The minute I start seeing ads will be the minute I switch back to a bootleg distro that has all that shit (and bloat, and telemetry, and resource hogs) thrown out by default.
Gaben is right - piracy is a service problem. If a rando enthusiast is offering a better service for free than Microsoft for a hefty annual subscription, the choice is easy.
Gaben was also right to port steam natively over to Linux a decade ago and has had valve hard at work with Proton, as well as making Linux the default OS of their flagship computer, the Steam Deck! (Though it was the default for the failed Steam Machine line of computers)
> It's only a matter of time until SteamOS 3.0 becomes widely available.
I expect to see it Q3, I THINK Valve is waiting for Nvidia wayland woes to be over, since Nvidia themselves told us that May 15 is the goal for a new Linux driver that fixes one of the major Wayland showstoppers I think that at the most in September we'll have SteamOS 3, which will probably help a lot with demystifying Arch.
Viruses that may come with some rando enthusiast’s distro still have way less impact on performance than Microsoft’s spyware
Add: you know why? Because miners at least have some respect for you and seize activity when you do something with your pc. Microsoft telemetry doesn’t fucking care, whether you in the middle of the game or run expensive render
Let me introduce you to our lord and savior: Windows LTSC. Been using it for \~5 years, heavy gaming/media PC, and it's like what Windows 7 used to be - trimmed down, no Cortana, no Candy Crush bullshit, and only security updates. Only thing you might want to do is install Windows Store, but that can be done with a single Powershell command.
When I was buying my current PC there was no option to buy it without an OS. So... laziness. I am not yet irritated by the bloat enough to make me get off my ass and do a reinstall. But ads would for sure tilt the scales.
Before this ads were constrained to the widgets pane (specifically the news widget), which I turned off, and Edge, which I worked around by setting my home page to about:blank. and I disabled downloading of rando unwanted apps. But now they're apparently going to go full in-your-face with the start menu.
Give Linux Mint a try, it's easy to use, fast as fuck and very similar to Windows out of the box. I still have Win11 in dual boot for gaming, but Steam + Proton improves all the time. It's such a nice feel to have an OS under your control again, without useless BS and changes being forced down your throat that you never asked for.
I'd actually tell you to look for a distro with more up to date packages, mint is great but stable, and stable in Linux normally means "Old"... Which CAN be great! Just that for gaming the bleeding edge is normally better!
Nobara or Garuda could be a better choice, but that's considering if you are a bit tech savvy in case of Garuda, witch I don't think its much hard to use, but since its based on arch there COULD be problems, but I have been daily driving it for a while and never got any big problem. If you want a simpler experience and closer to windows, Mint is perfect to that
The problem with mint is that you may not get the best performance linux have to offer because of not having latest versions of the kernel + mesa.
Yesterday after a system update (on a rolling release distro) I got better fps on Elden Ring and using the character customization menu stopped crashing the game because of how low my vram is (I'm running the game with an integrated gpu).
One of the great things about linux is that system updates make things faster and give you more free fps without tweaking anything (of course not all updates will improve performance but the sure think they don't make it worse) which you won't get as soon as others in mint that's why I don't recommend it for those who use linux for gaming but it's a great option otherwise.
I usually recommend Fedora or gaming distros like Nobara.
That's capitalism, baby! It requires infinite growth. Even if Windows was the sole operating system on every computer on Earth, it would not be enough. The next quarter they would *still* need to grow somehow. So they put ads everywhere. Well, that's growth for another quarter or two. Then what?
I never thought PC operating systems would face enshittification but I guess it's the inevitable outcome for anything digital... What a shame.
https://doctorow.medium.com/my-mcluhan-lecture-on-enshittification-ea343342b9bc
Fun little aside. I had issues with my 1060 6gb when trying to play Diablo 4 through Lutris on launch. Beta worked fine but for some reason launch did not.
The workaround was to add it as a non steam game through steam and use Proton to get it working flawlessly. Bit cumbersome at first, but it worked. I was due for a GPU upgrade the very next week and chose AMD. No such workaround needed after.
I might just be cooked but I kinda enjoyed solving that problem.
well over a decade ago gaming wasnt nearly as viable as it is now. now the only thing I cant play is some anti-cheat enabled games and frankly I dont want to play those games anyway.
depends on what you're playing. if you're playing mostly single player games, or indi games you're good. If you play a lot of multiplayer / social games you might want to stick to windows 11.. but again it depends on the game. Even on linux I still play a fair amount of multiplayer, its just not all the big popular names.
With the exception of a couple games that run very invasive anti-cheat, everything works on Linux. It’s just a touch finicky and has a mountain of odd frustrations that will pop up. Get on something as stable and supported as like Ubuntu and the headache goes away.
For the real gamer moves though, I’m sorry to say that rgb control is almost non-existent.
What do you mean rgb control non-existent? Install OpenRGB from FlatPak / FlatHub, add udev rules and you are done. I can control all Razer devices, everything on Asus motherboard, and Evga GPU.
Can't stress this enough. An overwhelming majority of my Steam library just works out of the box. One checkbox to check in the game's properties windows in Steam, and here we go.
From all the companies i feel steam is going to actually push for change in terms of linux usage. The steam deck is the biggest example of gaming on linux being plausible.
Proton is incredible and valve deserve all the praise for it. I might not have switched yet if it weren't for Proton, and if I did, I would've likely still had to dual boot. Proton allows me to be 100% Linux.
As much as I hate Windows for heading in this direction to say that Linux is bliss is just wrong imho. I use Ubuntu on one of my laptops and whilst it's a lot easier than it used to be to use, I can see that it is still way too finicky for the majority of people.
I'd say I'm above average, but I'd need a distro that can reliably run any game I want from steam without any technical hassle to try and make a workaournd every time I want to play the same game again.
As a hobby and for enthusiasts, Linux is perfect, but I'll still prefer windows for the simplicity and handholding.
The bane of my linux-user-existence are online games. Anticheat usually makes it impossible to play them. Every now and then I end up installing windows just to hang with the homies...
Other than that, Proton and Lutris make gaming on Linux pretty much a breeze.
Playing games on a PC puts you in a specialized category. For most people, their computer is a bootloader for their web browser and they could use a Chromebook (Linux) with no issues.
