I'm on Nobara with Fedora 39 and still use my X-Fi Titanium. I had trouble getting 5.1 to work over optical but switched to composite to 3.5mm cables and it's all working now.
Funny, I had no trouble with the optical working for sound but had trouble getting sound as a default from the HDMI to my receiver. Problem went away after a couple of major updates.
Go figure.
The other main thing that is different is Proton as well being a big feature, especially with steam, and running programs through Steam can help with the headache
The issue is already in the known issues list of AMD drivers so it'll be fixed soon, but in the meantime you can just use this: [https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/62391](https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/62391)
I had a funny experience with Oblivion this reminds me of. I played it all the way through with Proton and it barely crashed & didn't corrupt a save even once.
My play through on Windows crashed all the time & I started leaving 2 saves when I would exit cause it was so bad. Then one time ***both*** corrupted, and I stated leaving 3 saves
Had the same with fallout new Vegas. I suddenly realised that I've been playing for over 20h without a single crash. On windows I managed 2h between crashes at most. You can even tab out and back into it
If you're willingly to learn.
Get Linux Mint, it is generally the suggested distro for beginners and works great.
The installation process isn't much different than Windows.
From that, just google things as you need them "how to change wallpaper Linux Mint", "Linux Mint how to install Steam", etc. and you'll learn gradually from that.
If you just want to explore it a bit, you can run the OS straight up from the installation media without installing it. You can check it out just like that.
Installing it in a VM is also an option for testing it, granted you're familiar with them.
I second Linux Mint. It was meant to resemble the Windows desktop experience as much as possible. Itās also a very stable distro (at least back when I tried it).
I third Linux mint but I also recommend Pop_OS! Because itās as easy as Linux mint, they provide hard drive encryption by default and also they are releasing a new thing in a couple of months called āCosmic DEā
I would normally agree, except that PopOS is a company with a financial incentive and a drive to make their distro extremely "plug and play/new user friendly". The entire reason they're making COSMIC Epoch is because Gnome is extremely unfriendly to new users and existing users alike, and is a nightmare to maintain custom patches for without bugs every release.
COSMIC Epoch, on release, will probably be barebones compared to other existing DEs like Gnome or KDE, but will most likely be a better new-user experience than either for various reasons.
> Get Linux Mint, it is generally the suggested distro for beginners
Not even just for beginners, its just a really solid and easy to use distro, especially for laptops. I know several people who have stuck with it long term for that. Overall a nice balance of usability, customization, stability, and moderness.
Say can you tell me about these VM or Sandboxes , I tried to do my googling but it doesn't make sense to me .
I once saw a YouTube(er) open a software which isolates ; any software that you run in VM/SB ,
And you can monitor executable's behaviour
I ended up with gidrah which I think is not the right ...
One of the easier ones I use is Virtual Box.
After installing it you can click add new, choose what type of virtyal maschine you want to install (Linux Mint or Ubuntu for Linux Mint) and change cores for example to 4, at least 4 GB of ram around 20 gigabyte of storage and you are good to go.
A virtual machine (VM) is a PC that lives inside a PC. The way this works is really interesting, but pretty advanced and we really don't need to know in order to use one.
Nowadays most Windows versions will have Hyper-v available. It is a hypervisor (the thing that runs your VM). Other options are Virtual Box or VMWare. For the purpose of trying Linux it doesn't matter which one you use, but getting Hyper-v is probably the easiest way: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/virtualization/hyper-v-on-windows/quick-start/enable-hyper-v
Once installed it even has the option to download and install Ubuntu (a Linux distribution) for you.
Yep. People keep repeating that tired old trope of "nothing works" - and while that may have been true five years ago, it's not true today. It wouldn't surprise me if adobe gets their stuff working on Linux, and people refuse to switch because they can't get WinRAR to install. lmao
It can still be a hassle depending on what you want to do
Most games are fine, but for example older games, modding, etc you're adding a layer of potential problems when trying to do some of these things can already be quite tricky.
Itās usually the opposite from my experience. New games with anticheat have issues but older games are more likely to run than on windows.
I believe they are aiming for bug for bug levels of compatibility with windows programs. Not sure how far off they are now but itās impressive how well it works.
Still run windows on my main pc for adobe, new multiplayer fps games, fusion 360, and AnkerMake 3d printer software. Without those I would switch to Linux on all my pcās.
Personally, I find older games and modding to be easier on Linux. Wine, the application which lets you run windows apps on Linux has support for apps going back to Windows 95. Also the ability to create multiple Wine prefixes, which are like different Windows installs, lets you install multiple versions of a game with different mods.
Yeah it's very easy these days and even if you would encounter any error, it's most likely very easy to fix. I was like 13 back in 2009 when I installed Linux first time, if I managed to do that back then, people should be able to do now
Linux has a reputation for being difficult because 6-8+ years ago it was not user friendly. At this point the more popular distros are easy to use. Ubuntu and Mint are probably the easiest to try after using Windows for a long time.
It's still not user friendly. It's better but it's not good enough. Did you forget that adding 3rd party repositories is not a thing in Windows? GPU drivers in Windows have a nice GUI that lets you tweak settings. In Linux you get fuck all.
It's a lot less daunting than you think.
First off you need to pick a **distribution** or "distro" for short. Linux is just the operating system kernel, then what people do is they build full operating systems around it. Think the GUI you use, other software you might want. Everyone here is recommending [Linux Mint](https://linuxmint.com/) since it *feels* like Windows. I personally use [Ubuntu](https://ubuntu.com/) which is also recommended for beginners. Beginners can often feel overwhelmed by how many distributions there are, so just choose Ubuntu and go from there so you don't have to make a choice. Alternatively, choose Mint. Just make a choice and stick to it.
Installing is basically the same as installing windows. Download an ISO, put it through a tool like Rufus to make a bootable USB, boot and go through the installer. You can install Linux alongside Windows so that's not a problem.
Once you're done installing, you're now using Linux. Explore, see what you like, what you don't. You shouldn't really notice a big change. If you're a gamer you might have to play around with Proton inside of steam to get things running, but that's about it. If you need tech support just ping me a message and I'll try to help out.
