|OT| The Linux Gaming Thread - Thread of the Millenium

What Linux distribution are you currently using?

  • Debian

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • OpenSUSE

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Void

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Slackware

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Gentoo

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • ZorinOS

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Linux Lite

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • MX Linux

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Solus

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Archlabs

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • ArcoLinux

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Kubuntu

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Ubuntu MATE

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Ubuntu Budgie

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Peppermint

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Artix

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Devuan

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Alpine

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • FerenOS

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    27

Jared

Jared Mohammed
Oct 2, 2019
20
30
13
Trinidad and Tobago
I have seen the lack of any threads pertaining to other OSes, particularly Linux despite the platform gaining more popularity as time progresses. With the advent of DXVK, Proton, improvements towards WINE and increase of native titles being ported over and inclusion of GOG.com, Gamejolt, Itch.io and especially Steam's comitment to Linux. The latter has created an easy way for gamers to play non-native titles on their platform without any tweaking, in most cases. Or with Itch.io fully open sourcing their client. The future hasn't looked any brighter.

In this thread, we hope to highlight all things Linux related in the gaming space. 😎

Remember everyone we are the elite, WE ARE THE 3%!

[PS. Improvements would be made to the overall aesthetics of the thread as it progresses]
 
  • Like
Reactions: Pommes

Pommes

Hey you! Have a nice day!
Jun 4, 2019
425
836
93
Nice thread :thumbsupblob:
I switched to Linux last year on my personal computer and I do enjoy it quite a bit :drinking-blob:
For now I am still dual booting, but I only started Windows a handfull times since installing Linux.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Jared
OP
Jared

Jared

Jared Mohammed
Oct 2, 2019
20
30
13
Trinidad and Tobago
Nice thread :thumbsupblob:
I switched to Linux last year on my personal computer and I do enjoy it quite a bit :drinking-blob:
For now I am still dual booting, but I only started Windows a handfull times since installing Linux.
Awesome! How did your journey towards Linux began? What distribution are you using?
 
  • Like
Reactions: Pommes

Durante

I <3 Pixels
Oct 21, 2018
3,835
18,379
113
I voted for Ubuntu, but I only run it on servers and in WSL at the moment.

We just got a new colleague, and he's the first full-on Arch user I've encountered in real life. Wild stuff. Tiling window manager too and all that jazz.
 

Pommes

Hey you! Have a nice day!
Jun 4, 2019
425
836
93
Awesome! How did your journey towards Linux began? What distribution are you using?
I am using Manjaro. Over the years I tried Linux in virtual machines from time to time and I set up the old pc of my father with Lubuntu. But I never personally made the switch. The main reason why I did switch last summer was probably Proton.
But I also just wanted to try something different. E.g. I at the moment I am trying to get a better at Vim. I could have also done this on Windows, but the 'native' environment is nice.
 

NarohDethan

There was a fish in the percolator!
Apr 6, 2019
8,942
24,801
113
Sup, I wanna give Ubuntu a try but I’m not sure what should I expect gaming wise. I know that Proton is a thing but I dont know how it works. Do the geforce experience and that stuff works with Linux?
 

Pommes

Hey you! Have a nice day!
Jun 4, 2019
425
836
93
Sup, I wanna give Ubuntu a try but I’m not sure what should I expect gaming wise. I know that Proton is a thing but I dont know how it works. Do the geforce experience and that stuff works with Linux?
Hardware (drivers) should not be a problem nowadays. Exceptions could be some special Laptop stuff and perhaps some printer drivers.
If you have a Nvidia graphics card you should install the closed source drivers:
Sadly there is no Geforce Experience on Linux.

For gameplay capture you could probably use OBS (i have no experience with it): Open Broadcaster Software®️ | OBS
MangoHud is great for displaying performance numbers during gameplay: https://github.com/flightlessmango/MangoHud
MangoHud is not Click&Play but it is also not very hard to use.

