Linux Mint Debian Edition.
You say not to suggest mint, but you most probably used an Ubuntu based Mint so that doesn't count.
this post was submitted on 27 May 2025
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If your computer can't handle Linux Mint, then either you do something wrong, or your computer is really unstable. I won't ask you to use Mint, but I will say, that I use it on three different computers, and not a single problem anywhere. Dual-boot is notoriously unstable - mostly due to MS... So my advice is, to use a computer for Linux by it self...
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I suggest you to check out Linux Mint Cinnamon edition. I have been using it for years without any problems. I also have dual boot with Windows, but I think I will delete Windows soon and use only Linux.
My name is none of your business, and I approve this suggestion.
For most of us using Linux distros for years, we already have a preferred distro that is highly unlikely to be Ubuntu or even Debian based, but for first-timers, I honestly believe Mint is the way to go. But seeing how mint has been a flop for you (as another poster said, it'd be great to know what went wrong) an immutable distro (like Bazzite) would fit your current needs better, but these distros are not the best way to start learning about Linux and eventually migrate from Windows entirely.
Honestly, Linux Mint is probably the best option. Failing that, Fedora is another good option which is derived from Red Hat, it does things differently to Debian based systems like Mint and Ubuntu, but it's widely supported.
You'll need to iterate what you were doing when it stopped working, 99% of the time, it's down to human error. As someone once said:
"Unix [or Linux] will give you enough rope to shoot yourself in the foot. If you didn't think rope would do that, you should have read the man page."
Ubuntu,Pop!_OS,Fedora,elementary OS. I would like to start with Ubuntu or Pop!_OS. These are the most popular and well-adapted distros, which are ideal for gaming, creativity and safe use. If Ubuntu is not to your liking because of Snap or telemetry, Pop!_OS can be a great alternative. But you can still download any distribution you want, you just need to look for it yourself
Linux Mint
If you're a complete newbie, go Ubuntu. Yes, it's boring but the community is huge. You can find a lot of answers about problems on reddit/ stack over flow...etc. Literally any Linux problem you have, a Google search of that will show many answers from Ubuntu community.
Welcome in from the cold. We have hot cocoa and blankets.
If you're new then fedora is great
It's worth noting that fedora is heavily sponsored by RedHat (a subsidiary of IBM) and is the upstream testing ground for RHEL (Redhats commercial offering). RedHat also has close ties to Israels government and it's military.
This is a huge dealbreaker for someone like me so I feel it's necessary to mention.
Not to get into politics but the whole point of Linux is about being open and used by anyone from anywhere. I wouldnβt be surprised to see various parts of the Linux kernel, drivers, etc developed/funded by people from Israel, Russia, and many many other countries.
Edit: the point of this message, this type of approach to your OS choice will ultimately result in throwing your PC in the trash if you dig deep enough.
There is a vast difference between a community driven project like Debian taking small contributions from people who happen to be in Israel/incorporating some things from RedHat after lots of vetting and diluting and Fedora being a direct upstream testing ground for RedHat who are the primary contributors and maintainers.
No, this type of approach will not lead to you throwing your PC in the trash, it will simply lead to you being more aware of your software and how it functions,what it contributes to, and what contributes to it. Which is a good thing imo.
For example, I use LMDE. Yes, there are most definitely contributions from redhat in my machine. the difference is between
RedHat engineers -> Fedora.
And
RedHat engineers -> Fedora -> Upstream Project acceptance-> Debian -> LMDE.
I'm not saying you need to stop using Fedora. But everyone draws a line somewhere and I'm simply making my knowledge on this known for people who's line may be in a similar place to mine.
99% of the time a dual boot doesn't work its because of Windows. There should be no real reason that Mint fails anything simple as long as its compatible with your system. I've seen others report that Windows will occasionally destroy a dual boot when updating.
My advice: Stick to distros and softwares that are widely used. When presented with options, tend to stick to the defaults.
Just because literally 100% is customizable in the Linux world does not mean you have to customize your system 100%.
That's my motto since 1996 when I started using Linux.
I dunno, I started with Debian and then many months later learned that it was one of the harder distributions given the outdated packages.
Glad I chose Debian because Ubuntu, Linux Mint, Kali Linux, PureOS, etc are all derivatives of it.
Bazzite is great because is rpm-ostree based. But you need to understand a little bit the concept of atomic distro. For gaming, I think it comes packed with most of the required things so imo, try Bazzite. Also, linux mint it's very easy to use, fi you do something simple and you need to reinstall the distro, maybe something was done wrong from the beginning.
Iβm always shocked by all the recommendations to use Mint. It feels dated and ugly. Admittedly, I migrated from Mac, but how abused must you Windows users be to find Mint a suitable replacement? I personally wound up with Zorin OS and recommend it. The software store makes installing apps from multiple sources tolerable. Itβs also got a nice UI and you can easily change it.
Mint is always recommended because it just works, it looks windows-like, it's legit fine no it doesn't look dated or ugly. Cinammon is hot.
Thing is. Mint is for the most part a just works distro. Based on Ubuntu it is very easy to find help for it. Combine that with a load of sane defaults like disabling snaps. The default UI and theme could defiantly use a facelift
I personally don't see much value of Mint or Ubuntu over Debian.
They all suffer from the same issue: lack of a user repository. This means any layman is going to immediately be turned off by the distro and the whole Linux experience as soon as they want to install something that isn't in their distro's repository.
Neither derivative distro can be considered 'easier' because of this. Might as well just go with Debian and cut out the middlemen.
Thank you! When switching it has to work better and look better. Mint does not look better. Zorin is very simple, includes Wine and has Zorin Connect.
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I suggest BazziteOS. I have it installed on 2 of my computers for about a year and it works great. It runs KDE and it looks similar to Windows but is much better. Also, I believe it has support for Wallpaper Engine, though I haven't tried it.
It is Fedora based and Fedora also has a sizeable community for any questions and tutorials you may have.
The reason why I recommend Bazziteos is because it comes out of the box ready for gaming, you would have steam, wine, lutris, etc installed almost instantly and ready to play.
I just finished downloading bazzite and now creating a backup on flash for both bazzite and windows using ventoy because i know myself i will do something stupid to make me re install systems
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PopOS did it for me
I recently switched to PopOS and have been enjoying the switch immensely. Just works out of the box.
I'm not sure that you can get wallpaper engine running. Maybe someone else can say otherwise, but I wouldn't trust second hand.
There is a project that can run some backgrounds, but is very experimental and IMHO not suited for running constantly as a desktop background. WPE is way too deep in specific windows features to be able to run on linux smoothly.
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I've learned so much Linux on Nobara and i feel like it's not mentioned much, not it's got an active discord and gets regular updates
Something listed in the top 10 or so on https://distrowatch.com/. Personally I like one of the Debian based distros.
Currently we use Ubuntu and Debian. Ubuntu would be the better of the two for beginners.
The distrowatch beginners list is: https://distrowatch.com/search-mobile.php?category=Beginners#simple
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