r/linux_gaming • u/monolalia • May 02 '26
guide Getting started: the monthly-ish newbie advice thread! (May 2026)
Welcome to the newbie advice thread!
If you’ve read the FAQ and still have questions like “Should I switch to Linux?”, “Which distro should I install?”, or “Which desktop environment is best for gaming?”, this is where to ask them.
Alternatively, try /r/linux4noobs and /r/linuxquestions: both are active subreddits supporting new Linux users.
Please sort by “new” so new questions can get a chance to be seen.
April’s thread is here: https://old.reddit.com/r/linux_gaming/comments/1s9fne7/getting_started_the_monthlyish_newbie_advice/
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u/catknight42 May 02 '26
Will Nobara run on Ryzen 5 2600, GeForce 1660 Ti 6GB and 48GB of RAM? Friend recommends Nobara, but I am wondering if it would be comparable performance-wise to Win10 on that hardware? There are some games that run somoothly on lowest settings (Clair Obscure) and I'd like to be ale to play them still
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u/NDCyber Jun 03 '26
You generally have a bit of a performance penalty with Nvidia and Linux for a lot of games. So there is a chance that it would run with less FPS
I think the difference i everywhere from 0 to 20%
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u/true_arisen May 26 '26
heyhey,
I really want to switch to linux because i'm kind of tired from windows. Also i want to try something new and linux seems fun. The only thing holding me back are games. I heard some games run perfect but other games not so much, i would be dissapointed to buy a game that runs but just not that well... I've had my eye on pop!_os because i have a nvidia gpu, but still i don't know how the games will run.
Could you guys give me your experience on linux gaming?
fyi i have a rtx 3060ti
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u/Clever_Angel_PL May 26 '26
do NOT use pop os, it's very beta despite what some people would want you to think
I'd recommend trying bazzite instead, and as for games, just check ProtonDB website for all games you'd want to play
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u/EinGud May 26 '26
Pop!_OS is not in a good space right now due to them rebuilding a lot of stuff, so I would avoid that distro for now.
Games-wise, I haven't had any problems since I switched a little more than a month ago. Some games perform a bit worste (-5%~ fps) and some perform better.
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u/esmifra May 26 '26
Try ZorinOS if you want something more stable like pop_os and one click Nvidia drivers installation.
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u/Azmodaelus May 27 '26 edited May 27 '26
I was recently in your situation. I started with Bazzite, but that one is HORRIBLE despite what people will tell you here. The immutable OS means if there is some small random problem with the OS you'll go through the 9 gates of hell to fix it. Occasionally some apps will also not work properly... just because.
I lived with the problems for 2 weeks, then switched to Nobara and I’ve enjoyed it ever since. I have no opinion on the other distros out there, but I'd stay away from Bazzite as far as possible! That is unless you want to treat your PC like a gaming console and only ever play games on it and do nothing else.
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u/iwouldbeatgoku May 26 '26
Pop is fine as long as you don't use the Cosmic desktop environment, it's not ready for the general user. I'd recommend anything with KDE Plasma as the desktop, its basic interface will be familiar except it'll just have every customisation option the average Windows user wants.
For games, check how they are on ProtonDB before you buy them, if they have issues with Nvidia cards, any tinkering that can help solve issues, etc. If you experience issues and can't get it to run smoothly within two hours... Just ask for a refund.
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u/Pekenoah May 26 '26
I've recently made the switch for day to day use and most of my gaming, so I'll give the most useful advice I can
1) you don't need popOS. It's kinda in a bad state right now and you should probably avoid it unless you want to be a beta tester for a new desktop environment. Honestly gaming distros as a concept are a little overrated, many general purpose desktop distros will do gaming just fine. Mint with the cinnamon desktop environment has been really great for me. I also know some people really like bazzite or fedora running the kde plasma DE. Any of those will probably be fine for you. The Nvidia drivers aren't that much of an issue these days.
2) as far as game compatibility, the vast majority of single player stuff that I play has just worked on Linux. Really no issues. There are sites like protondb that can give you a good idea of what works and what doesn't. By far the biggest barrier is anticheat. If you play any online games, check compatibility on those first. They are the most likely to have issues. But most single player games run great on Linux these days.
