1. Arch

2. For gaming, ~7 years. For everything else, ~20 years. I’ve used Windows for gaming in the past, but I’ve been a long-time Arch user in general, who switched to Linux full-time (also for gaming) once it got so compatible with running Windows-based games. Which was approx. 7 years ago. Since then, I don’t have any Windows partitions anymore.

3. For gaming, really minor things only sometimes, and that amount also decreased over time as the compatibility layers and tools got better and better. I think Linux is in general very newcomer/mainstream-friendly for gaming and general use right now, just pick the right distro for you. Since I’m on Arch, I obviously have to put in slightly more time, and I wouldn’t recommend Arch to new users, unless that new user is also willing to enjoy the benefits of having a technically simple and lean OS while not caring about the disadvantages (having to invest slightly more time into it). That said, I also usually game on Steam and don’t play games with invasive anti-cheat-systems in them. Which makes it even easier.

4. No.

For newcomers, best picks for a gaming-optimized Linux distro right now would be Bazzite, Nobara or simply any general-use but up to date distro like Fedora, Pop!OS, Kubuntu, OpenSuSE, CachyOS, EndeavourOS, Arch (the last three only if you can deal with the Arch-based distros, it’s not for everyone). If you have a designated gaming machine, I’d probably use a gaming-centric distro. If you also use the machine for other tasks, I’d pick a general-use distro which can do gaming just fine as well. There’s really no difference in capability between the two types other than what’s already preconfigured OOTB and how fast you can go from zero to gaming.

Arch

2 years

Proton-GE has run everything I’ve thrown at it. Only thing I really needed the internet for was to figure out which Nvidia driver I needed during the Arch install.

Nope, I left Ubuntu for Arch to get away from those problems (Snaps, and how long it sometimes took for updates to get to the repos)

I’m using Endeavour OS, my OS age is 252 days. Usually the only time I have issues is when it’s Nvidia related or update related. Thankfully I’m not the only one having issues and those smarter than me have already solved the problem. Just a simple fix 9/10 times. Usually there is already news about it in the arch news, so I can hold off my update until it’s resolved or whatever.

I love Linux and everything about it. If you want to you can learn something new everyday.

Edit: take a look at bazzite if you want it no fuss, the best part is there’s plenty out there to try and choose from. You can always install something, not like it and move onto something else. That’s what I did, I distro hopped, then desktop environment hopped until I found Endeavour with Hyprland.

How possible is that they will be needing some bleeding edge update of WINE or kernel?

If you think you can expect that they won’t need to do bleeding edge updates, pick something that is easy to use for you and just choose a WM that will be easy for them

My grandma and mom use Manjaro with XFCE. Or rather they use XFCE, I use Manjaro on their PCs ;D. They don’t need to update to, for example, NTSync enabled version ASAP, so it’s fine with me just doing an update during some holidays for grandma and over the phone for mom.
We used to try Mint for their boxes. I was banging my head against it as always with Debian based distros and the effect was that for them the downtimes were longer. Despite our mutual hopes, mom never really got self-sufficient with managing the OS. Even with GUI based package manager. So I just migrated them to Manjaro and now we are all happier. For me the updating is less painful and is faster, for them it just works

But if you would need to educate such user on how to use some package manager to update something, then maybe there might be some differences between GUI package managers that might help you
although

for someone who doesn’t know how to do much more than check their email and log in to Steam

I think it will be you doing the updating in the end

What distro are you using for gaming?

I use Secureblue, though I’d rather recommend normal Fedora

1. CachyOS
2. More than a year
3. I had to setup snapshots and timeshift
4. A bug between kdrive app and key wallet from KDE (I can still not auto log in the app on Wayland at start.)

I decided to set the snapshots in order to recover in case of bad update. Then I decided to update the system at least once a week brainlessly, just to see how much time it takes to break. so far, I’ve never used the snapshots.

If you’ve used a Steam Deck, you’ve used Bazzite (for all intents and purposes). If you can use a game console, you can use Bazzite. That’s pretty much the entire purpose of SteamOS; making PC gaming stupid easy.

Caveats:

1. if you want to use anything other than Steam, it quickly becomes more complicated.

2. If you want to play competitive multiplayer games, many of them block Linux users.

3. If you want to use any peripherals besides KBM or controller, such as flight sticks or steering wheels, that also can be complicated.

I’ll second Linux Mint Cinnamon. My understanding is it is designed to look/function as close to Windows as possible to help people transition away from Windows.

It was my first Linux distro migrating from Windows, and overall it’s been a fairly decent transition.

1. Linux Mint Cinnamon
2. About 2, maybe 3 years. Time’s a bit fuzzy.
3. There was some, I’ll leave some tips below.
4. Nothing specific.

-Check out Protondb.com. It’s a website where you can search for games to see their compatibility rating with Linux OSes, along with any tinkering/troubleshooting tips other users have done.

-Once you install Steam, go to the Settings menu, select Compatibility, and select an option for “Default compatibility tool”. This global setting means you would not have specifically select a Proton version for each game you play.

-I found that sometimes Steam would not launch from the toolbar. I have no issues launching it from the terminal window (literally launch Terminal, type the word ‘steam’, and hit Enter)

I’ve been using Linux Mint for the last…eight years? I think? Anyway, it’s been great for gaming and if you want a minimum of fussing about, I would just install Steam and use Proton for compatibility. It’s by far the easiest and most tinker-free gaming experience for Linux - at least in my experience. I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve had to really research and tinker with any annoying issues. protondb.com has been extremely helpful in checking the compatibility of a certain game for Linux and even offers tips and tricks to make the fussier games work.