Proton is automatically used for every Windows game after you have enabled it in the settings when you are using Steam. Proton settings can be found in the Steam settings in the "Steam Play" section. You can find out about the compatibility of Proton with games on the great site https://www.protondb.com/
My experience with Proton is the following:
  • Popular games are running well
    • Exception: Some Multiplayer games (probably because of their anti-cheat)
  • It may take a little time until new games get running
  • Games that use popular engines (Unreal Engine, Unity) run without problems
  • Sometimes it is necessary to tinker a bit (e.g. video playback may be problematic without some additional commands)
If you want to use Proton with games outside of Proton there are nice tools outside of Steam that help with that (e.g. Lutris).

If you have any further questions: Just ask :smiling-eyes:
 

NarohDethan

There was a fish in the percolator!
Apr 6, 2019
8,942
24,801
113
Hardware (drivers) should not be a problem nowadays. Exceptions could be some special Laptop stuff and perhaps some printer drivers.
If you have a Nvidia graphics card you should install the closed source drivers:
Sadly there is no Geforce Experience on Linux.

For gameplay capture you could probably use OBS (i have no experience with it): Open Broadcaster Software®️ | OBS
MangoHud is great for displaying performance numbers during gameplay: https://github.com/flightlessmango/MangoHud
MangoHud is not Click&Play but it is also not very hard to use.

Proton is automatically used for every Windows game after you have enabled it in the settings when you are using Steam. Proton settings can be found in the Steam settings in the "Steam Play" section. You can find out about the compatibility of Proton with games on the great site https://www.protondb.com/
My experience with Proton is the following:
  • Popular games are running well
    • Exception: Some Multiplayer games (probably because of their anti-cheat)
  • It may take a little time until new games get running
  • Games that use popular engines (Unreal Engine, Unity) run without problems
  • Sometimes it is necessary to tinker a bit (e.g. video playback may be problematic without some additional commands)
If you want to use Proton with games outside of Proton there are nice tools outside of Steam that help with that (e.g. Lutris).

If you have any further questions: Just ask :smiling-eyes:
Thank you so much for your help :) :wd_heart:
 
  • Love
Reactions: Pommes

undu

Junior Member
Mar 17, 2019
183
481
63
There's a proof-of-concept available to make Easy Anti Cheat work using Wine, it's still low performance, it will take time to merge the changes to proton and wine proper, but it's good progress nonetheless.

 
  • Like
Reactions: Pommes and lashman

Pommes

Hey you! Have a nice day!
Jun 4, 2019
425
836
93
There's a proof-of-concept available to make Easy Anti Cheat work using Wine, it's still low performance, it will take time to merge the changes to proton and wine proper, but it's good progress nonetheless.

Let's just hope that the cheaters don't jump to Linux...
 

Li Kao

It’s a strange world. Let’s keep it that way.
Jan 28, 2019
7,704
15,601
113
Due to recent exchanges about linux and, let's be honest, being extremely bored and in a tinkering mood, I was just toying with the idea of putting linux on a VERY old laptop. Is it a good idea ? Are some versions (distros ?) of linux more appropriate than others for that ?

FYI, here are the specs of the thing (NSFL)
Acer Aspire 3613WLMi
Intel Celeron M processor 370 (1.5ghz, 400mhz FSB, 1MB L2 cache)
512MB DDR2

I mean, it hasn't been used in ages, it could as well be in the bin right now, maybe I could find a use for it ?
 

LEANIJA

MetaMember
May 5, 2019
2,949
7,386
113
Austria
Due to recent exchanges about linux and, let's be honest, being extremely bored and in a tinkering mood, I was just toying with the idea of putting linux on a VERY old laptop. Is it a good idea ? Are some versions (distros ?) of linux more appropriate than others for that ?

FYI, here are the specs of the thing (NSFL)
Acer Aspire 3613WLMi
Intel Celeron M processor 370 (1.5ghz, 400mhz FSB, 1MB L2 cache)
512MB DDR2

I mean, it hasn't been used in ages, it could as well be in the bin right now, maybe I could find a use for it ?
I'd go with a lightweight desktop environment like xfce or LXDE, but generally Linux is pretty scalable and runs on older hardware as well. I've had MInt on my 2007 laptop for a while now, but I hardly use it.

