Edit: Tumbleweed and bazzite are currently the most attractive options based on what I’ve learned from the comments. I will trial run those and 1 or 2 others.

I am currently on Pop OS.

I am dissatisfied with the DE/UI and I’ve been playing with others but half the point of this distro is it’s custom UI. So I figured I would try another. I have several criteria that may narrow it down.

  1. I am going to use KDE or KDE Plasma (preferred). This is the only non-negotiable criteria.

  2. I will be gaming. This means I would like relatively up to date kernel and software. Rolling or semi-rolling releases are preferred.

2.5. I also work from this pc. This mainly entails using discord and Firefox though so no special requirements. I do have 4 different sized monitors with 3 different refresh rates that I use for work. Only one for gaming. One is vertical. I can tell I’m pushing x to its limits with that setup.

  1. I would prefer Debian-based as that is what I’m used to and because .deb packages are so common.

  2. I don’t want it to be a ton of effort to set up. Pop OS worked out of the box with my Nvidia GPU and all other hardware. I am willing to put in some effort though.

  3. I have been using and very much like apt and flatpak. This is not a requirement, just an observation.

  4. Wayland is neat

  5. Active community with lots of support to search through. Pop OS has been good for this as it’s Ubuntu based and has its own great community.

Ultimately I want an easy to use desktop OS that uses some sort of KDE, supports up to date packages and drivers, supports most games and isn’t a pain to maintain.

Here are some contenders that fit at least some of my requirements.

KDE Neon user edition

Opensuse tumbleweed

Kubuntu

Endeavor OS

Debian

Manjaro

Bazzite

Mint Debian edition

Right now I’m leaning toward KDE Neon, Kubuntu, or Debian (whatever the rolling release version is), but the others all have their draws. I’ve heard the aur is great but I have come across several applications only available in website downloads of Deb packages so I’m hesitant.

I have been using pop as my first desktop distro after Windows and I’ve enjoyed it a lot. I barely run into anything I can’t solve with some effort and headache and not a single game I can’t play. I’d like to keep it that way.

Now that that’s out of the way, does anyone have suggestions? Am I looking in the wrong direction? Am I asking the wrong questions? Should I just install arch, live in the terminal, and throw away my mouse? /s

Thank you all for your advice in advance.

  • youmaynotknow@lemmy.ml
    21·
    1 day ago

    I’m going to risk the down votes. Stay away from atomic distros and you should be OK. Yes, they are less likely to break by messing around, but also infinitely harder to set exactly to your liking.

  • whaleross@lemmy.world
    1·
    1 day ago

    Get back with results. I switched from Pop!_OS to Fedora KDE today. So far my annoyances with Pop and Gnome are gone and what little I had time to try out with Steam worked well. The kernel is on par with pop. I’m used to Debian based distros and using apt from the command line so it will be a learning experience, but damn the Fedora GUI for packages is streets ahead I must say.

    • Alk@sh.itjust.worksOP
      1·
      1 day ago

      I fear I might not have results soon. I am going to stick around until Pop Cosmic comes, and then switch to bazzite or tumbleweed if it doesn’t tickle me pink.

      • whaleross@lemmy.world
        1·
        22 hours ago

        FYI, you can get a feel for most distros by running it from a LiveCD/USB stick, fiddle about and see what works and what doesn’t.

  • suburban_hillbilly@lemmy.mlEnglish
    9·
    2 days ago

    I started the ubuntu path on warty, was a distro vagrant after unity arrived, switched to debian a while which was and is fine, decided to give manjaro a shot and couldn’t stand it, but oh how that AUR made me swoon. Finally worked up the nerve to lose the training wheels and try just arch, got tired of the immense chore that it became and found EndeavourOS.

    I cannot recommend endeavour highly enough. It’s exactly what I always wanted and as long as they don’t completely shit the bed somehow I doubt I’ll ever leave. I can’t speak to your hardware concerns, as I went full team red with common hardware for my last few builds because I knew they would have linux on them. The arch wiki is great. The forum exists. They have a plasma version.

    The only games I have been unable to play are those that have shitty anti cheat software and the occasional very recent release, but those usually get resolved in a hurry. Genuinely no complaints.

    • Alk@sh.itjust.worksOP
      2·
      2 days ago

      Thanks for the review. Like you said, hardware may or may not be a concern. I built this pc years ago with windows in mind and I plan to build one again at some point. With people praising the non-Debian distros in my list, I might just go that route and see how it goes.

  • Dalaryous@lemmy.mlEnglish
    1·
    2 days ago

    I’m actually happy with Ubuntu. It is very stable and if you install Flatpak, you have another world of high quality apps to use.

  • JustMarkov@lemmy.mlEnglish
    2·
    2 days ago

    We can’t choose for you, unfortunately, only give you advice. My advice question is: Kubuntu and Debian (KDE Neon too, iirc) are an LTS distros, why would you chose them given your criteria?

    For myself, I can recommend Bazzite or Aurora, if you are okay with using an immudable distro. They are both Fedora Atomic based, but Bazzite is gaming first, while Aurora is a general purpose distro.

    openSUSE Tumbleweed is also amazing. It is rolling and generally one of the best KDE experiences you can get. It also has a snapper tool, which lets you to rollback to the state before the update or even further.

    • Alk@sh.itjust.worksOP
      3·
      2 days ago

      Well KDE was more important to me than rolling releases, plus they were Debian based which I liked. I have heard good things about bazzite, I’ll have to check it out. Tumbleweed was my first choice for a non-Debian distro in that list, so I’m glad you’re confirming my hunch that it would be great for KDE. I’m okay with ditching Debian-based if it means a better experience in the end.