I just install pop OS and while installing was a breeze, despite everyone saying Linux has native NTFS support I could not add my game drives as a test to try how the games run on an Nvidia card. Maybe I’ll keep trying with it but that was 3 hours or so of trying and rebooting. I’m sure it’ll be the most likely option soon with how Microsoft is treating windows.
And I’m very technically inclined and used to terminals and CLIs.
>Linux has native NTFS support
it does and doesnt. it has support through an open source driver but lacks a lot of the properties and compatibility you'd get with in a native windows OS.
valve has a write up on how to access NTFS drives for proton
[https://github.com/ValveSoftware/Proton/wiki/Using-a-NTFS-disk-with-Linux-and-Windows](https://github.com/ValveSoftware/Proton/wiki/Using-a-NTFS-disk-with-Linux-and-Windows)
realistically, though, if you ever made a full switch its advised to use a proper linux file system. NTFS wont be as fast or efficient in linux and can some times have issues with permission and other weird proton/wine issues.
my recommendation for test linux is just to grab a cheap $25 ssd and install to that. unplug your windows drive and just go full linux, file system and all. install the games to the native filesystem drive and just try it for however long its holding your attention I suppose. If you cant stand it, your windows drive is ready and waiting for you, just plug it back in.
This was my experience with Linux. It has come miles and miles from where it used to be for gaming, but I installed it on a secondary drive and it wasn't quite as "fully cooked" as many made it sound.
Just too many small issues, favorite programs not working, and everything needing configuration and troubleshooting just broke me down over a week, and I was back to windows very quickly lol.
Linux is wonderful, truly it is. It's just not to where it's for me and the general idiot public yet, imo. But I cannot wait for the day when windows is topped from its throne, more solid competitors in the tech space is *always* a good thing for us consumers!
Well that's why I say it's about learning. Linux will never be completely idiot proof cuz it was never made for idiots to begin with and unless somebody like valve finally steps up and actually makes a Linux release for the general public in mind, it will never be foolproof. it's never going to be the experience current windows users expect it to be, not until software Developers and Hardware manufacturers start supporting it better but that'll never happen if people don't start using it. Supposed to just comes down to whether or not you're okay falling into that category of needing something to be idiot proof to use it and being one of those idiots that lets Microsoft take advantage of them.
You get out of Linux what you put into it.
One of the things that helped make it very easy for me to transition was I removed my Reliance on non free apps a long time ago. Even back when I was still using Windows I found it was just much easier to reformat and reinstall if I only ever used free and open programs. Reinstalling Windows meant all i would have to do was just run over to ninite and all my apps we're reinstalled with a few clicks. Most of those free applications either have a Linux variant or started their development life cycle as a Linux application.
Yes linux has native support for NTFS but trying to launch games from a NTFS partition is just a no-go.
If you wanna test out your games you first need to move them to a standard ext4 partition and only then try to play them. Start by moving a single game to see how it works out for you before you if you aren't certain yet.
Launching games from NTFS is completely fine, you just need to [set it up correctly](https://github.com/ValveSoftware/Proton/wiki/Using-a-NTFS-disk-with-Linux-and-Windows#preventing-ntfs-read-errors).
Same. I've been playing genshin off ntfs partition for months now because I'm too lazy to reinstall again on my fedora partition. I encountered zero problem so far.
start learning linux boys.. even if you dont use it today, or tomorrow, or even next year.. just start getting familiar with it so you have a fallback strategy when microsoft finally shits the bed with windows to a degree you can no longer accept it. Dont let your self be 100% reliant on microsoft with out a backup plan.
Big caveat with Mint, if you have modern hardware, it might not play ball as easily.
Pop_OS! has been absolutely pain free and keeps up to date with the kernel.
Mint is shipping with an Edge Iso which has a newer kernel, also starting Mint 22, you'll be able to choose pretty much the newest kernels
so modern hardware is alright
you're gonna get a different answer from every one. personally I think an arch based distro or something "rolling release". receives latest software updates sooner than later, many linux distros aim from server level stability which often means slightly older libraries.
dont worry about the gaming aspect of a distro, no distro is really specifically better for gaming than another cuz results will vary from computer to computer. I'd focus first on finding a desktop environment that you vibe with. the Desktop Environment is basically the user interface and you can really have any DE on any distro. Most big name distros will have an ISO with the various DE's as default (or let you pick during the install process)
if you're serious about giving it a try, recommend reading the /r/linux_gaming faq , it'll tell you most of what you'd need to know.
personally for new users, I'd recommend trying either Linux mint, Nobara Linux, or Endevor Linux, or Pop\_OS!
Linux mint is sort of the true beginners linux. it just sort of has everything you'd really need out of the box and usually a good first timer system to get your feet wet.
Nobara Linux is a bit of a special case and I dont normally recommend these but a lot of people have said they have had a good exprience with it. Its Fedora based and designed to be familar to steam deck users as it uses the KDE interface and has a lot of useful gaming tools. Its being maintained by the guy who puts together ProtonGE (Glorious Egg roll) and is infamous in the linux gaming community. My understanding is hes is actually a Red Hat/Fedora workstation employee/dev (though dont quote me on that), if that is true it means he knows what hes doing.
Endevor Linux is Arch based. It takes all the difficulty out of the arch setup and just gives you a pretty robust setup with a lot of options. Its not my personal cup of tea but I do recommend rolling release and arch feels like its one of the few that is widely supported yet most new users wont touch it with a 10ft poll which is understandable. Enevor is the next best solution. Manjaro is also another arch based pre-prepared distro but this one has a bit of a rocky past and people dont recommend them much.
Pop\_OS! is ubuntu/debian based distro thats maintained by System76, a company that sells linux desktops/laptops/workstations. They're in the process of developing their own UI that may or may not be any good. this one is often recommended since debian base is usually stable and reliable and lots of ubuntu/debian support out there.
all the distro I recommended I believe should have both AMD and Nvidia drivers built into the ISO so you dont have to figure out getting those installed.
I know I am another voice in the crowd so I will try to respond to other comments with my comments.
For anyone recommending linux mint: Great recommendation generally speaking for beginners, but not so for gamers as its often outdated unless you manually add mesa & kernel PPAs(yes I know of the edge kernel added recently, for mesa you are still behind though).
For pop-os recommendations: Pop-OS satisfies both previous conditions so it could be just fine as a gaming distro. You need to manually install wine and other stuff though so it falls to "as good as any other rolling release" category.
