Which Linux Distro? Flavor? Desktop Environment? (1 Viewer)

[FL_Saint]

Good morning. I have searched the few linux discussions here, but wanted to start something new because the latest I found was 3 years old. Plus, this is kindof a broad question . . .

I have had a little experience playing around with various linux installs over the years. But nothing serious. Lately, I have been exploring actually moving permanently over to Linux from Windows. I am currently on Windows 10 on my laptop. I use LibreOffice because I don't want to pay for MS Office. The only other issue I might have is Steam games, specifically Skyrim, but I have found some pretty good guidance about getting that set up.

My issue is deciding which Linux distro to install. I have read good things about Mint and Manjaro. I have downloaded and ran them live from USB. Both seem usable, of course. I know that there are likely many opinions, but wanted to get some thoughts before going all in. I want to use something that is going to be somewhat private as compared to Windows, but not full Snowden level lockdown.

What started this recently is the announcement that using Windows 11 (at least the Home version) will REQUIRE the use of a microsoft account - no getting around it like I could in W10.

I'd appreciate any thoughts or discussion on this one.

 

[Zztop]

yeah, I don't like the required microsoft account with windows 11 thing either. But I've read that is only for home license, w11 pro won't require it.

For linux you might be better off looking here https://www.reddit.com/r/linux_gaming/
Theres probably a ton of other linux-dedicated forums or reddit pages out there, but this one seems specifically for gaming.
I don't know much about linux, but I do know steam has been working on something called proton, which I think their goal is to get all(?) (most?) steam games working on linux

https://www.protondb.com/

 

[Buickman]

I kind of favored Debian. It's what Ubuntu, Mint, etc are based on and it doesn't have all the glut that those do.

 

[FL_Saint]

Thanks, I decided to install Manjaro. Pretty good so far. I have Steam, Proton and Skyrim installed. Kinda stuck installing Vortex mod manager right now. Otherwise, I will have to start a new game OR install my few mods manually if I want to use a saved game.