Hey everyone! I'm planning to switch from Windows to Linux in 2025, especially with Windows 10 losing support. I'm fed up with the ads, clunky workarounds, and the surprising invalidation of my activation key. I'd love to hear your advice on choosing the right Linux distribution for my daily tasks.
Here's what I typically do:
1. **Internet Browsing and Watching YouTube**: Pretty sure I won't have issues here.
2. **Photo/Image Editing and Digital Painting**: I've used Krita for the past two years and I'm also interested in how GIMP has improved. I'm leaning towards RawTherapee for simpler edits. I am a bit worried about my graphics tablet compatibility though.
3. **Video Editing**: I've used DaVinci Resolve but I'm not sure how it performs on Linux. Also, I haven't tried Kdenlive yet.
4. **Discord, Video Chats, and Streaming**: I just want to make sure webcams work well with Linux, but I'm not too worried about using OBS.
5. **Gaming**: I used to play a lot of Monster Hunter and I'm aware of Wine and Proton helping with gaming on Linux. I'm currently into Yu-Gi-Oh Master Duel.
6. **DAW and Music Production**: I haven't been into this lately, and it's a weaker area for Linux, but I'm open to returning if a good DAW is available. Compatibility with audio interfaces is a must.
I've tried Zorin OS, Ubuntu, and Linux Mint, preferring Mint so far. I'm curious about Bazzite OS too. My ideal distro just works, doesn't break after updates, and has good community support. I prefer a user-friendly GUI.
What distros would you recommend for my needs? Should I just stick with Linux Mint or try something like LMDE?
2 Answers
Mint is a solid choice! I've set it up for friends who aren’t tech-savvy, and it just works for them. If you're doing mostly browsing and video editing, you should be good with that. Just make sure your hardware matches up!
If you want a distro that’s user-friendly and good for gaming, I’d suggest Bazzite. It’s set up to be almost unbreakable with system snapshots like Windows restore points, and it comes with all the gaming tweaks pre-installed! Plus, it's easy to customize with KDE Plasma.
Great info on Bazzite, thanks! I’ll definitely check it out!
Thanks for the recommendation! My specs are:
1. i7 8700, 16GB RAM, RX 580 GPU
2. i5 11500, 32GB RAM, RX 6800 GPU