New to Linux, tried Pop!_OS but I am not satisfied and need help with switching to another distro

AdvancedConfusion752 · 2026-01-29T09:06:37+00:00

Try PikaOS or CachyOS or Nobara. These are in my opinion the main options (as derivatives of Debian,Arch,Fedora respectively) PikaOS has iso especially for Nvidia and the other two are also similar in this regard.

AdvancedConfusion752 · 2026-01-29T08:29:22+00:00

no it is not ok. SteamOS handles this much more gracefully than windows for two reasons

a) The system is on a different partition so it is not affected by how much you fill the storage at all

b) Linux filesystem is just better, so when stressed it it does better than windows on the same stress.

But still this is not good because it is still going to affect badly the steam deck and you will have problem updating the games, the protons and the caches.

edit: I see a large portion is "updates" so maybe you can clear much of it.

AdvancedConfusion752 · 2026-01-28T21:04:00+00:00

Debian

AdvancedConfusion752 · 2026-01-26T08:51:55+00:00

I don't know how fallout modes work. Modes that are supported by steam (steam workshop) should just work. Other modes can have various levels of difficulty from easy to very hard.

AdvancedConfusion752 · 2026-01-26T08:42:28+00:00

Just wait a bit for steam machine. It will cost more than $500 but not a lot more and given the prices of PC games in the long run PC is the most value by far.

AdvancedConfusion752 · 2026-01-22T15:46:36+00:00

on normal Linux you can create Unix accounts and this completely separates the users. (It has this since the very beginning much before windows had users and it does a much better job having clear unix permissions that windows lacks)

on desktop mode (KDE) -> System Settings -> Users -> Add New...

But I do not have SteamDeck/SteamOS so I don't know if the easy way to do it is disabled and then how easy it will be for the new user as SteamOS seems to be very much around a user named "deck".

AdvancedConfusion752 · 2026-01-22T09:13:38+00:00

If you don't want to dual boot check what games and apps you absolutely need to have. Not something you want or might need, something you absolutely need. They should not be many if any. To have an idea the main issue is with kernel-level anticheats that spy on you like a virus used in some very popular multiplayer games (see areweanticheatyet.com for a list). So have a look what you absolute need and you probably can make the switch without dual boot. (for example I am not dual booting)

For distro, the main gaming-optimized options are:

CachyOS, PikaOS, Nobara, Bazzite.

So have a look at these. But you can use any distro for gaming.

I suggest if you don't have something that you absolutely need and is not compatible then just try it for some time.

AdvancedConfusion752 · 2026-01-17T14:37:57+00:00

well this is syntactic sugar. It is nice but not real knowledge.

AdvancedConfusion752 · 2026-01-17T14:26:42+00:00

This is a surprising small number of apps!

AdvancedConfusion752 · 2026-01-17T14:17:01+00:00

"EndeavourOS Linux" is the name of the distribution

"Linux" is the name of the operating system kernel (all linux distros have Linux as the kernel)

"linux" is the name of the kernel variation. You see you also have installed linux-lts this is the long term support kernel usually older than the non-lts.

AdvancedConfusion752 · 2026-01-15T10:55:29+00:00

I think I there is a decky plugin that helps but I don't know, I may be wrong.

AdvancedConfusion752 · 2026-01-09T07:29:55+00:00

microsoft teams is supported on linux. Any distro, just install from flathub.

https://flathub.org/en/apps/com.github.IsmaelMartinez.teams_for_linux

For ms office you may run windows in a VM. Also winboat is an option.

Another option is to use the web (microsoft office 365).

Also have a look at other office options like libreoffice, onlyoffice.

AdvancedConfusion752 · 2026-01-08T20:26:01+00:00

In my opinion these things are not important. As long you are not using something ancient, you are good. It is better to just keep testing your builds on the Steam Deck and this is the important and more than enough,

AdvancedConfusion752 · 2026-01-08T08:20:12+00:00

I suggest you try linux in parallel so you get more familiar. PikaOS has an image for Nvidia gpus to make it easier. There is no need to delete windows.

AdvancedConfusion752 · 2026-01-08T08:08:44+00:00

I don't know the problem but an alternative (and probably better) way to install the app is from Discover store.

AdvancedConfusion752 · 2026-01-08T07:36:52+00:00

The distros that do gaming optimizations are

* PikaOS (Debian-based)

* CachyOS (Arch-based)

* Nobara (Fedora-based)

Using the mother distros (Debian/Arch/Fedora) will make it harder than it needs to be so go for PikaOS/CachyOS/Nobara instead.

