Mastodon: @RmDebArc_5@toot.io

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Joined 11 months ago
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Cake day: April 11th, 2024

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  • If you start the demo mode there will be no changes to disk until you open the installer for both distros. Most distros will boot into the demo mode directly from the USB and then have a shortcut to start installing. Once you have created a bootable USB it will work with any device so you can test the distros out now with your current machined and when you get the new one you can just plug it in there and see if there are any hardware specific issues


  • The difference between NVIDIA and AMD/Intel is that Linux has a different way of handling drivers compared to windows (all drivers are part of the Kernel). AMD/Intel respect this. NVIDIA develop there drivers like on windows even though Linux is not designed this way. Also sometimes a new standard is made (eg Wayland) but NVIDIA has little to no support for a long time. Additionally there drivers are proprietary which limits how distros can/want to ship them.


  • Generally, Linuxmint is the go to distro if you want something that holds your hand, but due to your limited needs outside of gaming and already having a Steam deck you should take a look at Bazzite, which is basically the desktop mode of the Steam deck for PCs.

    As for hardware, one thing that can be annoying is NVIDIA (drivers), but that shouldn’t be a major problem with these distros as mint has a built in manager that does everything for you and with Bazzite you just need to specify your GPU when downloading and don’t have to do anything.

    My recommendation is download the distros you want to try, get Rufus put them on a USB and then play around with them in demo mode, make sure everything works (graphic card, printers) and if you like the distro then start the installer. If you don’t like it you can just unplug the USB and reboot without anything persisting.


  • Gnome is technically one of the most customizable, but it is opinionated which means the end user isn’t supposed to change anything, only devs (Like Ubuntu or Zorins customizations). Kde Plasma on the other hand is designed to be easily customizable, you are supposed to make it your own without having to install external software (for example Gnome requires you to manually install the extension manager while it is built in with kde). Then there is Xfce, which is also very customizable but has little built in. This is because with Xfce you are supposed to customize with external software (for example using plank as your dock).

    So basically, Gnome is for when you want an opinionated DE (or want to make a distro and have it certain way), KDE is when you want something very customizable and Xfce when you something customizable and modular.