r/FindMeALinuxDistro

Summary, I like KDE, and I just want my system for normal stuff like drawing on Krita, browsing and coding on VSCode. But every distro I use has a problem:

Kubuntu's installer always failed. And I had problems with it in the past because of Bluetooth driver issues. Worse is that I have to uninstall Snap because I prefer Flatpak instead. Annoying but not unsolvable.

Debian works reliably but it's insanely old and constantly has drivers missing. Like my speakers.

Arch stuff, like CachyOS which was the most interesting one works out of the box perfectly. The problem is that is Arch. Updates can easily break my system at any moment if I am not careful. It's like having Pacman pointing a gun at me at all times.

Fedora seemed perfect... Until it deleted vmlinuz. Don't know how, but Fedora completely lost my trust after that

OpenSUSE was a interesting option if it hadn't such a horrible installer. It's even harder than installing Arch.

Linux Mint is perfect... If it supported KDE, that is. KDE is non negotiable since it's highly customizable.

I tried out even NixOS. Worked well for a while, but I was a bit annoyed of having to learn it's ways and the fact that most tutorials won't work on it.

UPDATE: After reading many comments and doing some research on my own, I've decided I'll just use Cachy with snapshots turned on. Turns out that updates with manual interventions are quite rare in comparison to what I've expected. Last one was on April on this year, only one in 2026, so that speaks by itself. Thanks for everyone who answered this post :)

I’ve been distrohopping for 2 years and I just can’t stop on one and use it. I feel the urge and need in reinstalling and trying everything. I’ve tried many many distros, but I wanna find something that I can stay on. Currently, I use Arch with niri, but I want something more stable.

I need something lightweight (minimal), good for gaming, because I play a lot, and most importantly stable. When I say stable, I don’t mean Debian stable with old packages. I need new packages, but I want it to be stable. I don’t want some bullshit error popping on my screen first thing in the morning and having to deal with it. I don’t want to lose my config files or my personals files, I just wanna use it.

No ubuntu, no mint and fedora suggestions. I’ve been thinking about Void or NixOS, but I wanna see if people have any other options :))

Since micropenis latest Windows update. Causes apps to spike their CPU usage on opening to appear smoother i'm looking for options to try. I forgot to mention I do have an Nvidia graphics card In the form of a GT 1030

Hello Linux community !

I have finally decided to switch over to Linux and I have no idea where I should start, can you guys please help me!!

I mostly use my pc for gaming and other basic tasks like editing, animation,coding, transferring stuff to my mobile, watching anime etc.

These are my priorities in order :

1. Gaming (I'm comfortable doing complicated steps and staring at my screen for hours due to frustration)

2. Compatibility - it would be nice if all my equipment like mouse, mic,monitor, network adapter,gpu etc, their respective and additional software would be compatible and when I upgrade my stuff, it would not tangle with previous things

3. Extra features & Visuals - If possible I would like to have a customizable distro , like boot animation, GUI if it's there , etc.

Also extra stuff like tools for testing or anything... Basically a distro which can do things whatever a windows can do + it's extra function.

My main priority is gaming, thus I'm going for Efficiency over simplicity.

Thank you for reading this!

Have a great day!

Goal: get a real manufacturing/CNC programmer job, not just larp as Cadder

Questions for you Ubermens:

• Which distro looks best on CV for engineering roles? (Ubuntu? Fedora? Gentoo, Redheat?)
• Which one forces you to actually learn Linux properly instead of just clicking buttons like a Windows user?
• Ubuntu with MATE/Xfce for battery + stability vs Arch/Gentoo for masochism vs Pop!_OS/Fedora; or just straight super power redhat?
• Real talk: does putting "Arch btw" on CV make recruiters laugh or respect you in industry?

Already had good experience with Ubuntu but battery drain sucks.

Want something that motivates me to git gud without breaking every week.

OR, if it breaks every week it forces me to learn and become a master:

Right now i'm conflicted between trying Arch, Redhat or gentoo to force myself in new engaging problems

Also i need a job, so even ubuntu xcfe may be a good idea.

my laptop has no graphic vram and only 8gb of rams.... so consider that, i 'd rather have a faster OS if possibile, i'll also have to dual boot windows

tl;dr just tell me how to get a job with linux or get good with a hard linux

I have been using Linux for quiet a while, I know it pretty good, I want to try harder to use Linux, what distro should I get?

For context, I have installed Arch 5 times and used it for ~3 months each time, I have used Fedora, NixOS, Alpine Linux

Casual: I want a Linux community that celebrates non-superusers. I've been on Linux for half a decade and I'll never remember much of anything about command line or computer internals, and not for lack of trying. I'll happily copypaste code and so forth with unassuming help, I just don't want to encounter this pervasive attitude where people tell me "just" followed by some statement that only a career dev would find reasonable. Partly, this means GUI everything, but that's not all; it's a matter of ethos.

Opposed to age verification: I like to see the word 'never'. I like to see a firm developer statement recognizing that age verification is the first inch of a mile that is encroaching digital surveillance via our government IDs. If a developer team rolled over I'd still consider the distro if there's an easy patch, but I'm only aware of Debian's ageless script.

Daily-used apps are newish: I don't want everything to be several major versions behind. I've been having this problem with common things like Okular or KDE's Night Light where there's a really relevant feature such as pinch to zoom or a fully red screen filter, that I just can't have. Related to point #1, being told "just use backports" or "just compile from source" or so forth isn't viable for me; I need to click a button and get on with my life. Newish means within several months of an app version's release to me.

I never use flatpak: Small old pc, simply don't have the space. Related to point #1, being told "just buy a new computer" or "just buy more disk space" isn't viable for me.

