Hey folks,

I hope this question fits here well.

Since I’ve started to care more about my digital fingerprint, I came to the conclusion, that I need to change my OS.

All my life I’ve been using Windows operating systems, but at this point I’m kind of fed up about the big amount of telemetry data which is being sent out by default. So maybe Linux is the solution?

I’m looking for a beginner friendly Linux-Distro, which respects my privacy. It should also be possible to play some games on it without too much effort.

What can you recommend?

Thank you so much!

Edit:
System specs: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB VRAM, 16 GB RAM, AMD Ryzen 5 2400G (tower pc)

  • Atemu
    9·
    1 year ago

    Distros that don’t respect your privacy are hard to find, so privacy isn’t really a factor here. You’re just going to get everyone’s favourite distro here, regardless of whether it fits your other requirements.

    What kind of hardware do you use?
    How stable or fresh would you like your distro to be?
    What wind of desktop experience do you prefer?

    Also note that the apps you use (on your PC or in the browser) usually far outshadow the OS w.r.t. privacy intrusion.

    • sp3ctre@kbin.socialOP
      2·
      1 year ago

      Nice to hear, that privacy is less of a problem with linux!

      1. I’m using a “middle-class gaming tower” I think. (NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB VRAM, 16 GB RAM, AMD Ryzen 5 2400G).
      2. Isn’t fresher always better?
      3. I already found out, that it’s possible to change the desktop environment, which is great I guess. So I think at first, I’d like to maybe stick to the “windows-style”.
      • Hellfire103@sopuli.xyz
        2·
        1 year ago

        Not the guy you were talking to before, but it sounds like Linux Mint (Cinnamon Edition) would be a pretty good place to start.

      • Spiracle@kbin.social
        2·
        1 year ago

        Isn’t fresher always better?

        Due to the nature as a community of tech enthusiasts, normal end-users can easily get software that is a bit too fresh. You probably don’t want to be a beta-tester unless you don’t mind updates frequently breaking your system.

        Usually, default settings put you a few levels down from that, depending on which distro you go for. This doesn’t keep you completely save from some developers doing stupid shit (Manjaro), but this shouldn’t be a concern for any distro I’ve seen recommended here.

      • Atemu
        1·
        1 year ago
        1. Nvidia needs proprietary drivers installed. Some distros make this easier than others.
        2. Fresher software also means you get fresher bugs. It’s a trade-off.
        3. I’d recommend something with KDE then.

        I think Nobara could suit you. It’s a distro that aims to set up for gaming OOTB. They supposedly install Nvidia drivers too when a NV GPU is detected.
        Their GNOME spin is made to behave similar to windows and they’ve got a KDE spin too.