Started learning Linux with Manjaro a few years ago, but there were always stability issues pushing me away from daily driving. I found when I did have time to use my PC, it was largely for gaming, and when any issue presented and needed to be fixed it was a bit of a barrier to entry.

Because of biases I always leaned to Arch for that ‘bleeding edge’ and rolling updates, so when I gave Linux another shot long term a few months ago I went with EndeavourOS. Everything was rock solid but I found a lot of nitpicks and after a week or so my monitors wouldn’t wake from sleep… I of course don’t blame the OS as more than likely there was a log somewhere explaining my issue, but I really just want to enjoy playing games after a long day.

So I gave up on my faux dream of living on the edge and instead installed Pop_OS!, and to my pleasant surprise it has been rock solid and performant to boot! My preconceived biases against Debian and it’s derivatives drove me to borderline tribalism. Flatpak has remedied worries of outdated packages, and even if I did have an issue (bluetooth headphones defaulting to HSP not AD2P) I found the solution on the archwiki!

The beauty of this ecosystem is that Linux is Linux, we all benefit from improvements so long as they are made open and free, and no matter what flavor you choose, you’ll always be part of the family.

Thanks for reading, and thank you to the contributors who work tirelessly to make an open and free desktop a reality :)

  • @OldPain
    7•10 months ago

    If you’re gaming on Linux I can’t recommend Nobara enough. Optimized from the kernel out for gaming and based on Fedora. It autoinstalls graphics drivers on first boot, includes steam, lutris, proton, wine, and everything else you need to play out of the box. Also has Proton-Up, so you have a nice little easy GUI way to install the latest Proton versions. Developed by GloriousEggroll of GE-Proton fame.

    For reference, I use a 3060 and play most games in 4K@144hz at medium-highest settings comfortably. I also run a second monitor which Nobara handles seemlessly, so good to go for Multi-Display setups too.

    • circuitfarmer
      2•10 months ago

      I have been looking at Nobara. But I do wonder about impending issues with Fedora (on which it is based), and I also really like the custom version of Gnome that System76 worked out for Pop.

      I use Proton-Up as well, and your performance sounds similar to mine.