As for me and Linux: I used Ubuntu 15-10 years ago, but I've gotten used to Windows 10 so much that my recent attempt to switch back to Linux (Mint) was short-lived, unfortunately. I love Linux otherwise.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Li Kao and ISee

gabbo

MetaMember
Dec 22, 2018
3,506
5,542
113
Toronto
Due to recent exchanges about linux and, let's be honest, being extremely bored and in a tinkering mood, I was just toying with the idea of putting linux on a VERY old laptop. Is it a good idea ? Are some versions (distros ?) of linux more appropriate than others for that ?

FYI, here are the specs of the thing (NSFL)
Acer Aspire 3613WLMi
Intel Celeron M processor 370 (1.5ghz, 400mhz FSB, 1MB L2 cache)
512MB DDR2

I mean, it hasn't been used in ages, it could as well be in the bin right now, maybe I could find a use for it ?
There are distros of lInux that are meant to be used with old hardware - Puppy comes to mind. So long as you're willing to play around,
Have a gander here
 
  • Like
Reactions: Li Kao

crimsonheadGCN

MetaMember
Jan 20, 2019
2,924
7,866
113
40
Clifton, New Jersey
www.resetera.com


Much like Switch, Stadia is really nice in that pretty much all the juicy stuff uses a standard like OpenGL/Vulkan (I did sorta have to bring my own OpenGL, but you get the idea), however Stadia is truly remarkable in that it is literally just a Linux system without a desktop or display server; if you have Linux binaries that don't link to libstdc++ (i.e. use Clang and libc++ instead) and don't use X11/Wayland there is a 99.99% chance that your existing binaries (yes, not just the code, the binaries) will work just fine on Stadia.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Pommes

Pommes

Hey you! Have a nice day!
Jun 4, 2019
425
836
93
It surely helps the performance when you don't have the open source and the proprietary driver for NVIDIA graphics card installed in parallel :grimacing-face:
That was probably the reason why I kept having dips into single digits fps when I was playing Deus Ex: Mankind Divided on a 1080 TI :smart-thinking-blob:
 
  • Like
Reactions: ISee

ExistentialThought

Coffee Lover ♥☕
Feb 29, 2020
1,560
4,834
113
ExistentialThought A quick look found this which may be worth looking through. It's pretty up-to-date too.

Perfect. thank you!!!

Like I mentioned in the thread, I have been compiling a list of programs and making evaluations of my next OS/build being on Linux. It has been expediated by Microsoft trying to force things like Edge and whatnot.

With Valve making a stronger push on the Proton and Anti-cheat side of things, I am hoping the gaming side will not be unworkable, else I will still need a dual boot for some things.
 
  • Like
Reactions: LEANIJA and Pommes

Crayon

Schizofantastic
May 25, 2019
120
243
43
43
Due to recent exchanges about linux and, let's be honest, being extremely bored and in a tinkering mood, I was just toying with the idea of putting linux on a VERY old laptop. Is it a good idea ? Are some versions (distros ?) of linux more appropriate than others for that ?

FYI, here are the specs of the thing (NSFL)
Acer Aspire 3613WLMi
Intel Celeron M processor 370 (1.5ghz, 400mhz FSB, 1MB L2 cache)
512MB DDR2

I mean, it hasn't been used in ages, it could as well be in the bin right now, maybe I could find a use for it ?
Did you ever give this a shot?
 
  • Hug
Reactions: Li Kao

Li Kao

It’s a strange world. Let’s keep it that way.
Jan 28, 2019
7,704
15,601
113
Did you ever give this a shot?
Unfortunately no, I think I have thrown the thing away. Pretty certain it wasn’t cooperating at all and it was more trouble than it was worth.
Still very much interested in trying linux though, probably with the Deck or with a dual boot, let’s say in Q1..
 

Crayon

Schizofantastic
May 25, 2019
120
243
43
43
Unfortunately no, I think I have thrown the thing away. Pretty certain it wasn’t cooperating at all and it was more trouble than it was worth.
Still very much interested in trying linux though, probably with the Deck or with a dual boot, let’s say in Q1..
I have a feeling deck is going to be as good an introduction to linux as there ever was.
 