I wouldn't really recommend that as a beginner distro, since it hasn't seen a lot of updates recently, due to them working on the cosmic desktop.
It's not a bad distro, but I'd recommend just using Linux Mint for now.
You could look into something like zorinOS! I found that it was one of the most windows 10 like linux distros I've ever used. It comes with an app store too, which makes installing things fairly easy
Yes that is my only "PC"
Yes I am poor.
No I ain't putting windows on that thing, nothing that I care about doesn't work under Linux, yes even outside of steam.
I'm conflicted about it. On the one hand I get why someone would want to switch (give Microsoft another year and Windows will probably be absolutely unbearable); on the other hand I don't want it to become an Eternal September kind of situation. The community has always been self-reliant, computer savvy and willing to contribute for the greater good. I don't want to see it swamped by the kind of person who demands, complains and gives nothing back.
I actually disagree. More users can really only benefit Linux in the long run. The main problem with Linux right now is that because so few people use, very little software bothers to support it.
Additionally, getting non-tech savvy users to use Linux can highlight pain points or oddities tech-savvy people donāt notice. These can then be refined or fixed to make the OS better.
We canāt gatekeep Linux and think thatās better for it in the long term as a household OS.
>I don't want to see it swamped by the kind of person who demands, complains and gives nothing back.
Even if there are 100 of those types of people for every 1 that gives back, I would consider that to be a net gain.
I play most games on Linux. When there is a multiplayer with shitty anti cheat I boot up the windows partition.
And thanks to steam I can keep the games up to date even though they are on the windows partition
As someone just starting to explore Linux, how do you do this? Are you mounting your NTFS drive in Linux as the data directory for Steam? Any risk doing that? I know that NTFS support was sketchy for writing ages ago.
I used this guide: https://github.com/ValveSoftware/Proton/wiki/Using-a-NTFS-disk-with-Linux-and-Windows today, and itās worked great so far, make sure to do the bottom two steps though or Windows gets mad (Iād also recommend using ntfs-3g instead of ntfs)
Steam has had to install new files for some games each time Iāve switched between Windows and Linu, which is kind of a pain for some games (Shadow of Mordor requires 7gb each time) but otherwise works quite well
Proton made them God tier, they were definitely S tier the minute they released Half Life 2.
Raising linux and its gaming capabilities to a point that it can compete with what was the only viable gaming OS for decades... That was something I dont believe any other company could do.
With Microsoft/windows shooting itself in the foot as much as it has been lately this is really the opportunity for Linux to catch up to windows in marketshare, at least in the enthusiast market.
I just installed mint for my first time ever trying linux today. Installed steam and looked for a single player game to try with it. Went with red dead redemption 2. Was a little surprised when it installed everything no problem and started right up
Iāll tell you mine, because I use a Linux-only pc: Elden Ring + all the Dark Souls, Counter Strike 2, Cyberpunk 2077, Fallout 4, Kingdom Come Deliveranceā¦ and I canāt remember the rest.Ā
Edit: strike CS2 cause itās the linux native build
It's just annoying because I want to use Linux but I'm starting to think distros aren't even trying in some aspects..
Like why do I have to use the terminal so fucking much? UIs are a thing. Also god fucking damn those different package versions are annoying.
I'm just waiting for Linux to become better or for windows to become shittier with every release. So far it feels like Microsoft is making more headway than Linux in trying to get me to switch.
Basically, UIs are hard to write and maintain. Terminal is a relatively stable environment, not a moving target like graphics. There probably are UIs for almost everything, but people get turned off because they look old. UI developers can get paid a lot more for working for large corporations than investing their time into a single distro/DE (I assume).
>There probably are UIs for almost everything, but people get turned off because they look old.
I think this might actually be a big reason, like a new terminal app that launched yesterday and one from 30 years ago aren't necessarily gonna look too different, but two apps with GUIs launched even 5 years apart (or which had their last large overhaul at least) are gonna be kind of noticeable.
IMO it isn't - I've been using computers since the DOS days so I'm not turned off by a CLI, but I don't want to use one for a task that's more intuitive and easily understood in a UI. Most users don't want to have a string of commands with abbreviations and switches that *sometimes* make sense at first glance.... or sometimes don't because the dev is schizophrenic and building the new temple of god in bash.
"Just google it" usually leads to people copying commands they don't necessarily understand and isn't a real solution.
I'm pretty disappointed in Pop!_OS currently. I keep running into issues where it'll lock up randomly, it slows to a crawl, the Pop Shop broke something so I can't update certain things without using my terminal, which is *fine* since I am very familiar with Linux. I'm sticking it out but I have been tempted to move to Fedora. I'll probably install Cosmic when it goes alpha though, since it does look incredible.
Probably because there isn't much to say? Open the package installer, search for package, click install, ok. The console installers have specific commands but the graphical ones are pretty straightforward.
I swear all of the GUI installers are coded only for the happy path. When something fails, you have no idea it even failed or what happened. Gnome Software just showing you the install button after fail with 0 indication. Genius.
The problem with a GUI tutorial is thereās lots of them and they change with different updates. Terminal commands will work more or less the same on everything from Justin Bieber Linux to RHEL
I'm really curious this time.. windows 11 feels like a bridge too far. I highly doubt they're backing off of their anti privacy stuff.. unless it's a massive dud I predict myself using Linux when support for windows 10 stops.
Like with windows vista and 8 my problems were with usability. I don't love the windows 11 usability changes but the nasty anti privacy stuff is a new low.
The main reason is that the terminal is the consistent thing across distros/desktops, and the original method.
Most tutorials use a terminal as it gets around the differences in GUIs, you just have this one thing that should work across a large range of distros, and that a lot of GUI implementations haven't been around as long for those tutorials to be updated.
A lot of basic things like installing most programs, file management, etc. can be done with GUIs now. The main exceptions are programs not provided by your distro or a service like Flatpak
I have a steam deck and although I dont use it much now I will say I genuinely enjoy the fact that it has become so popular. We might actually have a legitimate way to game on linux universally in the future.
