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Goodbye Windows, Hello Linux [advice needed for a Linux workstation at home]
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RoGeorge:
The TL;DR
- as a desktop user, I didn't liked the Windows 10 trend from the last years
- my old Win10 was somehow completly compromised (virus) somewhere between Christmas and the New Year.

The Tail
A bunch of malware was the last drop that made me switch to Linux.  I don't blame Microsoft for the viruses, but a clean install was needed anyway, so why not giving Linux a try?

The hardware is good enough (32GB RAM/i7-4790K/nVidia760 GPU/SSD/HDDs/Intel GPU/Creative soundchip onboard/4 different types of monitors in total), and it will be used as a dev desktop.  Main requirement is to be a home desktop, with EDA/CAD and Programming tools, occasionally playing a movie or so.

Gaming - not much.  I use to play big titles for single user 3D shooter, maybe once or twice a year.  Probably will boot from an external HDD with Win10 for gaming, will see.

The Facts
I looked for these main types of GUI:
- Gnome 3
- KDE Plasma
- Xfce
- LXDE
They are all OK,  I won't describe what I like or I don't like for each of them.  In the end, settled to Gnome.

Also tested a lot of on-the-shelf distros in the last two weeks.  Unfortunately, CentOS and OpenSUSE doesn't boot, probably anything else with "dracut" won't work on my PC.  That narrowed down the choices to Fedora and Ubuntu.

I'm not new to Linux, so I'm comfortable to any of them, but so far I used Linux only at office, or in industrial environments.  Never used Linux much as a home desktop.

It was a big and unpleasant surprise to learn that after more than 20 years, Linux still struggles with multiple displays or video tearing.  I know nVidia is not the best choice for Linux, but still, playing a movie without video tearing should've happen without any tinkering by now, yet this was not the case for my setup.

The Questions
There are two main candidates:
- Fedora 29 Workstation:  rpm packages, based on Red Hat repositories
- Ubuntu 18.10 Desktop (don't want 18.04 LTS):  deb packages, based on Debian repositories

1.  Which one would you choose as a home desktop?
2.  Is there a big difference in the software availability between the two?
3.  I don't like to reinstall too often, yet I want the latest gimmicks, too.  Which one to pick for the long run, Fedora 29 or Ubuntu 18.10?
soldar:
I just thought I would mention that I am running Linux Mint 18.2 Sonya with Cinnamon and it works reasonably well for me. I have found it to be the simplest because Most Linux distributions are not particularly user-friendly. For me Mint is the least bad and has a forum where I can get some support. Still, it is not Windows. I also hated and hate the evolution of MS Windows so I am still using XP on all my computers.
HoracioDos:
I would recommend LinuxMint 19 Tessa Xfce or Cinnamon. Gnome lovers usually hate Mint because it's quite similar to Windows. If you need a stable system that works out of the box, go for it.
PS: why you don't like 18.04 Lts?
IanMacdonald:
Mint seems to be about the most popular distro just now, and it's a good choice. Gnome and KDE are too bloated for my liking (I'd consider them the ones similar to Windows 10 in that respect!)  LXDE is good, the only thing I don't like about it is that creating desktop shortcuts is a tad awkward. xfce is another good option.

Use Debian with LXDE here. Looks much like Mint but is more streamlined as I don't particularly want all the heavyweight office stuff that's in Mint.

KDE I gave up on years ago after they made a sudden wildcat change in the design of the whole platform, which broke just about everything.  :--
free_electron:
Out of curiosity i took a look at linux mint just now.

I am wondering : why on earth three different user interfaces ?
and on top of that :
Cinnamon   : The most modern, innovative and full-featured desktop
MATE :   A more stable, and faster desktop
Xfce   : The most lightweight and the most stable

So cinnamon is cool , but you are better of with mate as it is more stable, but then again XFCE is even more stable than that. Which leads me to wonder : is there anything more stable than XFCE , and, if yes : what is more stable than that. In short : what is the 'stablest' one...

And then : if we go with one UI : what limitations does it have in terms of application compatibility ? What can run on what ? (and i am NOT going to recompile my applications. i expect a one-click installer. it's 2019 , not the dark ages)

Linux is hopeless. It's a contraption of half finished stuff stuck together with duct tape.
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