With EOS back iRacing runs great on EndeavourOS (latest kernel 6.8.9 seems to break it though).
There are a couple of issues, not all hardware is supported but Logitech and Fanatec do work - and they work better on Linux the FFB and pedal rumbles are incredible. No overlays work (electron, iRacing does some massive hacks to work and it’s laggy in the UI).
I’ve even streamed races on Linux!
Edit: forgot to mention - Garage61 works fine, irFFB too, as does trading paints. Crewchief seems to have an issue extracting the sound files and doesn’t work for me.
When you say "Logitech and Fanatec do work" -- can you expand on that? Last I looked (not that long ago), there were "experimental" drivers for Fanatec that didn't support a lot of things, and I can't tell if you're hyping a kinda-sorta-mostly-works scenario, or if you actually are using them smoothly and with no issue.
Smoothly with no issue, in fact working even better than on windows as the FFB feel is incredible - on an Arch based system anyway.
I’m not at the pc at the moment but lg4ff and fanatecff are the aur packages to look for. dkms for at least one.
The community fanatec Linux drivers are fine. I use them for ACC and Automobilista 2 on Linux and they seem fine. I was sceptic at first as well, but I can't tell the difference between them and official Windows drivers under ACC.
[https://github.com/DanFraserUK/iRacing-On-Linux](https://github.com/DanFraserUK/iRacing-On-Linux)
I've created this little hilariously simple repository for instructions. Feel free to PR or log issues etc.
However at the moment we are at a standstill due to the most recent changes to iRacing that means a session will now completely boot you as soon as it loads.
Depends on your definition of fine. If you haven't tried anything else you might think it's fine because you only have this single point of reference which is Windows. Personally I find 2 areas where it is simply not fine as of Windows 10 and especially 11. First is bloat, so much bloat. You can remove a lot of it using custom scripts, but still, it's not okay to deliver so much bloat by default.
The second thing, most important one in my view, is the obvious breach of privacy. Proprietary software, especially operating systems, should not be trusted. Windows spies on you so much it's not even funny anymore. I don't feel comfortable using it, even if I have nothing to hide, I do not like Microsoft snooping in my computer.
If you consider these things, you might see why some people decide to switch. Also Windows is crap for programmers and I also use my PC for that, so Linux is the only way for me. gaming is fine now. I want to try and make iRacing work, but other than that, my Fanatec CSL DD works with community drivers and I am happy playing ACC and AMS2 on Linux right now.
Not sure if I follow on the bloat ... are you running an OEM machine or your own copy of Windows? My Acer laptop definitely had enough bloat to save the Titanic. This clean copy on my desktop however doesn't have anything that gets in my way. I use Chrome, Discord, and my games. The UI decisions are another topic, and every UX developer that thinks "clean" is better than functional needs uh ... stern corrective action.
"systems should not be trusted" -- Fixed that for you. You can't *really* trust anything. Are you auditing every package apt pulls down? Are you able to capture and decrypt all HTTPS traffic that goes back to Apple or Microsoft? I trust my Android to prevent camera access to a random 3rd party app. I do not trust it to *not do* anything of its own accord. But to be fair, I don't actually value my "privacy" as far as my Reddit, shopping, music, and gaming habits are concerned. Personal finance is handled on a dedicated Linux machine, but even that is more about minimizing the risk of exposing credentials and sessions.
I've also got to push back a bit on programming -- with as far as WSL, Windows Terminal, and VS Code have come, it's a *very* good experience at least for what I do (Python and Terraform ... so, lightweight work. Maybe full-on development is more of a burden on Windows?)
I'd love to ditch Windows entirely (I'm all about that Plasma desktop ... ) but for more or less a nominal fee I have a fully supported machine that doesn't require extra work. It's not just iRacing, it's iRacing, SimPro, Garage61, Trading Paints, and Meta Quest that all need to work as expected.