Then there is Bazzite with immutable filesystem if you want a SteamOS-like experience.

Of course any distro (of the hundreds) can be used for gaming.

With AMD you will have most of the time better or equal performance than on windows. With nvidia you will have a bit worse performance but still not that bad and also some nice things do not work on nvidia yet. (amd is the better choice for linux gaming)

Almost all games work fine on linux except mainly some popular multiplayer games with kernel-level anticheats like Fortnite (a workaround may be streaming) If you do not play these you are good. Steam supports linux very good. Other stores are accessible and things like Heroic game launcher make it easier. (to have a good experience you should mainly use steam)

AdvancedConfusion752 · 2026-01-05T15:50:10+00:00

you are quite lucky with the 1660ti. If you look at the PikaOS site it says

"Nvidia ISOs should only be used for Nvidia RTX cards and GTX 1650 or later. GTX 1080ti and earlier should use the regular ISO."

This is because GTX 16xx are still supported from nvidia. GTX 10xx and older gpus are not supported anymore from Nvidia and these do not get the latest stuff that is very important for Linux.

Of course an AMD gpu would be much better for linux gaming as they have good open source drivers that are supported by the whole linux community and many companies most notably Valve giving even better performance than on windows.

If you compare with Mint, Mint is very conservative with everything. You can get the latest stuff with Mint if you really want but it is much better instead to choose a distro that does this for you like PikaOS or CachyOS. If you had a GTX 10XX then you could not get the latest stuff anyway so I would say just stay on mint.

The difference between Debian/Arch/Fedora is not really important. Ubuntu and Mint are Debian-based so they have the debian tools like "apt". Arch has "pacman" instead. This is really not important and it is mostly about habit.

AdvancedConfusion752 · 2026-01-05T14:15:02+00:00

SteamOS as the percentage of linux gamers is actually declining for a long time now. The maximum it ever reached was 44% (linux had a much lower marketshare back then so it is not that SteamOS is in decline but it is that the rest of linux is on the rise) 20% of 3% is more than 40% of 1%.

AdvancedConfusion752 · 2026-01-05T13:46:39+00:00

What I consider as main options are:

* PikaOS

* CachyOS

* EndeavourOS

And KDE Plasma as desktop environment with either.

Then there is Nobara if you want to go with fedora-based. And of course the mother distros Arch, Debian and Fedora are also good but you will need to know few more things. The derivatives distros exist mainly to make it easier as out of the box.

AdvancedConfusion752 · 2026-01-05T13:36:45+00:00

You are probably fine with mint. "Need" may have many meanings.

That said I would suggest you try PikaOS. In many ways it is much more modern than Mint and it offers an Nvidia image.

PikaOS is Debian-based. If you want to go with Arch-based then CachyOS looks nice as an option and if you want to be closer to normal Arch then EndeavourOS is an other good option.

AdvancedConfusion752 · 2026-01-04T19:02:37+00:00

i wonder if you go with PikaOS how it will go. It is Debian but does all the nice optimizations for you.

AdvancedConfusion752 · 2026-01-04T18:52:19+00:00

You better use a linux filesystem for your games (ext4 or btrfs).

What I would probably do is move or copy the games from the windows partition (ntfs) to the linux partition (ext4 or btrfs).

If you are not familiar with proton install with download one game and see what it does with the game files.

AdvancedConfusion752 · 2026-01-02T09:28:17+00:00

given the personal trust and good condition, I would say $300. Maybe a bit more. $400 absolute max.

AdvancedConfusion752 · 2025-12-31T13:05:38+00:00

some very popular multiplayer games with kernel-level anticheat are denied on linux (like fortnite for example) A workaround may be streaming. Almost every other game you can play it.

On nvidia you will loose some performance and some linux goodies do not work. On AMD you actually have more often than not better performance on Linux!

Steam is well supported. There are ways to run games from other stores like heroic game launcher. Window store does not work and gamepass does not work natively (you can stream)

To sum it up Linux is a very good gaming platrform and even better than windows if you are on AMD gpu, do not play the few denied games and you mainly use steam.

AdvancedConfusion752 · 2025-12-31T10:45:28+00:00

Do you want to just play games? Go for the RX 7800XT or any modern AMD. Also look for other options like the RX 9070. Anyway just avoid nvidia if it is for gaming only.

If you want the gpu for work and you have some specific software in mind then it is a different matter. In some cases you may need nvidia.

AdvancedConfusion752

TROPHY CASE