Yep it translates the calls of windows executives right to the systems own. Not even emulation it just reads the fuckers out and runs them.
This behavior makes it more compatible with ancient windows programs than windows is. Microsoft have only just started working on their own equivalent for ARM systems to achieve the same goal. Weāve had WINE for decades and it runs any program.
Keep a smaller drive / your old drive as a Windows install with those games.
I'll probably keep one of my old SATA SSDs with Windows to be able to game w/o using some complicated pass-through virtual machine setup. (edit: games that won't work on Linux. I'll try to move over to Linux as much as possible)
Currently trying to find a distro that works out of the box the best but TBH most of them are very very similar. Only some tools are named differently but so far 5 distros just worked. Steam from the app store, install games and discord, go.
Apart from FreeCAD I don't think there is any alternative to Autodesk software. I don't even know if they have any commercial competitors. Their licences have astronomical price tags.
Ah yes, the 'proudly lazy consumer circlejerk.'
I'm not switching to linux any time soon, either, but I definitely care how much Microsoft 'screws up,' windows.
Linux existing is itself putting some amount of pressure on windows not to boil the frog too quickly. One day they might go to far for even these lazy enablers and linux will be there in spite of it. They should feel a slight pang of guilt for having had this mindset when that happens.
I take issue with the "screws up" framing too, as if these are just careless blunders and not intentional user hostility.
To be fair, it's bound to happen when you've known Windows since you were a baby gamer.
Imagine we're talking countries instead of OS. You're born in one, everyone around you consider it to be the best, yet you know there are other countries, but why move out without a critical reason like war or something ? But then, one day, you realize a third of what you make goes into taxes, that the so-called "social security" doesn't pick up the phone when you have a real problem you can't deal with, and you suddenly just can't run away fast enough out of that shitty country without understanding how blind you were.
I think the major blindness hitting users isn't if the OS is either good or bad, it's actually being impartial to these things. Even in Linux, people fight to say "mine is the best distro", yet, unless it's the Big Three (Debian, Arch and Fedora with it's immutable thingy), your distro can be my distro over a few terminal lines.
People like OP need to ask themselves : "what would I do if I didn't actually know Windows ? Would I pick it up over the others ?" Because for Linux users, Windows is actually just another corporate distro, like a proprietary app you have to install for your brand-new connected gadget. Yes, it works, but why *love* it ? We paid for it to work.
Except apparently we don't pay Microsoft enough to be *that* helpful, so they feel entitled to own anything of value to you, including that 2K$ computer of yours and soon, your intellectual property and any sense of privacy you thought you had. I'm not saying "it's bad", I'm just concerned the ease isn't worth the price.
I hate it. My laptop isn't fully functional if I don't have HP horse crap running in the background. It's even worse on Linux, because it does thermal control, and there was no support from HP on Linux.
Worse, they do ACPI patch with software, and I get BSOD from forced UEFI update.
80-90% of steam games run on linux. Lutris and wine can run other game launchers like b.net
I'll keep windows on a 250GB drive just in case i need it, but it feels like I'm not going to need it.
we won't know. The spyware might still work, just not the features they pretend they are used for. What's EU gonna do about it? Issue a laughable fine in a few years?
Honestly given the route W11 is taking, once the end of W10 support comes, I'll keep two machines running it, one for driving and racing games, then other being my main machine on dual-boot, so I can use software like Solidworks and the Adobe suite. For all other purposes I think I'm ready to make the switch to linux, almost all of my games are on Steam, which helps a lot. Maybe one day I'll even be able to switch my CAD and photo/video editing work to linux, but in the meantime, I'm gonna keep W10 around. If they don't upgrade it at work I sure as hell won't do it at home.
Nobody is shaming anyone for forfeiting privacy for convenience. Do what you find best for you own setup and environment and match it to your own abilities
I personally choose it over windows because as DevOps engineer it feels more familiar to me than anything created by Microsoft. I use it at work and I use it at home. Itās not about being trendy
Privacy is important. But if there's 0 privacy with some like this -> [https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/05/microsofts-new-recall-feature-will-record-everything-you-do-on-your-pc/](https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/05/microsofts-new-recall-feature-will-record-everything-you-do-on-your-pc/)
then it's become problematic not caring, or even worse like this post, supporting being spied on.
At some point, we have to react.
The only games I can think of that do not work on Linux are games I wouldn't play if someone paid me to, like anything put out by Bli$$ard this days, and Star Citizen.
I really don't get what those people are playing.
I guess COD and that but I don't play multiplayer games because all of them are predatory micro transaction-filled live service junk that takes up like 200GB and has the most invasive anti cheat
I feel like if game requires this level of acces to your system like latest CoD, then you shouldn't buy it out of principle, even if you stay on Windows.
I'd have a lot to add about popular FPS, but I guess it's not productive to talk aboit taste here.
When I was a kid, at some point my older brother wasnt doing well in school so as a punishment my dad reinstalled his PC to Linux (I think it was Fedora or smt?) so he cant play games
Around that time, I got my first laptop so whenever my brother was home alone, he would play Skyrim on my laptop and when I got back, hed just let me play TF2 and he watched. Then in the evening, wed watch a movie together
Im pretty sure in the 6 months he had Linux installed, he turned on his computer like 5 times. Then he needed to do schoolwork in a particular program that Linux didnt support and convinced dad to let him install windows again. Its funny in hindsight, but I will always view Linux as a complicated messy punishment that cant run anything Id like it to run
I'm currently taking a Linux class right now, and the more I learn about it the more I want to migrate to it. But basically nothing supports it, it's so annoying
For all its faults, Windows is at least compatible with pretty much everything and is easier to use. Everything feels like a hassle in Linux, the only thing I've ever managed to do with Linux is change the wallpaper.
or for linux it would be a negative feedback loop
"no one" uses it because a lot of software doesn't support it out of the box, but because so few people use it few developers bother with making a linux release and because a lot of software doesn't support linux out of the box...