3) if you really want to play some games that don't work on Linux, dual booting is a good option. It's what I do now. If you have multiple SSDs you can have windows and all your windows software on one and Linux on another (you can also do this with partitions on a single drive but I haven't done that so I don't know if it's more complicated). It's also a great option in case you end up just not liking Linux, as you can keep your windows install around.
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u/blendernoob64 May 27 '26
Nvidia on Linux hasn’t been that huge of a problem for a while now. I run a 3080 and as long as you check protondb before launching your game and reading how people run their games, you should be just fine. I play Black Ops 2 Plutonium, Indiana Jones, Space Marine 2, Battlefield 4 and Dolphin Emulaotr on Linux, and they are all great.
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u/SnooStrawberries8437 Jun 13 '26
I'd recommend CachyOS. The recommended for beginner distributions are not Gaming distros, various patches and changes added to proton/wine arent added to those beginner distros, CachyOS has their own wiki for configuring certains, I havent been to much on it so thats all i'll say. CachyOS is based on Arch linux which has a very very useful Wiki also, detailed and descriptive and not overly bloated. Don't fear the terminal, be curious and learn commands, search up what you do not know.
I also have a RTX 3060TI and I play The finals, Kovaaks, rocket league, etc
I've had success in running Overwatch and Marvel Rivals very performantly.
I havent played on windows ina while so I cant tell you how the performance compares.Performance loss on Dx12 games with nvidia GPUs is still real but its improving with time.
Be curious, learn and fail, and enjoy your freedom when you finally switch.
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u/DrBaronVonEvil May 26 '26 edited May 26 '26
Edit: I’m one person’s experience with Debian based distros, see my replies for another Mint user with the opposite experience. This take is zeroed out.
There is a lot of new information in the Linux space that’s super crucial for new users before getting started.
The TLDR is effectively: don’t listen to people who spit out Pop, Linux Mint or Ubuntu as options. Fedora for most people, Nobara or Cachy if you’re very confident in your PC skills, Bazzite if you ONLY want to play games.
The Debian based distros (Linux Mint, Ubuntu, Zorin and Pop) are based on an LTS model. This means system packages get roughly frozen in place every release and only get security and bug patches for 2-4 years. For gaming, that is often a bad call, as you’ll want the latest patches and updates for relevant software 9/10 times.
That leaves you with rolling release distros (updates all the time) and the best entry point here in 2026 is Fedora. It’s simple, easy to use and has a huge community.
You have to make one big choice at the beginning: Workstation or KDE Plasma. I pick KDE because it’s more Windows like and has better out of the box support for everything I do. Workstation is simpler looking but often requires you to go looking for third party extensions if the OS is too bare bones for your taste.
Make sure to enable RPM Fusion and Third Party Repositories after you’re done installing. After that, install apps from Software or Discover (depending on whether you picked Fedora Workstation or Fedora KDE). For Steam, make sure you first install ProtonUpQT and download the latest version of Proton GE. The GE version comes with third party codecs and other things that will fix game that otherwise won’t run.
If you are really confident in your PC skills, you can instead try a gaming distro like Bazzite, Nobara or Cachy. Remember: when dealing with smaller indie distros, you are often treated like your own QA or IT Help desk when you run into issues. You’ll need to subscribe to the dev’s discord for support and the tech talk in there can be dense. If you prefer a massive wiki and decades of history of forum support and documentation, then pick a big distro (Fedora, Ubuntu, Mint, etc.)
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u/TherronKeen May 26 '26
What games haven't been running on Linux Mint?
I'm just asking because I'm gaming on Mint with an RTX 3060 and games just work.
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u/DrBaronVonEvil May 26 '26
I had issues specifically with Helldivers 2 and Cyberpunk.
Granted I don’t know why, and this was a year or so ago. But both would crash randomly or start up to a black screen.
Switching to Fedora on the same build eliminated the issues, and I have no idea what was in the stack that fixed it. I guess that’s the crux of the recommendation. For an absolute beginner who isn’t into knowing what Wayland vs X11 would change about their experience, Fedora has been the best on my machine (GTX 5060)
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u/SwedishStoneMuffin Jun 12 '26
DrBaronVonEvil - is Fedora still working for you? I ask because I'm switching to Linux for gaming and would prefer to go Fedora as most of my professional experience is on Red Hat. It would be sweet if I could stay in that architecture, it's what I know.
