With that said, I wouldn't recommend anything Arch-based for a first timer. Quick sidebar: in Linux the "distribution" (the OS, basically - the variant of Linux) is separate from the desktop environment (the GUI). SteamOS uses the KDE desktop. If you like that, I think I'd recommend Kubuntu as a good Linux distro to start with. It's Ubuntu with KDE instead of the default Ubuntu desktop, so there's a ton of documentation and pretty much every app will work on it.

!linux@lemmy.ml is very active and a great place to ask questions and/or read up, or feel free to DM me!

[–] TimLovesTech@badatbeing.social 6 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I personally wouldn't push anyone away from Arch towards Ubuntu. Ubuntu broke with every major update and you always are running older "stable" versions of software unless you add a bunch of PPAs that are disabled on major updates and left to the user to sort out. And I'm not even going to get into the joy of Snaps. =(

IMHO something like EndeavorOS or CachyOS would far and away be both more stable, and a better noob experience. Or if you're just gaming, install SteamOS, because if you haven't broken it on your deck you probably wouldn't be breaking on your desktop either.

[–] cygnus@lemmy.ca 6 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I love EOS, but it would be a lot to take in at once for someone new to Linux - learning KDE, the terminal, plus everything else (flatpaks, the AUR, and so on) is a lot. At least Kubuntu still has the familiar (to them) KDE but has a GUI app store and never needs to use the terminal. It depends how generally tech-savvy the person is I guess.

[–] TimLovesTech@badatbeing.social 2 points 11 months ago

That is why I see Ubuntu as a non-starter unless you are prepared to deal with it's crippled usage by default, because adding anything is a surefire way to have it implode on version upgrade. Meanwhile, on a rolling release, baring things that break for most everyone, you just upgrade when convenient and go about your day. I just don't see Ubuntu as anything that should be suggested to anyone w/out command line knowledge and strong Google-fu, because it's not if - but when will your system implode with Ubuntu.

[–] Ilgaz@lemm.ee 1 points 11 months ago

I would absolutely recommend KDE Neon distribution as it comes with current, stable KDE. https://neon.kde.org . It is a Ubuntu LTS as well.