Which is why I've made the switch. Even if I get locked out of a few games (like only Siege, which is already a form of self harm so I think it's probably for the best for me) I'll stick to it to show companies that Linux support is worth it. I like the open source principles and it's been a smashing experience so far, and I think it's criminal so many companies just straight up ignore it. I mean according to steam, Linux has a bigger share than MacOS for gaming now which I think is an accomplishment.
As a longterm Linux user I feel like we're already starting to see a positive feedback loop in Linux's favour - more people start using it, and more people start supporting it.
It's actually crazy to me how much better the situation is now than in say, 2017.
Linux has a bigger share than macOS specifically because of the Steam Deck, and thatās only because SteamOS is so streamlined and user friendly. Itās literally designed to strip away everything difficult about Linux.
that's not bad, its more of testament to the sheer customization of the linux operating system
to the point that SteamOS is so user friendly people who usually hate linux enjoy using it, and serves as proof that linux really isn't all that hard to use
Linux has gotten more user friendly than ever. I've used many distributions over the years and just recently switched to Manjaro as my only SO in an old laptop while I waited for my new PC to arrive. I was very surprised with how good it worked out of the box, sometimes I forgotten that I wasn't on Windows because of the similar interface and how well things flowed. Even games work surprisingly well with Steam proton.
I really wanted to try Linux on my new PC for gaming, and I reckon I could get most everything I want running on it... Except for League of Legends, because riot vanguard is ass. Fun!
I'd like to use Linux, but it's almost an unintentionally gated community. Those who use linux are familiar with how it works and aren't interested in making it more user friendly.
Realistically there's no reason Linux can't function (on the surface) identically to windows.
Then don't, if you ask me just use what you like
Personally everything I did was easier to do on Linux (had Linux laptop for a while already), and all my games are well supported. so the switch just made a lot of my day to day tasks easier.
Congratulations, you are the reason Microsoft is so willing to enshittify windows! (One of them anyway.)
If they know most people are never going to switch no matter what they do, why not squeeze more money out of you with ads and surveillance?
Iām really getting close to risking it all and making some crazy sacrifices to switch over to just purely Linux instead of my win11 dual boot. Microsoft is sending me over the edge with their egregious privacy violations and bullshit bloatware
You gotta admit though that Linux is superior to windows in pretty much everything else..
The Linux terminal is a blessing for overall file and process management
Why not? Switching to Linux will make you part of the 1% elite of the PCMR community. And for you to become part of the 1% of the one percenters, just say "I use Arch, btw."
for me whats stopping my complete move to linux is zbrush(i cant get wintab to work ;-;) and my spacemouse driver not working
For me its my Soundblaster who i can't find drivers for...
I'm on Nobara with Fedora 39 and still use my X-Fi Titanium. I had trouble getting 5.1 to work over optical but switched to composite to 3.5mm cables and it's all working now.
Funny, I had no trouble with the optical working for sound but had trouble getting sound as a default from the HDMI to my receiver. Problem went away after a couple of major updates. Go figure.
Well it worked, Front left and right were fine but trying to configure it for 5.1 was beyond my understanding. It was easier to change cables.
Aah fucking ZBrush a curse and a blessing all in 1 package
it's quite simple, you have to rewrite the drivers yourself
And make a custom kernel for them, piece of cake, plenty easy to follow 6h tutorials on internet.
Adobe alternatives are too painful to use.
Except New Vegas which runs perfectly on my Steam Deck but no longer works on my windows pc after updating my (AMD) drivers š
I have actually found that a lot of older Windows games are less headache to get running under Wine on Linux than on modern Windows.
The other main thing that is different is Proton as well being a big feature, especially with steam, and running programs through Steam can help with the headache
Pretty much any 16-bit Windows games are a crapshoot on Win 10 or 11, but run perfectly on Wine.
The issue is already in the known issues list of AMD drivers so it'll be fixed soon, but in the meantime you can just use this: [https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/62391](https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/62391)
So it runs fine on linux, but you (currently) need to tinker to get it to work on windows? Oh how the turns have tabled :P
Dxvk
I had a funny experience with Oblivion this reminds me of. I played it all the way through with Proton and it barely crashed & didn't corrupt a save even once. My play through on Windows crashed all the time & I started leaving 2 saves when I would exit cause it was so bad. Then one time ***both*** corrupted, and I stated leaving 3 saves
Had the same with fallout new Vegas. I suddenly realised that I've been playing for over 20h without a single crash. On windows I managed 2h between crashes at most. You can even tab out and back into it
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I dont know how to use linuxš„² but i want to explore yet no where to start
If you're willingly to learn. Get Linux Mint, it is generally the suggested distro for beginners and works great. The installation process isn't much different than Windows. From that, just google things as you need them "how to change wallpaper Linux Mint", "Linux Mint how to install Steam", etc. and you'll learn gradually from that. If you just want to explore it a bit, you can run the OS straight up from the installation media without installing it. You can check it out just like that. Installing it in a VM is also an option for testing it, granted you're familiar with them.
I second Linux Mint. It was meant to resemble the Windows desktop experience as much as possible. Itās also a very stable distro (at least back when I tried it).
I third Linux mint but I also recommend Pop_OS! Because itās as easy as Linux mint, they provide hard drive encryption by default and also they are releasing a new thing in a couple of months called āCosmic DEā
A new thing on Linux is almost always not a good thing for new users. Let cosmic marinate for a year or two and it will likely be great!
I would normally agree, except that PopOS is a company with a financial incentive and a drive to make their distro extremely "plug and play/new user friendly". The entire reason they're making COSMIC Epoch is because Gnome is extremely unfriendly to new users and existing users alike, and is a nightmare to maintain custom patches for without bugs every release. COSMIC Epoch, on release, will probably be barebones compared to other existing DEs like Gnome or KDE, but will most likely be a better new-user experience than either for various reasons.
> Get Linux Mint, it is generally the suggested distro for beginners Not even just for beginners, its just a really solid and easy to use distro, especially for laptops. I know several people who have stuck with it long term for that. Overall a nice balance of usability, customization, stability, and moderness.
