Yeah I agree, Mint used to be my recommendation (and it’s a good choice for sure) but now I say Bazzite or Kinoite (for a newbie used to Windows) because KDE Plasma is better than Windows and the immutability adds another layer of stability.

Yeah Bazzite is excellent all around. It’s usually what I recommend to anyone with Nvidia.

Mint is for sure an excellent option but I recommend Fedora Kinoite (or Bazzite) these days for someone used to Windows because their immutability makes them even more solid and harder to break.

Zorin is great for a grandma, but for someone who knows computers I think it’s too simple.

Fedora Kinoite or Bazzite (which is based on Fedora Kinoite).

Both are “immutable” which all you need to know means they are essentially impossible to meaningfully break.

Both use the KDE interface which is very similar to Windows and very tweak-able.

They’re very similar, but Bazzite is the one to go with if you do a lot of gaming. It’s basically the Steam Deck OS plus a little more. I’ve tested Bazzite with an Nvidia card and had no issues whatsoever and performance was nearly identical to what I was getting with Windows.

So I actually ended up trying it out, and DistroShelf, Tailscale, OpenRazer and Solaar were not preinstalled. Not sure if I missed an option or not during install but I don’t think so 🤔

Bazarr is also on default Kinoite. So it seems the differences are relatively minor. Which is not a bad thing. Kinoite is one of the best out there IMO.

What makes Aurora different than Fedora Kinoite?

Mint is actually based on Ubuntu which is based on Debian.

If you want something you don’t have to fuss over, that’s very stable (but also gets frequent updates), and “just works” with most games? Bazzite is your answer.

It was about a year ago so maybe it’s improved since then. One specific hiccup I recall with Mint that I didn’t have with Bazzite was getting acceleration in a browser. I’m certainly not recommending Nvidia users avoid Mint!

I agree with this. It’s installing an app. Installing a program to a computer you own should never be considered “unofficial”!

Yes a little bit if you have an Nvidia card, and Bazzite has the option to boot right into a Steam Deck like interface which is great for controller gamers.

To be clear Mint is a totally fine choice too, but for gaming and especially for a total Linux newbie Bazzite is the choice.

Bazzite 100%. It’s the best out of the box gaming distro, and bonus points for immutability (not that your friend needs to know what that is).

No a pro-piracy argument, but most artists get fractions of a penny from the sales of media anyway. Only the biggest stars are paid a fair share of the profits. I always try to find a way to support directly or use a platform (bandcamp, steam) that adds some value and gives a majority to the creator.

Toyota boot screen! Love it.

Yeah, it sucks because LibreELEC is the only way I’ve ever got HDMI-CEC to work. There are some nice skins too. In a different life, perhaps.

Not the guy to ask about that, sorry. I’ve seen it recommended elsewhere which is good enough for me. If you make a post about it I would definitely be interested. I’m not using it myself but I do keep an eye on the updates.

From what I can gather KonstaKang is the guy who makes these Raspberry Pi-specific versions.

Me too. The original devs abandoned it and it was picked back up by new devs in 2025

The way I see it, if someone eventually makes a Bazzite-styled distro that “just works” with a Plasma-Bigscreen UI on a Raspi it will become the clear and obvious choice for anyone. But we’re far from that still.

Not quite, and believe me, I’ve been looking.

Your best bet is probably LineageOS Android TV on a Raspi 5. From there you can install Kodi too. My issue here is that CEC does not work. Meaning you need a second remote.

I probably don’t recommend LibreELEC on a Raspi, because despite install being seamless, Kodi these days is essentially a real-debrid frontend (which might be what you’re looking for if you want integral torrent downloads!). The normal streaming apps for Kodi are not maintained even PlexJellyfin don’t work out of the box.

Something else I’m keeping an eye on is Plasma Bigscreen but that’s probably 2 years out minimum of being user friendly enough for someone not experienced.

Lastly if you have a Samsung TV, Tizentube will get you YouTube without ads (and other perks).