this post was submitted on 22 Feb 2025
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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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So all I know that the Linux mascot is a penguin and Arch users meme about using Arch. Jokes aside I’m planning on making to the jump to Linux as I’m planning on getting a tower PC. I recently got a steam deck and that kinda demystified the (unrealistic) expectation I had of Linux was all command line stuff and techno babble. This all very future oriented questions* as I haven’t even picked out hardware (probably gonna go prebuilt since I do not trust me) and there’s also the matter of saving up the money for a new PC.

As for my use case (cus I know some software is wonky on Linux compared to windows) it’s mostly between games running on steam, which most of my games play fine on the steam deck, and essays and note taking for my college classes, which I use libre office and obsidian (with excalidraw to hand write my notes) saved to my proton drive and also sync those documents between my surface laptop and home laptop

My ideal OS would be plug it in, let it do… things… and it’s ready to be a PC to install steam and stuff

But first question, as someone who isn’t tech inclined and tinkering is pretty much just a few VERY basic settings in the settings app on windows, so is there a Linux… idk what to call it, type? OS? Thing??? that runs out of the box without me having to install additional software manually or at least automatic setup wizards because like hardware, I do not trust me with setting it up. As for installing it after I wipe whatever computer I choose I assume I’m gonna have some OS installer on a USB and let it work its magic.

Second question, is there any specific hardware that works easier with Linux, I can’t really think of any examples cus with installers and updaters I just the computer handle it, like updating Nvidia stuff in the GeForce app for all I know it’s genuinely performing dark magic during the automated updates

Anyways I probably have way more questions that I have no idea I had, but to wrap up I’m not super tech inclined since I let automated stuff do its thang on windows (if the computer can manage and install it I’m gonna let it do that) and my pc mostly just plays games and do documents on libre office and obsidian

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[–] ohshit604@sh.itjust.works 3 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (5 children)

I personally started out with Debian given that a vast majority of distributions are Debian based, typically paired with KDE Plasma 5 for my desktop environment, and learned from there.

Now Debian is really stable but does require command-line configuration quite often so it may feel complicated but if you’re capable of reading & following documentation then you should be all good.

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[–] kittenzrulz123@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Imo you should get a System76 computer, it comes with a gaming focused Distro and its the most well respected Linux brand (in the US, for EU I would reccomend Tuxedo). Their mini PCs cost $799 and for a decent full sized PC (with a GPU) prepare to pay over $1.5k.

[–] FlihpFlorp@lemm.ee 3 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

So kinda standard PC prices

[–] kittenzrulz123@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Slightly higher but yeah, also you get a premium PC with no RGB and a wooden finish

[–] FlihpFlorp@lemm.ee 2 points 2 weeks ago (6 children)

Ooooooooo that sounds nice

I might just go from Amazon depending on hardware and price but I’m definitely gonna add this to my list

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[–] ChaoticNeutralCzech@lemmy.ml 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

If you really want a prebuilt one, of course.

It was explicitly specified that no tinkering should be required, also even if you custom build a PC you wont have several advantages of just going with system76. For example the mini PC uses their fork of coreboot and intigrates with Pop_OS, meanwhile on other systems you would need to manually install coreboot (if its even supported) and bios updates are still an absolute mess (even if you dont care about the privacy benefits of coreboot the extremely fast start up speed alone makes it valuable).

[–] daytonah@lemmy.ml 3 points 2 weeks ago

Using Linux since 2008 ish.... (As non IT user), I recommend going and route, and using pop os (or bazzite which people say also works well but is personally haven't tried), I am currently using tuxedo os on my laptop but my pop os journey for your use case on the home machine has been the smoothest, and if you go do route which I did, I had never thought about any driver issues.... The only thing in pop (which I haven't updated for a year now, yeah life got crazy), was that always do apt get updates / upgrades as pop OS's package manager gui used to get stuck sometimes, once the terminal completes the updates then use the GUI to update the pop os things. Other than this small hiccup, never had to do anything else. (Oh yeah when buying hardware some people told me that getting the latest and greatest cutting edge sometimes takes time for the kernel to catch up to the optimizations of drivers, but I always bought 1 or 2 gen behind the latest and never had any issues, I mostly play Indy games other than 1/or 2 like Tekken series at 2k monitor so I never cared about 4k 120 or above fps.)

[–] warmaster@lemmy.world 2 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

Just get an all AMD (CPU & GPU) build and flash a thumb drive with Bazzite (bazzite-deck), your PC will be very similar to your Steam Deck.

I did this, best decision ever.

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[–] JustFudgnWork@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 weeks ago

Seems like you've got a lot of distro recommendations haha which is good - go for one of those and you should be ok (I'm on mint for the record). My suggestion if you have a bit if extra money and less time is to buy a prebuilt system with linux already installed, tuxedo and system76 are two big names but I can't comment on what to go with there.

However the advantage with buying an integrated system like that is that the hardware is all guaranteed and you can ring them for support if needed.

My other suggestion is to BACKUP your files!

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