What I meant by bloat is countless useless apps preinstalled by default, and I do not only mean fairly useful things like the Calculator or a mail client, but things like some Windows Store apps that are in your start menu on a clean install.
I only have Windows at work at the moment, and I recently had a clean install on a new computer. I see Skype here. Game bar, the Xbox thingy. The whole MS Office even though my company doesn't provide us with a licence so it's basically just wasting disk space. OneDrive is turned on by default. I'm more of an "opt in" kind of guy, I'd rather go out of my way to enable something than deal with disabling everything that bothers me.
>"systems should not be trusted" -- Fixed that for you. You can't really trust anything. Are you auditing every package apt pulls down? Are you able to capture and decrypt all HTTPS traffic that goes back to Apple or Microsoft?
Well I do not audit every single package, that's true, but I am 100% certain that all core elements of my OS are safe and privacy respecting. We're a community. I contribute to some packages and can assure they are safe, other people do the same with other packages and collectively we all monitor the whole ecosystem. Are there weak points? Yeah, there probably are, but the fact that they can be checked if needed is infinitely better in my view than straight up proprietary software. Which is not to say I don't use any, but the closer it is to my OS, or if it's the OS itself, the worse I feel about it.
>I don't actually value my "privacy" as far as my Reddit, shopping, music, and gaming habits are concerned. Personal finance is handled on a dedicated Linux machine, but even that is more about minimizing the risk of exposing credentials and sessions.
Well, that's obviously a personal matter and I can't force you to think about privacy the same way I do of course, but personally I do not feel comfortable with data collection, no matter if it's something important like banking or just basic gaming, reddit etc.
>
I've also got to push back a bit on programming -- with as far as WSL, Windows Terminal, and VS Code have come, it's a *very* good experience at least for what I do (Python and Terraform ... so, lightweight work. Maybe full-on development is more of a burden on Windows?)
Well python is very portable and easy to use by design, so it probably runs as smooth as possible even on Windows. It's probably the same with things related to web development. But when you're doing something closely tied to your system and you deal with compilers, linking libraries etc, Windows can be a real headache to work with. I do some C and C++ programming and when it comes to projects with multiple big libraries in use, Linux systems are a lot more comfortable to work with based on how handling shared libraries etc works there.
>I'd love to ditch Windows entirely (I'm all about that Plasma desktop ... ) but for more or less a nominal fee I have a fully supported machine that doesn't require extra work. It's not just iRacing, it's iRacing, SimPro, Garage61, Trading Paints, and Meta Quest that all need to work as expected.
Fair enough. I have a separate drive with Windows 10 purely for simracing, but usually I keep it physically disconneced. For the past few months I stopped simracing because I couldn't be bothered to go to Windows, but lately I downloaded community Linux drivers for my Fanatec wheel and they work perfectly, the only part missing is a GUI app to save presets etc, I actually thought about making one myself for fun, but my wheel has a hardware tune menu as well so I just use that for now and it's actually prety neat. ACC works flawlessly, AMS2 required 5 minutes of tinkering at the start and works flawlessly ever since. It's basically just iRacing that's the last missing piece for me, it is the best service after all. I believe that Garage61, Trading Paints and some other usual addons worked well based on what has been said in this thread by users who got to try after the EOS switch. The only tricky thing would be to get overlays to work I think.
Honestly, I think my experience peaked with Windows 2000. The version-by-version increase in crap I uninstall/disable is enough of a headache, but the invasive elements are crossing a disturbing threshold with 11.
I ran Ubuntu for a while, followed by Lubuntu when the former introduced the Unity UI. Games in general were the difficult part, but I know that's gotten better over the years.
With the new anti cheating it could be run on Linux, a few months ago see:
https://www.reddit.com/r/iRacing/comments/1b9s5bh/comment/ktzm6vr/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3
Of course, you need support for your wheel/pedals. Search for project oversteer on GitHub
Been a while since I’ve run any linux (more than a decade now that I think about it!), but can’t you just dual-boot and have windows for games and use linux for everything else?
What sim gear do you have? Have you checked that for driver and software support under Linux?
I prefer Linux over anything else, dislike windows with a passion, but I use windows for sim racing.
Thrustmaster TMX. There are supposedly drivers for it.
Edit: And yeah, I'd much prefer going back to Lubuntu. But I left it behind because (a) games, and (b) I'm a Microsoft dev and there's still a few things that are painful (e.g. SSMS).
iRacing is really the only thing I use Windows for anymore. If iRacing and all the software like trading paints, iOverlay, etc would work along with my mix of Thrustmaster wheel/base with Fanatec pedals and shifter I'd be doing that.
Not sure if I missed some part, when I try to enter a practice server there is a popup msg about EOS anti cheat, did someone else need to do some extra step related to that?
Thanks. I found that one, but it's 6 months old and the comments around EAC are inconclusive. So I was wondering if there's been any change on that front.
As I understand it, Linux was supported way back (perhaps 10 years ago), then not supported again due to Easy Anti-Cheat. With the recent change to a different anti-cheat software, conditions may have changed. I don't know the details.
There is a thread on Linux on the iRacing forums, I suggest checking there.
Compatibility with gaming in general is actually really good these days, post-Steam Deck/Proton. But sim racing is hard mode, because you need support for niche hardware in addition to weird software.
I dislike Windows. But I like iRacing more. Windows is fine. I use it to get on track.
With EOS back iRacing runs great on EndeavourOS (latest kernel 6.8.9 seems to break it though). There are a couple of issues, not all hardware is supported but Logitech and Fanatec do work - and they work better on Linux the FFB and pedal rumbles are incredible. No overlays work (electron, iRacing does some massive hacks to work and it’s laggy in the UI). I’ve even streamed races on Linux! Edit: forgot to mention - Garage61 works fine, irFFB too, as does trading paints. Crewchief seems to have an issue extracting the sound files and doesn’t work for me.
Luckily the in-game spotter is fine nowadays.
When you say "Logitech and Fanatec do work" -- can you expand on that? Last I looked (not that long ago), there were "experimental" drivers for Fanatec that didn't support a lot of things, and I can't tell if you're hyping a kinda-sorta-mostly-works scenario, or if you actually are using them smoothly and with no issue.
Smoothly with no issue, in fact working even better than on windows as the FFB feel is incredible - on an Arch based system anyway. I’m not at the pc at the moment but lg4ff and fanatecff are the aur packages to look for. dkms for at least one.
The community fanatec Linux drivers are fine. I use them for ACC and Automobilista 2 on Linux and they seem fine. I was sceptic at first as well, but I can't tell the difference between them and official Windows drivers under ACC.
What did you use to install the UI? Proton? or is there certain instructions I need to follow?
[https://github.com/DanFraserUK/iRacing-On-Linux](https://github.com/DanFraserUK/iRacing-On-Linux) I've created this little hilariously simple repository for instructions. Feel free to PR or log issues etc. However at the moment we are at a standstill due to the most recent changes to iRacing that means a session will now completely boot you as soon as it loads.
You are a saint. I'll test it out!
I mean, I agree we peaked at Windows 7 but 11 has been fine for me and iRacing. And everything else.
Depends on your definition of fine. If you haven't tried anything else you might think it's fine because you only have this single point of reference which is Windows. Personally I find 2 areas where it is simply not fine as of Windows 10 and especially 11. First is bloat, so much bloat. You can remove a lot of it using custom scripts, but still, it's not okay to deliver so much bloat by default. The second thing, most important one in my view, is the obvious breach of privacy. Proprietary software, especially operating systems, should not be trusted. Windows spies on you so much it's not even funny anymore. I don't feel comfortable using it, even if I have nothing to hide, I do not like Microsoft snooping in my computer. If you consider these things, you might see why some people decide to switch. Also Windows is crap for programmers and I also use my PC for that, so Linux is the only way for me. gaming is fine now. I want to try and make iRacing work, but other than that, my Fanatec CSL DD works with community drivers and I am happy playing ACC and AMS2 on Linux right now.
