Hello everybody! I want to escape Microsoft and windows, and I am looking for a Linux distro. I have some experience with Unix and a very old Ubuntu distro. But that’s quite some years ago. I am looking for a Linux distribution where i can play World of Warcraft on. I mainly use Nvidia graphics (RTX 3070).
I have found some distributions that are supposed to be good for gaming. I suppose, as i am still a Linux Noob, I am also looking for a distribution which is easy to get into. Especially for an older gamer ;)
I came with these distro’s myself. What does the Linux community say?
Bazzite
- Based on Fedora Atomic
- Pre Installed Steam
- Nvidia drivers and support https://bazzite.gg/ https://docs.bazzite.gg/Gaming/index.html
Developer: Universal Blue (US?)
Drauger OS
- Based on Ubuntu LTS using KDE Plasma
- Pre for AMD https://draugeros.org/
Pop!_OS
- based on Ubuntu
- Optimized for gaming on Nvidia GPU’s https://system76.com/pop/
Developer: system76 (Denver, US)
SteamOS -based on Debian 8 (Jessie) -designed to run steam and steam games -set to auto update their OS from Valve repo’s https://store.steampowered.com/steamos
Developer: Valve (US)
Manjaro -based on Arch (rolling release model for latest software/drivers) -KDE plasma desktop (Pro-tip: enable flatpak and install ProtonUp-QT) https://manjaro.org/products
Developer: Majaro (EU - Austria, France, Germany)
Ubuntu: -the go-to linux distro for millions of users, incl gamers -best for beginners and gamers who want stable well supported distro -works seamlesssly with steam, lutris, wine (pro-tip: install the gamemode package (sudo apt install gamemode)) https://ubuntu.com/download
Developer: Canonical ltd. (UK)
Nobara -based on Fedora -optimized for gaming on newer Nvidia graphics (drivers come installed) https://nobaraproject.org/download-nobara/
Developer: Thomas Crider (Denver, US)
Mint -based on debian and Ubuntu -friendly OS, works out of the box, extremely easy to use https://www.linuxmint.com/download.php
Developer : Linuxmint (French, Dutch, UK)
Admittedly, I’m probably not the best person to ask for recommendation of a noob-friendly distro, but I feel people are overthinking this. If someone produces a list which includes distros I’ve never heard of, I think they spent too much time on ‘Top 10 Noob Friendly Distros in 2025’ websites.
If you really care about my recommendation, just start with Mint.
PS. I should also add, this isn’t criticism of you or any other new user who does search online for recommendation. This is more a comment on state of the Internet where there are so many websites which seem to pad their list with obscure distros where really all such articles should give recommendation for one of the same three distributions. Which three I don’t exactly know.
Thnx for your reply! And don’t worry, i didn’t see your reply as some criticism, i am fairly new to Linux, that’s why i did some researching, and might found some unknown distro’s ;)