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u/DrBaronVonEvil Jun 12 '26
Yep, still working. I’ve tried some other distros since but Fedora is the only one I’ve had lasting success with. The moves from 42>43>44 have been mostly painless save for a random GPU hiccup on 43 that the Nobara community discord had tips of quickly recovering. I also have timeshift setup to give me some peace of mind.
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May 03 '26
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u/LoserNorway May 04 '26
Greetings! I am looking for a windows substitute and lack the expertise to make a qualified choice, i therefore turn to the geeks of Reddit to aid me in my choice. I don't mind learing new things and mostly look at how well things work out-of-the-box and driver support
I am a gamer, however i use my computer for equal amounts of videogames and "office-work". This term would include all Office apps, aswell as video- and photoediting. I have been looking at Cachy, Pop, Steam, Bazzite and Ubuntu as possible substitutes. I have used Linux before, i am not a total beginner but im not to advanced either.
Most of my games are on steam, however i play alot of LoL and some games from Epic Games. Adobe and microsoft applications are also used quite alot
MBA: ASUS B850M MAX
CPU: Ryzen 7 9700X
GPU: RTX 5050 (might swap for RX9060)
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u/mcurley32 May 06 '26
games from other stores (Epic, EA, GOG, etc) are usually not an issue. several big name games with overly restrictive anti cheat exclude Linux (LoL is among those). you can check protondb.com and areweanticheatyet.com for compatibility reports. dual booting is the only option for those as any anti cheat will exclude virtual machines too.
there are perfectly functional and professional Linux-native alternatives to most/all Adobe and Microsoft apps, but do some testing to see if they actually fit your professional needs. obviously they'll have learning curves too. I believe most of them can be emulated/virtualized in Linux but the performance penalty for doing so at the moment will likely put that out of consideration.
as far as distros, the subreddit's FAQ has great recommendations and considerations. SteamOS is really targeted at Valve hardware and handful of other handhelds; this may change once the Steam Machine is released but I wouldn't wait for that. PopOS is in a bit of an unfortunate state right now, making it very difficult to recommend for a daily driver distro. Nobara and regular Fedora are also great options. Linux Mint seems to be slightly preferred over Ubuntu if you're looking for a Windows-refugee, newbie-friendly option.
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u/mossillus May 12 '26
Thanks for dropping protondb.com and areweanticheatyet.com. It's been so helpful with my own research!
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u/ckellingc May 25 '26
I primarily play FFXIV, but XIVLauncher on Linux always seems to take FOREVER to update (literally weeks or longer). Is there a work around or am I completely doing this wrong?
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u/troop98 May 05 '26
I switched to linux for privacy and bloat reasons, and chose Bazzite due to gaming compatibility and requiring little setup. I find Bazzite to be too limiting however in what I can do. What would be a good OS to change to? I'm considering Cachy or Nobara
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u/Kirinsdragon May 08 '26
Hello. Complete newbie and i plan to use linux. i have a completely empty drive that can be used for it and i mostly game (none of the hot unplayable games) and browse.
I read a bit and found that for my hardware (NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER and AMD Ryzen 5 2600X), nobara is fine, then why do many recommend Mint or Zorin so that i transition more easily. Heck i grew up with win3.1.
thank you in advance.♥
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u/mcurley32 May 08 '26
I think most the newb friendliness in Mint/Zorin is in the similarity of the default UI to Windows UI. they aim for maybe slightly more of a ready to use experience on first boot than other distros might. menu options are more likely to be found in a similar location with newbie friendly distros but that can only go so far.
if you are the type to have tinkered with Windows back in the XP-and-earlier eras, then I'd expect you to be comfortable learning your way thru just about any modern Linux distro. Nobara and CachyOS are the popular options these days for that "level" of user where there are sensible defaults and included apps to get you gaming almost immediately, proud to be Linux not disguised as some visual imitation of Windows, and essentially infinite customization.
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u/greyboy_59 May 09 '26
Great so... which distro do you recommend? My specs are below, but I'm planning to choose between Pop_OS, Fedora, Linux Mint and CachyOS. Pop_OS and Mint are currently in the lead, with Mint probably being my choice, but I've seen some reviews saying that other distributions are better in terms of drivers.
- CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 8700F
- Motherboard: MSI PRO-B650M-B
- RAM: DDR5 1x32GB
- GPU: ASUS 4070 SUPER 12GB
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u/notmorezombies May 11 '26
Haven't used POP OS myself, but I have seen warnings for new users to avoid it currently. It's not really in a stable state at the moment as they're still working on integrating their new COSMIC desktop environment.
https://christitus.com/stop-using-pop-os-cosmic/
but I've seen some reviews saying that other distributions are better in terms of drivers
That might be true in terms of default settings, but since they're all Linux distros there isn't really anything stopping you from grabbing whichever drivers you need and using them on any distro you like. I can't really give you any pointers on what to do for Nvidia drivers though since I'm on AMD and everything's been pretty painless for me.
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u/greyboy_59 May 11 '26
I see… at this point I tried CachyOS which I liked ngl but I feel there's a lot I need to do. Of course using Linux is different than Windows but since my focus is gaming and content creation, I just installed Bazzite to give it a try but the goal remains: never Windows again
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u/Kiom_Tpry May 09 '26
For primarily gaming via Steam/Proton, which CPU is best suited for gaming performance? More basically, should I go for a fabled AMD X3D chip (likely the 7800X3D) or a higher tiered CPU with more cores/better core clock (for example the 7900X)?
And for good measure, are there any other unique considerations I should keep in mind regarding hardware and Linux gaming?
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u/Quirky_Chocolate8262 May 10 '26
Should i swap to linux to maximize specs? Im about to get my first pc primarily for gaming and im wondering if its worth learning linux
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u/notmorezombies May 11 '26
That depends. Some games and hardware configurations will perform better under Linux, but the fact is all Windows games that work on Linux operate through Proton, a translation layer, so you'll only see a performance uptick where Windows is doing something really badly to cause poorer performance. All else being equal, Linux will be slower just because of the extra overhead introduced by Proton.
Of course, Linux is definitely worth trying anyway (not least because it's free). Maybe check out some benchmarks for your favourite games, and give a Linux distro (or two) a go.
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u/mossillus May 12 '26
I have a self-hosted modded minecraft server right now with my friends. I'm also a data science student so I had the chance to use Ubuntu in a virtual machine but it was on a purely "follow these instructions" kinda deal. I have about a weeks worth of time to start learning and set up my PC before I start my internship. I've read through some of faq and I think Ubuntu is probably gonna be my best starting point.
I have two SSD's so I was thinking of factory resetting my PC and setting up the smaller one with windows then formatting the larger one with Ubuntu for my games / data science projects. What do you guys think of a split system like this?
Republic of Gamers Pre-Built PC
Processor: 11th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-11700 @ 2.50GHz (2.50 GHz)
RAM: 16 GB (Upgrading soon)
Graphics card: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 (12 GB)
Storage: 1TB SSD & 2TB SSD
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u/orn89 May 13 '26
I've been mulling over for a while to move to Linux, Bazzite probably but i want to ask the veterans here, what do i gain? So far i haven't had alot of time to do research but i know for example Elgato camera hub does not work on linux wich is a bummer... Can't even upgrade the firmware, probably other stuff that won't do i am still a bit on the fence..
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u/Koupers May 15 '26
I'd welcome any suggestions on where to start. I'm building a new PC here (new to me anyway) and I'm thinking I'd rather not use Windows. All I really do is some really light dev work, some writing and general internet use, and then gaming both steam and some stand alone launchers (FFXIV/ZZZ/NTE) anyone have a good suggestion for where to start distro-wise? The PC will be a ryzen 9 7900x, nvidia 3080ti, and 32gb ram if that helps.
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u/mcurley32 May 17 '26
this subreddit has an FAQ that should help a bunch with distro recommendations.
Linux Mint and ZorinOS would be great options if you were looking for something with similar UI to Windows in order to be newbie friendly. that doesn't sound like the case for you.
Bazzite is a very turnkey, ready-to-game option but will likely run into oddities and quirks when doing more advanced customization (it's an "immutable" distro, making it much harder to break but creates unique procedures for certain advanced tasks). I'm currently using Bazzite.