  • Like
Reactions: LEANIJA

Li Kao

It’s a strange world. Let’s keep it that way.
Jan 28, 2019
7,704
15,601
113
Seeing as the Deck is coming soon, I kinda wanted to install linux on my desktop, dual booting with windows 11. SteamOS is Arch based, so it would make sense to install Arch I suppose ?
Any guide to install linux on a dual boot with win11 without fucking my current install ?

As this will surely require some attention that I don't have today I thought it best to ask that here, no rush, just a definite interest from me.
 
  • Like
Reactions: lashman

undu

Junior Member
Mar 17, 2019
183
481
63
Seeing as the Deck is coming soon, I kinda wanted to install linux on my desktop, dual booting with windows 11. SteamOS is Arch based, so it would make sense to install Arch I suppose ?
Any guide to install linux on a dual boot with win11 without fucking my current install ?

As this will surely require some attention that I don't have today I thought it best to ask that here, no rush, just a definite interest from me.
I recommend to have a guided installation to arch. You need quite a lot of reading and understanding to install arch. There's an installer, but it's command-line based.

I recommend against manjaro. Their packagers do weird things and I've found they broke my setup in ways that were barely impossible to fix as a user, something that never happened in Arch. The process they set up for updating packages makes the user-made packages for arch to be fragile as well.

I recommend endevourOS as it is arch with GUI installer sprinkled on top, which should be more than enough for starting: EndeavourOS

I don't recommend a dual boot: windows will happily write over your bootloader and will force you to reinstall the linux bootloader, which is not trivial. Youhave a better chance of trying linux using a "live installation" or a virtual machine.

The live installation will boot from the USB stick and not modify your hard disk, while allowing you to try the OS and install steam and games.
The VM is nice for trying the OS, but not good for trying out games as it will affect your performance
 

EdwardTivrusky

Good Morning, Weather Hackers!
Dec 8, 2018
7,276
12,381
113
If you're just checking things out then look for a Live version which will install and run from a usb stick without impacting your windows install.
Performance may not be amazing but it will give you a chance to see how m,uch you hate it. ;)
 
  • Toucan
Reactions: lashman

Li Kao

It’s a strange world. Let’s keep it that way.
Jan 28, 2019
7,704
15,601
113
Those are very bad news. I guess I could install another flavor of linux, just went with Arch for the kinda relation with the Deck.
But bootloader pain is a huge no no. And I don't really see the point of a live version, as I want to, if everything works for me, slowly go from win to linux.
Windows fucking the whole thing up is, not that surprising, but really throwing a wrench in the whole thing. Not that I was really excited to have a boot menu each time I turn the PC on, but...

I could also simply toy with the Deck plugged to the monitor, but then again, that imply purchasing shit like keyboard and mouse.

I am disappoint.
 

LEANIJA

MetaMember
May 5, 2019
2,949
7,386
113
Austria
Hmmm I see things a bit differently :)

I havent had problems with Manjaro so far*. I still recommend Manjaro but would advise against starting with Arch, thats very much an advanced user distro. There IS a guided installer and the wiki, but I reckon it would be frustrating to start with Arch.

Regarding dual boot: Windows overwriting the bootloader usually is only a problem when MS is doing big updates, usually Linux will handle it if its installed after Winodows, and most distros have a guided, graphical installer that will give you clear options how to install alongside and not fuck things up.

Here's an article listing a few distros that are user-friendly and you can test with USB-boot-live system (which you can then use to install):

The problem and blessing with Linux is having a wide range of choice. Not only do you have several distros that can be quite different, but theres also the Desktop Environment to choose. I myself use KDE because you can customize it to hell and back, but several distros will have Gnome as standard, but those arent the only ones.
Here's an article on those: 10 Best Linux Desktop Environments of 2021


* most problems I have on Linux are hardware-based, where manufactorers wont support some piece of hardware (like my wifi card) on Linux and it can be a pain to get it running. But thats the thing about the USB live system: youll see what works and what gives you problems.
(also, AMD is supposedly way better at Linux drivers than Nvidia is)
** what kind of packages gave you grief, undu ?
 

