Edit: Tumbleweed and bazzite are currently the most attractive options based on what I've learned from the comments. I will trial run those and 1 or 2 others.
I am currently on Pop OS.
I am dissatisfied with the DE/UI and I've been playing with others but half the point of this distro is it's custom UI. So I figured I would try another. I have several criteria that may narrow it down.
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I am going to use KDE or KDE Plasma (preferred). This is the only non-negotiable criteria.
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I will be gaming. This means I would like relatively up to date kernel and software. Rolling or semi-rolling releases are preferred.
2.5. I also work from this pc. This mainly entails using discord and Firefox though so no special requirements. I do have 4 different sized monitors with 3 different refresh rates that I use for work. Only one for gaming. One is vertical. I can tell I'm pushing x to its limits with that setup.
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I would prefer Debian-based as that is what I'm used to and because .deb packages are so common.
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I don't want it to be a ton of effort to set up. Pop OS worked out of the box with my Nvidia GPU and all other hardware. I am willing to put in some effort though.
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I have been using and very much like apt and flatpak. This is not a requirement, just an observation.
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Wayland is neat
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Active community with lots of support to search through. Pop OS has been good for this as it's Ubuntu based and has its own great community.
Ultimately I want an easy to use desktop OS that uses some sort of KDE, supports up to date packages and drivers, supports most games and isn't a pain to maintain.
Here are some contenders that fit at least some of my requirements.
KDE Neon user edition
Opensuse tumbleweed
Kubuntu
Endeavor OS
Debian
Manjaro
Bazzite
Mint Debian edition
Right now I'm leaning toward KDE Neon, Kubuntu, or Debian (whatever the rolling release version is), but the others all have their draws. I've heard the aur is great but I have come across several applications only available in website downloads of Deb packages so I'm hesitant.
I have been using pop as my first desktop distro after Windows and I've enjoyed it a lot. I barely run into anything I can't solve with some effort and headache and not a single game I can't play. I'd like to keep it that way.
Now that that's out of the way, does anyone have suggestions? Am I looking in the wrong direction? Am I asking the wrong questions? Should I just install arch, live in the terminal, and throw away my mouse? /s
Thank you all for your advice in advance.
I use my pc for similar purposes on Linix Mint Debian Edition. Basically mint which is based on Debian instead of Ubuntu. Steam and emulation have been a breeze on it with flatpaks and I've fiddled around with Lutris as well. A lot of features are plug n play in many aspects, but the os gives you enough freedom as to not feel restrictive.
I've found that the community is helpful and big enough to have all my questions answered. You might need to do some tinkering if you use an Nvidia GPU though. I have an all AMD system, and it was relatively easy to get and install graphics drivers, which will probably be your biggest hurdle/headache with other distros outside of PopOS.
Yeah I've heard that pop OS has great Nvidia support out of the box, more so than most other distros. I do like your idea of mint Debian edition though. I'm already a fan of mint but didn't want their slower kernel and software releases. I eventually want to build a new pc with amd hardware instead of intel/Nvidia. Maybe the right play is to stick with pop until that happens.
For what it's worth, I use Mint with the Xanmod kernel installed and the kisak-mesa PPA. This means I get the stability, strong UI, and "just works, no fuss" factors of Mint, but a cutting edge kernel with an optimized build and gaming-specific tweaks to it, plus the latest release of Mesa. Every individual app I want to guarantee is fully up-to-date I just get the flatpak, which mint will offer to update through its gui updater tool, right alongside native packages. Steam and Heroic keep the games up to date and ProtonUp-QT lets me keep the Proton-GE versions up to date as well.
Anyhow, just putting that out there. I've used every major distro over the past 16 years and this is my personal "I just want it to always work and be up to date" solution for my gaming PC. Everyone will have different compromises for what they consider best.
So what's the pros and cons of Mint on Ubuntu vs Mint on Debian? I'm more familiar with Ubuntu, and that's what I'm running on my PC now, but I'm thinking about trying to go back to Mint.
Main things I'll need to install is development tools (VSCode, IntelliJ, docker, java) plus Firefox, Discord. I'm also running KDE Plasma - it's nice, but also I don't really have a strong opinion so if I wasn't i wouldn't care all that much. Nvidea graphics, AMD cpu.
I'm a bit frustrated by the weekly or so discord updates and it would be nice if auto update or apt upgrade would just update it, but maybe that's a completely separate concern.
Anyway if you time to respond I appreciate it. If not that's cool too. Have a good one!
For my use case, I wanted a hybrid distro that is more rock solid/no hastle but also updated enough for gaming. Og Debian's update cycle is too slow for some of the things I was doing with proton and wine, while rolling release distros like Arch/Manjaro broke or required fiddling too frequently for my taste. I feel like LMDE is the perfect balance for me personally, taking the rock solid stance of Debian even further than og Mint or Ubuntu, while also being updated enough to not have problems gaming.
Secondly, I greatly prefer flatpaks to snaps, so that's another reason I stay away from Ubuntu or Ubuntu forks.
I also respect the ethos of Mint and Debian much more than "corporate" owned Ubuntu. It feels much better being on a Debian based fork rather than an Ubuntu based fork, in case Cannonical wants to do stupid things to their OS.
Overall I think it comes down to me just wanting to use Debian, but with more frequent updates, that isn't Ubuntu.