My vote is for Manjaro.
I have tried Ubuntu, Xubuntu, Kbuntu, Ubuntu Mate, Mint Xfce Mate and a few others every 2years for the last 12 years. I find for me all Ubuntu versions frustrating. All my frustrations went away with Manjaro xfce4. Linux is like car buying where you do not have to worry about price just what you like. Give a few distros a try get some dvds to burn iso onto and load them play around and when you find the one you like install.
I like this Distro so much that I do not want to go back to windows and play the games that I can not get running on Manjaro. I have just been buy games that work on linux and having a good time learning things about linux get them onsale at GOG.
Windows 10 made me a Linux convert.
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Just wondering, what got you frustrated at ubuntu? I'm relatively fresh to linux.
I'd just like to interject for a moment. What you’re referring to as Linux, is in fact, GNU/Linux, or as I’ve recently taken to calling it, GNU plus Linux. Linux is not an operating system unto itself, but rather another free component of a fully functioning GNU system made useful by the GNU corelibs, shell utilities and vital system components comprising a full OS as defined by POSIX.
I'm going to agree with @RissViss here, I use ubuntu just about everywhere but I put manjaro on my laptop and I have to say it is pretty slick and while I won't be using it for my VM servers, I will probably continue to use it on my new laptop when it arrives.
The programs provided you have a store where there are a few programs that may or may not work minecraft in ubuntu mate refused to install and it was in there store. Synapic packet manager vs Pamac. Synapic is for me trying to do to much in one space cluttered. Pamac is more clean using taps to show you the things you like. apt-get vs pacman, for one thing typing apt-get vs pacman pacman is faster the command for pacman are more like old dos commands sudo pacman -S skype this will ask for you pass word and the -S is install. There are other commands that are more condensed in Pacman = Arch and apt-get = Uduntu. I found after watching these videos that I knew where I was going and what to do a lot better.
I found the Command Line Interface commands easier in Manjaro, preinstalled programs, I can get into windows easier just plug in my windows hard drive and it will detect it on startup and give you the option to run windows. I think this is done with Grub which many or many not be added to other linux distros. Still very new to Linux. Newer kernels, The Arch User Repository or AUR. The people who use just Arch are on the cutting edge of Linux so you ask these people for help, I find they know what they are talking about. I am just happy using this distro and I am willing to tell that to anyone.
It all comes down to what you like.
Burn some Distos to DVD boot them up and break them, then try a different distro. I only tried Manjaro to mark it off my list and to say that linux was still in some major way not as good as windows. For me manjaro is so good that I do not even want to boot into windows to play my fav modded game skyrim. I am liking the way it runs and the games i do own that run on linux I am having a great time with. My stress levels are down.
Yeah I realised it's not going to be easy but with a lot more games supporting Linux it will be easier than it was.
With the likes of GOG and steam providing Linux versions I think I'll have an easier time. And if I really struggle I can just dual boot.
that's fair, just didn't want to give the impression that every game works now.
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I use Linux Deepin and its fantastic.
Personally I always come back to Debian testing. It's called testing but it's not the test-bed so to speak. That's what the experimental and unstable/sid branches are for. It makes for a good daily driver in my opinion.
I'm a little partial to Centos myself, but most of my experience is with using it on servers. Its the community built version of Red Hat, so it tends to be very stable. If I was switching from Windows to Linux on my desktop it would be my pick, but I would end up upgrading some of the software to newer versions.
With the idea of running a few different different distro am I able to have multiple ones on a single usb drive?
You mean full installations or installers (ISOs)?
I'd say probably, if you know how to configure and install GRUB.
Hello there and welcome to Linux:) When you ask what distro you should use, inevitably everyone is going to recommend the distro they are using. This may or may not be helpful to you. They aren't being fan boys or fan girls. There is a simple logic behind their recommendations. They are using their particular distro because they like it. No one is going to use a distro that they don't like when their are so many choices out there.
I would like to recommend my distro Ubuntu Mate. However, I saw your video card and that presents a problem. I cannot recommend any other Ubuntu Mate version other than 16.04. Their version of 14.04 is not official. It's buggy and I believe they may have even taken down the download link to it. The only previous version that is still supported is 15.10 which has just a few weeks worth of life. That's not even worth installing as far as I am concerned.
The reason I like Ubuntu Mate for new users is because of the Welcome App that appears on start up. It explains everything about the system without dumbing it down and it's written in the language that I am currently typing. It also has a getting started feature that will allow you to set up your system just by clicking buttons and typing in your password. The software boutique has the best apps (barring Qt) and they are also easy to install. It's nice:)
Now, the bad news: Some people are having trouble with their AMD Gpu's and others aren't. The problems pertain that at the time of release their was no proprietary driver support. Sometimes the open source driver works fine. I have no way of knowing. I have an Intel mobile Gpu.
Here are your options as I see them. If anyone else has more suggestions or see a mistake in my recommendations, feel free to chime in. I have a very thick skin if the criticism is polite and constructive.
Give it a try. Install Ubuntu Mate on a flash drive. run your system in a live session and if it works, that means the open driver is good enough. The live session will not make any changes to your computer. When you pull the drive out, everything vanishes.
If that doesn't work, buy a new card. You said you were in the market for a new one. I saw a comment suggesting you buy RX 480. That was a good recommendation. It also now has driver support in 16.04. Here is the link:
http://news.softpedia.com/news/amdgpu-pro-driver-16-30-officially-released-with-support-for-ubuntu-16-04-lts-505813.shtml
If you decide not to purchase a new card for whatever reason, and neither of the two options work- I would go with another distro.
Some suggestions:
Ubuntu(Unity) 14.04. It still supports proprietary AMD. This might be a good place holder until 16.04 catches up. It's supported until 2019. So, there is plenty of time.
Elementary Freya. It's very stable, simple, and newcomer friendly. It's based on Ubuntu 14.04.
Linux Mint 17.3 Rosa. It's very polished and based on Ubuntu 14.04.
The reason that I recommend Ubuntu based distros to newcomers is because of support. If you run into problems, the solutions are much easier to find on Google as opposed to distros like Fedora and Arch. I still use Ubuntu based distros due to my laziness. I hate lurking through forums looking for solutions to my problems.
I hope this was helpful
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The vast amount os choices when one is introduced to Linux sure takes some getting used to, it's just the Linux way of being free mindset, i suggest you have a external hard drive for the stuff you use daily and try distributions on a separate HDD/SSD.
There is a lot of interesting distributions give them some time each and you will find your preference. personally i run Mint on my desktop, and Xubuntu on my laptop, most games native Linux the rest in WINE, works all right although i should add that i'm not playing AAA titles.
Also check the recent video on BASH on Tek Linux, i guess command line is not super important in the beginning but it sure is powerful.
Good luck with Linux and remember that in the beginning it's easy to be stuck in the windows mindset of doing things which can be frustrating for some people but give it some time :)
Good Luck!
Was having trouble with unetbootin but redownloading got it to work.
I've chosen to start with mint and go from there. Thanks a bunch for your help!
Best Mint: LMDE Mate.
@eidolonFIRE thanks for giving info on Debian, it's indeed a big and famous distro that should be mentioned. I didn't include it because I have no personal experiance with it. (Other than Ubuntu ofcourse)
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unetbootin isn't very good. I was having issues with some usb drives not working correctly I started Using LILO
Unetbootin is slow and don't work for many distros. Try Rufus on Windows,.
SUSE Studio Imagewriter is excellent and never failed me for many distros, but no longer easily available for windows
YUMI - but very mixed results, many distros don't install, or fail to boot
No way can i engage on that. If had a flame war over bread we all end up with toast!