[deleted] Avoid Linux forks, I suggest you Fedora Workstation, Opensuse Tumbleweed or Arch Linux, I personnaly use Arch, but all three are good, offer regular updates, support features that improve security and confidentiality and work perfectly well for gaming, Arch may give you a little more control because you only use what you install, Fedora Workstation comes with more software, some people claim that installing and using Arch Linux is difficult because you have to maintain it but this is not true or at least not anymore, don't tinker with it without knowing what you're doing, and you'll be fine.

You can use a VM and see what works best for you.

    [deleted] Will Nobara be a good entry point into Linux?

    Should be. Its just Fedora with a bunch of gaming stuff pre-set into it, and Fedora itself is already super user-friendly. Not to mention, I believe you can always(?) 'try out' a Linux distro from the USB drive you used before properly installing it anyway.

    Since you're coming from Windows, its recommended to use versions of Fedora/Nobara named/labelled "KDE". "KDE", and any other labels such as "Gnome", "xfce", "Cinnamon", refers to what's called the desktop environment, aka the desktop UI (taskbar, menus, etc). KDE is recommended because it is the most "Windows" desktop environment.

      [deleted] If you are curious and managed to install and use GOS, installing a popular Linux distribution won't be a big issue. Honestly even back in 2008 when I installed Ubuntu 8.10 for the first time, it was easier to use and manage than Windows right away (to be fair, I was coming from Windows Vista back then, so the bar was low :D).

      Nobara is a good idea for gaming, you could also look into Bazzite or HoloISO depending on your needs. I personally would simply install Fedora as it comes with Steam and NVIDIA drivers ready to install. It has a large user base, is not just gaming focused and uses better security practices compared to most Linux distributions, but choice again is all up to you.

      You'll be surprised how easy everything is from the get go. Depending on your choice you opt in to a different Desktop environment (the look and feel of the OS, but you can change that later on). For the mentioned systems these are usually Gnome, KDE or Steam Gaming Mode. I think the workflow of Gnome is far superior to Windows, while KDE is similar to Windows out of the box, but highly customizable. Installing apps is easy with one click in the respective app stores, so no more downloading and installing of .exe files. System and app updates are centralized and automatic, but will never be forced on you upon restart. And you can usually encrypt your SSD easily on installation (on Windows Home it's a bit more complicated). That might hit gaming performance, so it depends how secure you want your PC/Laptop to be.

      Maybe check out YouTube for videos on Fedora, Nobara, Bazzite and HoloISO and find what's best for you. If you need help, there are forums and wikis everywhere (including this one, although not specific to Linux gaming). And in order to see how well your favorite game will run on Linux or what hoops you have to jump through, you can consult protondb. You'll see most games work well on Linux, some even better than on Windows.

          [deleted] I'd add that if you're using an AMD GPU, you don't have to do anything because open-source drivers are provided by the kernel and they're as good as or better than proprietary drivers, the Steam client has a Linux version but this isn't the case for GOG, use Lutris and Heroic Game Launcher for GOG and Epic Games, Protondb as suggested above and a source of information that may be useful to you, in Steam, go to settings, compatibility then enable steam play for compatible games, you can now force a Windows game to launch via the Proton compatibility layer which is a set of open-source frameworks and software including Wine, OpenGL, OpenCL, Mesa and Vulkan, the Steam Deck for example is based on Arch Linux.

            N1b install Fedora ... NVIDIA drivers

            Since when? I remember it requiring that RPMFusion repo, because licencing means that Fedora doesn't come with NVidia drivers preinstalled or offer official downloads for them.

                Dumdum yes you're right, I must have been too tired when posting, thanks for correcting me. Probably thought of Steam and Chrome repos being readily set up, not Steam and NVIDIA.

                [deleted] I change my default recommendation from Fedora to Nobara then, whether Gnome or KDE is up to you. :)

                    Garuda Linux on the desktop/laptop, since I'm coming from IOS i have a 2013 MBP running latest MacOS too, but I rarely touch it these days

                    My wife uses W11 and has just renewed her Security Suite subscription.
                    I'v been using Linux for over 10 years so I had to ask - what's a Security Suite?

                      2 months later

                      CobaltInferno newbie24689 I would say OpenBSD would be closer to the 'GrapheneOS' of desktop operating systems. Unfortunately, unlike GraphineOS, OpenBSD is not something average users would be able to switch to without effort.

                      I used to work with UNIX 15+ years ago.
                      Should I give OpenBSD a try?

                          longshots My wife uses W11 and has just renewed her Security Suite subscription.

                          No reason to waste money on this and they are often problematic from a privacy point of view. Microsoft Defender is as good as other solutions as an AV and provides other features like attack surface reduction rules. Better invest a bit of time into configuring application control (Applocker or WDAC) instead of wasting money on security suites.

                            Scott Should I give OpenBSD a try?

                            Why would anyone use OpenBSD for desktop these days? You neither get good security, nor good compatibility.

                                Switched from Windows 10 to Arch Linux and couldn't be happier. If I only knew about Linux earlier. No adverts and no forced telemetry, no forced updates, no forced changing browsers, no forcing different settings. I like this freedom. I actually opted in for kde telemetry to hopefully help devs a little

                                With the recent chatter about systemd I went with Devuan after I borked my system with kde neon. (was using terminal and thought I was on a remote system, ughh)

                                Devuan is good, the install was a bit messy though. I put KDE for desktoo on it and use sysvinit. No issues.

                                TheGodfather Why would anyone use OpenBSD for desktop these days? You neither get good security, nor good compatibility.

                                That's a very interesting statement from you.

                                Can you please explain why the security of OpenBSD is not sufficient? Is the security of Linux distributions better today (in 2024)?
                                Please provide some evidence.

                                I am aware of the compatibility problems, of course the BSD community has much less developers than Linux Eco-system.

                                OpenBSD used to be considered the most secure operating system, but this is no longer the case?

                                • de0u replied to this.

                                    I'm using Linux Mint. On PC with LMDE 6, on notebook with LM 22 beta, both Cinnamon.

                                    Be as politics-free as possible; solutions should be decided on the basis of technical merit.

                                    https://www.openbsd.org/goals.html

                                    That's really something wonderful in a time where almost everywhere is politicized. No news on mainstream sites is disseminated without the opinion of the press/journalist