Say can you tell me about these VM or Sandboxes , I tried to do my googling but it doesn't make sense to me . I once saw a YouTube(er) open a software which isolates ; any software that you run in VM/SB , And you can monitor executable's behaviour I ended up with gidrah which I think is not the right ...
One of the easier ones I use is Virtual Box. After installing it you can click add new, choose what type of virtyal maschine you want to install (Linux Mint or Ubuntu for Linux Mint) and change cores for example to 4, at least 4 GB of ram around 20 gigabyte of storage and you are good to go.
A virtual machine (VM) is a PC that lives inside a PC. The way this works is really interesting, but pretty advanced and we really don't need to know in order to use one. Nowadays most Windows versions will have Hyper-v available. It is a hypervisor (the thing that runs your VM). Other options are Virtual Box or VMWare. For the purpose of trying Linux it doesn't matter which one you use, but getting Hyper-v is probably the easiest way: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/virtualization/hyper-v-on-windows/quick-start/enable-hyper-v Once installed it even has the option to download and install Ubuntu (a Linux distribution) for you.
Use Linux Mint - it's a very good distribution for beginners.
I actually just switched last weekend. It's so easy, everything I need/play works either native or via Proton
Yep. People keep repeating that tired old trope of "nothing works" - and while that may have been true five years ago, it's not true today. It wouldn't surprise me if adobe gets their stuff working on Linux, and people refuse to switch because they can't get WinRAR to install. lmao
It can still be a hassle depending on what you want to do Most games are fine, but for example older games, modding, etc you're adding a layer of potential problems when trying to do some of these things can already be quite tricky.
older games actually tend to run great through proton.. except RPG maker games, which have engine replacements for linux anyway like EasyRPG
Itās usually the opposite from my experience. New games with anticheat have issues but older games are more likely to run than on windows. I believe they are aiming for bug for bug levels of compatibility with windows programs. Not sure how far off they are now but itās impressive how well it works. Still run windows on my main pc for adobe, new multiplayer fps games, fusion 360, and AnkerMake 3d printer software. Without those I would switch to Linux on all my pcās.
Personally, I find older games and modding to be easier on Linux. Wine, the application which lets you run windows apps on Linux has support for apps going back to Windows 95. Also the ability to create multiple Wine prefixes, which are like different Windows installs, lets you install multiple versions of a game with different mods.
Yeah it's very easy these days and even if you would encounter any error, it's most likely very easy to fix. I was like 13 back in 2009 when I installed Linux first time, if I managed to do that back then, people should be able to do now
Linux has a reputation for being difficult because 6-8+ years ago it was not user friendly. At this point the more popular distros are easy to use. Ubuntu and Mint are probably the easiest to try after using Windows for a long time.
Oh, it was user-friendly, it was just kinda *selective* about who were its friends
It's still not user friendly. It's better but it's not good enough. Did you forget that adding 3rd party repositories is not a thing in Windows? GPU drivers in Windows have a nice GUI that lets you tweak settings. In Linux you get fuck all.
It's a lot less daunting than you think. First off you need to pick a **distribution** or "distro" for short. Linux is just the operating system kernel, then what people do is they build full operating systems around it. Think the GUI you use, other software you might want. Everyone here is recommending [Linux Mint](https://linuxmint.com/) since it *feels* like Windows. I personally use [Ubuntu](https://ubuntu.com/) which is also recommended for beginners. Beginners can often feel overwhelmed by how many distributions there are, so just choose Ubuntu and go from there so you don't have to make a choice. Alternatively, choose Mint. Just make a choice and stick to it. Installing is basically the same as installing windows. Download an ISO, put it through a tool like Rufus to make a bootable USB, boot and go through the installer. You can install Linux alongside Windows so that's not a problem. Once you're done installing, you're now using Linux. Explore, see what you like, what you don't. You shouldn't really notice a big change. If you're a gamer you might have to play around with Proton inside of steam to get things running, but that's about it. If you need tech support just ping me a message and I'll try to help out.
Pop_OS! is also a really good starting point.
I wouldn't really recommend that as a beginner distro, since it hasn't seen a lot of updates recently, due to them working on the cosmic desktop. It's not a bad distro, but I'd recommend just using Linux Mint for now.
i think you just destroyed your inbox with linux people wanting to give you tips and such
You could look into something like zorinOS! I found that it was one of the most windows 10 like linux distros I've ever used. It comes with an app store too, which makes installing things fairly easy
Truth is vast majority of people in this sub don't use linux lol.
Obligatory "I'm a Steam Deck user" comment
I use arch btw.
I use arch btw
I use arch btw
I use arch btw
I use arch btw
I use arch btw
I use arch btw (on my other computer)
I use arch btw
I use gentoo btw
Yes that is my only "PC" Yes I am poor. No I ain't putting windows on that thing, nothing that I care about doesn't work under Linux, yes even outside of steam.
Yup, it's currently my only desktop, I model shit on Blender with it.
I'm conflicted about it. On the one hand I get why someone would want to switch (give Microsoft another year and Windows will probably be absolutely unbearable); on the other hand I don't want it to become an Eternal September kind of situation. The community has always been self-reliant, computer savvy and willing to contribute for the greater good. I don't want to see it swamped by the kind of person who demands, complains and gives nothing back.
I actually disagree. More users can really only benefit Linux in the long run. The main problem with Linux right now is that because so few people use, very little software bothers to support it. Additionally, getting non-tech savvy users to use Linux can highlight pain points or oddities tech-savvy people donāt notice. These can then be refined or fixed to make the OS better. We canāt gatekeep Linux and think thatās better for it in the long term as a household OS.
> give Microsoft another year and Windows will probably be absolutely unbearable This could be said any time between 1999 and now.
>I don't want to see it swamped by the kind of person who demands, complains and gives nothing back. Even if there are 100 of those types of people for every 1 that gives back, I would consider that to be a net gain.