I am very non-technical and I have ended up with Linux Mint Cinnamon which was the first thing I tried, with Steam dealing with the few games I have played the past four years or so. It has been mostly non-Steam Fallout 4, No Man’s Sky, Baldur’s Gate 3, Guild Wars 2, and Steam version of Lord of the Rings Online. Stability varies but I think it is mostly my hardware being old.

Overall I have used Mint for maybe eight years, at first only for internet browsing. I still played LOTRO and Guild Wars 2 with my trusty (well okay, the games started to be rather crashy) WinXP around 2020. Hm… a year or two, here or there. I don’t actually remember when they started to drop support for XP. I originally tried Steam on Linux for LOTRO.

Just as a background info I’m going to be a little bit dramatic and claim that I don’t like Linux, I use it out of necessity. Even if I am generally fine with it, as far as I can manage it.
I just don’t like the command line at all. I also don’t like the program “shop” like system. I think I can see it on my current Mint as Software Manager, now that I check but I don’t want to start it. It is that I don’t like them “calling homes” or managing things which is how I see the command line and the manager being like.
I can download a Steam installer from the website and then it sets itself up, with command line type window, downloading what ever it likes from somewhere, managing things… fine, I have to deal, I want to play games. For general computer use I can download Firefox and some other Linux software from websites, they start when I click the executable and that’s the way I would like things to work way more. I do let the driver manager set graphics drivers when I make a new Mint installation as I can’t even begin to understand other options.

My favorite thing would be the possibility to easily set up a Linux computer for offline games without ever connecting it to internet.
Once, maybe 4 years ago I did somehow install wine on Debian which I think I didn’t connect to internet in the process. The one game I tested did launch but didn’t really display well because no graphics driver.
Another experiment, on Mint last year, was to install wine with command line (the horror!), I could launch the non-Steam games I installed but didn’t try playing them. I can’t remember for sure but it may be that the games just didn’t run as well as they did on Steam’s Proton on that same Mint installation. Based on when I sometimes read about Linux, wine does seem to need plenty of config which I really don’t want to do.

a gaming system for the kind of person who needs help if their TV is set to the wrong input.

Definitely Bazzite. It’s almost impossible to break, it’s effortless to roll back if something does theoretically go wrong, and KDE Plasma is like the most user friendly version of Windows you’ve never seen.

My son, 14, is on Bazzite now after using Pop!_OS for 5 years. He specifically requested it after using it at my office and seeing how well the Logitech steering wheel he uses works in Forza Horizon 5. He’s decent with tech, to the point that his teachers called on him to help with their problems during middle school, so maybe not the best example.

My daughter, 11, is on Pop!_OS. She’s currently at the tech level you describe, though sometimes she forgets to turn the power strip on, making me think she may be slightly below that. Her PC has been on that distro for a good 2 years, though she really only plays Minecraft, watches YouTube videos, and does her homework with OnlyOffice. Zero tech-related complaints from her, once she’s logged in she’s able to do what she needs with little to no assistance.

After stints in EndeavourOS and AlmaLinux I’ve settled on Kubuntu 24.04 LTS. I needed something stable with zfs in its official repo, so I don’t risk losing access to the big volume that contains all my raw video footage after a kernel update. The experience has been about as unremarkable as possible, which is exactly what I was looking for.

All three of us are using nvidia GPUs, and have had no trouble with drivers in the slightest. I use mine for gaming and video editing using DaVinci Resolve Studio, and while I was looking for as unremarkable an experience as possible, I’ve been using Linux since around 1996, so my tech experience doesn’t align with what you’re looking for; however, if this means anything, I’d switch my 85-year-old father with dementia to Linux Mint without worrying that he wouldn’t know his way around.

Bazzite is awesome!

• => Documentation <=
• => Frequently Asked Questions <=

On it since Beta ~2+ years. It’s “Dad Linux”. It’s “Chromebook-easy Linux.” Like a smartphone it keeps 2 OS images at all times. If an update ever goes bad, just rollback to the previous image.

Also let’s you roll with bazzite-testing more confidently, without worrying about your system breaking.

You can even install Kinoite and Rebase to Bazzite alternatively!

JayzTwoCents:

“I FINALLY listened to you and tried Linux… Why did I wait so long?” GardinerBryant: “Bazzite just had a HUGE UPGRADE! (And more Linux Gaming News)”

Checkout the new Bazaar Flatpak Store app! Super easy to manage applications.

No more messing with Gnome Software or KDE Discover.

@[email protected]

OP! Please don’t do this! Someone who doesn’t even know how to change their TV input will definitely not survive on Linux for a long time! Also they only use their PC for very basic stuff like checking their emails. Gaming on Linux will need to work compability programs like Proton and Wine. You’ll get calls from them everytime! Please just install debloated Windows 10 21H2 LSTC IOT version for them!

What distro are you using for gaming?

Gentoo

How long have you used it?

Nearly 2 years now

How often have you had issues that require Linux knowledge and/or searching the web to solve?

Pretty often. I often need to go to Gentoo forums for help.

Have you had any other minor/annoying complaints?

Gaming drivers are the biggest issue in Gentoo

Linux Mint, Wine Bottles/Steam, 3 years, never had any issues, but I mostly run older games. I cant speak for newer games or competitive multi player games