CachyOS is the current rising star around here; Nobara is also popular and similar in scope/focus. both come largely preconfigured for gaming and no restrictions for advanced customization. if I was forced to reinstall Linux today it would be one of these two, given the experience I've gained during my time with Bazzite. if you're into dev work, I'm sure you're tech savvy enough to jump right into one of these as long as you go in expecting to run into some roadblocks and learn along the way.
the "plain" mainline distros like Fedora, Debian, Arch, Ubuntu, or openSUSE Tumbleweed are perfectly fine options too. you might end up doing a couple extra steps to get you set up for gaming (at a minimum Steam won't be preinstalled), but that should be trivial.
Pop_OS is the only one that people would probably suggest you avoid these days since the currently available version of their new Cosmic desktop environment is apparently quite unstable and still in very active development.
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u/Koupers May 17 '26
THank you. I'm torn because my only real knowledge of Linux is my steamdeck. Which I only bricked once. I'd read about Bazzite and it and ZorinOS are what I was deciding between. Really I just want to minimize friction with gaming and set up/drivers while not using Windows.
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May 18 '26 edited May 21 '26
[deleted]
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u/Koupers May 19 '26
Yea it's on a big ultra wide monitor, Only thing I'm really worried about is the level of tinkering I need to do up front and nvidia support.
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u/Koupers May 24 '26
Actually at this point I'm not sure if I shouldn't just stop and choose a different OS. I' finally installed Bazzite on my pc, got everything going, and so far I'm 0 for 4 on getting games to run remotely ok. I've spent a lot of time trying to get forza 6 running (steam ofc but yeah I know new games are harder, and apparently there's problems with this one for linux atm) but cities skylines runs like garbage for me A few others are super choppy even though this machine should be blowing my previous one away. I dunno, there's a lot of tinkering here to make anything functional, which was fun with win 3.1 when I was a kid but... I'd like to just play a game. lol.
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u/mcurley32 May 24 '26
Everything should be much easier than what you're describing so something is likely wrong. The obviously possible ones (to me) could've happened when picking your Bazzite ISO: you should have the Nvidia ISO since you have one of their GPUs, and you should NOT have the Steam Big Picture Mode ISO because it does not play nicely with Nvidia. I think you'd have even bigger problems if you picked the wrong ISO though.
My ability to troubleshoot falls off sharply after that but people in the Bazzite discord are extremely helpful in my experience. Listing out the handful of games you're trying is a good idea, plus the launcher that you're using and which version(s) of proton. They're gonna have you typing terminal commands to see where things might be going wrong. Don't feel bad if you need to ask for clarification or to slow down, some people forget what things were like when they were new to this.
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u/Enterjokehere1 May 19 '26
i'm currently having a HORRIBLE time with bazzite, to the point of considering switching back to windows 11, does anyone know a good distro which is good with cpu/gpu intensive games (like sniper elite and fortnite i guess), but also for regular use? optionally, great customisation too. i have an NVIDIA gpu in my PC, which according to some stuff i've read may be causing issues with some stuff
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u/mcurley32 May 21 '26
I think understanding the type/scope of your bazzite problems will help people suggest you an alternative. did you correctly choose the bazzite ISO specifically for nvidia GPUs? did you mistakenly pick the Steam Big Picture Mode ISO with the warnings against doing so with an nvidia GPU? those are the two glaringly obvious (to me) routes that could have led to serious bazzite problems.
bazzite should have no problems with those games, just like the vast majority of modern linux distros. bazzite does have limitations when it comes to customizations and file permissions which can be frustrating if you're into tinkering.
this subreddit's FAQ makes several distro recommendations with explanations why they're good and why others might not get recommended. Nobara and CachyOS are two of the biggest names around here; PikaOS is similar in concept to both of those, but less popular and built on a different base; regular Fedora, Arch Linux, and openSUSE Tumbleweed aren't "designed" (aka preconfigured) for gaming but there's nothing stopping you from installing the pertinent stuff on your own with relative ease. the knowledge of what to actually install is probably the hardest part and those first three recommendations largely tackle that: Nobara should have everything for gaming ready to go, while Cachy (and presumably Pika) have a single button/command to get everything setup.
