Recommendation on how to make the switch from Windows and game on Linux?

[PorcelainRabbit]

I'm looking to make the switch from Windows 10 to any recommended distro of Linux that is viable as a gaming platform. Though at the same time, I'm willing to wait if it isn't considered "viable" just yet.

 

I know about Wine, but I'm not very familiar with actually using it. Though I also don't know if that's the route to go. I've tried looking around online, and so far I haven't been able to find a "recent" information dump. As the ones that I could find were nearing a year old. 

 

Overall I don't really know where to start, and I don't even know if now is the time to make the switch. I just can't get over the bloatware and the lack of ability to change/personalize the Windows experience.

 

Thanks in advance!

[Binus Bech Bips000000000]

3 minutes ago, PorcelainRabbit said:

I'm looking to make the switch from Windows 10 to any recommended distro of Linux that is viable as a gaming platform. Though at the same time, I'm willing to wait if it isn't considered "viable" just yet.

 

I know about Wine, but I'm not very familiar with actually using it. Though I also don't know if that's the route to go. I've tried looking around online, and so far I haven't been able to find a "recent" information dump. As the ones that I could find were nearing a year old. 

 

Overall I don't really know where to start, and I don't even know if now is the time to make the switch. I just can't get over the bloatware and the lack of ability to change/personalize the Windows experience.

 

Thanks in advance!

I honestly wouldn’t recommend gaming on Linux, as most version are somewhat poorly optimized for gaming. Gaming is getting better on Linux but I wouldn’t recommend it at all.

[Mo5]

to keep it short... going with something mainstream like ubuntu and running games through steam's proton is probably the easiest way right now

[Turtle Rig]

2 minutes ago, PorcelainRabbit said:

I'm looking to make the switch from Windows 10 to any recommended distro of Linux that is viable as a gaming platform. Though at the same time, I'm willing to wait if it isn't considered "viable" just yet.

 

I know about Wine, but I'm not very familiar with actually using it. Though I also don't know if that's the route to go. I've tried looking around online, and so far I haven't been able to find a "recent" information dump. As the ones that I could find were nearing a year old. 

 

Overall I don't really know where to start, and I don't even know if now is the time to make the switch. I just can't get over the bloatware and the lack of ability to change/personalize the Windows experience.

 

Thanks in advance!

Ive tried 5 Linux Distros and none can play games, you can forget about it.  You will have to do dual boot or VMware to go from Linux to Windows.  The only games that will work on Linux are Unreal Tournament for Linux but its alpha and they stopped working on it since their cash cow is Fortnite.  So in conclusion, its not gonna happen, and don't get yoru hopes up at all.  Only games made for Linux will work,, Period!

[PorcelainRabbit]

Just now, Binus Bech Bips000000000 said:

I honestly wouldn’t recommend gaming on Linux, as most version are somewhat poorly optimized for gaming. Gaming is getting better on Linux but I wouldn’t recommend it at all.

 

Just now, Mo5 said:

to keep it short... going with something mainstream like ubuntu and running games through steam's proton is probably the easiest way right now

 

Just now, Turtle Rig said:

Ive tried 5 Linux Distros and none can play games, you can forget about it.  You will have to do dual boot or VMware to go from Linux to Windows.  The only games that will work on Linux are Unreal Tournament for Linux but its alpha and they stopped working on it since their cash cow is Fortnite.  So in conclusion, its not gonna happen, and don't get yoru hopes up at all.  Only games made for Linux will work,, Period!

So I guess the consensus is that Linux still isn't there. I guess just crossing my fingers that something changes soon, as I despise Windows at this point.

[Mo5]

1 minute ago, PorcelainRabbit said:

 

 

So I guess the consensus is that Linux still isn't there. I guess just crossing my fingers that something changes soon, as I despise Windows at this point.

there are plenty people gaming just happily on linux and the situation keeps improving with each passing day so it could very well be a viable option but you need to check https://www.protondb.com/ to see how well your games are supported and some other minor things like setting up gpu drivers properly (which afaik is much smoother if you have AMD)

[PorcelainRabbit]

19 minutes ago, Mo5 said:

there are plenty people gaming just happily on linux and the situation keeps improving with each passing day so it could very well be a viable option but you need to check https://www.protondb.com/ to see how well your games are supported and some other minor things like setting up gpu drivers properly (which afaik is much smoother if you have AMD)

Well, that site makes me feel like it's a little bit more promising. I'll probably just make a partition and dual boot my system to give it a shot.

