Hello,
I am preparing a gift for my partner’s two brothers. They are in their single digits, still don’t know how to read, and are mainly going to be using this computer for minecraft.
I have an old computer I got back in 2014 that has a pretty decent graphics card. Nvidia GeForce 650 or 750 or something like that. I want to put a Linux distro on it that will be easy to set up, and easy for them to use to play minecraft and possibly some steam games. I use Manjaro and have been using Linux for a while but I’m not super adept, beyond general comfort with the command line.
So, what’s my best bet to get it set up easy and quick for these two that they can play minecraft with some mods possibly and other older, less graphically intensive games I have available?
Thanks. Hope you are all well!
Heavy disagree with huntra on using XFCE or LXDE. Go for something more common, supported, or aesthetically pleasing. It shouldn’t matter much, but I dualboot one KDE and one XFCE, and XFCE just always has more problems. The significant size of the KDE team really shows in the polish after your first hour of using it.
I agree with you there, just wanted to mention them in case its old PC and doesn’t run KDE that well
If it can’t run KDE that well, it won’t even be able to run Youtube. You can go down the rabbit hole of making a hyper-efficient PC, but in my experience the PC has to be able to run at least 5-10 year old Windows for it to use any programs at all.
Heh, I just finished tinkering with my netbook from like 2006 when I typed my reply, so I guess I was still in that mindset… :D Every mb of ram on that device counts, since it only has 1gb.
KDE is great choice.
Second that. GNOME and KDE is just way more polished and easier to get support for. I’d always go with Gnome cause KDE is a buggy pos but thats subjective I guess. (QT sucks objectively though :P)
Why do you need dualboot for different DE? A display manager should suffice.
I basically dualboot to keep my work and personal OS separate, with a shared drive between them so I can still seed 24/7.
It might not be the best solution, but it works great
Since you’ll be the one supporting it, use the same distribution you already know, which is Manjaro. Install some kind of remote access so you can help (with consent!) with issues. This practice is called dogfooding in IT management.
Consider Minetest as a Free alternative to Minecraft.
I agree a lot with your point. Providing support to a distro you don’t know can be really bad if your not an overall adept, like it’s mentioned.
I think they would be fine with any Ubuntu flavor, I would probably go with Xubuntu or Lubuntu because of the lightweight DE. You could also go with Linux Mint XFCE, also light weight. I’m using Kubuntu myself, was very quick and easy to set up.
Since that PC has Nvidia graphics card, you may also want to consider Pop_OS, (which is basically another Ubuntu derivative afaik) since they have distro download with Nvidia drivers ready to go.
Minecraft is more cpu intensive, but it should run just fine!
Seconding Pop, it’s a breeze to set up, and is very snappy! All my (very light, mind you) gaming is done on Pop_os
Thank you (:
Awesome. I’ve been playing minecraft since almost the beginning and that computer handled it well. I used to use Ubuntu a long time ago. I wasn’t sure what was the best nowadays but I knew there were some new ones. I’ve heard of pop a lot these days so I think I’ll try it! Thanks!
This is a kind gift :) ZorinOS or PopOS is great for that. I hope it will be successful! ;)
(: I’m really excited. They’re good kids and they need a device so we can finally play minecraft with them properly!
Thank you!
Did you ever try out Minetest? It grabbed my heart. It is such a nice game. It did remind me to the old Minecraft when it was good.
I’d say either Manjaro KDE so that you can easily provide too support (since you’re familiar with the distro already) or something like Mint or Pop_OS! Solus also seems nice, but given it is younger and less mainstream, it will likely be harder for you to give support if need be.
Other stuff you should do is setup the computer with all the programs they need in advance (games, LibreOffice/OnlyOffice, etc) and areange the desktop with good shortcuts.
Additionally, you should probably install some remote desktop software so that you can help the kids solve issues or explain/demonstrate to them at a distance.Good luck with your wonderful gift! :D
Manjaro KDE if probably the best beginner friendly one I can think of.
Linux Mint also has a KDE version which I use as our media machine connected to the TV