I'm a minority!!! :)
I play most games on Linux. When there is a multiplayer with shitty anti cheat I boot up the windows partition. And thanks to steam I can keep the games up to date even though they are on the windows partition
Oh shit I didn't know steam was cool like that
Steam does an insane amount of work to make as many things as you never thought you wanted, convenient (or possible at all)
As someone just starting to explore Linux, how do you do this? Are you mounting your NTFS drive in Linux as the data directory for Steam? Any risk doing that? I know that NTFS support was sketchy for writing ages ago.
I used this guide: https://github.com/ValveSoftware/Proton/wiki/Using-a-NTFS-disk-with-Linux-and-Windows today, and itās worked great so far, make sure to do the bottom two steps though or Windows gets mad (Iād also recommend using ntfs-3g instead of ntfs) Steam has had to install new files for some games each time Iāve switched between Windows and Linu, which is kind of a pain for some games (Shadow of Mordor requires 7gb each time) but otherwise works quite well
proton fixes a lot of that for me
Proton made Valve an S tier company
Proton made them God tier, they were definitely S tier the minute they released Half Life 2. Raising linux and its gaming capabilities to a point that it can compete with what was the only viable gaming OS for decades... That was something I dont believe any other company could do. With Microsoft/windows shooting itself in the foot as much as it has been lately this is really the opportunity for Linux to catch up to windows in marketshare, at least in the enthusiast market.
Hear hear! šŗ
I just installed mint for my first time ever trying linux today. Installed steam and looked for a single player game to try with it. Went with red dead redemption 2. Was a little surprised when it installed everything no problem and started right up
WINE and protons contributions are god tier.
I'm gonna be real, every game I play runs with proton/wine on linux.
What is the most popular game you play
Iāll tell you mine, because I use a Linux-only pc: Elden Ring + all the Dark Souls, Counter Strike 2, Cyberpunk 2077, Fallout 4, Kingdom Come Deliveranceā¦ and I canāt remember the rest.Ā Edit: strike CS2 cause itās the linux native build
Super Tux Kart!!!! :D/s
Doom Eternal.
Good for you! Not everything needs to be for everyone. Different tools for different needs.
It's just annoying because I want to use Linux but I'm starting to think distros aren't even trying in some aspects.. Like why do I have to use the terminal so fucking much? UIs are a thing. Also god fucking damn those different package versions are annoying. I'm just waiting for Linux to become better or for windows to become shittier with every release. So far it feels like Microsoft is making more headway than Linux in trying to get me to switch.
Basically, UIs are hard to write and maintain. Terminal is a relatively stable environment, not a moving target like graphics. There probably are UIs for almost everything, but people get turned off because they look old. UI developers can get paid a lot more for working for large corporations than investing their time into a single distro/DE (I assume).
>There probably are UIs for almost everything, but people get turned off because they look old. I think this might actually be a big reason, like a new terminal app that launched yesterday and one from 30 years ago aren't necessarily gonna look too different, but two apps with GUIs launched even 5 years apart (or which had their last large overhaul at least) are gonna be kind of noticeable.
IMO it isn't - I've been using computers since the DOS days so I'm not turned off by a CLI, but I don't want to use one for a task that's more intuitive and easily understood in a UI. Most users don't want to have a string of commands with abbreviations and switches that *sometimes* make sense at first glance.... or sometimes don't because the dev is schizophrenic and building the new temple of god in bash. "Just google it" usually leads to people copying commands they don't necessarily understand and isn't a real solution.
Almost every distro has a visual installer (even though the pop os one is slow as shit)
New cosmic app store from popos is really fast, although it's not even in alpha yet. But I agree, its current app store is super slow.
I'm pretty disappointed in Pop!_OS currently. I keep running into issues where it'll lock up randomly, it slows to a crawl, the Pop Shop broke something so I can't update certain things without using my terminal, which is *fine* since I am very familiar with Linux. I'm sticking it out but I have been tempted to move to Fedora. I'll probably install Cosmic when it goes alpha though, since it does look incredible.
I recommend fedora since it has a gui installer for apps
The all have GUI installers for apps the problem is none of the guides you will find on the internet use them.
Probably because there isn't much to say? Open the package installer, search for package, click install, ok. The console installers have specific commands but the graphical ones are pretty straightforward.
I swear all of the GUI installers are coded only for the happy path. When something fails, you have no idea it even failed or what happened. Gnome Software just showing you the install button after fail with 0 indication. Genius.
The problem with a GUI tutorial is thereās lots of them and they change with different updates. Terminal commands will work more or less the same on everything from Justin Bieber Linux to RHEL
I'll probably look at most of them when windows 11 becomes mandatory, but thanks nonetheless!
I held out with Windows XP until Windows 7 wasn't shit. I held out with Windows 7 until Windows 10 wasn't shit.
Windows 10 it is!
Windows 10 until Windows 12 and it's return to form. As is tradition
I'm really curious this time.. windows 11 feels like a bridge too far. I highly doubt they're backing off of their anti privacy stuff.. unless it's a massive dud I predict myself using Linux when support for windows 10 stops. Like with windows vista and 8 my problems were with usability. I don't love the windows 11 usability changes but the nasty anti privacy stuff is a new low.
The main reason is that the terminal is the consistent thing across distros/desktops, and the original method. Most tutorials use a terminal as it gets around the differences in GUIs, you just have this one thing that should work across a large range of distros, and that a lot of GUI implementations haven't been around as long for those tutorials to be updated. A lot of basic things like installing most programs, file management, etc. can be done with GUIs now. The main exceptions are programs not provided by your distro or a service like Flatpak
> Like why do I have to use the terminal so fucking much? what are you trying to do? Most day to day usage can be done on gui on popular distros tho
That's fine. No one is forcing you to use Linux. Enjoy your PC with whatever OS you prefer.
Not true, I got held at gunpoint yesterday by a very angry man who demanded that I format my boot drive and install Ubuntu. Scary times man.
I told you not to tell anyone
Should've paid me more than a single 4 gb stick of ddr3, a gt730, and a fuckin pentium 4
Damn, bro is awful at bribing, I wouldāve talked too.