[LukeLinusFanFic]

It's okay if you want it to be okay. I just don't think Linux is that great for most people. 

[PorcelainRabbit]

28 minutes ago, Mo5 said:

there are plenty people gaming just happily on linux and the situation keeps improving with each passing day so it could very well be a viable option but you need to check https://www.protondb.com/ to see how well your games are supported and some other minor things like setting up gpu drivers properly (which afaik is much smoother if you have AMD)

The primary game that isn't on there is League of Legends. Do you know if that runs half decently? I've seen a couple of installation methods when googling, but they're not "recent"

[Mo5]

13 minutes ago, PorcelainRabbit said:

The primary game that isn't on there is League of Legends. Do you know if that runs half decently? I've seen a couple of installation methods when googling, but they're not "recent"

I did find this which is pretty recent so I guess it works...

 

[PorcelainRabbit]

1 minute ago, Mo5 said:

I did find this which is pretty recent so I guess it works...

 

Thanks, though I don't speak Spanish I'll give it a shot. Though it may be Portuguese.

[Mo5]

1 minute ago, PorcelainRabbit said:

Thanks, though I don't speak Spanish I'll give it a shot. Though it may be Portuguese.

I don't either but it was the most recent thing I could find...

[Stefan Payne]

1 hour ago, PorcelainRabbit said:

I'm looking to make the switch from Windows 10 to any recommended distro of Linux that is viable as a gaming platform. Though at the same time, I'm willing to wait if it isn't considered "viable" just yet.

None

If you want to try it, get an empty HDD or better SSD and install it there and tinker around with it. 

250GB or more recommended.

 

As for the Distributions, there are only two I'd recommend:
Ubuntu and Opensuse.

Though I have to say that for more modern Games, there is hardly any way around Ubuntu.

 

I'm using Tumbleweed as a "Gaming Linux" because it has a working PPA for PCSX2. The one listed for Ubuntu (derivates) don't work for whatever reason...

 

 

1 hour ago, Turtle Rig said:

Ive tried 5 Linux Distros and none can play games, you can forget about it. 

I disagree.

But only slightly.

You can game some games on Linux pretty well. For example the Tomb Raider ones.

But many games do not.

 

1 hour ago, Turtle Rig said:

You will have to do dual boot or VMware to go from Linux to Windows. 

I agree with that and highly recommend it, if you want to try linux, just dual boot, if possible on a different HDD and use your MoBo Tools (Usually F8) as a Boot Manager...

1 hour ago, Turtle Rig said:

The only games that will work on Linux are Unreal Tournament for Linux but its alpha and they stopped working on it since their cash cow is Fortnite. 

No, there are other "native" Linux games.

But they are not that common....

out of my like 330 Games on Steam I can only use 89.

And the only AAA Games I remember are the first two Tomb Raider ones and a couple other Feral stuff (IIRC Deus Ex had also a Linux port) and the two Metro Games I have...

1 hour ago, Turtle Rig said:

So in conclusion, its not gonna happen, and don't get yoru hopes up at all.  Only games made for Linux will work,, Period!

Well, basically, yeah.
And there are other things as well.

 

In short, Linux is not that good. And the biggest advantage is that you can do your own OS. But the Freedom and configurability is also the biggest disadvantage as Linux lacks Standardization...

[PorcelainRabbit]

4 minutes ago, Stefan Payne said:

None

If you want to try it, get an empty HDD or better SSD and install it there and tinker around with it. 

250GB or more recommended.

 

As for the Distributions, there are only two I'd recommend:
Ubuntu and Opensuse.

Though I have to say that for more modern Games, there is hardly any way around Ubuntu.

 

I'm using Tumbleweed as a "Gaming Linux" because it has a working PPA for PCSX2. The one listed for Ubuntu (derivates) don't work for whatever reason...

 

 

I disagree.

But only slightly.

You can game some games on Linux pretty well. For example the Tomb Raider ones.

But many games do not.

 

I agree with that and highly recommend it, if you want to try linux, just dual boot, if possible on a different HDD and use your MoBo Tools (Usually F8) as a Boot Manager...

No, there are other "native" Linux games.

But they are not that common....

out of my like 330 Games on Steam I can only use 89.

And the only AAA Games I remember are the first two Tomb Raider ones and a couple other Feral stuff (IIRC Deus Ex had also a Linux port) and the two Metro Games I have...

