Some more tips if you end up switching to Linux, specifically on methods of installing programs (because that can be confusing)

There are five main options to install programs on Linux:

• The ones packaged for your specific family of distro (like .deb for Debian based distros, .rpm for Fedora/RHEL based distros). These will work the best and should be your default.
• Flatpak, a universally compatible Linux app format that most desktop programs support. They have what’s called “sandboxing”, which basically means that apps don’t have full system-wide access by default. This can be annoying for some applications, but with a bit of configuration it seems that you can get it working. Additionally,
• AppImage, another universally compatible format. This one is more similar to a standalone exe on Windows, where it doesn’t install itself anywhere, it just runs as a program. Optionally you can get a program called “AppImageLauncher” which handles the “installing” part (e.g. adding entry in the applications menu, moving it to an applications directory) if you need that.
• Executable w/ some other stuff wrapped in a tar.gz (Linux equivalent of .zip, both formats work but tar.gz will remember Linux-specific information like symlinks and can offer better compression too I think). The executable usually doesn’t have a specific file extension. This would be similar to installing a portable application in a zip file on Windows.
• There are also snap files, but the community doesn’t really like them since they are sourced from a centralised and not-so-open repository controlled by Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu, and it isn’t as widely adopted as Flatpak. Unless no other alternatives exist, I wouldn’t really go for this option.

Most distros have a graphical user interface to install programs, usually letting you install programs via either specific packages (like rpm for Fedora) or via Flatpak. You can also install those two through the command line (“sudo apt/dnf install [name]” and “flatpak install [name]”, note that flatpak doesn’t require admin privileges! You can update programs using “sudo apt update” and “sudo apt upgrade” on Debian-based distros, “sudo dnf update” on Fedora-based distros, and “flatpak update” with Flatpak. You need to update repos and then upgrade packages separately on Debian-based distros, while on Fedora with dnf it is done with just one command)

You can also go to the website/git repo of the software you wish to install and download the respective file to manually install stuff, as well as to get programs that come in AppImage or as tar.gz archives.

The community can’t agree on which distro is the best, because there is no best. They’re all good. Pick and choose! Personally, I have used Fedora, Linux Mint, and am currently using EndeavourOS. As long as your hardware is compatible and you aren’t using something super unstable, you should have a good experience.

For beginners, I would recommend either Linux Mint (Cinnamon) or Fedora (Workstation/GNOME or KDE, other DE spins also exist), which faster release than Mint, so it’s better for newer hardware. These are the ones I’ve personally used and was happy with. I have not yet used Bazzite, Nobara, or similar gaming-oriented distros. Nobara is a fork of Fedora that is gaming-centric, and it seems that most people are happy with it. Bazzite is also Fedora based, but it’s an atomic distro, meaning there’s some stuff you can’t do on the system (which can be good, less likely to bork it, but also bad, as it gives you less control and there are limitations on what stuff you can install)

Although Pop! OS used to be a recommended option (you can find it in a few articles here and there) they are currently transitioning to their new DE called COSMIC, which sounds really cool but is a bit buggy it seems, given that it only recently went into beta, so it needs a bit more time in the oven. Just a note so you don’t do a Linus Tech Tips and translate a bad experience with buggy COSMIC as a bad experience on Linux.

If you want to experiment and don’t mind tinkering a bit to fix issues with a more unstable distro, you could try out a rolling release distribution. If you’re a beginner simply looking for an alternate OS and don’t want to do that, I wouldn’t recommend these. You of course have the Arch-based ones, like EndeavourOS (which is more standard) and CachyOS (which has gaming optimisations) that are easier to install than vanilla Arch Linux, but you also have openSUSE Tumbleweed, which sounds like a decent option. I currently use EndeavourOS as there were a few specific software that I wanted to try that were built for Arch-based distros but weren’t built for non-Arch distros (like rmpc, an awesome mpd music player which requires manual building if you don’t use Arch), and I also wanted to experiment with being on the “bleeding edge” of software. The package manager on Arch is called “pacman”, and you can get the loading bar when installing programs to look like a yellow C pacman eating little dots rather than through hashes (e.g. [#### ]), it’s amazing!

What are the differences between GNOME, KDE, and Cinnamon? Those are desktop environments, and most distros allow you to interchange between them since Linux is super modular! I started out with Fedora Workstation, which uses GNOME, and I was able to install KDE Plasma and then after remove GNOME. If you want, you can install multiple DEs and switch between them from the login screen (but then you would get duplicated system apps, like file managers and stuff). Different desktop environments give you a different user interface with different features and theming options, and it truly is simply which one you like more! GNOME, KDE, and Cinnamon are the most established options, but you also have ones like XFCE and MATE.

Between the “big three”, GNOME is the most “minimal” with lots of padding and it looks very nice (but some people hate it), especially when you install apps that match its aesthetic, but is not as customisable by default (it’s kind of like macOS in a way where you need to install extensions and apps to add additional functionality). KDE Plasma is the most feature-rich and customisable out of the box, so much so that some people have mentioned that there could be too many options. It’s really polished and intuitive to use, and their default Breeze theme (which is more boxy and contrasty) looks equally good as GNOME’s libadwaita, it’s just a matter of taste. I personally use KDE for its extensive theming options, you can really make it looks like anything you want! Cinnamon is Linux Mint’s homegrown DE. It’s somewhere in the middle in terms of customisability, and out of the box (!), it is the most similar to the Windows 10 interface.