Jump to content

What I've learned from Switching to Linux from Windows 7

JohnnyThunder

Hi everyone!

I'm a gamer whose built my own computers for over a decade and I wanna tell you all my story about switching to Linux. There are a lot of things I've learned in the last year and a half that I think will help if you are considering the move to Linux instead of going the Windows 10 rout.

 

The first thing I would like to get out of the way is that new Linux is not old Linux, I had been working up to switching to Linux for decades, my dad was a big OSS guy who used Linux in the 90s, and that convinced me to try Linux and make the full switch in 2009. Old Linux legit sucked, and the majority of people using Linux at the time seemed to be fanatics who would never admit Linux was anything less then perfect. I was glad to go back to Windows shortly there after, it gave me a deeper respect for the hard work Microsoft has done to make a superior product in Windows (not considering your paying for that service of course.)

Windows 10 however made me realize the good times on Windows were going to end, as Windows is no longer about being a superior product, it's about chasing tech trends. I just want my computer to work, and work well. A lot of tech trends are dumb in this regard. So when I leaned about DXVK from LTT I decided to switch again in late 2018, before Proton was announced.

As you can imagine, my initial jump was great at first. I distro hopped for the first month then settled on Mint with the Cinnamon Desktop environment. I learned more and more about Linux, studying how the file system is structured (something I feel is a necessity at this point) how to mess around with wine prefexs using Lutris, etc. It was almost comical how my first big issue was "Man, I really hate running two version of Steam for Linux games and Windows games, sure wish I could use just one..." and like almost the next day Valve announces Proton. All I could think was, wow this is wayy different from 2009, like I didn't even need to say anything and BAM! Customer Service!

 

As time went on the hyped died down a bit around Linux. I started to settle in. In terms of gaming, sacrifices had to be made. No Arma 3 multiplayer for me, but the majority of the rest of the games I wanted to play at the time worked. I decide to buy Crossover; This was a good choice, Crossover saves you time not messing around with Wine Prefexs. Getting the same job done in Play on Linux can take hours or even days trying to find all the right system packages and versions you need, Crossover can do all this for you in minutes. Defiantly worth the money in my view.

As time went on I started to get dismayed with the games I couldn't play. Space Engineers worked but was too laggy to be playable. Frycry 5 worked for others, but not me. Skyrim SE didn't have working sound, forcing me to play regular Skyrim. Some of my flight Sims like IL2 BOS I feared would never work because of their reliance on visual studio libs and their low level of interest from Linux gamers.

At this point early 2019 or so, I was starting to feel the desire to go back to Windows. I really wanted to play Space Engineers, I ended up playing the game anyways with terrible frame rates for a few days. Playing with low frames like that made me really question what the hell I was doing staying on Linux, questioning how long was I going to need to make this compromise.

 

Then on the 3rd day it happened again. Somebody did it, they figured out the right configuration to fix space engineers and BOOM, native performance.

It's almost like I have psychic tech support or something! The people who work on this stuff all around the world for free, I really can't thank you enough. You are the best technical support I've ever had, and I never even needed to contact any of you once, yet you've made my life so much easier so quickly, I almost feel like I have one of those multi-million dollar support contracts for free.

Soon enough, Skyrim SE was working with sound, Frycry 5 now works right out of the box in Proton with Uplay and all. And the other day I tried IL2 BOS and it works right out of the box on steam proton now with Wine's open source implementation of the VSStudio redistributable. It really is just getting better and better, and I'm having less and less trouble with Linux at a very rapid pace. Every little problem is getting fixed over time, and the only real thing that's still left undone for me personally is Arma 3, which even that now works with battleye for 15 minutes before you get kicked. Only a matter of time.

I don't want you to think this will be easy however, it's not. Learning how to use Linux just take time and hard work, but it's so very, very worth it. And in a few years that may no longer be true as well, but in a way that means if your interested in learning this stuff, then now it the best time to attempt to switch, if you wait too long Linux will become too good and the opportunity open to you now to learn new things will dry up. Then again, maybe you need some program that only works on Windows, in which case, I'm not going to try and push you, you're probably better off on Windows for now.

But if you can take the risk and make the sacrifice, then I think It's never been better time. I'm happier with my computing experience then I've ever been. No slowdowns over time, no malware, no crap Microsoft installs on my PC to try and sell me something I don't need. I'm learning more about computers then I ever have, and I'm having more fun with my computing experience then I ever have, as Linux is simply providing me the best computing experience on the market right now, maybe it will for you to.

Thank you.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

Did read - for me the only reason I haven't went in full bore is time.  With kids, work, etc I have to pick a hobby or passion and while I took the dive into Linux last year I just don't see myself investing enough time to make it anything more than an experience that I now am having, which is - this is neat to bad its such a learning curve that I cannot devout the time needed to learn all of the commands.

 

Im currently still learning in Manjaro light (I dedicated an old laptop to it and it functions well for such an OLD machine (i7 620m) - do you personally see an issue with that distro that makes it harder to learn than others?  I know some of the basic commands with sudo but tbh even those I forget easily (because I don't devote enough time to it)

Workstation Laptop: Dell Precision 7540, Xeon E-2276M, 32gb DDR4, Quadro T2000 GPU, 4k display

Wifes Rig: ASRock B550m Riptide, Ryzen 5 5600X, Sapphire Nitro+ RX 6700 XT, 16gb (2x8) 3600mhz V-Color Skywalker RAM, ARESGAME AGS 850w PSU, 1tb WD Black SN750, 500gb Crucial m.2, DIYPC MA01-G case

My Rig: ASRock B450m Pro4, Ryzen 5 3600, ARESGAME River 5 CPU cooler, EVGA RTX 2060 KO, 16gb (2x8) 3600mhz TeamGroup T-Force RAM, ARESGAME AGV750w PSU, 1tb WD Black SN750 NVMe Win 10 boot drive, 3tb Hitachi 7200 RPM HDD, Fractal Design Focus G Mini custom painted.  

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 video card benchmark result - AMD Ryzen 5 3600,ASRock B450M Pro4 (3dmark.com)

Daughter 1 Rig: ASrock B450 Pro4, Ryzen 7 1700 @ 4.2ghz all core 1.4vCore, AMD R9 Fury X w/ Swiftech KOMODO waterblock, Custom Loop 2x240mm + 1x120mm radiators in push/pull 16gb (2x8) Patriot Viper CL14 2666mhz RAM, Corsair HX850 PSU, 250gb Samsun 960 EVO NVMe Win 10 boot drive, 500gb Samsung 840 EVO SSD, 512GB TeamGroup MP30 M.2 SATA III SSD, SuperTalent 512gb SATA III SSD, CoolerMaster HAF XM Case. 

https://www.3dmark.com/3dm/37004594?

Daughter 2 Rig: ASUS B350-PRIME ATX, Ryzen 7 1700, Sapphire Nitro+ R9 Fury Tri-X, 16gb (2x8) 3200mhz V-Color Skywalker, ANTEC Earthwatts 750w PSU, MasterLiquid Lite 120 AIO cooler in Push/Pull config as rear exhaust, 250gb Samsung 850 Evo SSD, Patriot Burst 240gb SSD, Cougar MX330-X Case

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

Manjaro is good, but there is the issue that you might wake up one day and you cannot boot into you Desktop environment without downgrading something. Fortunately the command to downgrade in Arch/Manjaro is "downgrade" fallowed by the programs name.

Not that I want' to self promote myself like this, but I made a Tutorial that has a good amount of my Linux Mint tips for people just getting started:

(Good idea to watch this at 2x speed)

 

There is a lot of stuff to learn, I'm still learning all the time. I'm learning to code right now, one of the key reasons I always wanted to switch to Linux; I never liked coding in Windows, it feels like I'm a slave to house Harkonen, coding in Linux feels like peeing in heavens bathroom.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

for old amd hardware linux is a big lie, you lost hardware acceleration most of the time , like amd UVD 3.0 in my hd 6xxx series, browser do not allow uvd in linux , drivers support where bad in linux pre gcn, even my intel ivy bridge laptop with uefi only is a big mess, distros wont support it out of the box, uefi was a stepback for linux.

 

im not fan of m$ and his bloted win10, but when ¨¨rubber hit the dirt¨¨¨ im always go back to windows.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

46 minutes ago, muito_gostoso said:

...my intel ivy bridge laptop with uefi only is a big mess, distros wont support it out of the box, uefi was a stepback for linux...

Horsefeathers! Linux distros from the last few years all support UEFI just fine and dandy. I'm typing this on Linux Mint Cinnamon 19.3 installed on an older Lenovo notebook with a UEFI BIOS which works just fine. Don't blame Linux when the problem is you don't know what you are doing. There are a few Youtube videos on how to install Linux on a UEFI BIOS. This is the video I used (also, disable Secure Boot in the BIOS menu before you start). Instead of getting mad when you don't know something, ask for help. After you have the OS installed, this video is a good on how to make your initial settings (it starts with how to install on a Legacy BIOS so just skip over that part).

 

Keep in mind that Linux doesn't work on all hardware. It probably works on a higher percentage of hardware than other OSes but nothing will work on everything. You wouldn't expect the piston on a Chevy V8 to work in a Ford six banger, would you? You can easily test a computer with a live Linux disc or USB drive before installing it to make sure everything will work (keep in mind that will be much slower than when actually installed). A lot of things that don't work right out of the box can often be made to work with some tweaking or substitution.

 

Also keep in mind that, even if a distro (such as Mint Cinnamon) looks similar to Windows, Linux is nothing like Windows under the hood. You didn't learn how to use Windows right away so why expect to learn Linux right away? You need to forget how most things were done in Windows and relearn how to do it in Linux. You have to be patient. When you run into a snag, look for solutions on the "interwebz" (Youtube is a good place to start) and, failing there, ask for help on a Linux forum (the Linux Mint website has an excellent forum, btw). Just don't go to a forum with a chip on your shoulder, putting down Linux, and expect to get any help. Just say I ran into this problem and I can't find any information on how to deal with it. Don't say something like, I can't get something to work on this piece of crap Linux installation (like you posted here). If you get any responses at all, they will be just as nasty as yours.