Well, basically, yeah.
And there are other things as well.

 

In short, Linux is not that good. And the biggest advantage is that you can do your own OS. But the Freedom and configurability is also the biggest disadvantage as Linux lacks Standardization...

My only request then, is can Microsoft stop fucking Windows for power users?

[Turtle Rig]

55 minutes ago, PorcelainRabbit said:

My only request then, is can Microsoft stop fucking Windows for power users?

Nice one Stephan Payne well said.  Nah my friend trust me and this comes from a guy who has used Windows 3.1 DOS, before there was a windows 3.1, Win95 Win98 Win98se Win 2000 , Windows XP Windows 7, Windows Vista and 8.1.  When Windows 10 first came out it was junk I admit it.  But I saw potential.  I mean the fact of the matter is people need to not bitch about the start menu when all you need Classic Start Menu ,, a free tool that gives you back your start menu.  And you can easily switch to the Windows 10 start menu with a click,  its light weight it never given me a problem since 2015 when I first installed it when I got Windows 10 cuz I fukin hated it.  People need to be more educated that there is class start , and millions use it.  google before you moan about how WIndows 10 broke the start menu.   So I was all cumfy then.  Then the reality is in Windows 10 theres many ways to do the same thing.  Once you have your start menu back with that free util,, you are in the drivers seat now.  Also whats cool is in the cortana box you type anything and baaam it comes up, like if I want to open up a application but don't have a icon or on it on the D top,, I just type in a letter or two and baam it finds it and I launch it.  Over the years it has come a long way and Im proud to say right now in one months time WIndows 10 will be the most powerful, most sexy, most used most secure OS of all time.  Period!  Now thank MS for releasing these 6 month major updates... thank them.  Windows 10 1809 build powns but soon well have the new one.  Also get RAM and a good computer,, cuz 10 runs like crap on slower computers or computers with hard disks in them.

[PorcelainRabbit]

18 minutes ago, Turtle Rig said:

Nice one Stephan Payne well said.  Nah my friend trust me and this comes from a guy who has used Windows 3.1 Dos Win95 Win98 Win98se Win 2000 , Windows XP , Windows Vista and 8.1.  When Windows 10 first came out it was junk I admit it.  But I saw potential.  I mean the fact of the matter is people need to not bitch about the start menu when all you need Classic Start Menu ,, a free tool that gives you back your start menu.  And you can easily switch to the Windows 10 start menu with a click,  its light weight it never given me a problem since 2015 when I first installed it when I got Windows 10 cuz I fukin hated it.  People need to be more educated that there is class start , and millions use it.  google before you moan about how WIndows 10 broke the start menu.   So I was all cumfy then.  Then the reality is in Windows 10 theres many ways to do the same thing.  Once you have your start menu back with that free util,, you are in the drivers seat now.  Also whats cool is in the cortana box you type anything and baaam it comes up, like if I want to open up a application but don't have a icon or on it on the D top,, I just type in a letter or two and baam it finds it and I launch it.  Over the years it has come a long way and Im proud to say right now in one months time WIndows 10 will be the most powerful, most sexy, most used most secure OS of all time.  Period!  Now thank MS for releasing these 6 month major updates... thank them instead of going to crappy Linux which has a POS interface , if I want that Ill go use a MAC ,, which uses the Linux kernel.  Windows 10 1809 build powns but soon well have the new one.  Also get RAM and a good computer,, cuz 10 runs like crap on slower computers or computers with hard disks in them.

Nice copypasta

[captain_aggravated]

Okay, here are my recommendations on how to switch from Windows to Linux with a focus on gaming, without outright warning you off.

 

