In a few previous years (#1, #2), I decided to do a fresh take each time on what the best Linux distribution was for gaming - so I'm back for a 2025 edition of the article that will cause you to tell me how wrong and terrible I am.
What's changed? Well, quite a lot actually. Both previous times I firmly suggested going with plain Ubuntu. However, time moves on, and the software world evolves rather quickly. So I have a new recommendation for you! Why am I even writing this? Sadly, there's still articles out there pushing for tiny completely random fringe distributions and plenty with stupidly outdated and republished information to get to the top of Google.
My current home for a while now, and what I'll recommend you pick up, is Kubuntu. It has all the goodies and support of plain Ubuntu, but with the KDE Plasma desktop environment, which is the same one used on the Steam Deck's Desktop Mode. It has an interface that will be much more familiar to people coming over from Windows, it's more customizable (if you want it) but with a sane default setup that just gets you going quickly.
The latest Long Term Support (LTS) version of Kubuntu, Kubuntu 24.04.1, is supported with security and maintenance updates until April 2027. So you can install it and basically forget about it and keep it running and secure for years to come. However, you're likely better off with Kubuntu 24.10 which is more up to date, if you're okay upgrading again when the next version of Kubuntu comes out (Kubuntu 25.04) which is around April 17, 2025. Either way, both work well.
I've been through Fedora, Manjaro, Linux Mint, plain Ubuntu, Arch and many others over the years. No Linux distributions is perfect and they all come with their own set of quirks and problems, just as Windows has its own set of unique issues. To me, Kubuntu just offers the best all around middle-ground of everything you need to get going.
People will argue about Snaps, but for the majority of normal users — it just doesn't matter in the slightest. I use the Spotify, Thunderbird, Telegram and other Snaps and they work great and are kept nicely up to date without me even needing to do anything.
I will suggest though, that you enable Flatpaks from Flathub, so you get the best of all worlds and access to even more easily installable packages. It's incredibly easy to do as well.
You can download Kubuntu from their website.
If you need help and support for Linux and Steam Deck gaming, you can try asking in our Forum and Discord. Don't forget to follow me on Bluesky and Mastodon too while you're at it.
Don't agree with me? That's fine! The benefit of Linux is that there's truly no one-size-fits-all. Leave a comment to tell me how wrong I am. You're still wrong if you disagree though.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Caldathras Dec 8, 2024
You need a rolling-release to keep in pace with gaming fast evolution, anything of this should suffice: Manjaro, Endeavour, Garuda, Nobara. I get it, arch-based and fedora-based (mostly the former) can be daunting for some people, but it's the best way to enjoy Linux gaming.For those that enjoy the rollercoaster ride, yes. The average, non-technical user -- many of which are on Windows or MacOS -- do not want to have to put in the effort needed for Arch or Fedora. They just want an OS that is gonna give the necessary basics and be stable. They are not hardcore gamers like you appear to be.
That being said, I admit that I like Pop!_OS because its semi-rolling nature and also because it is Ubuntu-based. The UI is stable, which is also good.
I was intrigued by what the Linux Mint XFCE users on this site were saying about their chosen distro, so I decided to give it a try as a gaming platform. I have been pleasantly surprised. I like it almost as much as Pop!_OS. For me, it proved that you don't have to have a rolling release distro to have a good gaming experience.
Computers don't slow down from snaps, that's an odd thing to claim.This "bloat" is not something normies care about, only pedantic people who like to watch a few extra MBs get used up. The reality is: only a few people really care.
Liam, like many people here, you have a monster of a PC, of course you don't care about snaps in performance aspects.
But in reality, not only your reality, when your low-end computer slow down because of snaps (it worked perfectly fine before), I assure you: you care.
And when because of that, you think about buying new hardware, I assure you: you care.
In the end it's just more waste (we surely don't need that) for zero benefit of using snaps for normies (as you say).
Microsoft do this kind of shit to force people to buy new hardware, people complain about that and some did installed Linux, we don't need Linux distribution doing the same as Microsoft for "reasons" that only make sense (globally) for Canonical.
It's just crazy to pretend there is no problem about that, and worse: that it only concern pedantic people...
I hope there are people who understands me, as it seems nobody in the comments mentioned that until now.
As for storage space, that's only really an issue on truly low-end stuff, which you're not going to be using a whole lot of anything on anyway.