Pommes

Hey you! Have a nice day!
Jun 4, 2019
425
836
93
I personally have had some problems with Manjaro. But that may be my combination of Nvidia graphics card and Gnome...
Generally I would advise to always test the Linux version you choose via the live version before you install if possible. In this way you can check if your hardware works with the selected Linux distribution.
 
  • Like
Reactions: LEANIJA

LEANIJA

MetaMember
May 5, 2019
2,949
7,386
113
Austria
I personally have had some problems with Manjaro. But that may be my combination of Nvidia graphics card and Gnome...
Generally I would advise to always test the Linux version you choose via the live version before you install if possible. In this way you can check if your hardware works with the selected Linux distribution.
Yes, precisely, testing is key :)
Like anything in the PC space, your particular hardware/software combo might work great while for another person with slightly different combo it'll be a bust. Manjaro's worked great for me so far, but I'm not gonna say it will work for everyone equally perfect.
 

undu

Junior Member
Mar 17, 2019
183
481
63
* what kind of packages gave you grief, undu ?
Autotools. This means I was unable to compile many aur packages because "./configure" always detected that the C compiler was broken (it generated a truncated .c test file which was not valid C code)

Some dear friend of mine tried collaborating code to their distribution and had to stop because of some of the members' attitude and coding practices.

There's also the issues with security (failing to renew certificates). I think they've changed some really worrying practices but it has taken several incidents until the security posture seems to have change, because of the point above I still don't trust them.

Then there's the issue of opacity and shadyness regarding the finance management of the Manjaro foundation. Manjaro Linux treasurer resigns amid unjustified use of donation funds | Hacker News

In the end it's not just one thing that makes me recommend against it, even if for many users it works most of the time, for me it's a matter or risk management: it's very probable there are going to be problems and I want none of it.
 
Last edited:
  • Sad
Reactions: Pommes

LEANIJA

MetaMember
May 5, 2019
2,949
7,386
113
Austria



nice :)
 

Mivey

MetaMember
Sep 20, 2018
3,961
11,269
113
GLIB updates and breaking literally everything, name a better duo on the Linux desktop.
 
  • This!
Reactions: jads653

LionelInoe

Linux Advocate
Jul 13, 2022
39
100
33
So the new GLIBC 2.36 update completely breaks EOS EAC games. Guess i will finally move to the flatpacked version of Steam. SteamDeck users are currently not affected.
There are alternatives. For my laptop, for applications that have sensitive dependencies, I typically use a combination of Distrobox + AUR, which will usually have someone who works out the unique dependencies. You can also "freeze" that sub-contained operating system in a way that, when updating your main system, it won't actually break existing sensitive applications.


But yeah, GLIBC discrepancies can be a pain to sort out.
 
  • Like
Reactions: LEANIJA

jads653

MetaMember
Oct 18, 2021
351
1,138
93
37
Utrecht, Netherlands
There are alternatives. For my laptop, for applications that have sensitive dependencies, I typically use a combination of Distrobox + AUR, which will usually have someone who works out the unique dependencies. You can also "freeze" that sub-contained operating system in a way that, when updating your main system, it won't actually break existing sensitive applications.


But yeah, GLIBC discrepancies can be a pain to sort out.
Thanks for the tip on Distrobox ! Seems like a really handy tool. Migrating to flatpack is a bit of a challenge so far, running into some symlink issues.
 

jads653

MetaMember
Oct 18, 2021
351
1,138
93
37
Utrecht, Netherlands
So I was finally able to move to flatpak steam and it works fine. Could not get it to see my games that where installed to the home folder, so I just reinstalled those. Games on the other drives worked fine after adding them to Flatseal. So far pretty smooth, especially since Steam Tinker Launch is also available as a flatpak.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Pommes

Pommes

Hey you! Have a nice day!
Jun 4, 2019
425
836
93
So I was finally able to move to flatpak steam and it works fine. Could not get it to see my games that where installed to the home folder, so I just reinstalled those. Games on the other drives worked fine after adding them to Flatseal. So far pretty smooth, especially since Steam Tinker Launch is also available as a flatpak.
Thank you for mentioning Steam Tinker Launch, That tool looks interesting :blobeyes:
 

itsamiracle

Junior Member
Dec 31, 2018
118
342
63
It's pretty useful for specific games but I can't say I am in love with the UI and the way it spawns new windows per section:dizzy-face:
 
