and supported in all of the distros I mentioned.

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I prefer Debian based distros, I find them more user friendly and there’s a larger user base.
Inside the Debian family MX Linux stands out for all the right reasons: easy to install, full featured out of the box (the MX tools are precious) stable, light, very active and friendly forums.

1 Like
8

Start with either! There’s tons of posts even here on the level1 forums on how to get some extra features out of say steam/gaming - what I can recall mainly for ubuntu and fedora. I can almost guarantee you will be jumping around a tiny bit until you find your distro-calling ;). I would recommend a dedicated drive for it, what ever you choose just to make it a bit easier for you. All the things you have listed can mainly be handled straight from within a graphical enviroment, or like I stated earlier - the rest already have guides available. Good hunting!

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Alright, Took your guys insite, along with some of my coworkers. I installed Manjoro On an extra drive and trying that out for two weeks, then I will try, Mint and Solus.

Biggest issue I have had with Monjoro so far has been discord not wanting to install, and Driver issues with my 1060 [25fps in CS:GO] But other than those two. I like it so far.

11

As you said, it doesn’t matter too much as any distro can do what you need.

I personally recommend Kubuntu. For Steam and Gaming i stick to Ubuntu because most games will be evaluated on that. And most Articles that aren’t uber technical include Ubuntu instructions.
Also, I highly recommend KDE over Gnome, but that’s a personal choice :wink: