Nobara Project 37

 Pros:

• Tons of free software in repository.
• Fedora Workstation as a foundation.
• Ease of installation.
• Modern interface.
• Short learning curve.
• Regular updates and excellent hardware support.
• Recognizes most legacy hardware (NVIDIA).

Cons:

• New distro. A one person operation.
• Higher system requirements than some distributions.
• Nobara is not compatible with SecureBoot.

 

 My equipment (Your mileage may vary)

• 2013 HP ProDesk 400 G1 PC.
• Intel Core i7 (Haswell) 4770 CPU.
• 12 GB of system RAM.
• AMD RX 570 8G AMD GPU. 
• LG Blu-ray burner
  
• Canvas 27Q gaming monitor.
• LG 1080p 42-in television.

 Gaming

• HORI Fighting Commander, for Xbox One wired USB controller.
• Microsoft Xbox One, wired USB controller.
• Black Web, wireless keyboard.
• Zelotes T-90, USB wired Gaming Mouse.
  

Photo/Video

• Canon, EOS 7D 18 MP (borrowed).
  
• Logitech, BRIO UHD 4K Webcam.
  

Printer/scanner

• HP Smart Tank 7001
• HP 7520

The Nobara Project is a full-featured operating system like Microsoft Windows 11 or Apple macOS 12.6. Nobara version 37 combines the power, stability and cost-savings of Linux with a familiar, easy-to-use desktop environments. You can use Nobara 37 to watch videos,scroll through Facebook and other social networks. This distro was created by Thomas Crider (GloriousEggroll), the person who’s also responsible for the development of GE-Proton.

Nobara 37 comes in three different desktops: "official", "GNOME", and "KDE". Official is basically a custom version of GNOME with a few extensions making it similar to Windows desktop, with a taskbar at the bottom, and a launcher on the bottom-left. The only difference between the three flavors are the desktop environments. Everything under the hood remains the same.  You’ll get the same great experience no matter which version you choose. 

I installed the KDE version. For me Nobara is a showstopper distro. I was happy to find that everything worked out of the box. Picture, sound, everything. The KDE Plasma desktop looks great. There’s a Nobara logo in the bottom left that gives you access to an application menu, a system tray in the bottom-right corner, and no top bar. It will impress windows users with its user interface eye candy and ease of use. 

I first started playing around with Nobara 36 last year. To get the experience of a new user I decided to do a fresh install of Nobara 37. I can tell you a lot has changed. The first change you will notice is the size of the ISO. Nobara 36 was 5.2 GB (9 16 2022 ISO). Nobara 37 comes in at 3.3 GB (1 06 2023 ISO). Programs like Blender, OBS, and Kdenlive are no longer included on the base ISO. More on that later. The next thing I noticed was Fedora 37 removed mesa packages (H.264 and H.265) for decoding videos with AMD GPUs because of patent issues. The patent licensing around H.264/H.265 is such that providing the acceleration support would unfortunately put Red Hat and other Fedora distributors like the Nobara project in legal jeopardy. It’s not as convenient as just having everything ready to go out of the box on the ISO. Not to worry Nobara automates this process providing an automated post-install tool will assist with resolving this for new users.

Running Nobara Linux for the First Time

Another new addition is the "Nobara welcome app". The first time you boot up your new Nobara system, it will ask you if you’d like to install extra video and audio codecs. As stated above: because of patents and other regulations, these codecs can't be distributed as part of another software package. With Nobara welcome app, users can get this desktop operating system set up exactly how they need it, without having to google anything. Install patented media codecs and install the proprietary NVIDIA/AMD drivers for starters. You can also install Blender, OBS, and Kdenlive. Nobara had to remove these apps from the Nobara 37 ISO due to fact they rely on ffmpeg and codecs which cannot legally be shipped. However you can installed everything with just a click of a button. No need to enter a terminal. 

Desktop Security

Nobara delivers a desktop computing platform with proven security. It includes AppArmor, an application-level security framework that provides mandatory access control for programs. This proactive approach helps protect the system against both known and unknown vulnerabilities. Each time AppArmor stops an application from doing a potentially harmful operation the event is logged.

Surf the web

Firefox will take you just about anywhere on the internet, letting you see text, images and video from anywhere in the world. Whether it is emailing, chatting, videoconferencing, and updating social media pages Firefox has got you covered. It protects your privacy, and offers a number of browser extensions to choose from. It has many Add-ons ranging from password managers and adblockers to weather forecasters and maps. Firefox is the go-to web browser for who seek privacy with their browsing activities, data, streaming services.

Note:DRM module will not be included in the Firefox installer.Many streaming services like Netflix, Amazon Video, etc use a DRM mechanism called a Content Decryption Module (CDM). In Firefox you'll spot a message at the top of the screen, advising you that additional software is required. "Click Enable DRM". Wait while the additional software is installed. Then refresh the page.

Video conferencing

Nobara Linux will work with popular video conferencing apps like: KDE Telepathy, Open Meetings, Kopete, Google Meet, Zoom and Skype. I have a Logitech BRIO UHD, UVC (USB video class) 4K Webcam. UVC cameras are USB-powered devices that incorporate a standard video streaming functionality. No driver needed.

Productivity

Only office is a complete office suite that offers presentations, documents, spreadsheets and databases. It is compatible with Microsoft Office file formats, and the interface is very similar to Microsoft Office. Read PDFs, export/import to/from PDF

Okular allows you to read PDF documents, comics and EPub books, browse images, visualize Markdown documents, and much more.

Connect smart phone/tablet to Nobara

KDE Connect, syncs your smart phone to a computer or tablet. It can share files, links, sync notifications, gives you the ability to reply to SMS text messages.

Gaming 

Pre-installed applications: 

• Steam 
• Lutris 
• Mesa Vulkan drivers
• Protonup-qt

Steam is a video game digital distribution service and storefront by Valve. Steam is responsible for native Linux games on Steam, while proton let's Linux users can play games that are available on Windows only. Proton, leverages the WINE compatibility layer, many Windows-based games are completely playable on Linux through Steam Play, which is integrated directly inside the Steam client itself. Steam Play it makes running Windows games on Gnu+Linux easier than ever. It also works perfectly with external controllers and Steam Overlay.

If you want to check if a certain game will run in Steam Play before you download it, check out ProtonDB. It's a community-maintained website that can probably tell you if a certain game works or not, complete with helpful instructions and tips for getting  games to run.

Note: Proton GE refers to the community-built version of Proton. This is sometimes needed for games that will not work with the official Proton. Protonup-qt is installed by default. Protonup-qt is a graphics user interface that can be used for installing Proton-GE and Wine-GE versions.

Proton isn’t the only tool bringing Windows-only games to Linux. Lutris is a gaming client that brings games built for Windows to your Linux desktop. It is designed to run games under WINE and other compatibility layers. Game downloads and installations are automated and can be modified through user made scripts that include all the necessary tweaks and fixes. Lutris supports a wide range of sources that include Origin, Uplay, Epic Games Launcher, Blizzard's Battle.net and several others.

Note: Not every Windows native game will run with Lutris, Proton or Proton GE

I tested two Windows 10 games which are not available on Linux normally. I was able to get Warframe and Over Watch using the included compatibility layers.

Since Warframe is available on steam I used proton. Installed with GE-Proton7.33. I didn't need any launch options. Works great after shaders are finished compiling.On max settings with enhanced engine enabled, FPS was solid at 1080p.

Overwatch 2 is not available on steam. Not to worry Lutris has you covered. I installed with Lutris overwatch2-caffe7.18 runner. I was in shock at how well I could play Overwatch 2 on Nobara. Thanks to Wine, DXVK and Lutris as well as Blizzard for making such an incredibly well-optimized game.

So for those of you who love playing Overwatch or Warframe, they seem to work very nicely on Linux.

Conclusion

In a nutshell, Nobara Project is a desktop-oriented Linux distribution based on Fedora. It is not a Fedora Spin. There are no Fedora developers or parties directly involved involved with the Nobara distribution. Nobara 37 is a Gnu+Linux distribution. It is not Windows 11 and it is not macOS Ventura. Windows hands down has many more programs that work on Windows than Linux. Many native windows programs like Adobe Photoshop, Microsoft Office,Dreamweaver, Final Cut Pro, Adobe premiere and Outlook available not available on Nobara. Windows typically gets new drivers first, closely followed by macOS.

However, Nobara 37 could truly be a viable alternative to Microsoft Windows for many users. You can use Nobara to watch videos,scroll through Facebook and other social networks. It features USB device detection of local and remote printers, laptop port replicators, docking stations, mice, scanners, digital cameras, portable music players and smartphones. This will be one the most exciting and easy computing experiences you have have ever had. Installation takes about 25 minutes and just works right out of the box.

The Nobara Project can run on a Intel CPU from 2013. That is something that Windows 11 cannot do. It is totally free of charge. It’s free to download, free to install, and free to use. You can install Nobara on as many computers as you want. You do not have to worry about a license.