Linux

Don't use Mint or Ubuntu, use Bazzite. It actually is "just works" with the added benefit of "you can't break it". It's perfect for both beginners and experienced users who are looking to do work rather than tinker with their OS.

And if you have a graphics card (which you probably do since you mentioned gaming), Bazzite comes with Nvidia or AMD drivers preinstalled, so you don't have to do anything extra to get it to work.

But if you really want to follow the YT influencer Linux memes, at least go with Ubuntu instead of Mint. Mint is just Ubuntu with a different default desktop, but ~~worse in every other way~~ less reliable (edit: toned down the exaggeration)

Mint is best but if that don't work try Fedora KDE.

I also recommend watching The Linux Experiment's videos

Check out the YT videos from Explaining Conputers for some more comparisons of distros for starting out.

As someone who's been using Linux for around 12 years now, I just came back to Mint a while ago and it's a good choice for close to everyone I reckon.

I used pretty much all the major distros and some niche ones as well, but in the end I want a PC that does PC things without having to fuck around all the time. Mint does exactly that, it just works.

That being said, feel free to mess around with live USBs, try some distros on an old laptop etc, it's good fun and you might find something you really like.

options:

• i just want my shit to work: mint
• i just don't want to deal with all of windows' nonsense changes: zorin
• i just want my shit to work and i have ideological problems with microsoft: linux mint debian edition
• i want an ideologically pure os (mostly): debian
• i want a truly ideologically pure os: pureos
• i just want my shit to work and i have an old-ish computer: mx linux
• i just want my shit to work and i have a considerably old computer: antix

Mint is fine. I went with pop!_os because at the time mint didn't play well with my hardware.

Make sure you test things from the install live disk before you commit. Internet access, displays, audio should all work.

mint

As someone who's been in this for a while, go with Mint.

It's not a "beginner distro". You can start there, you can stay there as long as you don't develop any super niche prerequisites. Even then, Mint can probably do it.

The developers are sane and it's a popular system that has been in development for years with many tweaks and improvements. There's a big community around it if you need help/guides.

You just can't go wrong with it.

It's been asked a million times, and it'll be answered every time, and the answers will mostly be "Mint, Fedora, FedoraKDE, and if you wanna game Bazzite."

The real advice that gets posted less, regardless of distro:

• Back up your important files to an external drive, often. It's entirely possible you'll fuck up an install beyond repair (or beyond what you know how to do at the time) and you end up reinstalling. If you can just put your important files back and be up and running, nothing of value is lost.

• Don't be scared of the terminal, it's incredibly useful. Look up a few YT vids like "bash basics" or "linux terminal for beginners" or something and follow along like it's a class, you'll soon be comfortable enough to use it when you need it, and you will, and you may come to love it. It's not as bad as windows cmd! Be careful when using sudo or su, that's when you could really screw up the system (but mostly it'll be fine just be careful.

And most importantly, have fun!

Btw you can load them to a USB and try out without installing if picking one is kinda hard tho remember performance will depend on USB quality.

Bazzite for a first try. If you never hit a wall needing to make system tweaks, stick to it in the long term. Otherwise, I’m really liking Fedora. KDE/Gnome is personal choice.

Fedora.

I'd recommend either OpenSuSE or Fedora, both with KDE. They're big, well supported distros, which should install without issue and provide a slick modern experience. I use OpenSuSE, as I find the YaST system tools convenient and user friendly.

I'd avoid Ubuntu, multiple issues. Mint is a good distro but I think any big mainstream distro "just works" now, so I'd go for something that uses a slicker desktop. I prefer KDE, which is available on Mint but just isn't as tightly integrated as their own Cinnamon desktop.

Mint is the OS of choice for beginners. It's hassle free and it just works. Ubuntu is good, but its snap package got a bad rap when it was launched. It's not that bad. But it gets confusing since you end up with 3 different software packaging systems. (Apt with .deb files, Flatpak and Snap)

Personally I use Kubuntu, the KDE Plasma desktop version because it's so much more like Windows and has many more features. I don't mind the Snap packages, but I avoid them if I can if I can use Flatpak instead. Snap and Flatpak are essentially the same thing: it installs and runs software in a sandboxed environment which makes it safer to use.