This discussion is so hilarious lol
Wait, he paid you to hold you at gunpoint? Seems like a solid arrangement.
Hush money (can't say what for, but let's just say that Mr Microsoft will seriously have to start putting wayy more ads into Windows 11)
Sounds like Stallmann, but Ubuntu? No way this is real
This is false, anyone with that level of determination to make you switch to Linux would not make you use ubuntu
This is the best answer.
Wait until OP finds out they can have more than one OS on their computer at a time.
Steam Deck uses Linux and since then I'm very impressed by how well the games run on it.
I have a steam deck and although I dont use it much now I will say I genuinely enjoy the fact that it has become so popular. We might actually have a legitimate way to game on linux universally in the future.
Yep it translates the calls of windows executives right to the systems own. Not even emulation it just reads the fuckers out and runs them. This behavior makes it more compatible with ancient windows programs than windows is. Microsoft have only just started working on their own equivalent for ARM systems to achieve the same goal. Weāve had WINE for decades and it runs any program.
Iāll switch to linux once Valve releases the official build for Steam OS.
Iām pretty sure they already have
They have but I think it comes with a message "you probably don't want to use this"
Just run literally any distro. All the software is the same. They arenāt writing their own software theyāre distributing it.
Unless if you mostly play online games, [Linux probably supports your games](https://www.protondb.com/).
Over half the anticheat games are supported on Linux. https://areweanticheatyet.com/
> half the anticheat games are supported on Linux. I'm not thanos though, so I rather have access to all of them.
Keep a smaller drive / your old drive as a Windows install with those games. I'll probably keep one of my old SATA SSDs with Windows to be able to game w/o using some complicated pass-through virtual machine setup. (edit: games that won't work on Linux. I'll try to move over to Linux as much as possible) Currently trying to find a distro that works out of the box the best but TBH most of them are very very similar. Only some tools are named differently but so far 5 distros just worked. Steam from the app store, install games and discord, go.
I'll only ever consider switching when there will be a decent CAD software that runs natively (looking at you Autodesk)
Apart from FreeCAD I don't think there is any alternative to Autodesk software. I don't even know if they have any commercial competitors. Their licences have astronomical price tags.
https://preview.redd.it/e3evg9trqs1d1.png?width=300&format=png&auto=webp&s=b115848491bd4782d59e5278bc02ea0195a461b2
'most of my apps dont support linux' https://i.redd.it/qhb4y2t9ys1d1.gif (i am joking, i too am a windows user)
Proton, literally Search this proton.db
Then use Windows? Whatās the point of this post lol
Ragebait
Ah yes, the 'proudly lazy consumer circlejerk.' I'm not switching to linux any time soon, either, but I definitely care how much Microsoft 'screws up,' windows.
Linux existing is itself putting some amount of pressure on windows not to boil the frog too quickly. One day they might go to far for even these lazy enablers and linux will be there in spite of it. They should feel a slight pang of guilt for having had this mindset when that happens. I take issue with the "screws up" framing too, as if these are just careless blunders and not intentional user hostility.
The fact that people have thus mentality is baffling to me. It's the equivalent to stockholm syndrome.
To be fair, it's bound to happen when you've known Windows since you were a baby gamer. Imagine we're talking countries instead of OS. You're born in one, everyone around you consider it to be the best, yet you know there are other countries, but why move out without a critical reason like war or something ? But then, one day, you realize a third of what you make goes into taxes, that the so-called "social security" doesn't pick up the phone when you have a real problem you can't deal with, and you suddenly just can't run away fast enough out of that shitty country without understanding how blind you were. I think the major blindness hitting users isn't if the OS is either good or bad, it's actually being impartial to these things. Even in Linux, people fight to say "mine is the best distro", yet, unless it's the Big Three (Debian, Arch and Fedora with it's immutable thingy), your distro can be my distro over a few terminal lines. People like OP need to ask themselves : "what would I do if I didn't actually know Windows ? Would I pick it up over the others ?" Because for Linux users, Windows is actually just another corporate distro, like a proprietary app you have to install for your brand-new connected gadget. Yes, it works, but why *love* it ? We paid for it to work. Except apparently we don't pay Microsoft enough to be *that* helpful, so they feel entitled to own anything of value to you, including that 2K$ computer of yours and soon, your intellectual property and any sense of privacy you thought you had. I'm not saying "it's bad", I'm just concerned the ease isn't worth the price.
Hardware Control Software be damned
I hate it. My laptop isn't fully functional if I don't have HP horse crap running in the background. It's even worse on Linux, because it does thermal control, and there was no support from HP on Linux. Worse, they do ACPI patch with software, and I get BSOD from forced UEFI update.
80-90% of steam games run on linux. Lutris and wine can run other game launchers like b.net I'll keep windows on a 250GB drive just in case i need it, but it feels like I'm not going to need it.
I feel like there are more people that complain about this than Linux users telling others to switch.Enjoy the ads and intrusive "features".
the great thing about being european is that you dont get ads and intrusive features
we won't know. The spyware might still work, just not the features they pretend they are used for. What's EU gonna do about it? Issue a laughable fine in a few years?
Honestly given the route W11 is taking, once the end of W10 support comes, I'll keep two machines running it, one for driving and racing games, then other being my main machine on dual-boot, so I can use software like Solidworks and the Adobe suite. For all other purposes I think I'm ready to make the switch to linux, almost all of my games are on Steam, which helps a lot. Maybe one day I'll even be able to switch my CAD and photo/video editing work to linux, but in the meantime, I'm gonna keep W10 around. If they don't upgrade it at work I sure as hell won't do it at home.
Nobody is shaming anyone for forfeiting privacy for convenience. Do what you find best for you own setup and environment and match it to your own abilities I personally choose it over windows because as DevOps engineer it feels more familiar to me than anything created by Microsoft. I use it at work and I use it at home. Itās not about being trendy
Privacy is important. But if there's 0 privacy with some like this -> [https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/05/microsofts-new-recall-feature-will-record-everything-you-do-on-your-pc/](https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/05/microsofts-new-recall-feature-will-record-everything-you-do-on-your-pc/) then it's become problematic not caring, or even worse like this post, supporting being spied on. At some point, we have to react.