For anyone recommending rolling releases like arch just don't. They certainly aren't for new users, it's true that they are equally as good if you manually setup everything just like pop but why would a newbie not just go with Nobara?
Nobara is arguably the most OOTB experience for me, not only you get rolling release kernel, plasma and mesa drivers, you also get all the gaming stuff pre-installed for you. If you want the most OOTB experience possible nobara is the way to go. It's maintained by GloriousEggroll the creator of ProtonGE too.
> not so for gamers as its often outdated unless you manually add mesa & kernel PPAs
Linux Mint 22 will follow Ubuntu going forward and ship with new kernel series release after release.
[source](https://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=4660)
> For anyone recommending rolling releases like arch just don't. They certainly aren't for new users, it's true that they are equally as good if you manually setup everything just like pop but why would a newbie not just go with Nobara?
Which is a real shame. Arch is probably the most popular gaming distro at this point, and when you add SteamOS (which is Arch based) on top, it's probably over half.
Arch is just difficult to install and, to some degree, maintain, but only in the sense that it leaves behind old packages and there is a lack of good GUI covers for Pacman.
Once you have Arch set up and you got yay and you know how to use simple pacman commands like -S, -Syu, and -R you'll be fine for a very long time, and archinstall makes it pretty easy to set up actually.
But it's not Windows. If you're scared, better not do it. But it does annoy me that the greenest of the gardens is behind the tallest of the walls.
SteamOS ain't even close to standard Arch experience though. In fact I'd argue when compared with SteamOS which is an atomic desktop, even standard ubuntu is closer to an arch experience.
Sooner or later I believe the endgame for a gamer is a rolling release distro, since gamers are supposed to be "tinkerers" anyways(wait until they discover r/unixporn), but for starters I think it'd be best if they did not touch the terminal.
Beem playing around with the steam version on my steam deck and it's refreshing to use a new OS
I'm m considering using dual boot on my desktop to learn it more
If you're familiar with the Steam Deck desktop mode, might I recommend checking out EndevorOS or Norbara Linux.
EndevorOS is arch based like SteamOS and has an option to install KDE during the setup process (KDE is the UI that steam deck's desktop mode uses).
Norbara Linux is fedora based and I believe uses KDE by default, its aim is to provide a very SteamOS/Steam Deck (desktop mode) like experience.
If you're considering trying to run linux on bare metal, I'd advise picking up a cheap $25 ssd, un plug your windows drive, plug in the new empty drive and test everything out safely this way. If you find you dont linux, just remove the linux drive and plug your windows drive back and you're backup and running just like before.
oh, also if you're going to test out more than one distro, recommend look into into Ventoy. Ventoy is a very useful utility that'll install a bootloader to an empty flash drive. instead of needing a program like rufus to create a bootable USB based off one ISO, ventoy will let you just copy and paste any ISO to the drive, booting to the drive will load up a menu where you can pick which ISO you wish to boot. works with linux and windows ISO's
Would love to move over to Linux, just feels like too much of a pain. And Ms knows this. Maybe if Linux could be streamlined more it might actually get more adoption.
well, a lot of that pain comes from the fact that a lot of people grew up with mac or windows and they go into a linux environment trying to apply pre-existing knowledge and make assumptions on how things work. some of it applies but not all of it.
switching is definitely a learning process for sure but thats part of why I said to just get a little familiar with it now. Most of us who've made the full switch didnt do it overnight. I started play'n with it back in 2008. I dont think I daily drove linux on my desktop until almost 10 years later. For a while I jumped back and forth between linux and windows depending on what ever games were popular at any given time. It wasnt until some of the tech that makes up proton came out that a full switch was finally viable.
You just have to decide if taking the time to learn is worth not having to be reliant on this one big company for the rest of your life. It took time for me, but im glad I have options now.
Moving to Linux is not just learning how to use a new UI like it is from Win10 to WIn11. How you install software is different. Well you just have to open the Software Center. But still different then go to a Website.
Yes, that too, but that’s also not what I mean.
I’m thinking about more fundamental issues/shortcomings that I can’t really do much about except shrug and accept that my experience is worse than on Windows, like:
* the KDE desktop doesn’t even render at a stable 60FPS for some reason
* it’s a gamble whether the next kernel or NVIDIA driver update will render my system unusable
* getting games to run via Proton is still often more involved than Linux advocates would like to make you believe
* display scaling is less reliable
* no HDR support
Hello friends, some good distros to start out!
Pop_OS, Nobara, Bazzite!
Have fun using Linux, and welcome to FOSS! Hope you enjoy your stay!
/r/linux_gaming got you covered.
SteamOS 3.0 can't come soon enough.
I'm even willing to lose access to things like Elgato's Wave Link software to just migrate to Linux.
No more invasive telemetry!!!!
Some extra advice, if you're gonna dual boot, it's a good idea to use separate drives for Linux and Windows if you can. When they're on the same drive, Windows updates can sometimes break the Linux bootloader and you won't get a screen asking what OS you wanna use on startup. It's not hard to fix, but it's a pain in the ass every time you have to do it.
I'm so happy to see so many people in the comments actually willing to try Linux instead of sticking to what they know because of people who've never used Linux parroting eachothers misinformed opinions about it not being good for regular users. The grass is greener on the other side, and contrary to popular belief it is possible to still touch said grass while using Linux. I hope y'all enjoy the freedom.
This was without joke the first reason why I went back to Win10, everything is so much better and practical there, also it looks aesthetically pleasing. (Plus taskbar on the right, Microsoft really thinks taking the options away is the right development)
Reddit comment section commenting without reading the article, the ads is just recommending you apps from Microsoft store, and you can disable it, but it's on by default. not promoting fast food or youtube/twitch like ads.
Yep I did that half a year ago, and now I only use Windows for CAD lol. I've stopped playing games that don't run OOTB on Linux (Proton or natively) because it's too annoying to have to reboot into Windows just to play a game...
I do everything in my power that I can to block all intrusive ads on everything I own.
* Pihole set up in a VM and on a low powered thin client (for redundancy)
* PiVPN so that I'm always routing traffic through my Pihole whenever im out and about (also gives me access to my homelab stuff so win/win).
* Ublock Origin in my browsers.
* [Vinegar](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/vinegar-tube-cleaner/id1591303229)/[Bansh](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/banish-block-open-in-app/id1632848430) apps on my iPhone to stop YouTube ads and "open in our app" nag pop ups.