Big storage has been cheap for a long time now. It's a small price to pay for a one-package-fits-all approach that both Snaps and Flatpaks do and both package types are being improved all the time.
The more snaps you have installed, the slower the boot time is. If you have 8 PCI-E Gen 5 drives in a RAID setup, obviously you won't care. Big storage is cheap, Big SPEEDY storage is not.
R Daneel Olivaw Dec 9, 2024
8 PCI-E Gen 5 drives in a RAID setup
excuse me wtf?
and looking past whatever insanity this statement is, ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm yes big speedy storage is dirt cheap and has been for AGES. You can get a 1tb gen4 drive right now for $50-60 if you pick up a sale. That is big, and speedy, and cheap. That's about the cost of a single aaa game these days.
I have a few others things to say as well, getting some stuff off my chest!
Liam, like many people here, you have a monster of a PC, of course you don't care about snaps in performance aspects.
Liam does have a good computer (same specs I have) but I built my pc in 2020, which is coming up on 5 years old pretty soon. The specs he and I are running are nowhere near top of the line. Saying he doesn't care about performance on his system isn't fair at all. And it doesn't even really make sense. Of course he cares about performance, we all do.
I like Pop!_OS because its semi-rolling nature and also because it is Ubuntu-based.
Does anyone have any thoughts on why ubuntu based distros use ubuntu as their base instead of straight debian (which ubuntu itself is based off of) ...? Mint offers a debian based option. I wonder why Pop doesn't? Seems forking a fork would be a development nightmare wouldn't it?
Last edited by R Daneel Olivaw on 9 December 2024 at 1:38 am UTC
8 PCI-E Gen 5 drives in a RAID setup
excuse me wtf?
and looking past whatever insanity this statement is, ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm yes big speedy storage is dirt cheap and has been for AGES. You can get a 1tb gen4 drive right now for $50-60 if you pick up a sale. That is big, and speedy, and cheap. That's about the cost of a single aaa game these days.
I have a few others things to say as well, getting some stuff off my chest!
Liam, like many people here, you have a monster of a PC, of course you don't care about snaps in performance aspects.
Liam does have a good computer (same specs I have) but I built my pc in 2020, which is coming up on 5 years old pretty soon. The specs he and I are running are nowhere near top of the line. Saying he doesn't care about performance on his system isn't fair at all. And it doesn't even really make sense. Of course he cares about performance, we all do.
I like Pop!_OS because its semi-rolling nature and also because it is Ubuntu-based.
Does anyone have any thoughts on why ubuntu based distros use ubuntu as their base instead of straight debian (which ubuntu itself is based off of) ...? Mint offers a debian based option. I wonder why Pop doesn't? Seems forking a fork would be a development nightmare wouldn't it?
1TB is not big anymore...
Caldathras Dec 9, 2024
Mint offers a debian based option. I wonder why Pop doesn't?The Mint Team has always said they maintain the Debian based option as a backup in case they ever have to drop Ubuntu (for whatever reason). Don't know how System 76 feels ...
Liam, like many people here, you have a monster of a PC, of course you don't care about snaps in performance aspects.
Liam does have a good computer (same specs I have) but I built my pc in 2020, which is coming up on 5 years old pretty soon. The specs he and I are running are nowhere near top of the line. Saying he doesn't care about performance on his system isn't fair at all. And it doesn't even really make sense. Of course he cares about performance, we all do.
2020 is pretty recent, especially when you built this computer for gaming purpose, it's not an issue at all when speaking about general use... no this is not the question.
What I meant, if it wasn't clear, it's just that in that context you don't care because the power of your machine will surpass the downside of using snaps anyway.
I wasn't speaking of storage itself, but snaps take more boot time. So in the end it's just slower for general use and it's boring, when it was fine with non-snaps packages.
In that context, I don't see the gain of using them at all.
Be careful. Because you have a great experience doesn't mean it's the same for everyone.
The same is true for any recommendation. See Linus Sebastian for how stable Pop_OS! is!
Joking aside, I recently tried that distribution in a virtual machine, since I had recommended it to others. I couldn't get past the installer because it kept crashing out of X, googled the error message thrown and it's a known issue.Be careful. Because you have a great experience doesn't mean it's the same for everyone.
The same is true for any recommendation. See Linus Sebastian for how stable Pop_OS! is!
Patreon
PayPal
See more from me