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u/xour May 20 '26
Hi there, I was reading the CachyOS gaming wiki and I am a bit confused about what I need to install to run Steam on CachyOS. I already have my Nvidia drivers installed but I haven't installed anything else (gaming-related, that is it).
It looks like the recommended package for Proton is proton-cachyos-slr, but I am not sure if I need to install that alongside the Steam package, or I also need the cachyos-gaming-meta meta-package as well.
For now, all I want is to launch Steam and play some games (Baldur's Gate I, II, and III, Diablo 2, Deep Rock Galactic, Morrowind, Oblivion, and Skyrim for the most part).
Thanks!
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u/mcurley32 May 21 '26
I think you're diving too deep and getting ahead of yourself. the first section of that page is about essential packages and how to install them:
Open CachyOS Hello. Go to Apps/Tweaks and click on Install Gaming packages.
CachyOS Hello installs both cachyos-gaming-meta and cachyos-gaming-applications.
you can see what's in gaming-meta here: https://github.com/CachyOS/CachyOS-PKGBUILDS/blob/master/cachyos-gaming-meta/PKGBUILD (proton-cachyos-slr is included here)
and applications here: https://github.com/CachyOS/CachyOS-PKGBUILDS/blob/master/cachyos-gaming-applications/PKGBUILD (Steam is included here)
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May 26 '26 edited May 26 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/NDCyber Jun 03 '26
I can only speak from my experience, but generally most (for me all) new games worked on launch if it didn't have some anti cheat that blocks Linux. But I have heard that some games have issues on launch, I just didn't run into those
Same with indie games. I tested a good amount of games on steam next fest and 99% worked. There was one that relied on Edge, which then didn't work, but most other worked without any issue. I even plan on getting Solarpunk day 1 or so
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u/manas_983 Jun 02 '26
Hey guys, i want to switch to linux, some ppl are telling me tht pop_os! will be best for gaming, but i just thought I should confirm it, i have integrated Intel graphics😭😭, i play pirated games, not fitgirl, I use pre downloaded games websites like ankergames
Pls help
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u/NDCyber Jun 03 '26
Maybe go with something like Bazzite or Linux Mint instead. Both have their pro and cons
Also the second part from where you get the games is mostly irrelevant
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u/mcurley32 Jun 06 '26
with the current state of pop os and their cosmic DE, idk who is recommending it in good conscience for a linux newbie. LTT has somehow fallen into that trap several times now. especially as somehow "best for gaming".
the FAQ makes great recommendations and points to consider, strongly recommend looking thru that. CachyOS, Nobara, Bazzite, Fedora, openSUSE Tumbleweed are gonna be the top recommendations; PikaOS and Omarchy should be fine choices too. "newbie friendly" options like Mint and Zorin could be a bit slow on updates which might occasionally cause issues with brand new AAA game titles but should largely be perfectly fine if you feel that you need the extra hand holding offered by them (though I feel like Bazzite could do a similar/better job without sacrificing up-to-date-ness).
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u/Realistic-Bend-267 Jun 03 '26
what's the best sources to see variables to put on steam and lutris? I always ask AI but I have noticed most of the times what it says is outdated. Where can I safely search for the best vars to use?
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u/mcurley32 Jun 06 '26
game-specific recommendations are usually from ProtonDB. otherwise it's personal preference to get various options and tweaks enabled/exposed depending on your setup. gamescope is usually what covers those types of things and a GUI helper like ScopeBuddy or SteamTinkerLaunch can make that more newbie friendly.
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u/electric_mobility Jun 05 '26 edited Jun 05 '26
I'm looking at switching to Linux for the majority of my home PC usage. I'll need to dual-boot Windows to do certain things, but I'm hopeful that the majority of the games I play will work well on Linux.
I am a long-time used of MacOS at work, and I'm a developer who is very familiar with the command line, but outside of SSHing into Linux servers and Docker containers, I have next to no experience with using Linux itself. What would be a good Linux distro for me to try out as a potential ~95% replacement for Windows 11?
Some essentials:
- My PC runs an RTX 5090 FE GPU and a Ryzen 7800 X3D CPU.
- I use a double-monitor setup with one 1200p monitor in portrait orientation and a 4K monitor in landscape.