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What do I use this computer for? Web browsing, medical research, pdf organizing and annotating, notes, messaging, busy tasks. Occasionally I use a DAW and a video editor and the workflow involves Windows components so I definitely need to have WINE easily usable -- I had some intractable problem on Debian about 'dotnet' and fonts -- and also to run the audio plugin package yabridge.

On my DE, I'm particular about my environment being minimalist and I have navigation quirks I want customize. I've found I like KDE for this whereas I for some reason hated GNOME; I don't know if that's a dealbreaker, just mentioning that whatever the desktop environment is it ought to feel slick and intentional for the distro. Related to point #1, being told "just install a different DE than what the distro came with" isn't viable for me.

I REALLY appreciate help!

BONUS: Linux Support Forums Go One Post Without Saying The R Slur CHALLENGE (IMPOSSIBLE?)

I am looking for a non-profit, Wayland supporting, up-to-date, european Linux distro.

openSUSE was perfect in that sense but when I tried it a couple months back, unfortunately some programs, like the latest Rstudio, didn't run well or at all on it.

So now I am looking an alternative to it. I don't know if anything Arch based would be something I want to deal with.

KDE Linux is not an option as I have an Nvidia GTX 960. But maybe KDE neon? Or should I go Debian, possibly Debian Sid? I haven't tried it but I hear that it is difficult to set up.

Many ppl told me to try cachyos, so i am thinking of going for it

Hi i tried to keep this short and failed.

So far I've used Mint and EndeavorOS. I dont mean to come off as picky-- but i've done so much research into other distros that ive looped around to feeling overwhelmed with information so im looking for outside perspectives.

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I want to note that i actually love mint, but my biggest issue is the last of customization. its not the end of the world but small things like the lack of widgets, the right-click menu, and not really being able to change the file browser are kind of annoying.

EndeavourOS is also awesome and i havent had many issues with it so far- but im pretty traumatized from the bootloader breaking multiple times when i followed the regular arch guide so I'm worried about an Arch-based system bricking my computer when i have school due. I could just be stressing out about nothing though.

- Intermediate computer knowledge (possibly above intermediate?)

- Currently in college for IT, I do my schoolwork on this computer so i want something reliable that i wont have to babysit or stress about- But will let me tinker/adjust if i ever want to.

- I think the hardest part for me is choosing between a stable or rolling release. I dont trust myself to keep on top of updates for rolling well enough without stressing out- but also the idea of being 2 years behind everyone else is kind of insane and i worry about those updates also breaking stuff. Ive really over researched which would be better *for me* and have no answer, thats the main thing im struggling with.

- I game sometimes but not a ton or anything super recent.

Some other reservations i have:

- i'm not looking to use ubuntu because of the issues with the company... i'm a bit hesitant about fedora for the same reasons but i'm less educated on that front.

- I saw people recommending OpenSUSE TW but it having a smaller community and apparently less packages sucks. That lizards cool as FUCK Though.

AMD Ryzen 3 7330U, integrated Radeon, 16GB RAM if that changes anything.
I'd prefer to use KDE (As much as i love cinnamon)

thanks to anyone who replies to this btw smiles

As the title suggests I want something that is stable and can be used as a daily driver. I'm playing games most of the time but still need to be able to do normal stuff comfortably.

Best case I want something that looks different from Windows.

That said I'm still a beginner. I know that I can install different DE on my system and that Distros are just a preset package that I can change. I'm not sure I trust myself with messing around to much there yet.

I have been using Linux for almost a year now, and I started with Omarchy, then bazzite and now I am using Kali for daily use (which is bad thing to do, hence Kali is unstable), but now I am considering switching to different distro and was wondering what are some distros that are considered niche or in other words, the people that use it are quite a few.

I want to install linux on my secondary machine because it feels sluggish with windows even though it's only 4 years old with quite good specs for the time.

My Wishlist

• Beginner friendly. I have some experience with linux but I'm definetly not a master. I don't really want to learn more than basic terminal commands rn.
• Gaming focused. The laptop will be mainly used for gaming. I want to emulate some older games as well as play new ones. I already know which games to avoid because of anti cheat problems.
• Some kind of migration tool. It doesn't have to be built in, but I would like something like apple's time machine.

Here are the specs of the laptop if anyone is interested:

Intel Core I7 11800H

RTX 3060 Mobile (i know, nvidia and the linux community aren't besties)

32gb DDR4

512gb NVMe drive

4gb of ram in the VB, 128mb video Ram (the most), 40gb hard drive space.

Which distro will run best given that graphics are always the weakest link.. Will Antix for example run more fluid then say Linux Mint XFCE or Fedora LXDE???? Or would a distro perhaps like Ubuntu that loads up more dependencies actually be better?

I have an old Samsung laptop that I can fold and use like a tablet. I mainly use it for reading manga and comics.

I like the Windows Tablet mode, but the laptop is kind of old, and Windows 11 is slowing it down.

Does anyone know a good distro that would work for my use case?

Edit: Trying out Fedora Silverblue. Seems to be a good fit

Hi! Im looking for a distro that dont use that much RAM and Is good for gaming, i have 8gb of ram and a ryzen5 3400g. On Windows i get in some games like Hitman woa, gta5 and re Village 40/50/60 fps at medium graphics

Hi I'm new to Linux and looking for a distro,

I don't really mind learning if the distro has good documentation.

INFO:

I work on an HP laptop with Intel HD GPU.

New to Linux, but don't mind learning.

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REQUIREMENTS:

- I'd like a distro that is perfomant that I can stick with and update long term.

(Better then windows just existing basically)

- id like to be able to game with steam and Minecraft

- customizable, rice-able?

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Also maybe recommend a kde I can use to roce it up with?

Any help in recommending a distro is gold thank you so much!