this post was submitted on 25 Sep 2024
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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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I've installed an uninstalled so. many. distros. over the past few weeks just trying things out on my previously windows-laden machine, and I've got a 2080Ti from a few years ago in it. Mint (non-DE) has wonderful integration with nvidia drivers...it'll prompt the driver installation when you first boot it up. But, I'm currently on Debian with KDE Plasma desktop environment, and there is a bit of setup in Debian. I've bookmarked and followed this tutorial each time I've distro-hopped lately, and with the exception of openSUSE (because it doesn't use the apt install scheme), it has worked perfectly.
Each distro I've used has its own little quirks and it has been a big learning experience. But, if you've got a bit of tech knowledge, it shouldn't be too bad. Good luck to you!
FWIW I installed Debian few times this weekend, both Sid and Bookworm, with a 2080Ti and iirc following the official documentation, e.g https://wiki.debian.org/NvidiaGraphicsDrivers#Debian_12_.22Bookworm.22 was enough, nothing exotic needed namely :
contribandnon-free, updating, install driversYes, I forgot about the X11/Wayland issue. Supposedly being worked on for the next version of Plasma, but we'll see.
this thread is it in a nut shell. the x11/wayland situation can trip things when it really should be super seamless. that will be fixed soon enough.
Very informative, thank you! I'm a total newbie when it comes to Linux so there's a lot of things I don't get. Are there any drawbacks to using LMDE with NVIDIA compared to using regular Mint? Will this also work on an integrated, less powerful graphics card?
You're welcome! I'm definitely no expert with Linux as I only truly started digging in several weeks ago. I've got a MacBook Pro for anything I can't do on Linux and, like I said above, I've been hopping around/making mistakes/reinstalling in a frenzy since then.
To answer your question with my limited experience, Mint is just a good gateway for Windows folks wanting to switch to Linux. I used it for a bit a year or so ago, but there were issues with the nvidia drivers at the time, so I didn't stick to it. Now, however, those have been updated and it is the easiest so far (aside from maybe Pop! OS) to get Linux playing nice with nvidia cards. I was easily able to get my Steam games as well as Diablo IV on Lutris (a sort of translation layer frontend to allow battle.net to run) going. Debian is only slightly less simple, and it took me a bit to find a site that made it easier (the link in my post above) for me.
I'm at the point now where I can get just about any distro I've hopped to/from up and running pretty quickly with my 2080Ti. OpenSUSE is the only one that I just simply couldn't get everything working right. It has a completely different way of installing apps and utilities than the others I've tried. It's a "cutting edge, " rolling distro, which means it updates things as soon as they're stable, unlike most others. So, it might have something to do with that aspect. All in all, Debian has been a good, solid distro that I've been happy with. I haven't tried LMDE, so I can't speak to it directly but, and others more experienced than me can please chime in, I think it's mostly Debian with the Cinnamon desktop environment. That may be simplistic, but that's my current understanding.
Sorry for the long post. Hope it helps.
It did, thank you very much!