  • This!
Reactions: jads653

jads653

MetaMember
Oct 18, 2021
351
1,138
93
37
Utrecht, Netherlands
Well this is fun. Flatpak steam just suddenly stopped launching certain games ... ? Horizon, Stray and a bunch of other games stopped working without reason. My GoG games through Heroic and manual installed games work fine., So I installed regular Steam and of course Stray and Horizon work... Sometimes I am just done with this shit :anguished-face:
 
  • Sad
Reactions: Pommes

KingKrouch

Junior Member
Dec 14, 2021
79
273
53
After distrohopping around for a bit (Mainly going from Ubuntu and Mint (and being dissatisfied with a few things), and then later-on Arch (Where I had issues with GNOME extensions)), I ended up settling on the KDE spin of Fedora. Nobara Project (from GloriousEggroll, a maintainer of a fork of Proton with extra compatibility tweaks) is looking like a promising side project for those that want something Red Hat adjacent that has much needed gaming and kernel related tweaks done out of the box. Personally, I've also been interested in that, as you don't have to go through a lengthy package conversion process with Alien for closed sourced software like Autodesk Maya (Been needing to set aside the time to learn it, coming from 3DS Max) and Mudbox, and Unity has an official RHEL/CentOS repository for their launcher.

One thing that I definitely think is criminally underrated and underappreciated would be Gamescope. It makes getting games that stretch (with different aspect ratios) in fullscreen or that have bilinear filtering working with the correct aspect ratio and/or with integer scaling (for retro games) insanely easy (Where it normally would take several minutes to change the scaling method and resolution in the NVIDIA Control Panel), and it can even be used as a development tool for testing resolution support in games. I remember hearing LinusTechTips mention something around buying an OLED TV and using custom resolutions for ultrawide gaming on one, but resolution switching is still quite painful in Windows (and often sets itself to the incorrect refresh rate after switching back) and Radeon's GPU control panel's custom resolution utilities have a ton of stuff regarding G. Pixel Clock rates that are a bit of an enigma for those coming from NVCP. I feel like Windows 11 desperately needs something similar with per-game resolution profiles, as resolution switching and Fullscreen Exclusive mode is still quite cumbersome and messes with the layout and positioning of other windows.

Despite some of the jank, I feel like using a Linux distribution is becoming less frustrating than Windows in a lot of regards (Especially in regards to app distribution, where winget still feels a bit behind in terms of support and still requires installer hunting on Google for a bit, and personally not having tightly integrated solutions for several things makes it difficult to use on the Steam Deck for example). Now that I got an AMD GPU (an RX 6700XT to be exact) and was sold on things once I gave them a try on the Steam Deck, I'm just waiting on better VRR support in KDE on Wayland (Even with it enabled, 60FPS capped stuff like fighting games still feel improperly framepaced) before I commit to it. HDR support would seal the deal. Troubleshooting likewise can be easier with the Arch wiki, where in comparison, you find a lot of Windows adjacent troubleshooting sites trying to sell you on malware or thinking that "sfc /scannow" is going to fix a lot of problems (When I've honestly had the opposite experience over the years).

One thing that I definitely feel like needs some work is in regards to cross-compilation toolchains (Currently have to use CMake in CLion with a ton of tweaks in MingW64 to compile Windows applications and DLLs), and debugging Windows games and applications. Currently have to use ASI Loader to hook RenderDoc onto games, then use the capture server feature that has running inside of a WINE instance running DXVK/VKD3D, and then finally connect to it using the native Linux application to be able to debug Windows captures.

Although with Distrobox luckily getting better, that should make the paralyzation of choice when it comes to distributions less of a thing. And a lot of stuff is usable on the Deck thanks to flatpak packages.

