When using a PC to play games, you traditionally used Windows as the operating system. If you were a fan of Linux, this would consist of a dual-boot setup with a Linux distro as the primary OS and Windows as a secondary choice for gaming to enjoy maximum support. That's no longer the case, largely thanks to improved driver support in Linux and Proton from Valve. These days, one can use Linux as the primary OS for both work and play, and that is precisely how I have my gaming PC configured. But I switched to Pop!_OS for the best gaming experience.

Ubuntu is often recommended as the go-to distro for beginners and veterans alike. It's stable, runs GNOME, looks great, and has excellent support from British-based Canonical. Pop!_OS is essentially Ubuntu with a fancy skin and a bunch of tweaks and other changes that make it much more polished for gaming experiences. That's not to say you can't set up Ubuntu (or any other Linux distro, for that matter) for gaming, especially with Steam, but Pop!_OS is the way to go if all you want to do is get up and running with your game library installed and ready to play.

Where Pop!_OS differs from Ubuntu

It's a gaming OS without being a gaming OS

Ubuntu deserves most of the credit when it comes to popularizing Linux as a platform. Canonical has also provided a ton of code to the kernel and fleshed out a compelling ecosystem for consumers and businesses. One area Ubuntu and its developers failed to get right was gaming. It was largely left to the community, which had tools like Wine Is Not an Emulator (WINE) to handle games on Linux, but this was always cumbersome and sometimes would refuse to work for various reasons. You'd find yourself fixing things more than gaming, which defeated the purpose.

Then there's the release cadence that can cause some issues with hardware like GPUs and driver support. Ubuntu, mostly rightfully so, prioritizes stability over cutting-edge features. This is great for most systems unless you mainly play games. Ubuntu kernels are often some versions behind the latest release, not to mention Mesa drivers and some other features that can bring rocking improvements and changes to make gaming on Linux that much easier. You'll need to make manual tweaks or rely on adding PPAs to change the underlying system, which can cause problems.

Pop!_OS is different in that it focuses on gaming more than Ubuntu. Comparing the two distros together, you could view Ubuntu as Linux that can game, and Pop!_OS is Linux that can game. On first boot, it's clear Pop!_OS is designed for gaming PCs and not enterprise deployments. This makes sense, since the developer is System76, which sells gaming laptops and desktop PCs. You've got separate ISO images for Nvidia and other GPU vendor hardware. This is huge as it ensures you've got a Linux install that supports your hardware from the get-go.

Although Pop!_OS is based on Ubuntu, you wouldn't be able to tell without digging deep. That's because on the surface, Pop!_OS handles things differently, including updates. System76 ensures its OS ships newer kernels, Mesa versions, and other system components more frequently than Ubuntu. It's more of a rolling release without all the apprehension that comes with distros that always roll with the latest packages, where things can break. Interestingly, Pop!_OS isn't marketed as a gaming OS, but you'll usually find it at the top of recommendation lists.

There's a place for both distros

Though Ubuntu could definitely take some cues

Ubuntu is at the heart of Pop!_OS and ... well, Ubuntu. The differences between distros don't usually come down to performance since it's largely the same across the board. What does make a difference is extra terminal command requirements for those who aren't tech-savvy, workarounds for drivers and incompatibilities, and other issues that can cause people to flock back to Windows. Ubuntu tries to solve this for as many people as possible. System76 manages to do this with Pop!_OS for gaming.

The COSMIC desktop environment is a custom development for the OS and replaces GNOME, which ships with Ubuntu. COSMIC even offers support for tiling, allowing you to quickly and conveniently position apps alongside one another to get as much data on-screen at any given time. Think streaming tools, Discord, web browsers, and other apps. Gnome is a more traditional environment and more closely resembles macOS with its clean look.

System76 is also all about creating the perfect software for the company's hardware. The goal is to create something that transforms their products, whereas Canonical has slightly different business interests. This is evident with Snap dominating the package world on Ubuntu. This can make Pop!_OS feel more like a community-driven effort rather than a corporate entity maintaining free software, whilst also balancing the ability to generate revenue.

Ubuntu has been a staple of the Linux community for decades now and had ample chances to become the go-to distro for gamers. Canonical managed to lose steam with its gaming effort simply due to not having one at all. Gaming is huge and can be the catalyst that catapults Linux into the spotlight. We've seen this with Steam Deck, SteamOS, and Proton, making Linux less painful for people to switch from Windows to. Pop!_OS took this solid foundation and made it more appealing for PC gamers.

Pop!_OS is the Linux gaming distro

Ubuntu had a chance to become the source for all things gaming on Linux, but you can have a much better experience with something like Pop!_OS or even Arch Linux and create the distro of your dreams. That's the best part of the Linux ecosystem. If you don't like one distro for some reason, there's a good chance another is available that offers precisely what you require. I got that with Pop!_OS and now Arch, the latter which I now call home.