42
Switching from windows to linux
(lemmy.zip)
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
this post was submitted on 16 Dec 2025
42 points (93.8% liked)
Linux
57274 readers
238 users here now
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
Rules
- Posts must be relevant to operating systems running the Linux kernel. GNU/Linux or otherwise.
- No misinformation
- No NSFW content
- No hate speech, bigotry, etc
Related Communities
Community icon by Alpár-Etele Méder, licensed under CC BY 3.0
founded 6 years ago
MODERATORS
I’ll be the sacrificial lamb and say that contrary to what others suggest, do not use Mint. You want a distro that offers the KDE Plasma desktop. I strongly recommend starting with Bazzite if you primarily play games or Fedora KDE if you want more personal control. You could always start with Bazzite and switch to Fedora KDE later if you decide Bazzite is too restrictive.
I tried a few distro over the years. They all had issues. Mint was the first one that "just worked" without fucking a round with terminal.
Put it on my parents PCs and they had 0 issues.
Fedora and KDE have more "polish" but in my experience the tradeoff is bug hunting and terminal use. Not something I wanted to get into moving to a new OS.
While this is purely anecdotal, Mint is the only distro I have ever consistently run into major hardware support problems. Others seem to confirm that experience, especially with newer hardware.
In addition to that, I absolutely loathe Cinnamon and Mint does not natively support KDE by design. It’s an awful recommendation for new users because it feels outdated and clanky and they are far more likely to run into compatibility problems than Fedora, which has always worked out of the box for everything I’ve tried, and I have tried it on quite a lot.
My opinions are opinions, but I strongly feel that steering new Linux users toward Mint sets a bad first impression.
I mostly use my laptop for school or video editing. But I’m gonna inform myself a bit more but if you say mint isn’t good for that kind of stuff then I will find something else :3 thank you though!
Video editing with open source software is still a bit rough on Linux, Kdenlive is there, but you will probably have a much better experience with Davinci Resolve. They have native linux support and most distros are well supported.
Mint should be fine for that. What I think this poster is encountering is that Mint does not always run well on the latest and greatest hardware. The Mint team favours a well tested and older base.
Bazzite and Fedora are a bit friendlier to newer hardware, but not quite as bleeding edge as Arch bases Distros.
Remember that starting with Mint and migrating to something else a year later is a normal and healthy Linux journey, as is staying on Mint for years.
Welcome to having choice! And in my opinion, being an kick ass partner