Hello,

I have recently been trying to decide what distro will work best for me. I have been a windows user for a long time, and have never been able to make the full switch to Linux. I have been experimenting with Linux on a dual boot system. I have tried both Ubuntu and Linux Mint.

My main gripe with Windows has been the lack of customization, and being such a security nut, I often find myself questioning my antivirus and organization of my PC.

I often use the computer for games. Game development is something I experiment with on my other computer, but if I am able to transfer it over to Linux that would be a bonus. (I work in Monogame and C#). My main worry would be lack of compatibility for my Steam games, which I have learned can be solved with Wine.

One of the main appeals of Linux for me is having complete control over the system. I would prefer having only packages that I will use. Using a GUI assisted installation is helpful but I am open to a challenge if that isn't an option.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

EDIT: Thanks for the quick reply. My initial reply is being checked by moderators and is taking a little longer than expected, hence the edit reply. For the whole security thing, my reasoning behind it is the lack of developed viruses for Linux systems compared to Windows. I do try hard when keeping viruses off my system and I consider myself successful in such acts. It mostly comes down to my paranoia. I just feel like maybe a switch could take some of the load off and also it provides a good change of pace for myself from the old basic Windows. Thanks.
P.S. With Distrowatch, when you say top, are you referring to the list in the middle or the smaller list on the right.

Hello and welcome to LQ.

You need to try a few of them (as many as you can.) They are usually easy to test either in a live cd/dvd/usb or under a free virtual machine.

Start maybe at the top ones at Distrowatch. Consider something custom maybe from SuseStudio or try any of the suggestions others may have.

I personally don't believe linux is much more secure by default. Bad practices on linux or windows may result in problems. The more best practices you learn and use the better protected you will be.

Thank you for the quick reply.

I will take a look at DistroWatch. My only question is when you say top, is this the list on the right side of the page or the main list in the middle.

Mint is, as you've probably noticed, more customisable than Ubuntu (and more reliable). Another good one for the home user is PCLinuxOS.

The list at the side of the Distrowatch page is just based on the number of times a page is visited. In some cases the result of the visit may be a decision never to use that distro! Certainly I wouldn't recommend Debian, Fedora, CentOS, or Arch to a newcomer.

Wine and Steam will do equally well in any distro. On the subject of security, if you connect directly to the internet (e.g. via a phone-company dongle rather than a router) you need a firewall on the computer. Debian and its derivatives (e.g. Ubuntu, Mint) come with that turned off. The easiest way to turn it on is with the program gufw.

The middle list is a rolling announcement of distros. The right hand side is an unscientific listing of possible popular choices.

Some on either list won't be a good choice as they are specialty distro's. Read up on the ones you wish to try. Look at the target audience and support. Look at ways to add in software.