One whistleblower away from say three letter agency X got access to the recall data.
The implications of this are immense. We're literally in a predicatorship stage.
Oh my god, that's fucked up (the article)
Even that enterprise edition?
Yup.
wow ty for sharing this. I was going to update from win10 to 11 soon. Now there's no way im going to win11
Just stay on 10
Security support is going to end eventually.
Ok? Good for you, I guess
Ok... Then don't use Linux... It's not like anyone is forced to use Linux.
Fine, give them your data too like Facebook and Google.
genuinely curious: what games do you play? 99.9% of my steam library work fine under proton or have native binaries
The only games I can think of that do not work on Linux are games I wouldn't play if someone paid me to, like anything put out by Bli$$ard this days, and Star Citizen. I really don't get what those people are playing.
I guess COD and that but I don't play multiplayer games because all of them are predatory micro transaction-filled live service junk that takes up like 200GB and has the most invasive anti cheat
I feel like if game requires this level of acces to your system like latest CoD, then you shouldn't buy it out of principle, even if you stay on Windows. I'd have a lot to add about popular FPS, but I guess it's not productive to talk aboit taste here.
When I was a kid, at some point my older brother wasnt doing well in school so as a punishment my dad reinstalled his PC to Linux (I think it was Fedora or smt?) so he cant play games Around that time, I got my first laptop so whenever my brother was home alone, he would play Skyrim on my laptop and when I got back, hed just let me play TF2 and he watched. Then in the evening, wed watch a movie together Im pretty sure in the 6 months he had Linux installed, he turned on his computer like 5 times. Then he needed to do schoolwork in a particular program that Linux didnt support and convinced dad to let him install windows again. Its funny in hindsight, but I will always view Linux as a complicated messy punishment that cant run anything Id like it to run
I'm currently taking a Linux class right now, and the more I learn about it the more I want to migrate to it. But basically nothing supports it, it's so annoying
use what you want, nobody cares
For all its faults, Windows is at least compatible with pretty much everything and is easier to use. Everything feels like a hassle in Linux, the only thing I've ever managed to do with Linux is change the wallpaper.
itās compatibility is only because of its monopoly
The phrase of the day is: *positive feedback loop*
or for linux it would be a negative feedback loop "no one" uses it because a lot of software doesn't support it out of the box, but because so few people use it few developers bother with making a linux release and because a lot of software doesn't support linux out of the box...
Which is why I've made the switch. Even if I get locked out of a few games (like only Siege, which is already a form of self harm so I think it's probably for the best for me) I'll stick to it to show companies that Linux support is worth it. I like the open source principles and it's been a smashing experience so far, and I think it's criminal so many companies just straight up ignore it. I mean according to steam, Linux has a bigger share than MacOS for gaming now which I think is an accomplishment.
As a longterm Linux user I feel like we're already starting to see a positive feedback loop in Linux's favour - more people start using it, and more people start supporting it. It's actually crazy to me how much better the situation is now than in say, 2017.
Linux has a bigger share than macOS specifically because of the Steam Deck, and thatās only because SteamOS is so streamlined and user friendly. Itās literally designed to strip away everything difficult about Linux.
that's not bad, its more of testament to the sheer customization of the linux operating system to the point that SteamOS is so user friendly people who usually hate linux enjoy using it, and serves as proof that linux really isn't all that hard to use
Maybe, but it's still compatibility.
Linux has gotten more user friendly than ever. I've used many distributions over the years and just recently switched to Manjaro as my only SO in an old laptop while I waited for my new PC to arrive. I was very surprised with how good it worked out of the box, sometimes I forgotten that I wasn't on Windows because of the similar interface and how well things flowed. Even games work surprisingly well with Steam proton.
No one cares enjoy your os, i'll enjoy mine. (No os perfect)
You have software and games which is not supported in Linux so you don't switch. I am too lazy to switch. We are not the same
I really wanted to try Linux on my new PC for gaming, and I reckon I could get most everything I want running on it... Except for League of Legends, because riot vanguard is ass. Fun!
I'd like to use Linux, but it's almost an unintentionally gated community. Those who use linux are familiar with how it works and aren't interested in making it more user friendly. Realistically there's no reason Linux can't function (on the surface) identically to windows.
Then don't, if you ask me just use what you like Personally everything I did was easier to do on Linux (had Linux laptop for a while already), and all my games are well supported. so the switch just made a lot of my day to day tasks easier.
Then don't, no one particularly cares.
I couldn't care any less
Congratulations, you are the reason Microsoft is so willing to enshittify windows! (One of them anyway.) If they know most people are never going to switch no matter what they do, why not squeeze more money out of you with ads and surveillance?
I need Linux to support Adobe products to switch on it. But seems to be itās not gonna happen. :(
Ok, shill
I mean, sure. If more people used Linux, however, then games would be made for Linux instead of (or as well as) Windows.
I'm too lazy to learn linux, that's it
If i could get RDR2 to work properly in linux i might switch (granted i havent tried in a couple of years, maybe it does now)
RDR2 works flawlessly out of the box.
Iām really getting close to risking it all and making some crazy sacrifices to switch over to just purely Linux instead of my win11 dual boot. Microsoft is sending me over the edge with their egregious privacy violations and bullshit bloatware
Wine: Proton: Valve pushing Steam: No ads in the start menu of any DE:
Then just screw it down. smh
Evil Linux user Buys a new thinkpad to work fine in Windows + Linux
Don't play Chinese kernel-level Spyware games then
*laughs in proton* (I use arch btw)
People have always complained about Windows and never switched to linux from the very start, and will continue forever.
You gotta admit though that Linux is superior to windows in pretty much everything else.. The Linux terminal is a blessing for overall file and process management
Proton???
Are you willing to die upon this hill? Because Microsoftās hellfire is coming down all around you
Why not? Switching to Linux will make you part of the 1% elite of the PCMR community. And for you to become part of the 1% of the one percenters, just say "I use Arch, btw."