Source
r/linux_gaming•
njullpointer

Which distro would you currently recommend?

I've got a somewhat older PC running a xeon processor with a 750 Ti GPU. It's currently running windows 10 for reasons, but I now want to change that. My main machine doesn't really play nicely with Linux and it's currently setup elsewhere for my vive besides (I have linux on it, but I want to use it for the vive, does steam vr work on linux yet?) but what distro is being recommended right now for good gaming experiences?

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I'm tempted by steam os, I'm inclined to use Mint or Ubuntu, but (and this isn't supposed to start a flame war) whilst I've used most distros under the sun, I want something with as little fuss and best response as possible and my Linux experiences are a bit out of date.

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So, can anyone help answer any/all of these questions?

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EDIT: Currently running Manjaro, thanks for the suggestions. I'll be keeping an eye on things, moving to Ubuntu/Mate if necessary (with Fedora as a fallback), but so far, I'm very impressed once again.

Posted Aug 25, 2018, 8:26 AM UTC · edited

440
zeka-iz-groba•

Basically any distro with more or less up to date packages (so no debian stable) is fine for gaming. Ubuntu is usually the distro where devs testing their games. But Arch is a good choice too, never had issues with games on it (weirdly even less than on Ubuntu). The general recommendation is: use the one you like more.

11
njullpointerOP•

I've very happily used Arch in the past, but I'm not sure I have the time to really make it fly -- is Manjaro any good?

And I'd like to use Debian, but I don't really want to have to put up with Debian stable's package versions.

3
Hiredcifo•

Can vouch for manjaro, if it works on Arch, it works on Manjaro.

7
njullpointerOP•

I might give that a go, then. I do need a free afternoon, but... that kind of describes today.

3
Sn3ipen•

Yeah Manjaro is my favourite. It's like Arch just more stable, easier to install and maintain.

3
njullpointerOP•

I never used to have that much trouble with arch, just a 'pacman -Syu' with some judicious use of the AUR, until systemd shit itself... but I can't really get away from systemd, so I'm tempted.

1
Sn3ipen•

That's kind of the point of Manjaro. To let the Arch users test before they roll out the updates. So Manjaro is usually 2 weeks behind Arch, unless there is some major bugs. Then they will keep the old version of those packages until there is a more stable update.

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[deleted]•

[deleted]

1
MrTimscampi•

Fedora is also great. Very stable, pretty up to date (New version every six months with all the new bells and whistles, quick updates in the meantime), it's got a lot of packages (Install RPMFusion and get your NVidia drivers from Negativo17).

I use it both at work, where I need a solid distribution with up to date components for programming, but as stable as possible because a lot of companies rely on me being able to work, and at home, where I simply need something to play games and surf the web with.

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njullpointerOP•

yeah, that's the same reason I use fedora at work too, it's very stable. I have had to add RPMFusion to get any extra bells and whistles, but it's not too hard, just a few extra steps. I haven't got anything against it, but I haven't used a RH-based distro at home for well over a decade :D

1
balr•

Antergos or Manjaro are pretty easy to use.

1
TalonByte•

You can use debian testing (which is in between stable and bleeding edge in terms of package versions)

1
some_asshat•

Steam recommends Ubuntu. Mint is a similar and great choice that will give you the same compatibility that Steam is referencing.

10
miguev•

Ubuntu and Mint got many votes in a recent related thread, see https://www.reddit.com/r/linux_gaming/comments/98j0kb/distribution_choices_for_gaming/

4
njullpointerOP•

I have used Mint in the past, I've been happy with it, happier than with Ubuntu, but would I be missing anything vs Ubuntu?

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some_asshat•

They're both Debian based and essentially the same OS, but with different desktop environments. All the Ubuntu based support and tutorials will apply to Mint as well.

4
pdp10•

Mint is a similar and great choice that will give you the same compatibility that Steam is referencing.

I agree that it should give the same compatibility. I'm not thoroughly confident in Mint over all, though; I'm one of the people who had problems trying to update it three years ago.

Ubuntu MATE also has a different GUI, like Mint, but I'm more confident recommending it and regular Ubuntu.

2
Captain_Pirk•

Manjaro.

It's Arch based but much more newcomer friendly, too. No maintanence hassle to mention. Installation, default applications etc. Putting up proprietary drivers is a breeze.

Manjaro also holds back packages for some time for added stability; on Manjaro, against pretty common opinion, it's not a bad thing to "hold back" some.

