Edit: Tumbleweed and bazzite are currently the most attractive options based on what I’ve learned from the comments. I will trial run those and 1 or 2 others.
I am currently on Pop OS.
I am dissatisfied with the DE/UI and I’ve been playing with others but half the point of this distro is it’s custom UI. So I figured I would try another. I have several criteria that may narrow it down.
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I am going to use KDE or KDE Plasma (preferred). This is the only non-negotiable criteria.
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I will be gaming. This means I would like relatively up to date kernel and software. Rolling or semi-rolling releases are preferred.
2.5. I also work from this pc. This mainly entails using discord and Firefox though so no special requirements. I do have 4 different sized monitors with 3 different refresh rates that I use for work. Only one for gaming. One is vertical. I can tell I’m pushing x to its limits with that setup.
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I would prefer Debian-based as that is what I’m used to and because .deb packages are so common.
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I don’t want it to be a ton of effort to set up. Pop OS worked out of the box with my Nvidia GPU and all other hardware. I am willing to put in some effort though.
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I have been using and very much like apt and flatpak. This is not a requirement, just an observation.
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Wayland is neat
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Active community with lots of support to search through. Pop OS has been good for this as it’s Ubuntu based and has its own great community.
Ultimately I want an easy to use desktop OS that uses some sort of KDE, supports up to date packages and drivers, supports most games and isn’t a pain to maintain.
Here are some contenders that fit at least some of my requirements.
KDE Neon user edition
Opensuse tumbleweed
Kubuntu
Endeavor OS
Debian
Manjaro
Bazzite
Mint Debian edition
Right now I’m leaning toward KDE Neon, Kubuntu, or Debian (whatever the rolling release version is), but the others all have their draws. I’ve heard the aur is great but I have come across several applications only available in website downloads of Deb packages so I’m hesitant.
I have been using pop as my first desktop distro after Windows and I’ve enjoyed it a lot. I barely run into anything I can’t solve with some effort and headache and not a single game I can’t play. I’d like to keep it that way.
Now that that’s out of the way, does anyone have suggestions? Am I looking in the wrong direction? Am I asking the wrong questions? Should I just install arch, live in the terminal, and throw away my mouse? /s
Thank you all for your advice in advance.
i used Tumbleweed. It is great, but you need to configure it for gaming
Aside from your preference for debian-based distros, you’re describing Garuda pretty well. But the chaotic-AUR is enabled by default, so you’d never need to hunt for .deb files in the first place. And the update script, “garuda-update”, has a bunch of nice features by default, like taking snapshots and running grub-update (which would have prevented the grub fiasco that hit the arch-based distros a while back).
The only pain points are 1.) If you don’t like Garuda’s theming, you’ll need to do some minor ricing to start, and 2.) Plasma 6 updates often enough that on a rolling release distro, something minor about your setup might break once every few months, e.g. KDE allows themes to set a minimum taskbar size and all of a sudden your taskbar increases in size, or your wallpaper gets reset for some reason.
Would definitely not recommend KDE Neon. It’s more of a showcase of new KDE features than an actual usable OS. I currently use Kubuntu and it’s fine. I wish it updated more frequently but the update frequency isn’t slow enough to really be a deal breaker.
I disabled snap Firefox, not really because I’m ideologically against snap, but because snap Firefox is annoying to use. Other than that, the OS generally just works out of the box.
I’ve heard good things about OpenSUSE, but I’ve never tried it. My personal opinion is that I want to stick to the most common distros so that it’s easier to find troubleshooting advice
I also ran Pop for a couple of years before moving to Bazzite. Bazzite has KDE, Wayland, and can run .deb software through distrobox. It’s the best.
They have an Nvidia version; although it should be mentioned that Nvidia doesn’t always play nice with Wayland. If you use X11 with Nvidia instead, it’s a much better experience and you still get most of the benefits of using Bazzite.
Personally, I switched to AMD due to the better Linux support. Wayland on AMD is fantastic.
Of course there’s the suggestion of installing KDE plasma on PopOS! Which will work quite well but to give some info on the others:
KDE neon is mostly for devs and is less well maintained than other distros. Still definitly not a bad choice.
Tumbleweed stronk. Definitly out of what you say my preference though yes, it’s not deb based. You should be able to get what you want though through the app store and the open build service. Really it’s discouraged to find random .debs online and install but OpenSUSE runs on .rpm which are fairly commom.
Kubuntu is also good. Last time I checked it’s a bit slower moving than pop but that’s not inherently bad. Definitly a great “It-just-works” distro. Some people, myself included, dislike snaps which are built in but if you don’t know what they are I doubt you’ll care. Most of the hate is overblown.
I’d caution against endeavor as it’s arch based. It’ll demand more from you, stuff will definitly not just work all the time,and if an issue arises it’ll be the first to catch it. Like the grub rescue error that showed up about a year or so ago.
Don’t use Manjaro. The devs are incompetent and destructive to the ecosystem.
Debian is also chill. There’s always unstable (can’t remember the current name. Debian Trixie?) For something that’s more up to date
Last thing no matter what distro, just like an exe, a .deb is just an archival format like .zip and can be taken apart to be manually installed. I understand not wanting to do this though lol and it’s not always that simple
Debian is also chill. There’s always unstable (can’t remember the current name. Debian Trixie?) For something that’s more up to date
Debian Unstable’s code name is always Sid. Debian Testing’s code name is always the one that will become the next Debian Stable release, currently Trixie.