1. Go through your Steam library, look at the games that are most important to you, look at their store pages at where the Windows and Apple icons appear.  If there's also a Steam logo there, it'll be Linux compatible.  In my case, it just so happened that basically all of my games lined up with Linux availability.  Climbing up onto a soapbox for a minute, many of the games that aren't available for Linux are made by the same developers that have major controversies surrounding lootboxes, predatory pricing schemes, or workers rights, the sort of studios that I don't want to support anyway, so it's no loss to me.  *steps down off of soapbox* If you really are all about Ubisoft, EA and their ilk, you will be required to do some l33t hax0rzing, but with Valve's big push with things like SteamOS and Vulkan, it's coming right along.
2. Start familiarizing yourself with Linux.  Run it in a VM, install it on alternate hardware, get a Raspberry Pi, something.  Do some of your "normal" daily tasks on a Linux machine, browse Reddit, edit Office documents, do what you do.  Get used to the different file system, the UI.  Do some stuff in the terminal.  Get into the swing of owning and maintaining a Linux system.  It is different.
3. Take a good, critical look at your hardware and assess its Linux viability.  The big sticking point these days is graphics drivers, particularly on laptops, and it's not usually the GPUs/drivers themselves, it's the donkey-fisting multiplexers.  On laptops, you usually have one, maybe two outputs for video, they're physically attached to the CPU.  There has to be some way of switching the outputs to the GPU or passing graphics back through the CPU and then to the IO.  This is has been implemented 9 ways from Sunday depending on the brand and age of your GPU, and none of them are confidence inspiring.  Switchable hybrid graphics is something I've wholly abandoned as "has never, and will never be worth it" like construction adhesives, politics, hydrogen fuel cells and marriage.  A desktop system where the graphics card has it's very own outputs is where it's at, though I'll also note I'm astonished what Intel Integrated graphics can accomplish.
4. sudo apt install steam.  See how it works.

There is a guy on Youtube, channel name DistroTube, who has posited that Linux gaming is on life support, and that life support is Steam.  Few others want to support it, with one developer listing the hierarchy of revenue from most to least is Windows, Android, iOS, MacOS, interest from various bank accounts, and then Linux sales.  There's a sort of Catch 22 with Linux systems here:  No one uses Linux because there aren't many games and the graphics drivers suck, so devs don't develop games and drivers for Linux, etc.  What I'm seeing is a LOT of people going "Hey, you know, Windows is doing things I really don't like, I'd really like to abandon it for another system, what about Linux?"  And then getting warned off because it's not quite there yet.  Well, the more Linux market share grows, the more incentive hardware manufacturers, software developers and game studios will have to support it.  I won't represent Linux gaming as perfect or even just as good, but hell, give it a try anyway.

[Sauron]

Honestly, if all you want it for is to play games, just stick to Windows. Forced updates, spyware, whatever - none of that matters if all you do is turn it on and play games.

If you do anything else, then you should at least try Linux to see how you like it for those other things; if you find you prefer it to Windows you can start looking for ways to run your favorite games on it. Wine is a bit of a pain to use, but thankfully there are plenty of wrappers to make the process easier and Steam itself now ships with its own customized version of Wine and DXVK to make the experience as seamless as possible - many games will pretty much just work now, which is a lot better than it used to be just a couple of years ago. Other launchers and stores may require a bit more fiddling. Performance is a bit more of a hit or miss situation; in many cases it will be comparable to Windows, but the graphics drivers are generally not as good (except for Intel drivers, those are basically perfect) and some compositors might mess with your games. If you have a good graphics card performance will be at least acceptable in most cases, it may just be a bit lower than on Windows.

 

As for picking a distro, any major distro will do - for a beginner I'd recommend an Ubuntu flavor or derivative (specifically Ubuntu MATE), but you can pick whatever you want as long as you can run Steam on it. I would avoid gnome distros because by default many settings are hidden and if you get performance issues it may be a nightmare to diagnose them.

10 hours ago, captain_aggravated said:

Few others want to support it, with one developer listing the hierarchy of revenue from most to least is Windows, Android, iOS, MacOS, interest from various bank accounts, and then Linux sales.  There's a sort of Catch 22 with Linux systems here:  No one uses Linux because there aren't many games and the graphics drivers suck, so devs don't develop games and drivers for Linux, etc.  What I'm seeing is a LOT of people going "Hey, you know, Windows is doing things I really don't like, I'd really like to abandon it for another system, what about Linux?"  And then getting warned off because it's not quite there yet.  Well, the more Linux market share grows, the more incentive hardware manufacturers, software developers and game studios will have to support it.  I won't represent Linux gaming as perfect or even just as good, but hell, give it a try anyway.

In my opinion marketing Linux as a game platform is a bad idea. It's one of the things that Linux does worst and by pushing that as a "selling" point you'll just get a bunch of disappointed users who won't consider it again for a long time. If we want Linux to become more mainstream we need to push it based on its strengths and gain a user base that way - if it becomes significant on the desktop, games will eventually follow. MacOS was never marketed as a game system and yet it has a decent market share - if it weren't tied to Macs there would probably be a lot more games for it.

