I’m not familiar with OpenSUSE or Manjaro, but if you are familiar with Ubuntu, then I would recommend either Linux Mint or Pop OS. Both are Ubuntu-based, and Pop OS has a Desktop Environment that is very similar to macOS. Pop OS is also suited for gaming with Steam, but then again, I think Steam works well on any Linux distro. The team behind Pop OS is currently doing some major revamps to the OS, but these changes are not yet released for stable use.

If you are building a new machine, I highly recommend you check to see if your HW will be compatible with Linux. You might want to pay close attention to the GPU and Wifi card. NVIDIA requires special drivers to work with Linux, while AMD works out of the box. As for the Wifi cards, depending on the wifi drivers that are installed in the distro, you may have to tinker a bit to get that to work. I recommend having the option to use Ethernet at the time you are setting up the distro, just so you have internet access to download what you need.

I quite agree. The SNES was a part of my childhood. Some of my favorite games to this day were on that platform. Donkey Kong Country 2, Mega Man X 1-3, Super Mario World, Yoshi’s Island, to name a few.

Now that you mentioned this, I do recall in the early days of mobile games, back when the App Shops were first introduced, there were games that you would pay somewhere between $1 and $5, and you get the whole thing. No in-app purchases, no ads, and no lotteries for special characters or gear. I remember Square Enix had some really good JRPG games that were made specifically for the iPhone and iPad. Chaos Rings and DrakeRider were two games I recall playing, but they were much more expensive compared to the usual games I found. But, when you paid for it, you got the whole game and all.

I think mobile app developers have realized that they could get more engagement and cash from their users if they made games that had a gambling aspect to it. Kinda like the casinos in Vegas, the house always wins, but you keep putting in money on the hopes you get a jackpot.

That being said, there is one freemium game that I do find quite fun, and that is Romancing SaGa Re;univerSe. The thing that makes this freemium game a bit different is that Square Enix is quite generous in their in-game currency. You can actually do quite well without making any in-app purchases.

Steam is probably the best platform for gaming on Linux right now. Here are some games I recommend that run well on Linux:

• Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night (the spiritual successor of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night)
• Romancing SaGa 3 (retro JRPG that involves non-linear, open-world exploration)
• Octopath Traveler 2 (another JRPG; you don’t need to play the first game in the series to enjoy this game)
• Yu-Gi-Oh! Legacy of the Duelist Link Evolution (not a freemium game!)

If you want something that looks and behaves much like the Windows desktop environment, use Linux Mint. If you want something closer to the macOS environment, use Pop OS.

An excellent choice to use Linux Mint! If my parents allowed me to switch their computers to Linux, I would’ve chosen Linux Mint as well for them. But, I probably wouldn’t give them the Windows 10 look.

Arch Linux has two online stores for purchasing merch:

Freewear

HelloTux

Great! But, let’s remember this is Facebook after all, so… 🤷‍♂️

I don’t know whether to cautiously applaud or be even more concerned about another “AI” being released way too early than it should.

To quote a line from Star Wars, “This deal is getting worse all the time!”

The Bottom Right

Well, I guess now is as good a time as any to become a pirate. Drink up me hearties, yo-ho!

Well, for the users, I guess this is a lesson for them to not bank on a Big Tech company like Apple to cover their financial credit and transactions.

While I largely agree with the options that Tuta provides, I think the article could’ve been more succinct and to the point if they condensed all the Firefox forks like PaleMoon and WaterFox under one category. Also, I’m not sure if Brave should be on this list, not just because of their Chromium foundation but also because of their use of cryptocurrency, something I consider very suspicious and unsustainable. Finally, I question whether DuckDuckGo should be on the list. True, they are more private when compared to Google and all, but aren’t they limited to what they can block through their contract with Microsoft? I remember hearing/reading something about that.

Linux Mint with a secondary partition running EndeavourOS

I made the switch to Linux about 1.5 years ago. Never looked back. I started with Linux Mint and have been happy with it ever since. Now, I’m learning about Arch Linux and trying to make that my primary driver.

FYI, you don’t have to get a Steam Deck to try out gaming. I’m sure your current distro would support that quite well. But, if you’re looking for something that is portable, then I definitely recommend the Steam Deck. Now is a good time to get one, since they released a refresh with an OLED screen. Also, the Steam Deck runs on Arch Linux, so if you’re ever interested in checking that out, then definitely get a Steam Deck.

Didn’t Robocop teach us not to do this? I mean, wasn’t that the whole point of the ED-209 robot?

It’s not my primary driver, but I would gladly choose KDE over Windows.

Well, if YouTube videos haven’t been much help to you, then perhaps these books will give you what you want:

https://itsfoss.com/best-linux-books/

Hmmm…given the beginner friendly nature of distros like Linux Mint and Pop OS, I doubt you will find much tutorials centered around those distros (though you will definitely find a lot of commentators and reviewers talking about these distros and how “great” they are). However, if you want to learn about Linux as a whole, then there are definitely some great resources you can use to help you with that.

What is your preferred learning method? Do you like learning through reading, or do you prefer an online video tutorial where someone is simultaneously talking and demonstrating?