By holding back releases a bit, any immediate issues like a typo that prevents the DE from working are avoided.

Say an issue breaks your system because of your rare graphics card, and Arch fixes it in an hour or two. If you got the immediate update, your system is already broken, and you either have to fix it the hard way, using another device to Google documentation or help, or nuke and pave."

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njullpointerOP•

I've heard good things about manjaro, and i happily used Arch for a long time until.... systemd shit the bed. I'm kind of stuck with systemd, it seems, for my current purposes (gaming/major distros all seem to use systemd) so I'll put it on my "to check out" list.

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pdp10•

I'm kind of stuck with systemd, it seems, for my current purposes (gaming/major distros all seem to use systemd)

Yes, mostly true. I only have two systems that use systemd, but those are the gaming systems.

2
KFded•

Fedora right now is pretty good, and is updated frequently, and is really well with gaming.

Ubuntu Mate is what I'm using and I love it, though I'm also considering using Mint, but I also might go back to Fedora, since it fits what i need.

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njullpointerOP•

I've used Fedora (I use it at work) very happily, but I always had issues getting multimedia and the like working... I have used Ubuntu Mate before, loved it, would Ubuntu Mate be better than Mint in compatibility/features?

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KFded•

Ubuntu Mate would be a safe bet to go to and its a Distro gaining quite the following.

Linux Mint has their own version of Mate btw.

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njullpointerOP•

I've actually given manjaro a go, and so far I'm pretty happy with it. I've tried Linux Mint before now and I liked it, I actually really like Mate, it's my go-to DE under both Ubuntu and Mint, but I also like XFCE (have for years).

I'm surprised how well Linux is working, again. Steam was already pre-installed, I've enabled steam play and it's working so far with the nouveau drivers... let's see how far we go! I've got HDMI even, which is pretty amazing. Last time I was using Linux, it took the official drivers to do such things.

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KFded•

I installed Mint to a USB last night and was gonna dual boot it, but I'm considering wiping it and grabbing Manjaro XFCE.

I hear Manjaro is better for gaming too

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MrTimscampi•

Recent versions of Fedora have integrated pretty well with proprietary stuff like codecs and drivers.

There's a whole section in Software specifically for installing proprietary codecs and drivers, then it all works out of the box :)

1
Froz1984•

Go for Solus.

It's a curated rolling release distro made up for the desktop. That means, it's almost always up to date and gives few to none headaches to the user.

There is a catch, though, nvidia drivers I think are not at the required minimum for Proton/SteamPlay. I'll check later, since I use an amd gpu.

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njullpointerOP•

I've not heard of solus, I'll check it out. I do have nvidia in this machine, though, so if proton/steamplay won't work (yet) then it's off the list for now.

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Froz1984•

They are testing the beta drivers and want to add them as an opt-in option in the software center. The opt-in thing is because they favour non-beta releases and no "point releases" since they wait a bit for initial bugs to be fixed (like, with mesa, they didn't add 18.0.0, but 18.0.1 or something)

I suppose it will take two weeks (probably less, since the announcement was last week).

1
RafiLinux•

Ubuntu Mate

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thumbtackjake•

Mint or Ubuntu Mate. Used Mint for years and recently switched over to Ubuntu Mate. Love them both.

1
journeymanpedant•

If you're a linux user already (and not on an extremely niche or extremely stable distro) any is fine. I'm on opensuse, and very rarely have major problems (the most recent one was Surviving Mars requiring a libopenssl specifically with gnutls enabled, which isn't shipped in suse, otherwise it would segfault).

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njullpointerOP•

I have friends who use opensuse and they love it. I tried it, liked it, but for reasons I forget I distro-hopped away from it.

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[deleted]•

[deleted]

1
Famatic•

Seems very hard for me personally to choose a distro. When I find one that looks good.. then I read people say few complaints of that and Im just kinda like "ehh... guess I'll keep looking" .. makes decision so hard :( Especially when some of them say stuff like "not for hardcore gamers" yet the distro is optimised for gamers.. so am I missing something here?

1
robinkooli•

Debian based

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njullpointerOP•

mint/ubuntu then. hmm.

5
robinkooli•

I prefer Debian Testing.

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pdp10•

I use Debian Testing myself, and it's the only rolling release (Testing, that is, not regular Debian) that I recommend, but I still don't recommend it for new Linux users.

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