Linux

Before you leave W10, install it in a VM or dual boot so you can test it/get used to the interface

What games do you play?

I think it depends on what you are looking for. While Linux Mint is a safe option, it does have some drawbacks... well it's more drawbacks from Ubuntu but as Linux Mint is based off of it, it's also impacted. Primarily the fact that Ubuntu packages are terribly out of date. Thankfully mint makes adding PPA's painless, but for apps that don't have a PPA it's a pain to install them from scratch like Mangohud. It's not impossible, but there is an expect level of Linux knowledge which is required before going in.

Another option is Manjaro. You will hear the litany of endless criticism about it from the community, some of it is valid. But for the most part, while it's not as nice as Linux Mint, I think the OS will get you to the point where you can start using your machine faster. Mostly thanks to Arch's rolling release, as well as the AUR for filling the gap between official packages and flatpaks.

I was using Manjaro for the longest time, but switched to Mint due to a freak bootloader accident. I prefer Manjaro in terms of how well it handled Games and Windows software due to it's association with Arch. But I like how well Mint manages my laptop's battery and performance or lack thereof due to it's pitiful cooler.

Ubuntu or Linux Mint

Pop OS is great because of up to date kernel and drivers, and they even have a specific version created for nvidia gpus, on disadvantage is that gnome version is a bit old, but its very stable at least

I'm also going to say Linux Mint but I'll request using the debian edition. It would be better to wean off Ubuntu earlier for all of us.

I can recommend Mint, it's fantasically easy and stable, but take a look at https://distrochooser.de

My recommendation is to avoid any overly bleeding edge distro while starting out, as when things will inevitably break you won't have much knowlege on how to fix the issue, and googling it may not always give you an answer.

Half the fun of switching to Linux is exploring all of the different flavours to find what you like best.

I recently went over to fedora. Love it so far. Really stable and also newer packages than e.g. linux mint.

Linux Mint

I'm impressed there isn't yet anyone who's suggesting arch btw and dead serious about it.

But Pop!_OS without a doubt.

There are lots of tutorials for something like Debian or Ubuntu..

Most here will recommend Linux Mint and it's what I use now after trying many different versions over the years. There's a simplicity to Mint that just works especially well for those just surfing and doing office tasks. I've given away old work laptops with just mint installed as most people just need a web browser and it works great for that.

MS office can be used in your web browser or you can switch to Libre Office which should open most of your office files.

If you have a old laptop or computer I recommend trying to install Mint there first to try it out. It's pretty easy to start out there first before trying dual boot. You might be surprised at how quick your older laptop works with Mint in the process.

I use dual boot on my machines but most of the use these days is to get to a web browser so I find I rarely boot into windows now.

You will find Firefox is the default web browser but you can add Chrome to Mint if that's your browser of choice.

Many will say what about the privacy issues with Chrome but many still use it. I've switched back to Firefox myself and I like it better for my Android phone.

Good luck on your journey!

Popos is a pretty good distro. That or mint.

Nvidia or AMD? If Nvidia I would especially suggest pop_OS, but really, either way that distro is great.

Nobara is built for gaming (it's a Fedora based Linux distro), I've tried it and it's very nice. To be honest, try a few and see which one you like best. You can dual-boot a Linux system and still keep Windows. This might be a nice way to ease the transition. Each distro will have lots of ways with interacting with its community - Linux is much more about community than Windows so you will find lots of lovely new places and people to help you on your journey.

This channel is great for dual-boot explainers for many difference distros: https://piped.video/channel/UC7QBh73Rm2PYQs8WFPV1ELg

Following is a good resource for a distro decision https://www.privacyguides.org/en/desktop/ If you ever want to know more about something like firewall, bkuetooth, etc. use wiki.archlinux.org/ but only use arch if you want a very steep learning curve.

It doesn't matter too much which distro you choose. It's all linux.

1. Install graphical apps via flatpak (stay away from snaps)
2. Install graphical apps via distrobox (may want to do this later when you are confident enough with linux)

TIL Win10 is the modern-day XP. And Win11 is the modern-day Vista.

I believe the biggest difference between Linux distributions for beginners will be the DE (desktop environment), you can change it in any distro you choose, but usually there is a DE that is optimized or customized as standard for each distribution. Some DE are very different from the Windows interface. I highly recommend using Cinnamon, Mate or KDE, the transition from Windows to Linux will be smoother in my opinion. The DE also includes a suite of applications such as an office suite, browser, administrative and customizable tools, which will also impact your experience. As other said before Linux Mint is a great option, it is stable and friendly. There is LMDE which is Mint with Debian under the hood instead of Ubuntu if you care about use a non-enterprise based distro, but that is another discussion.

you've got a lot of answers, but as someone who started playing around with Linux recently I would say it's probably better to start familiarizing yourself with some command line operations in windows now.

Do some things like, use the terminal to search for and open programs you need, delete files, even write some basic text documents.

yes, you'll have to do some googling to work out how to do these things (and why it didn't work) - and now you're on the path to linux!

Maybe you'll even find a way to install a command line browser to look up the answers.

I started of on Linux Mint, had a couple of niggles with it so I thought 'let's be a spoony and get Ubuntu.' Got on pretty well with Ubuntu but there were a few minor things about Gnome I didn't like. I'm now on Kubuntu and it's the Goldilocks zone for me. It's been about 18 months now since I abandoned Windows 7.

Linux Mint is great, I used it as a daily driver in college on an old IBM T42, however, modern Linux on a modern PC -- Debian/Ubuntu with KDE.

Basically, Kubuntu.

Kubuntu gets you off the ground running with Debian core, KDE Plasma, which is familiar to the Windows workflow and all the compatibility of Debian/Ubuntu. Steam and Proton work FLAWLESSLY via Vulkan API. Zero loss of performance.

If you want to spend a ton of time relearning an OS/tinkering however, get some flavor of Arch.

The AUR is crazy, it's like a huge software library and the Wiki is expansive, BUT, you will be relearning absolutely everything.

Sorry other Linux people, I'm a jaded lifelong Windows user, who unironically uses Kubuntu and Artix on seperate machines.

I’d say go with kde as you DE. Personally I like opensuse tumbleweed.

Opensuse gives a lot of „windows like“ features like control panel etc.

I'd recommend Zorin. It has a UI similar to windows, easy to get into, great defaults, and being based on Ubuntu, most help on the internet will work just fine

Zorin is designed with windows users in mind. It's very polished and it helped me make the transition.

If you want to just work, just install xubuntu.

Im going to try out Nobara when they move to plasma 6 and also EndeavourOS. One of those will suit my needs for gaming.