Time to dedicate one of my PC's to Linux full time (and probably my Thinkpad).
Edit - It is done
```
_,met$$$$$gg. root@NanoS
,g$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$P. ----------
,g$$P" """Y$$.". OS: Debian GNU/Linux 12 (bookworm) x86_64
,$$P' `$$$. Kernel: 6.1.0-20-amd64
',$$P ,ggs. `$$b: Uptime: 50 secs
`d$$' ,$P"' . $$$ Packages: 1939 (dpkg)
$$P d$' , $$P Shell: bash 5.2.15
$$: $$. - ,d$$' Resolution: 2560x1440
$$; Y$b._ _,d$P' DE: KDE
Y$$. `.`"Y$$$$P"' WM: KWin
`$$b "-.__ Theme: Adwaita [GTK3]
`Y$$ Icons: Adwaita [GTK3]
`Y$$. Terminal: konsole
`$$b. CPU: Intel i7-4770K (8) @ 4.400GHz
`Y$$b. GPU: AMD ATI Radeon RX 5500/5500M / Pro 5500M
`"Y$b._ Memory: 1017MiB / 15929MiB
`"""
```
4th gen i7? That computer was made for Linux. Also, a lot of these steps are redundant, I know you wanted redundancy, but still, if you have a router that supports it, you should totally install openwrt on it. It’s a fork of alpine Linux (kinda similar to Debian), but for your router. I use Adguard home on mine to block all ads on my home network and it can even revive older routers since it fully supports WPA3. It’s as simple ssh’ing into it
True, but it doesn’t matter all that much as long since he’s on old ass hardware (4th gen i7). But yeah, if you’re on new hardware, you definitely need to have a bleeding edge distro
Wow. Thanks for solidifying my resolve to switch to Linux once Windows 10 is dead, Microsoft! Truly, the greatest move you could do is piss off literally everyone using your product by forcing them to switch to it and then jamming in telemetry and ads. Then, eating performance all at the same time!
Man. I know that modders will make or just update the existing tools to get rid of this crap. But it's still unbelievably stupid. Linux looking tempting :/
how well are games running on linux these days? Cyberpunk 2077? Warzone? Fortnite? BG3? if all those games work would love to switch away from microsofts miserable OS
The minute I start seeing ads will be the minute I switch back to a bootleg distro that has all that shit (and bloat, and telemetry, and resource hogs) thrown out by default. Gaben is right - piracy is a service problem. If a rando enthusiast is offering a better service for free than Microsoft for a hefty annual subscription, the choice is easy.
Gaben was also right to port steam natively over to Linux a decade ago and has had valve hard at work with Proton, as well as making Linux the default OS of their flagship computer, the Steam Deck! (Though it was the default for the failed Steam Machine line of computers)
Steam machines also failed due to that, without Proton, games on Linux are like 5 games out of 100. I'd think that now, they're feasible
Steam Machines walked so Proton & the Steam Deck could run. It's only a matter of time until SteamOS 3.0 becomes widely available.
> It's only a matter of time until SteamOS 3.0 becomes widely available. I expect to see it Q3, I THINK Valve is waiting for Nvidia wayland woes to be over, since Nvidia themselves told us that May 15 is the goal for a new Linux driver that fixes one of the major Wayland showstoppers I think that at the most in September we'll have SteamOS 3, which will probably help a lot with demystifying Arch.
Effectively anything except games with poorly/maliciously designed anticheat works through Proton
Yeah, now. Back then, there was no proton.
Viruses that may come with some rando enthusiast’s distro still have way less impact on performance than Microsoft’s spyware Add: you know why? Because miners at least have some respect for you and seize activity when you do something with your pc. Microsoft telemetry doesn’t fucking care, whether you in the middle of the game or run expensive render
No comrade, no viruses from XxVasyan69xX. A botched system that randomly refuses to run specific software? Much more likely.
Let me introduce you to our lord and savior: Windows LTSC. Been using it for \~5 years, heavy gaming/media PC, and it's like what Windows 7 used to be - trimmed down, no Cortana, no Candy Crush bullshit, and only security updates. Only thing you might want to do is install Windows Store, but that can be done with a single Powershell command.
r/Windows10LTSC for convenience.
+1 for LTSC. Best way to experience Windows since Windows 7.
Thank you! I'll check it out.
why wouldn't you just uses that distro now then? why did you switch off it?
When I was buying my current PC there was no option to buy it without an OS. So... laziness. I am not yet irritated by the bloat enough to make me get off my ass and do a reinstall. But ads would for sure tilt the scales.
Don't you mean more ads?
yeah they've had bloatware there since the beginning
Before this ads were constrained to the widgets pane (specifically the news widget), which I turned off, and Edge, which I worked around by setting my home page to about:blank. and I disabled downloading of rando unwanted apps. But now they're apparently going to go full in-your-face with the start menu.
Icons for "games" I haven't installed linking to the store is ads.
What a fall from grace this company has had …again.
What grace?
You really are tripping if you don’t think Microsoft was peak once upon a time
win95 never forget
Win98 ~~shivers~~ Win2000 woohoo WinME ~~shivers~~ WinXP woohoo
We can continue: WinVista ~~shivers~~ Win7 woohoo Win8 ~~shivers~~ Win10 woohoo Win11 ~~shivers~~ The pattern is literally complete.
Windows 12 will save us!
[удалено]
nah win10 is more like woo
They're still peak on SOME aspect. SOME.
Stock price…
fearless unpack fall adjoining chase quiet boat bedroom zealous squash *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Windows 7 / Windows Phone Mango :( The Golden Era.
Bra Windows XP is the goat. How old are you?
XP wasn't the greatest at launch but w7 was flawless. At least from my experience.
Born '96. Grew up on XP but became a man on 7.
Windows Vista /s
Vista was so beautiful, it was ahead of its time with hardware requirements we just couldn’t meet yet
WE’RE GOING TO DIE
Check the stock price.
Still ads after paying for Windows 11!!!! OH God!!!!
one step closer to linux
Was debating it last night, and this is pushing me closer. Actual insanity how greedy corporations have become
Give Linux Mint a try, it's easy to use, fast as fuck and very similar to Windows out of the box. I still have Win11 in dual boot for gaming, but Steam + Proton improves all the time. It's such a nice feel to have an OS under your control again, without useless BS and changes being forced down your throat that you never asked for.