Apologies for the long rambling, felt like I could bring my two cents into a discussion.
 

itsamiracle

Junior Member
Dec 31, 2018
118
342
63
Kinoite remains my distro of choice, pretty comfy overall. I wouldn't mind a rolling immutable distro like MicroOS, but their KDE version is very alpha right now :steam_pigblanket:
 

LEANIJA

MetaMember
May 5, 2019
2,949
7,386
113
Austria
So best distro for noobs ? Ubuntu ?
I want to murder windows right now.
Most people these days seem to prefer Fedora. Im personally using Manjaro (which is based on Arch, like SteamOS)
You can use Fedora Silverblue for a system where you can't break things :) (also like SteamOS)

Use KDE if you wish to use a desktop system like on SteamOS. Most distros will let you choose different desktop environments, usually GNOME or KDE or Xfce.

Remember most distros will let you try it out without installation, by booting from the USB stick. You can also install it side-by-side with Windows, if you wanna keep that around. I'd recommend that until you get used to Linux, I dual-booted for a long time before I ditched Windows completely (and even then I have Windows on a backup computer).
 
  • Love
Reactions: Li Kao

Mivey

MetaMember
Sep 20, 2018
3,961
11,269
113
So best distro for noobs ? Ubuntu ?
I want to murder windows right now.
I think Ubuntu is still a great choice, but it's default Desktop Gnome is pretty different from Windows, so will take some getting used to. I hear Linux Mint is pretty user friendly too. It's desktop environment MATE is based off of an older version of Gnome, which Ubuntu originally used as well.

As a less well known name, I think Zorin OS looks visually very similar to Windows, so perhaps that's not a bad choice. Here the website to check it out Zorin OS - Make your computer better.
 
  • Hug
  • Like
Reactions: LEANIJA and Li Kao

Li Kao

It’s a strange world. Let’s keep it that way.
Jan 28, 2019
7,704
15,601
113
Can I install linux on another disk and do a multiboot ? And can linux simply read and write on NTFS data hard disks or ssd ?
Basically trying to see if I can interchangeably use win or linux or if there is a level of dedication needed.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: LEANIJA

Mivey

MetaMember
Sep 20, 2018
3,961
11,269
113
Can I install linux on another disk and do a multiboot ? And can linux simply read and write on NTFS data hard disks or ssd ?
Basically trying to see if I can interchangeably use win or linux or if there is a level of dedication needed.
Sure, no problem. Most installers of Linux distros ( I think all of them, really) allow you to customise where you want to install it. Afterwards, the program grub is set up, which allows you to chose which of the available OS installations you want to fire up on boot. I think most Linux users actually use dual boot installations with Windows as the other OS.
 
  • Like
Reactions: LEANIJA

LEANIJA

MetaMember
May 5, 2019
2,949
7,386
113
Austria
Can I install linux on another disk and do a multiboot ? And can linux simply read and write on NTFS data hard disks or ssd ?
Basically trying to see if I can interchangeably use win or linux or if there is a level of dedication needed.
Sure, no problem. Most installers of Linux distros ( I think all of them, really) allow you to customise where you want to install it. Afterwards, the program grub is set up, which allows you to chose which of the available OS installations you want to fire up on boot. I think most Linux users actually use dual boot installations with Windows as the other OS.
yep, indeed! multi-boot is not a problem, and to add, Linux can read NTFS, but Windows cannot read ext4 (which will be most likely your filesystem on Linux) without installing extra software.

~

and I can confirm that Linux Mint is quite user friendly indeed. Used that for a while. The MATE desktop is indeed good!
 
  • Hug
Reactions: Li Kao

Pommes

Hey you! Have a nice day!
Jun 4, 2019
425
836
93
Can I install linux on another disk and do a multiboot ? And can linux simply read and write on NTFS data hard disks or ssd ?
Basically trying to see if I can interchangeably use win or linux or if there is a level of dedication needed.
One hint concerning multiboot (also called dual boot): Windows might cause problems in such an environment.
As in that the PC only boots Windows after a Windows update.
It personally has not happened to me in the last 2.5 years of dual-booting but it might be a possibility.

Edit: It might be that this is old information.
It seems that this does not happen with mordern mainboards (UEFI).
 
Last edited:
  • Hug
Reactions: Li Kao