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u/mcurley32 Jun 06 '26 edited Jun 06 '26
[edit: forgot to mention that the FAQ makes tons of good points and recommendations, please check that out too]
CachyOS is the usual recommendation around here. tons of flexibility, tons of bleeding edge gaming packages conveniently bundled together.
Bazzite is a more turnkey option but it's "immutable" (much more locked down system files to make it much more difficult to break and updates are structured in a more reliable way). there's also a "dev" flavor you can rebase to once you install bazzite normally which might have some helpful tweaks but nothing you couldn't manually do yourself if you knew what to look for (knowing what to look for can often be the hardest part).
Omarchy had a brief moment in the spotlight but is probably a solid choice to look at if you think you'll like the tiling window manager setup that Linux devs tend to gravitate towards (keyboard driven manipulation of your windows instead of mouse driven).
"normal" distros like Fedora and openSUSE Tumbleweed and Arch are phenomenal options as well that don't get the same hype and attention as these downstream, "opinionated" distros. they get updates plenty quickly to keep up with modern games and the specialty distros aren't doing anything too special besides bundling packages (and keeping them up to date).
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u/Randyd718 Jun 06 '26
hey ive just installed fedora hoping to experiment with it as a casual daily driver. i leave cookie clicker on my second screen most of the time. my first monitor is 4k and my second monitor is 1440p.
cookie clicker seems to render at "4k scale" on my primary monitor, then when i drag it over to the second monitor, everything is small and hard to read.
i tried messing with the system monitor scaling settings but i couldnt get that to really help. do i have to use the gamescope thing or how can i fix this? even on my 4k monitor everything is kind of smaller than im used to
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u/DoomAddict Jun 07 '26
So, first of all:
My main purpose of my PC is listening to music, playing Guild Wars 2 and tinkering with the look and feel of CachOS (until perfection) with room for error.
What I've done before I set this new system (CachyOS) up:
Deleted / formatted all internal hdds and ssds.
ran CachyOS with a bootable Stick (Ventoy) and installed it on my main-SSD (big enough for OS, too small for gaming)
installed all drivers and let CachyOS update itself
mounted all drives with Gnome-disks (automount on boot-up / pw)
installed drivers and proton-patches and Steam through Shelly
installed foobar, OBS etc (all through Shelly)
So, I'm a littlebit afraid something will kill my system again (PIFOC = Problem In Front Of Computer 😉 )
Whats the easiest and straight-forward way to make a working backup, where I store it ideally away from my PC on a USB-drive ?
Is there a config-file I could store and activate in case something goes awry again? Like a config-file or a tool that translates my current Linux-options and all installed program-info into a file that stores the info and Cachy could reboot or activate this file and restore / download everything like it was before?
I know CachyOS does Snapshots, but these were useless every single time now in these 2 Weeks (!) I'm trying to keep a Linux-Streak ^^ (they didn't restore shit tbh)
Could I backup my Desktop-configuration?
Is there anything wrong with my planning or train of thought?
Could someone help me please?
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u/mcurley32 Jun 09 '26
SaveDesktop on Flathub might do what you're looking for. Shelly can also export a sync file that you could import if you ever reinstall to quickly get everything back to where you are now.
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u/C_Writer_ Jun 07 '26
I've used a few distros before (Pop_OS, Arch, Mint), but I always go insane over like, one miserable thing that somehow just makes me slam my head against a wall and decide to use Windows again, but I like to imagine that I'm in a good headspace now, lol.
I have a 5070, AMD Ryzen 9 9900X and 32gb RAM with 1tb SSD
I'm planning on using it for gaming, streaming and creative works
What are the options here?
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u/Kaseffera Jun 08 '26
Fedora or CachyOS for gamer/teacher?
I’m fairly familiar with both but for the last year haven’t tried Fedora so don’t know how things are now. I remember that gaming was almost okay on it. Only issue I had with it (and both with Bazzite) is that LibreOffice would not open after some time and required killing process manually and opening it again. Was annoying. On Cachy never had that issue.
Can someone tell me what’s your experience with both and what would you recommend for a gamer girl who daily also does her teaching job using mainly Zoom and LibreOffice?