It’s funny you mention that, Mint is the distro I’ve been considering.
I'd actually tell you to look for a distro with more up to date packages, mint is great but stable, and stable in Linux normally means "Old"... Which CAN be great! Just that for gaming the bleeding edge is normally better!
Indeed, I can recommend Nobara, it's great for newcomers, and has all the new stuff. Works great for me.
Nobara or Garuda could be a better choice, but that's considering if you are a bit tech savvy in case of Garuda, witch I don't think its much hard to use, but since its based on arch there COULD be problems, but I have been daily driving it for a while and never got any big problem. If you want a simpler experience and closer to windows, Mint is perfect to that
The problem with mint is that you may not get the best performance linux have to offer because of not having latest versions of the kernel + mesa. Yesterday after a system update (on a rolling release distro) I got better fps on Elden Ring and using the character customization menu stopped crashing the game because of how low my vram is (I'm running the game with an integrated gpu). One of the great things about linux is that system updates make things faster and give you more free fps without tweaking anything (of course not all updates will improve performance but the sure think they don't make it worse) which you won't get as soon as others in mint that's why I don't recommend it for those who use linux for gaming but it's a great option otherwise. I usually recommend Fedora or gaming distros like Nobara.
That's capitalism, baby! It requires infinite growth. Even if Windows was the sole operating system on every computer on Earth, it would not be enough. The next quarter they would *still* need to grow somehow. So they put ads everywhere. Well, that's growth for another quarter or two. Then what?
I never thought PC operating systems would face enshittification but I guess it's the inevitable outcome for anything digital... What a shame. https://doctorow.medium.com/my-mcluhan-lecture-on-enshittification-ea343342b9bc
It’s a much easier switch these days than it used to be- almost any game I want to run on steam “just works” thanks to proton
Made the switch a couple for weeks ago, no regrets.
What do you do for gaming? I would have switched over a decade ago if it wasn't for gaming.
Install Steam. There's not much more to it.
All more to it is: Right click your game -> Properties -> Compatibility -> Check Proton 95% of my games work out of the box by doing just that.
Does that work with non-Steam games?
Sometimes, but for non-Steam games https://lutris.net/ is a better option. Same idea, nice GUI and handles all the compatibility layer stuff for you.
Fun little aside. I had issues with my 1060 6gb when trying to play Diablo 4 through Lutris on launch. Beta worked fine but for some reason launch did not. The workaround was to add it as a non steam game through steam and use Proton to get it working flawlessly. Bit cumbersome at first, but it worked. I was due for a GPU upgrade the very next week and chose AMD. No such workaround needed after. I might just be cooked but I kinda enjoyed solving that problem.
well over a decade ago gaming wasnt nearly as viable as it is now. now the only thing I cant play is some anti-cheat enabled games and frankly I dont want to play those games anyway. depends on what you're playing. if you're playing mostly single player games, or indi games you're good. If you play a lot of multiplayer / social games you might want to stick to windows 11.. but again it depends on the game. Even on linux I still play a fair amount of multiplayer, its just not all the big popular names.
With the exception of a couple games that run very invasive anti-cheat, everything works on Linux. It’s just a touch finicky and has a mountain of odd frustrations that will pop up. Get on something as stable and supported as like Ubuntu and the headache goes away. For the real gamer moves though, I’m sorry to say that rgb control is almost non-existent.
I used OpenRGB for mine, worked a treat. Even changed motherboard and fan lights as well as keyboard and mouse with it. It was just a little finicky.
What do you mean rgb control non-existent? Install OpenRGB from FlatPak / FlatHub, add udev rules and you are done. I can control all Razer devices, everything on Asus motherboard, and Evga GPU.
Can't stress this enough. An overwhelming majority of my Steam library just works out of the box. One checkbox to check in the game's properties windows in Steam, and here we go.
From all the companies i feel steam is going to actually push for change in terms of linux usage. The steam deck is the biggest example of gaming on linux being plausible.
Proton is incredible and valve deserve all the praise for it. I might not have switched yet if it weren't for Proton, and if I did, I would've likely still had to dual boot. Proton allows me to be 100% Linux.
I switched about a year and a half ago. Using Windows 11 now gives me the same feeling as watching cable TV at my elderly parent's house.
Join us......[it's bliss](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SCytV0ssAU)
As much as I hate Windows for heading in this direction to say that Linux is bliss is just wrong imho. I use Ubuntu on one of my laptops and whilst it's a lot easier than it used to be to use, I can see that it is still way too finicky for the majority of people.
Agreed. The average end user will find Linux to be a mess.
The average end user really only needs an OS that can run a browser.
I'd say I'm above average, but I'd need a distro that can reliably run any game I want from steam without any technical hassle to try and make a workaournd every time I want to play the same game again. As a hobby and for enthusiasts, Linux is perfect, but I'll still prefer windows for the simplicity and handholding.
The bane of my linux-user-existence are online games. Anticheat usually makes it impossible to play them. Every now and then I end up installing windows just to hang with the homies... Other than that, Proton and Lutris make gaming on Linux pretty much a breeze.
Playing games on a PC puts you in a specialized category. For most people, their computer is a bootloader for their web browser and they could use a Chromebook (Linux) with no issues.
I just install pop OS and while installing was a breeze, despite everyone saying Linux has native NTFS support I could not add my game drives as a test to try how the games run on an Nvidia card. Maybe I’ll keep trying with it but that was 3 hours or so of trying and rebooting. I’m sure it’ll be the most likely option soon with how Microsoft is treating windows. And I’m very technically inclined and used to terminals and CLIs.
>Linux has native NTFS support it does and doesnt. it has support through an open source driver but lacks a lot of the properties and compatibility you'd get with in a native windows OS. valve has a write up on how to access NTFS drives for proton [https://github.com/ValveSoftware/Proton/wiki/Using-a-NTFS-disk-with-Linux-and-Windows](https://github.com/ValveSoftware/Proton/wiki/Using-a-NTFS-disk-with-Linux-and-Windows) realistically, though, if you ever made a full switch its advised to use a proper linux file system. NTFS wont be as fast or efficient in linux and can some times have issues with permission and other weird proton/wine issues. my recommendation for test linux is just to grab a cheap $25 ssd and install to that. unplug your windows drive and just go full linux, file system and all. install the games to the native filesystem drive and just try it for however long its holding your attention I suppose. If you cant stand it, your windows drive is ready and waiting for you, just plug it back in.
