Hi! I’m getting a new laptop any day now and I plan on going back to Linux after maybe a decade on Windows. What works best for gaming nowadays? Is manjaro good for that? I prefer a distro with a nice name but of course that’s not the central thing. I’ll also do some book keeping, writing et cetera but I don’t think it’s much to worry about. I also hope to use my Valve Index on it.

  • @gh0stcassette
    7•1 month ago

    Anything with a recent kernel is fine. If you’re not very experienced, I’d recommend something like Fedora or OpenSUSE (both semi-rolling releases so you’ll get new kernels, graphics drivers, etc. but less likely to break for no reason than arch/gentoo derivatives).

    Manjaro is fine if you don’t use the AUR, but arch/manjaro repositories on their own will be inadequate, and it will be so easy to get what’s missing from the AUR, which will eventually break something. This is because Manjaro holds back arch Linux updates for a week or two for “testing” purposes, but the AUR expects precisely the latest arch packages. If you’re thinking about Manjaro, do EndeavorOS instead. It’s the same thing (arch Linux with a more user friendly installer and relatively sane default apps/configs) with infinitely less hassle. Plus there’s really no point to using an arch-based distro without the AUR imo.

    Garuda is also cool, I haven’t used it myself, but it’s supposed to be another preconfigured version of Arch more targeted towards gamers. YMMV, I’d probably just stick with EndeavorOS.

    If you want an Ubuntu or Debian derivative, I’d go with Pop!OS. It’s basically Ubuntu without all the Ubuntu bullshit (snaps ludicrously out of date packages, etc), and they keep the kernel and video drivers pretty recent, unlike stock Ubuntu. Plus they have a cool desktop environment. Currently it’s a fork of GNOME, but they’re working on rewriting it from scratch and are making great progress, which will be interesting once it’s more developed.