I am currently running Ubuntu 20.04 and would like to make a change. I am not thrilled with the upgrade process and how things have been handled as of late. So I posted on Reddit (FindMeADistro subredit) asking for some suggestions. Endeavour OS was highly recommended and I installed it in a VM to give it a whirl. And I love it! This would be a big change for me not just to a rolling release distro but also moving from Gnome to KDE, but I am feeling pretty good about it.
Then someone mentioned Garuda Dragonized KDE (or something like that) and I am giving that a try in a VM. What I do like about Garuda is the BTRFS with auto snapshots when updating (especially since it would be my first time on a rolling release) and the zen kernel for gaming. The default KDE theme is a bit much, but I am sure I can change that up.
What I am wondering though, is could I go with Endeavour but add in the BTRFS (w/snapshots on updates) and zen kernel? I do not do a ton of gaming, but my machine is powerful enough I would like to take advantage of it for NBA2K and some other games. My laptop specs are:
So, sorry for the long and rambling post (it’s late over here and I am out of coffee). So can I install Endeavour OS with the BTRFS and auto-snap-shot on updates thingy like Garuda and the zen kernel to improve gaming performance? Or is that going to be a real headache and make my want to run away screaming/ I love everything about Endeavour, I just want to have that backup as someone new to rolling release and the better kernel for gaming. Any advice or thoughts are appreciated!
Yes. Installing snapper-support from AUR will setup most of the btrfs stuff for you. That package comes from Garuda in the first place. The zen kernel is in the Arch repos, that can be easily installed as well.
That being said, you should use whichever one you prefer.
The Zen kernel gives very little real world performance gains. The perception of speed is increased because the scheduling is geared more towards desktop use, but the actual overall performance gain is negligible. As for btrfs and snapshots, I would not bother with it. If it makes you feel better, then go ahead. Lastly, if you don’t like the candy store kiddie theming of Garuda dragonized, then go with the vanilla KDE edition, you get all the tools without the glitter. Because Garuda dragonized uses Latte Dock, you will be hunting down settings to change to get rid of the default look.
Forum decorum prevents me from listing all the reasons why I would never recommend Garuda, especially over EndeavourOS, but the choice is always up to you.
Both are good distros. Obviously I’m a little biased toward Endeavour, but the Gardua guys have made a good distro too, and some of their team participate here as well. I tend to recommend Garuda for people who have a little less experience and might need more help in deciding what they need installed (Garuda will set up a lot for you, and hold you hand for a lot of other things as well). Others might consider that “bloat” and prefer to start minimal and add things to it, and Endeavour is a better choice for them. For the most part you can do anything with one that you can do with the other, including snapper snapshots in the bootloader. But there are a few other things Garuda does that might be a little tricker to set up on your own, I took a look at what they’re doing with zram and decided zswap was good enough for me and I didn’t want to go down that rabbit hole.
Anyway, it’s all personal preference. And with enough patience you can make Garuda look like Endeavour and vice versa. Though I have to admit I do NOT like the “Dragonized” setup, just not for me. But I do keep a Garuda GNOME on my Ventoy stick. They also have a slimmer more vanilla KDE setup that has access to all of their scripts and tools, but I’m not a KDE guy anymore and never tried it.
Welcome @revm ,pretty much everything above is what I would have mentioned, I prefer EndeavourOS as is easier for me to set up to my liking but as said both are good distros, it really depends on how much work your willing to put into after your initial setup.
Just keep in mind, Btrfs will not improve the performance of your games. If storage speed is essential for you (to decrease loading screens, or improve performance in storage intense games, like Minecraft), you’ll probably get slightly better results just sticking to ext4.
You can absolutely make EOS a gaming distro, with a litle (or a lot of) effort, but Garuda comes fully (bloated) equipped from get go.
However, as Garuda Dragonized makes my eyes bleed in seconds, I’d rather go for Nobara of Glorious Eggroll fame. Fedora based with a custom zen kernel, an installer for just about everything gaming related, and is easy to customize to your likeing.