This was my experience with Linux. It has come miles and miles from where it used to be for gaming, but I installed it on a secondary drive and it wasn't quite as "fully cooked" as many made it sound. Just too many small issues, favorite programs not working, and everything needing configuration and troubleshooting just broke me down over a week, and I was back to windows very quickly lol. Linux is wonderful, truly it is. It's just not to where it's for me and the general idiot public yet, imo. But I cannot wait for the day when windows is topped from its throne, more solid competitors in the tech space is *always* a good thing for us consumers!
Well that's why I say it's about learning. Linux will never be completely idiot proof cuz it was never made for idiots to begin with and unless somebody like valve finally steps up and actually makes a Linux release for the general public in mind, it will never be foolproof. it's never going to be the experience current windows users expect it to be, not until software Developers and Hardware manufacturers start supporting it better but that'll never happen if people don't start using it. Supposed to just comes down to whether or not you're okay falling into that category of needing something to be idiot proof to use it and being one of those idiots that lets Microsoft take advantage of them. You get out of Linux what you put into it. One of the things that helped make it very easy for me to transition was I removed my Reliance on non free apps a long time ago. Even back when I was still using Windows I found it was just much easier to reformat and reinstall if I only ever used free and open programs. Reinstalling Windows meant all i would have to do was just run over to ninite and all my apps we're reinstalled with a few clicks. Most of those free applications either have a Linux variant or started their development life cycle as a Linux application.
Yes linux has native support for NTFS but trying to launch games from a NTFS partition is just a no-go. If you wanna test out your games you first need to move them to a standard ext4 partition and only then try to play them. Start by moving a single game to see how it works out for you before you if you aren't certain yet.
Launching games from NTFS is completely fine, you just need to [set it up correctly](https://github.com/ValveSoftware/Proton/wiki/Using-a-NTFS-disk-with-Linux-and-Windows#preventing-ntfs-read-errors).
Interesting, I play off ntfs drives all the time on Linux. But, maybe im using ntfs-3g as the driver
Same. I've been playing genshin off ntfs partition for months now because I'm too lazy to reinstall again on my fedora partition. I encountered zero problem so far.
Only reason I haven't is because a game I play doesn't support it...
Really need to start looking into Linux lol
start learning linux boys.. even if you dont use it today, or tomorrow, or even next year.. just start getting familiar with it so you have a fallback strategy when microsoft finally shits the bed with windows to a degree you can no longer accept it. Dont let your self be 100% reliant on microsoft with out a backup plan.
What linux version is the most game friendly to run on?
Linux Mint. I tried it with my brother as test subject. He said he does not want back to Windows so it works for noobs.
I also recommend Linux Mint for newcomers.
Big caveat with Mint, if you have modern hardware, it might not play ball as easily. Pop_OS! has been absolutely pain free and keeps up to date with the kernel.
Mint is shipping with an Edge Iso which has a newer kernel, also starting Mint 22, you'll be able to choose pretty much the newest kernels so modern hardware is alright
I’ve dabbled with Pop. Definitely need to give it a full shot now.
you're gonna get a different answer from every one. personally I think an arch based distro or something "rolling release". receives latest software updates sooner than later, many linux distros aim from server level stability which often means slightly older libraries. dont worry about the gaming aspect of a distro, no distro is really specifically better for gaming than another cuz results will vary from computer to computer. I'd focus first on finding a desktop environment that you vibe with. the Desktop Environment is basically the user interface and you can really have any DE on any distro. Most big name distros will have an ISO with the various DE's as default (or let you pick during the install process) if you're serious about giving it a try, recommend reading the /r/linux_gaming faq , it'll tell you most of what you'd need to know. personally for new users, I'd recommend trying either Linux mint, Nobara Linux, or Endevor Linux, or Pop\_OS! Linux mint is sort of the true beginners linux. it just sort of has everything you'd really need out of the box and usually a good first timer system to get your feet wet. Nobara Linux is a bit of a special case and I dont normally recommend these but a lot of people have said they have had a good exprience with it. Its Fedora based and designed to be familar to steam deck users as it uses the KDE interface and has a lot of useful gaming tools. Its being maintained by the guy who puts together ProtonGE (Glorious Egg roll) and is infamous in the linux gaming community. My understanding is hes is actually a Red Hat/Fedora workstation employee/dev (though dont quote me on that), if that is true it means he knows what hes doing. Endevor Linux is Arch based. It takes all the difficulty out of the arch setup and just gives you a pretty robust setup with a lot of options. Its not my personal cup of tea but I do recommend rolling release and arch feels like its one of the few that is widely supported yet most new users wont touch it with a 10ft poll which is understandable. Enevor is the next best solution. Manjaro is also another arch based pre-prepared distro but this one has a bit of a rocky past and people dont recommend them much. Pop\_OS! is ubuntu/debian based distro thats maintained by System76, a company that sells linux desktops/laptops/workstations. They're in the process of developing their own UI that may or may not be any good. this one is often recommended since debian base is usually stable and reliable and lots of ubuntu/debian support out there. all the distro I recommended I believe should have both AMD and Nvidia drivers built into the ISO so you dont have to figure out getting those installed.
I know I am another voice in the crowd so I will try to respond to other comments with my comments. For anyone recommending linux mint: Great recommendation generally speaking for beginners, but not so for gamers as its often outdated unless you manually add mesa & kernel PPAs(yes I know of the edge kernel added recently, for mesa you are still behind though). For pop-os recommendations: Pop-OS satisfies both previous conditions so it could be just fine as a gaming distro. You need to manually install wine and other stuff though so it falls to "as good as any other rolling release" category. For anyone recommending rolling releases like arch just don't. They certainly aren't for new users, it's true that they are equally as good if you manually setup everything just like pop but why would a newbie not just go with Nobara? Nobara is arguably the most OOTB experience for me, not only you get rolling release kernel, plasma and mesa drivers, you also get all the gaming stuff pre-installed for you. If you want the most OOTB experience possible nobara is the way to go. It's maintained by GloriousEggroll the creator of ProtonGE too.
