Is SteamOS even available for desktop PCs yet? I don’t think it is.

From the SteamOS page:

We expect most SteamOS users to get SteamOS preinstalled on a Steam Deck or device that incorporates SteamOS. The only devices officially supported on SteamOS right now are Steam Deck and Legion Go S. We are working on broadening support, and with the recent updates to Steam and SteamOS, compatibility with other AMD powered PC handhelds has been improved.

Until this changes, which I think is in the works, I recommend using some other popular distro.

Guix is a package manager you can install on most distros and works beside other package managers, similar to Snap and Flatpak. And it’s a distro.

Wait, is it 2006 already?

No luck needed, it’ll go fine. You pretty obviously have all the experience you need.

I remember the first raindrop and the first acorn… I knew the dark under the stars when it was fearless - before the Linux Kernel came from Outside.

Better for what? The question in isolation is fairly meaningless.

Don’t take what Linux users say as gospel. There’s a wide variety of opinions that - yes - generally have some basis in truth, but usually it comes down to personal preference. Just because a vocal minority hates on systemd doesn’t mean you now have to switch to Devuan. FOSS is full of opinionated and passionate people, but you should always use what works for you. Don’t let others dictate how you use your computer and what code you run. Free as in freedom.

Now, having said all that, Canonical is suspect, don’t use Ubuntu. Mint is fine.

It was 20 years ago and Microsoft was terrible and Windows was awful. Later on I used Windows 8.1 somewhat out of necessity until it was deprecated and went back to Linux because Microsoft is terrible and Windows 10/11 is awful, but now with all kinds of invasive telemetry.

Since 1975, baby!

Since you have experience with Mint, why not go with Debian with KDE Plasma? I have it on my laptop and it’s Debian, old reliable, I like that stability on a laptop, so that I’m less likely to have issues on the go. Debian isn’t the friendliest distro to new users, sure, but if you can figure out Fedora, you can figure out Debian.

I spare very little mental capacity to how people utilize their computers where it doesn’t directly affect me. No, it is not something I find worth being bothered about. Life’s hard enough regardless.

Oh yeah, KDE Plasma is where it’s at. I love the DE. Glad you found something that works for you!

Yeah, Canonical has been sketchy for a long time. And every now and then they make a move that just reminds me why I stay away from Ubuntu.

Man I do miss foobar2000, it was a perfect all-in-one package that did things I need multiple Linux programs for. Great piece of software. However, in the spirit of this community, it’s not Open Source.

Out of all the music players I’ve tried on Linux, Clementine variants like Strawberry are the best ones for my needs. I’m not entirely sure of #2, but otherwise yeah, it does all that and more.

Audacious is also a decent low resource player.

I’ll throw my vote in with Fedora KDE Plasma. The fact you run it will absolutely help with any possible troubleshooting, and Plasma is IMO great for anyone coming from Windows. Fedora, from my experience, doesn’t throw many curve balls your way either.

Good luck with your friend’s transition!

Likely not. I’ve tried skipping a release once by accident (I didn’t pay enough attention) and it ended with a bricked system and a full reinstall. Don’t do it.

The one that works best for your use case.

Oh hell naw, I love to sit back, one hand resting on an arm rest, and just navigating with my mouse. Not that I mind using the keyboard, but I have a strong affinity to the mouse. I know the keyboard is “more efficient”, but I’m just more comfortable pointing at things.

And complete websites implemented in Flash. It is a dark time that I don’t like to talk about. The dreams, the dreams won’t leave me alone though, they still haunt me.

As much as I miss the early Internet, there’s some aspects better left forgotten.