tldr:
What reliable, up-to-date, linux distro would you recommend a gaming softwareengineer and privacy enthusiast?

Full text:
Hey all, I know this is the age old question, but I would like to ask it anyway. I am currently switching from windows to linux on my main pc and am on the hunt for a fitting distro. I am a software developer and used to working with wsl, debian servers, etc. I selfhost a bunch of things and know my way around the linux commandline and would call me privacy enthusiast that uses a lot of FLOSS software. I also do occasional gaming but I guess that should work on any distro with enough work.

My thought regarding a few distros:

  • I like to live on the edge of time and therefore have the feeling that debian based distros (although being very stable) are too “old” for my liking.
  • Ubuntu - Canonical is out for me.
  • I also looked at fedora, and liked it, but after reading more and knowing it is backed by IBM and that is US based I am not too sure anymore. I ideally would want to have something independent. Although being backed by a company promises continuous work in the future (with the risk of becoming bad).
  • OpenSUSE tumbleweed seems promising (german origin!) but also quite intimidating as it is apparently mostly targeted towards power users and I am not sure if it fits an all purpose desktop pc.
  • Arch based distros seem great as it contains all the newest packages and is infinitifly customizable. But the KISS nature of arch and the (as far as I understood) high effort to get everything running is a bit intimidating when switching from windows. But I also do like the fact that it ships with only the bare minimum and not anything bloated.

Further more I somehow think that using a base distro (in comparison to a fork of a fork…) is more ideal as they receive updates, etc faster. But that is just a feeling and I couldn’t argue more precisely about it.

Regarding a DE I am definitely going KDE.

I would be very happy for some tips, opinions or pointers in the right direction to continue and finally get rid of windows… Well at least mostly. I guess i will keep it in dual boot as I do play a few games that unfortunately won’t run on linux.

Thanks in advance already!

  • HexagonSun@sh.itjust.works
    1·
    6 hours ago

    Wanted to just chip in and agree that EndeavourOS deserves enormous praise for how much it gets up and running for you straight off the bat.

    I run Linux on a 2012 MacBook Pro, more as a hobby than as my main computer.

    It’s about the only distro that actually near-enough just works on that particular Mac at this point, with Linux Mint a close second. If I install it from the live image then change my network settings to use WPA 2 security rather than WPA 3 then I have a fully working computer.

    Most distros fail to even boot to a working live image on that Mac. And if they do, then I can’t for the life of me get the WiFi working after that.

    Being “terminal centric” scared me off at first, but I finally realised how little you actually need to know to install software and keep it updated once you’re up and running.

    It’s an amazing distro.