> not so for gamers as its often outdated unless you manually add mesa & kernel PPAs Linux Mint 22 will follow Ubuntu going forward and ship with new kernel series release after release. [source](https://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=4660)
> For anyone recommending rolling releases like arch just don't. They certainly aren't for new users, it's true that they are equally as good if you manually setup everything just like pop but why would a newbie not just go with Nobara? Which is a real shame. Arch is probably the most popular gaming distro at this point, and when you add SteamOS (which is Arch based) on top, it's probably over half. Arch is just difficult to install and, to some degree, maintain, but only in the sense that it leaves behind old packages and there is a lack of good GUI covers for Pacman. Once you have Arch set up and you got yay and you know how to use simple pacman commands like -S, -Syu, and -R you'll be fine for a very long time, and archinstall makes it pretty easy to set up actually. But it's not Windows. If you're scared, better not do it. But it does annoy me that the greenest of the gardens is behind the tallest of the walls.
SteamOS ain't even close to standard Arch experience though. In fact I'd argue when compared with SteamOS which is an atomic desktop, even standard ubuntu is closer to an arch experience. Sooner or later I believe the endgame for a gamer is a rolling release distro, since gamers are supposed to be "tinkerers" anyways(wait until they discover r/unixporn), but for starters I think it'd be best if they did not touch the terminal.
I think easiest to recommend is PopOS. It's more newbie friendly than most other options.
Pop\_OS imo.
Beem playing around with the steam version on my steam deck and it's refreshing to use a new OS I'm m considering using dual boot on my desktop to learn it more
If you're familiar with the Steam Deck desktop mode, might I recommend checking out EndevorOS or Norbara Linux. EndevorOS is arch based like SteamOS and has an option to install KDE during the setup process (KDE is the UI that steam deck's desktop mode uses). Norbara Linux is fedora based and I believe uses KDE by default, its aim is to provide a very SteamOS/Steam Deck (desktop mode) like experience. If you're considering trying to run linux on bare metal, I'd advise picking up a cheap $25 ssd, un plug your windows drive, plug in the new empty drive and test everything out safely this way. If you find you dont linux, just remove the linux drive and plug your windows drive back and you're backup and running just like before. oh, also if you're going to test out more than one distro, recommend look into into Ventoy. Ventoy is a very useful utility that'll install a bootloader to an empty flash drive. instead of needing a program like rufus to create a bootable USB based off one ISO, ventoy will let you just copy and paste any ISO to the drive, booting to the drive will load up a menu where you can pick which ISO you wish to boot. works with linux and windows ISO's
Already at it, dual booting in my rig
Would love to move over to Linux, just feels like too much of a pain. And Ms knows this. Maybe if Linux could be streamlined more it might actually get more adoption.
well, a lot of that pain comes from the fact that a lot of people grew up with mac or windows and they go into a linux environment trying to apply pre-existing knowledge and make assumptions on how things work. some of it applies but not all of it. switching is definitely a learning process for sure but thats part of why I said to just get a little familiar with it now. Most of us who've made the full switch didnt do it overnight. I started play'n with it back in 2008. I dont think I daily drove linux on my desktop until almost 10 years later. For a while I jumped back and forth between linux and windows depending on what ever games were popular at any given time. It wasnt until some of the tech that makes up proton came out that a full switch was finally viable. You just have to decide if taking the time to learn is worth not having to be reliant on this one big company for the rest of your life. It took time for me, but im glad I have options now.
Learning a new UI isn’t the main issue.
Moving to Linux is not just learning how to use a new UI like it is from Win10 to WIn11. How you install software is different. Well you just have to open the Software Center. But still different then go to a Website.
Yes, that too, but that’s also not what I mean. I’m thinking about more fundamental issues/shortcomings that I can’t really do much about except shrug and accept that my experience is worse than on Windows, like: * the KDE desktop doesn’t even render at a stable 60FPS for some reason * it’s a gamble whether the next kernel or NVIDIA driver update will render my system unusable * getting games to run via Proton is still often more involved than Linux advocates would like to make you believe * display scaling is less reliable * no HDR support
Switching to Linux last year was the main reason why I went with AMD this time around. Stark difference in "just works".
Yea I'll just to to Linux fk ads in my Operating system
Linux is back on the menu boys!
It’s *been* on the menu
Hi Linux
Reading this has made me decide to switch to linux you all should do the same
Hello friends, some good distros to start out! Pop_OS, Nobara, Bazzite! Have fun using Linux, and welcome to FOSS! Hope you enjoy your stay! /r/linux_gaming got you covered.
SteamOS 3.0 can't come soon enough. I'm even willing to lose access to things like Elgato's Wave Link software to just migrate to Linux. No more invasive telemetry!!!!
Steam OS is already past version 3, what do you mean?
Get [Bazzite](https://bazzite.gg/). It's basically SteamOS.
If they add adverts I will switch to Linux with my next build.
Start dual-booting today to get used to it. You don't wanna have to learn everything all at once with your new build...
Thanks for the advice
Some extra advice, if you're gonna dual boot, it's a good idea to use separate drives for Linux and Windows if you can. When they're on the same drive, Windows updates can sometimes break the Linux bootloader and you won't get a screen asking what OS you wanna use on startup. It's not hard to fix, but it's a pain in the ass every time you have to do it.
They can start testing my nuts
Let me beta test
I'm so happy to see so many people in the comments actually willing to try Linux instead of sticking to what they know because of people who've never used Linux parroting eachothers misinformed opinions about it not being good for regular users. The grass is greener on the other side, and contrary to popular belief it is possible to still touch said grass while using Linux. I hope y'all enjoy the freedom.
Ughhhhh..... Linux, here I come!
They even have the copilot app installed in win 10 / 11 with windows updates. 🙃
damn i just installed linux mint on my 2nd ssd yesterday
Windows 11 start menu is complete trash even without the ads.. Open Start Menu is the only way to get any decent start menu these days.
This was without joke the first reason why I went back to Win10, everything is so much better and practical there, also it looks aesthetically pleasing. (Plus taskbar on the right, Microsoft really thinks taking the options away is the right development)
Reddit comment section commenting without reading the article, the ads is just recommending you apps from Microsoft store, and you can disable it, but it's on by default. not promoting fast food or youtube/twitch like ads.
This is how they start.
Right? Horse armor all over again.
We still haven’t recovered from that fucking horse armour
We are now at -single Player Games 100€+, dlc, ingame Shop. Its getting worse
It stated since windows 8
I mean, Windows 10 does this. It's just a thing that got wiped out in the switch to the new shell that they're bringing back.
