I’m resetting windows 10 on my Thinkpad T580 for work but would like to create a partition for linux. It’s an older laptop and really chugs through games like Minecraft or RuneScape but I enjoy playing relaxing games while I listen to audiobooks at night. I grew up using windows which is why I’ve mostly used Ubuntu and ZorinOS in the past but I’d like to expand my horizons to something like kubuntu. I value good UI/UX design and something lightweight for my old potato. Any recommendations on Linux distros?
** Thanks for all the input! I tried Fedora first but it felt kind of clunky to me. Then I tried out Mint xfce and it’s right up my alley! I can run a separate Firefox profile right off the task bar that runs outside of my VPN which is perfect for Netflix and other sites that have issues. So far loving how customizable it is. Minecraft runs ok off GDLauncher, and lutris is really cool. I forgot I had a boat load of old GOG games that are perfect for this laptop. I really fucking love Linux 😆
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To any user that reads this comment, only install Debian if you can understand this quote, else, you may want to consider otherwise!
If you want to shake things up with an arch derivative you can try EndeavourOS, there are a lot of different DEs you can choose straight from the installer
+1 for EOS
One of the Fedora spins, or if you are feeling brave Fedora Silverblue or Fedora Kinoite.
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IMO one should never recommend manjaro. To suggest an easy arch endeavouros should be the way to go, why? Because the manjaro devs make way too many mistakes and a mistake or two can happen to anyone, but when it happens often it becomes a pattern, one where I wouldn’t want someone to deal with if it can be avoided.
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Definitely try it. I started Linux with Mint since it’s the closest to Windows I could find. Later on I wanted to try bleeding edge but vanilla Arch was too complicated for a noob like me. Until I found EOS. The transition was smooth and painless. I learned more about Linux in a few months with EOS than years on Mint, but that’s a me problem. Now I have vanilla Arch on my VM and EOS on my laptop bare metal. It’s pretty stable, and that one-time Grub issue was the only hiccup I ever experienced that was not due to my stupidity. Lol.
Now I want to try Gentoo, but man it’s even more complicated.
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If your laptop is on the potato side I would personally avoid kde, it’s much lighter now than it used to be but still heavier than other options. Mint looks good in my personal opinion and, again in my opinion, is a better alternative if compared to ubuntu, it’s based on it but with some improvements. The default flavor comes with cinnamon, but if your laptop struggles it’s also available with xfce, which even older machines should be able to handle.
@raccoon @Triage8420@lemmy.ml @linux_gaming
I put xfce on a garbage laptop for my parents (who are used to much older windows) and they loved it, the laptop ended up breaking eventually but that was a hardware issue and they regularly ask me when I’ll be able to replace it
I’d say give a few Arch-based distros a try, or just straight up Arch if you’re feeling adventurous. Arch distros are just slim and speedy, which could be good for your old laptop. The new official archinstall tool makes it relatively easy compared to installing Arch the manual way, but if you’re looking for more ease of use EndeavourOS is a great option.
2nd this! EndeavourOS ftw :)
MX Linux.
Imagine Linux Mint Debian edition, but it isn’t green and there are a lot of useful GUI tools. It’s also so near to actually being Debian that you can just install things meant for Debian on it. It also runs a backported kernel for modern graphics driver and chipset support so you get your stability and your performance all in one.
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Glad you found what you were looking for!
Regata OS is a gaming oriented customization of Opensuse Tumbleweed. I’ve been using it for a year without issues.
I’m personally using Kubuntu because a lot of programs I like are built for Ubuntu already and while I’m fine with messing with building from source for some things, for most, I like my binaries prebuilt on a distro package service. Also I like KDE Plasma.
I have used Linux for awhile and settled on pop!_OS for my home desktop/laptop use.
I think Arch Linux could be for you. You can install it with archinstall script. It’s relatively straightforward.
If they want to tinker, but dont want to install arch from scratch, endeavour is the way. If they want their system to just work, they should go with Pop!.
Not sure, as even Manjaro was too complicated for op.
If you’re on well-documented hardware, I agree that Arch is definitely a contender. I’ve been using it on my gaming pc for a few years now and it’s been more stable than any Windows install, not including the occasional self-inflicted damage from tinkering.
Fedora is a good choice. It is stable while being fairly up to date. The only issue is that (I think) proprietary drivers aren’t included by default.
This is true but I’ve only had issues with Nvidia drivers, which wouldn’t impact OP.
But definitely worth a word of caution for anyone else new to Fedora following this thread.
My vote goes to OpenSUSE Tumbleweed. It’s a beautiful system, and the most stable rolling release I’ve ever had the pleasure of running. I’ve tried so many different distros, and I always end up coming back to OpenSUSE.