Jeannie

 

As long as anyone is oppressed, no one will be safe and free.

One has to be proactive, not reactive, to ensure the safety of one's data so backup your data! And RAID is NOT a backup!

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

18 minutes ago, Lady Fitzgerald said:

Horsefeathers! Linux distros from the last few years all support UEFI just fine and dandy. I'm typing this on Linux Mint Cinnamon 19.3 installed on an older Lenovo notebook with a UEFI BIOS which works just fine. Don't blame Linux when the problem is you don't know what you are doing. There are a few Youtube videos on how to install Linux on a UEFI BIOS. This is the video I used (also, disable Secure Boot in the BIOS menu before you start). Instead of getting mad when you don't know something, ask for help. After you have the OS installed, this video is a good on how to make your initial settings (it starts with how to install on a Legacy BIOS so just skip over that part).

 

Keep in mind that Linux doesn't work on all hardware. It probably works on a higher percentage of hardware than other OSes but nothing will work on everything. You wouldn't expect the piston on a Chevy V8 to work in a Ford six banger, would you? You can easily test a computer with a live Linux disc or USB drive before installing it to make sure everything will work (keep in mind that will be much slower than when actually installed). A lot of things that don't work right out of the box can often be made to work with some tweaking or substitution.

 

Also keep in mind that, even if a distro (such as Mint Cinnamon) looks similar to Windows, Linux is nothing like Windows under the hood. You didn't learn how to use Windows right away so why expect to learn Linux right away? You need to forget how most things were done in Windows and relearn how to do it in Linux. You have to be patient. When you run into a snag, look for solutions on the "interwebz" (Youtube is a good place to start) and, failing there, ask for help on a Linux forum (the Linux Mint website has an excellent forum, btw). Just don't go to a forum with a chip on your shoulder, putting down Linux, and expect to get any help. Just say I ran into this problem and I can't find any information on how to deal with it. Don't say something like, I can't get something to work on this piece of crap Linux installation (like you posted here). If you get any responses at all, they will be just as nasty as yours.

32 bit bios only like my z3735f laptop, bios is only 32 bit , pain in the ass whith this guide.

 

https://rk.edu.pl/en/how-cool-lenovo-flex-10-netbook-and-how-install-linux-32-bit-uefi-system/#8

 

aniway, i strugle so bad with linux back then blame on linux but i using it everyday. in my home pcs, days of try and error , it was funny. im using it for source engine games after all.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

The only downside with using something like Ubuntu or Mint is the outdated packages and drivers. This is where distro's like Manjaro and Arch really shine. In Ubuntu's defense however, they are more targeted towards business and stability than offering the latest and greatest. It does however put distros that are based on Ubuntu at a disadvantage. But this all comes down to your needs.

 

If your on a Ryzen CPU TKG's kernels provide some improvements as well in Gaming, one example for me is ARK through Proton. I can only play it on linux-tkg-pds-zen2 or I get a out of memory error.

Valves Mesa Aco build is also a great performance improvement in gaming. If your on a Arch based distro the chaotic-aur is a good source for these.

If steam fixes it's recent compatibility issue with llvm 10 it helps a lot with some stuttering in games.

 

I rarely pull out the terminal for anything, but I use Manjaro KDE which provides most of what I need, some exceptions are setting freesync, running a update with pacman because pamac didn't like something, adding the chaotic-aur, and fixing fstab after a mount no longer had execute permissions for some reason. There are applications out there however that can handle most of what you probably need to do in the terminal, you just need to figure out what you need, some Distros that ship with certain desktop environments provide most of what you should need out of the box, while some are kept fairly minimal.

 

As far as Manjaro breaking, I've never had an issue. Manjaro's testing packages come from Arch Stable and are usually tested before it hits its users. Not to say it wont happen, but it could possibly happen on any distro.

 

For Battleye, I believe battleye and Easy Anticheat have added in most of the fixes it needs and we are just waiting on Wine to merge some additional fixes and proton to move to Wine 5. Some of these fixes should also fix a lot of DRM games. But, we will have to wait and see.

 

There is a lot of Linux Software that can replace Windows Software, sometimes offering even more functionality, but with the possibility of over complicating it or requiring additional plugins / scripts. Downside is finding it and learning how to use it. It's a learning curve that I am sure not everyone wants to take.

 

Another thing to always keep in mind to. If you are gaming on Linux, AMD has the upper hand due to its open-source nature on Linux, Nvidia may provide a more powerful card, but will miss out on improvements such as Valves ACO Compiler.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

I have to say, Linux quality will depend heavily on the distro you using. So far fedora Linux and Ubuntu are the most smooth experiences so far. 

Sudo make me a sandwich 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

I have an Asus prebuilt machine I'm on now, it was my Dad's old computer before he passed, when I build my next computer I kinda feel I'm just gonna go Asus... dad always said they were the best, just had to go through like 5 gigabyte broads to figure that out for myself.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now

×