Installing Linux on friend's new PC, which distro should he use? (sopuli.xyz)

submitted 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) by sbeak@sopuli.xyz to c/linux@programming.dev

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edit: Fedora it is then!

He will be running the AMD 9800 X3D w/ RX 9070 XT, B850 motherboard.

I am deciding between either Fedora (probably KDE) and Bazzite (also KDE), but I'm not sure whether an atomic distro would be better/worse for a newbie.

As far as I understand, atomic distros can be easily rolled back after an update, but you are unable to use apt/dnf/etx, you need to use Flatpak, I think. Would that be limiting for the average user? Also, does Bazzite have better driver support for newer AMD hardware compared to Fedora?

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[-] epicshepich@programming.dev 2 points 3 months ago

I use both Mint and Nobara. Nobara is on my gaming rig, and Mint is my daily driver laptop. I agree that KDE is better than Cinnamon, but I do feel like Cinnamon is more streamlined for folks who don't want/need all the bells and whistles that come with KDE.

Also, I read somewhere that full support for Wayland on Cinnamon is slated for this year.

[-] epicshepich@programming.dev 2 points 3 months ago

I haven't used Bazzite, but comparing against Nobara, Mint's updater and graphical software store are way more polished.

Also, every once in a while, I find that some application that I need is only distributed as a .deb (such as the AWS VPN Client), so it's nice to be on a Debian-family distro when that situation arises.

this post was submitted on 02 Jan 2026

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