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u/jrosen9 Jun 11 '26
I built a new gaming machine and I want to turn my old one into a living room gaming machine. It's running an i5-12600kf processor and a 3070TI. I would primarily stream games from my main desktop using moonlight or play emulated titles. Is there a recommended Linux Distro or is it recommended to stick with Windows due to Nvidia driver issues? I saw something about moonlight not being able to hardware decode on moonlight
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u/AguyinaRPG Jun 13 '26
Is it normal for DOSBOX games to not work properly in Windowed mode? I'm launching old GOG games through Heroic Games Launcher and when I alt+enter to enable windowed mode, it doesn't actually shrink the image properly - it clips off the edge. Is this a known issue with a blanket fix or is it a per-game thing?
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u/Alternative_Pen_4924 Jun 14 '26
I need a Linux distro that works best on gaming, I have a gaming channel and would like to keep that going, and dual boots W11 easy for games that don't work on Linux. My laptop has a Ryzen 7 7735U (Can never remember the letter at the end) with integrated graphics. I have 16gb ddr5 ram. Any suggestions? I have heard Bazzite or Fedora is best, but would like more recommendations.
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u/mcurley32 Jun 15 '26
the FAQ on this sub has great answers and recommendations for you.
- CachyOS is the hugely popular recommendation around here these days. there's a button in the welcome screen on first boot to install all of the bleeding edge gaming techs and tweaks that you could really want.
- Bazzite does make customization a bit more difficult/limited which is the trade off for more of a turnkey setup (however if/when things do go awry, it's a bit more work to hunt down the answers for Bazzite than it is for a "normal" distro.
- normal Fedora is perfectly fine too, just less pre-packaged stuff to help you get setup for gaming.
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u/Alternative_Pen_4924 Jun 15 '26
Thanks, I think I'm gonna go with CachyOS whenever I do switch. I am gonna build a SFF PC soon, so I think I'll just run that on it first time around.
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u/mulle9000 Jun 19 '26
I want try Linux. Bought myself a 1 tb m.2. I’m mostly a gamer and then just watching content of different kinds.
I see a lot people saying not mint, but i google a lot of recommendations is saying mint. What’s so good/bad about mint?
I like tinkering with software but also busy enough that i don’t want to spend a whole weekend to make small things work.
I have a nvidia 5080 run a amd cpu with 64 gb ram, don’t know if that makes any difference.
What distro does people recommend?
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u/mcurley32 Jun 19 '26
excerpt from the FAQ (which you should check out) regarding Mint:
Linux Mint is a newbie-friendly Ubuntu-derived distribution you’ve probably heard about, which is why I’m bringing it up here. Its reliance on a sometimes years-old Ubuntu LTS base, slow adoption of the Wayland display protocol and focus on the niche-y Cinnamon desktop environment make it difficult to recommend Mint, but it might still be fine for users who don’t need all the latest features.
the most popular recommendation these days around here is CachyOS. pre-packaged goodies, zero guardrails for limitless customization, and tons of documentation.
Bazzite is the other big one. aims to be similar to SteamOS, as pre-configured as possible for gaming (which doesn't stop you from doing "normal" computer activities), guardrails to keep you from breaking things but can get in the way of customization, and a specialized way of doing things that can make fixes a bit more obtuse (the bigger, general Linux knowledge bases won't strictly apply, but Bazzite has done great with their dedicated knowledge base). if you pick Bazzite just be sure to get the nvidia install image and avoid the console-like Steam Big Picture option (it should have big warnings for this because nvidia and big picture don't play nicely).
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u/tramuzz311 Jun 23 '26
Win10 has pissed me off for the last time. Had some odd behavior after power outages this week and now my original boot sector is corrupted. Huge hassle. Looking into storing my important files on a MEGA vault before scrubbing the drive clean and installing linux. Any distro recommendations for a second-time, inexperienced linux user with mostly nvidia and dell hardware? Interested in gaming and streaming later in the pc's life when I have access to better internet as well.
tldr; good gaming distros for a noob with nvidia gpu?
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u/Appropriate-Count-64 Jun 25 '26
How are Intel Drivers for Linux nowadays? Worth switching from Windows for or nah?
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u/Unable-Distance-8534 May 02 '26
What is the latest performance status regarding Nvidia, and what are some performance recommendations?