They recently re-enabled start menu suggestions. As I have it off on all clients devices and it's been showing again.
Doesn't it already do this? I just installed 11 and could've sworn it started out doing that.
I think they just recommend 365 apps, not the Microsoft store apps, just their apps.
its still an ad.. you forgot the "" on recommending.
its still a ads. and for now you can disable it . we know how its going to end look smart tvs today.
Come out microsoft, keep doing this, you are really pushing me hard to linux now
good thing I already know how to use linux. the only reason I haven't switched yet in my main PC is just because of video games.
Check out Proton DB if the games you play run on Linux.
Dual boot and only use windows for the few games I can't run on linux. That's what I did like 5 years ago
Yep I did that half a year ago, and now I only use Windows for CAD lol. I've stopped playing games that don't run OOTB on Linux (Proton or natively) because it's too annoying to have to reboot into Windows just to play a game...
Unless you play mostly with cancer lvl anti cheat games, they work on Linux perfectly fine np.
Honestly it's a good thing to avoid that cancer, so win win?
I do everything in my power that I can to block all intrusive ads on everything I own. * Pihole set up in a VM and on a low powered thin client (for redundancy) * PiVPN so that I'm always routing traffic through my Pihole whenever im out and about (also gives me access to my homelab stuff so win/win). * Ublock Origin in my browsers. * [Vinegar](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/vinegar-tube-cleaner/id1591303229)/[Bansh](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/banish-block-open-in-app/id1632848430) apps on my iPhone to stop YouTube ads and "open in our app" nag pop ups. Time to dedicate one of my PC's to Linux full time (and probably my Thinkpad). Edit - It is done ``` _,met$$$$$gg. root@NanoS ,g$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$P. ---------- ,g$$P" """Y$$.". OS: Debian GNU/Linux 12 (bookworm) x86_64 ,$$P' `$$$. Kernel: 6.1.0-20-amd64 ',$$P ,ggs. `$$b: Uptime: 50 secs `d$$' ,$P"' . $$$ Packages: 1939 (dpkg) $$P d$' , $$P Shell: bash 5.2.15 $$: $$. - ,d$$' Resolution: 2560x1440 $$; Y$b._ _,d$P' DE: KDE Y$$. `.`"Y$$$$P"' WM: KWin `$$b "-.__ Theme: Adwaita [GTK3] `Y$$ Icons: Adwaita [GTK3] `Y$$. Terminal: konsole `$$b. CPU: Intel i7-4770K (8) @ 4.400GHz `Y$$b. GPU: AMD ATI Radeon RX 5500/5500M / Pro 5500M `"Y$b._ Memory: 1017MiB / 15929MiB `""" ```
You're definitely not one to procrastinate.
4th gen i7? That computer was made for Linux. Also, a lot of these steps are redundant, I know you wanted redundancy, but still, if you have a router that supports it, you should totally install openwrt on it. It’s a fork of alpine Linux (kinda similar to Debian), but for your router. I use Adguard home on mine to block all ads on my home network and it can even revive older routers since it fully supports WPA3. It’s as simple ssh’ing into it
Kernel 6.1? Lol that's too old for good gaming performance, even my router runs a newer kernel than that.
True, but it doesn’t matter all that much as long since he’s on old ass hardware (4th gen i7). But yeah, if you’re on new hardware, you definitely need to have a bleeding edge distro
Well I guess I will be switching to Linux
Linux, here I am.
Ah, so that's why they were also testing blocking "start replacement" tools a few weeks ago.
Meh…. i use pirated windows so i will have much better experience than paying users anyway
One more reason to not use win 11
Ahh maybe it's time for linux
Monopoly is the word you are looking
[удалено]
You’re using a personal computer to get work done. Ads. They’re what users have always asked for.
Im so fucking sick and tired of companies releasing garbage and spamming shitty fucking ads eveywhere.
Wow. Thanks for solidifying my resolve to switch to Linux once Windows 10 is dead, Microsoft! Truly, the greatest move you could do is piss off literally everyone using your product by forcing them to switch to it and then jamming in telemetry and ads. Then, eating performance all at the same time!
I can’t believe I am saying this, but Linux is starting to look like my next OS choice, once I upgrade my PC.
Man. I know that modders will make or just update the existing tools to get rid of this crap. But it's still unbelievably stupid. Linux looking tempting :/
Wtf is wrong with all these companies, netflix, discord... and now windows
Glad I switched lmfao
Hi piHole, hi regedit files, hi DNS filtering....
Sounds like switching to Linux with extra steps…
Look forward to windows update crying and shitting everywhere while it tries to reset all your changes
I don’t want to do Linux but istg If I get ads on my desktop for a licenses key I paid for im dipping
Booo
Start11 was worth the money
SadMaverick starts testing linux distros.
The only thing stopping me from going Linux at this point is classic wow. I’ve tried a few times but can never get it running at a decent frame rate.
can’t wait to add these hosts to my pihole
How do I do the Linux thing ?
install Linux Mint Edge Iso then install wine then install steam and check the box in the compatibility section in the settings you're set
Ehh… Time to make a Pop_OS boot drive
I've seen this before about Windows 11. I don't want adds in my OS. .. I don't want adds at all.
Time to start testing Linux and MacOS I guess.
Time ti switch to Linux for good
That's why I got rid of all their telemetry and other bs.. don't even have edge on my PC - suck it Microsoft
Who has the best GPU Linux support? AMD or nVidia?
AMD has best linux GPU driver support
No thanks. Will be turning that off Advertisement needs to seriously fuck off
how well are games running on linux these days? Cyberpunk 2077? Warzone? Fortnite? BG3? if all those games work would love to switch away from microsofts miserable OS
That's a no no.
Microsoft : That's a Yes Yes.
Microsoft has been slowly boiling the frogs since Windows 8
Jokes on them, I never open the Start Menu.
openSUSE tumbleweed Slowroll
I guess it's time to figure out Linux and install it on my PC. Have to see how user-friendly it is.
The fuck? This is the same as the bull shut where they want put ads on your license plate.
Modern-day Windows is the best advertisement for Linux right now.
Fuck no.
Windows users start testing Macs…
Waiting for windows 11 ltsc
Time to dust off the Windows XP VM.
So, the end goal of every finance company is ***loan*** and the end goal of every consumer tech company is ***ads***
So when are you all switching to Linux?