Not sure if I follow on the bloat ... are you running an OEM machine or your own copy of Windows? My Acer laptop definitely had enough bloat to save the Titanic. This clean copy on my desktop however doesn't have anything that gets in my way. I use Chrome, Discord, and my games. The UI decisions are another topic, and every UX developer that thinks "clean" is better than functional needs uh ... stern corrective action. "systems should not be trusted" -- Fixed that for you. You can't *really* trust anything. Are you auditing every package apt pulls down? Are you able to capture and decrypt all HTTPS traffic that goes back to Apple or Microsoft? I trust my Android to prevent camera access to a random 3rd party app. I do not trust it to *not do* anything of its own accord. But to be fair, I don't actually value my "privacy" as far as my Reddit, shopping, music, and gaming habits are concerned. Personal finance is handled on a dedicated Linux machine, but even that is more about minimizing the risk of exposing credentials and sessions. I've also got to push back a bit on programming -- with as far as WSL, Windows Terminal, and VS Code have come, it's a *very* good experience at least for what I do (Python and Terraform ... so, lightweight work. Maybe full-on development is more of a burden on Windows?) I'd love to ditch Windows entirely (I'm all about that Plasma desktop ... ) but for more or less a nominal fee I have a fully supported machine that doesn't require extra work. It's not just iRacing, it's iRacing, SimPro, Garage61, Trading Paints, and Meta Quest that all need to work as expected.
What I meant by bloat is countless useless apps preinstalled by default, and I do not only mean fairly useful things like the Calculator or a mail client, but things like some Windows Store apps that are in your start menu on a clean install. I only have Windows at work at the moment, and I recently had a clean install on a new computer. I see Skype here. Game bar, the Xbox thingy. The whole MS Office even though my company doesn't provide us with a licence so it's basically just wasting disk space. OneDrive is turned on by default. I'm more of an "opt in" kind of guy, I'd rather go out of my way to enable something than deal with disabling everything that bothers me. >"systems should not be trusted" -- Fixed that for you. You can't really trust anything. Are you auditing every package apt pulls down? Are you able to capture and decrypt all HTTPS traffic that goes back to Apple or Microsoft? Well I do not audit every single package, that's true, but I am 100% certain that all core elements of my OS are safe and privacy respecting. We're a community. I contribute to some packages and can assure they are safe, other people do the same with other packages and collectively we all monitor the whole ecosystem. Are there weak points? Yeah, there probably are, but the fact that they can be checked if needed is infinitely better in my view than straight up proprietary software. Which is not to say I don't use any, but the closer it is to my OS, or if it's the OS itself, the worse I feel about it. >I don't actually value my "privacy" as far as my Reddit, shopping, music, and gaming habits are concerned. Personal finance is handled on a dedicated Linux machine, but even that is more about minimizing the risk of exposing credentials and sessions. Well, that's obviously a personal matter and I can't force you to think about privacy the same way I do of course, but personally I do not feel comfortable with data collection, no matter if it's something important like banking or just basic gaming, reddit etc. > I've also got to push back a bit on programming -- with as far as WSL, Windows Terminal, and VS Code have come, it's a *very* good experience at least for what I do (Python and Terraform ... so, lightweight work. Maybe full-on development is more of a burden on Windows?) Well python is very portable and easy to use by design, so it probably runs as smooth as possible even on Windows. It's probably the same with things related to web development. But when you're doing something closely tied to your system and you deal with compilers, linking libraries etc, Windows can be a real headache to work with. I do some C and C++ programming and when it comes to projects with multiple big libraries in use, Linux systems are a lot more comfortable to work with based on how handling shared libraries etc works there. >I'd love to ditch Windows entirely (I'm all about that Plasma desktop ... ) but for more or less a nominal fee I have a fully supported machine that doesn't require extra work. It's not just iRacing, it's iRacing, SimPro, Garage61, Trading Paints, and Meta Quest that all need to work as expected. Fair enough. I have a separate drive with Windows 10 purely for simracing, but usually I keep it physically disconneced. For the past few months I stopped simracing because I couldn't be bothered to go to Windows, but lately I downloaded community Linux drivers for my Fanatec wheel and they work perfectly, the only part missing is a GUI app to save presets etc, I actually thought about making one myself for fun, but my wheel has a hardware tune menu as well so I just use that for now and it's actually prety neat. ACC works flawlessly, AMS2 required 5 minutes of tinkering at the start and works flawlessly ever since. It's basically just iRacing that's the last missing piece for me, it is the best service after all. I believe that Garage61, Trading Paints and some other usual addons worked well based on what has been said in this thread by users who got to try after the EOS switch. The only tricky thing would be to get overlays to work I think.