Start with Mint. You can always try something else when you're more comfortable with Linux.

Gnu

Linux is linux. In the end it's more your personal taste with just a little sprinkle of use case that decides.

The main differences are:

• Update speed: How quickly are the repositories getting updates. That's a spectrum between getting cutting edge version in days or weeks or having things unchaged for up to several years. Or in other worlds you will see more bugs in freshly released software, but also bugfixes often within days. Compared to getting new feature only after years, but rarely any bugs (the very few ones that slip through... well, you will get the fix in a few years). That's also where use case plays a bigger role. If you use very new hardware and want software that uses their newest features, a rather stale slow updating distro might not be the right fit for you.

• Update scheme: Fixed vs. continues release. Continues releases are slowly but constantly changing over time but once installed they can basically used forever. While fixed releases are mostly just shipping critical bugfixes and security patches and doing everything else in big release steps (think in terms of Windows upgrades here: You mostly have the same thing for years but at a certain point there is a newer version that might bring changes in defaults, new pre-installed software, UI changes etc. and after a couple of years you lose support if you don't do that step).

Also more depending on your personal taste and habits:

• How much are you willing or interested in tinkering? Basically all distros give you access to all software. But what is pre-installed changes, both in what is provided by default and also how much software is there already. For example do you want stuff for video editing set up already or don't you care as you will test out all the options available anyway?

• The same is true the basic desktop environment. Gnome and KDE are the two big ones (with some more oftens based or forked from those two). And it mostly a difference of "here is our environment exactly as we think it's best with very little customisation" (Gnome - also the one with most forks, by people who did not agree with the Gnome devs vision) and "have fun customising" (KDE). Is customising stuff to your liking your thing? Or do don't care and also prefer something as close to what you are used to on Windows? Again: Distros have all the options available. But some have one environment or the other pre-installed. Or they come in different flavors from the beginning. If customisation isn't your cup of tea the decision on a certain distro matters much more.

Other considerations:

• Immutable distros are more on the newer end of things. They are basically designed more like for example Android. There is a base system that rarely changes and allows basically a "reset ot factory settings", with updates and additionally installed software provided as incremental changes and/or highly containerised. That has benefits (you can revert screw ups easily) but also drawbacks (decades of available linux instructions are now worthless until you really understand where that regular config file you can't edit anymore is now located in some separate container only used by one specific piece of software - and most people that google for such solutions don't). Again this is mostly decided by habits. Are you expecting to tinker with your system or do you just want something that works on its own that neither you or an upgrade cannot possibly break. In the latter case an immutable distro can be the thing for you. And as always... you have all the options and you can also setup most other distros with extensive systems of "save points" to revert problematic changes anyway.

Things to not consider:

• ignore the answers speaking about "it provides WINE for running windows stuff" or "it comes with NVIDIA drivers" because they basically all do (minus the already mentioned combination of running cutting edge hardware with very slow updating distros - that's not a good idea). At the worst it usually requires clicking some "Yes, I don't insist on open source stuff exclusively but will also to use proprietary drivers if available" checkbox in the installer.

Do you know anyone in real life that has some experience with Linux, and is willing to help you out with it? If yes, use the same distribution (distro, or "OS") as they do.

If not, as others said, Mint is a good start.

Mint or Fedora. You’ll get tons of responses, and none of them are wrong, because no one can tell you what’s best for you, but those are the most popular choices among newbies, and they are very user friendly and approachable.

The best advice I can give you is try a bunch of different ones and see which one you like best. They’re free and easy to reinstall if you end up liking one over another.

Best of luck and I hope you find one that you truly love. :)

sounds like you have a decent computer so try bazzite gnome for your gpu

it's great for normal stuff, development and gaming