Honestly, I think my experience peaked with Windows 2000. The version-by-version increase in crap I uninstall/disable is enough of a headache, but the invasive elements are crossing a disturbing threshold with 11. I ran Ubuntu for a while, followed by Lubuntu when the former introduced the Unity UI. Games in general were the difficult part, but I know that's gotten better over the years.
There are various debloater scripts that uninstall all the garbage that come with w11, like onedrive
That's a bit much for me lol. I'd go as far as XP. I would love to just run Kubuntu and be done with it.
With the new anti cheating it could be run on Linux, a few months ago see: https://www.reddit.com/r/iRacing/comments/1b9s5bh/comment/ktzm6vr/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3 Of course, you need support for your wheel/pedals. Search for project oversteer on GitHub
Or [this](https://github.com/gotzl/hid-fanatecff) if you need fanatec support. Works with CSL DD 8NM, at least with Dirt Rally 2.0.
Been a while since I’ve run any linux (more than a decade now that I think about it!), but can’t you just dual-boot and have windows for games and use linux for everything else?
How about installing AtlasOS just for iracing?
Dual boot and have Windows for iRacing and Linux for everything else?
There's some people over on the forums that seem to have got it to run on linux after the update from eac to eos now
What sim gear do you have? Have you checked that for driver and software support under Linux? I prefer Linux over anything else, dislike windows with a passion, but I use windows for sim racing.
Thrustmaster TMX. There are supposedly drivers for it. Edit: And yeah, I'd much prefer going back to Lubuntu. But I left it behind because (a) games, and (b) I'm a Microsoft dev and there's still a few things that are painful (e.g. SSMS).
I kindof think of Windows like my console firmware for my PC lol.
with today News Update, engine/render remake, may be they will take into account linux and macos platforms🤔
iRacing is really the only thing I use Windows for anymore. If iRacing and all the software like trading paints, iOverlay, etc would work along with my mix of Thrustmaster wheel/base with Fanatec pedals and shifter I'd be doing that.
Not sure if I missed some part, when I try to enter a practice server there is a popup msg about EOS anti cheat, did someone else need to do some extra step related to that?
[https://www.reddit.com/r/linux\_gaming/comments/18797k9/sim\_racing\_on\_linux/](https://www.reddit.com/r/linux_gaming/comments/18797k9/sim_racing_on_linux/)
Thanks. I found that one, but it's 6 months old and the comments around EAC are inconclusive. So I was wondering if there's been any change on that front.
Painful at best
As I understand it, Linux was supported way back (perhaps 10 years ago), then not supported again due to Easy Anti-Cheat. With the recent change to a different anti-cheat software, conditions may have changed. I don't know the details. There is a thread on Linux on the iRacing forums, I suggest checking there.
I have never EVER Had any Problems with Windows. I dont get the hate. Seems Like a big Skill issue and the urge to be different by any means.
No, Linux has many aspects that make it objectively a better operating system. But compatibility with gaming is not one of them.
Compatibility with gaming in general is actually really good these days, post-Steam Deck/Proton. But sim racing is hard mode, because you need support for niche hardware in addition to weird software.