[captain_aggravated]

2 minutes ago, Sauron said:

In my opinion marketing Linux as a game platform is a bad idea. It's one of the things that Linux does worst and by pushing that as a "selling" point you'll just get a bunch of disappointed users who won't consider it again for a long time. If we want Linux to become more mainstream we need to push it based on its strengths and gain a user base that way - if it becomes significant on the desktop, games will eventually follow. MacOS was never marketed as a game system and yet it has a decent market share - if it weren't tied to Macs there would probably be a lot more games for it.

 

Desktop Linux does very few things truly well.  The real killer PC apps, 3D CAD, the Adobe creative suite, and gaming, largely don't support Linux.  Basic desktop stuff like web browsing, email, Youtube, and Office work great in Linux, so the people with next to no computer needs would be well served in Linux.  And many of them are...via ChromeOS.  The rest won't bother uninstalling Windows.  Creative or engineering power users really and truly are stuck, because GIMP, kdenlive and FreeCAD are not worthy replacements for Photoshop, Premiere and Solidworks, and they never will be.  Linux is a viable programming and electronics engineering platform, what with all the Unix.

 

Gaming is the one place where I see the market share actually start to increase.  Unlike other segments, there's a major corporation pushing for improvements in Linux.  Valve has been working hard on it and they've got a lot done.  Also, gamers are capable of playing Hitman instead of Assassin's Creed.  That's a thing that reality contains.  I would suggest representing the Linux experience as worthy for those with the early adopter spirit.  Otherwise we might as well go ahead and burn it down now because no one wants to improve it anywhere else.

[Sauron]

6 minutes ago, captain_aggravated said:

Desktop Linux does very few things truly well.

I would disagree on that, and aside from specific "types" of work the main difference is in the workflow. Take programming (which you mentioned); programmers mostly edit a bunch of text, run compilers/interpreters/debuggers, use libraries. Doing that in Linux is much, much simpler and more sane than it is on Windows, but not because the text editors or the debuggers are better. It's rather because interfacing with the system is easier and much less painful.

 

Web browsing doesn't benefit from Linux in the same way, after all a browser is a browser, but even just updating them is a much better experience than on Windows. You can also just assign a keyboard shortcut to open your browser (or anything else), which is a comparative nightmare to do on Windows despite being such a simple concept.

 

Linux does the whole "being an operating system" thing better than Windows while Windows' advantage is in compatibility.

 

Other than that, Gimp may be no Photoshop, but we're ignoring the elephant in the room - a Photoshop license is incredibly expensive (even the subscription model amounts to quite a bit of money compared to Gimp's $0.00 price tag) and only professional artists/designers actually use the extra features. I use Gimp and Krita on my Windows computer, I have no reason to buy anything else.

 

The one productivity software people actually buy for home use is MS Office, which is not available on Linux - that's a fair concern if you really need Excel. With that said, I would argue WYSIWIG word processors are the devil...  but that is an argument for another time.

24 minutes ago, captain_aggravated said:

I would suggest representing the Linux experience as worthy for those with the early adopter spirit.  Otherwise we might as well go ahead and burn it down now because no one wants to improve it anywhere else.

I don't know, early adopters are usually attracted by some killer feature for which they're willing to sacrifice some ease of use or pay more... I don't see that in Linux when it comes to games.

 

Linux on the desktop has been steadily growing (and improving) since the early '90s - unfortunately, it's not going to jump from 3% to 20% overnight. It takes some patience. Trying to force it by marketing it as something it's not can only be harmful in my opinion.

[captain_aggravated]

2 hours ago, Sauron said:

 

Linux on the desktop has been steadily growing (and improving) since the early '90s - unfortunately, it's not going to jump from 3% to 20% overnight. It takes some patience. Trying to force it by marketing it as something it's not can only be harmful in my opinion.

Well look, my general MO is to say "try it, see if it'll work for you, if it doesn't, fine, use Windows, if it does, use Linux."  Doing nothing but steering people away ain't going to help anything.

[PorcelainRabbit]

4 hours ago, Sauron said:

I would disagree on that, and aside from specific "types" of work the main difference is in the workflow. Take programming (which you mentioned); programmers mostly edit a bunch of text, run compilers/interpreters/debuggers, use libraries. Doing that in Linux is much, much simpler and more sane than it is on Windows, but not because the text editors or the debuggers are better. It's rather because interfacing with the system is easier and much less painful.

 

Web browsing doesn't benefit from Linux in the same way, after all a browser is a browser, but even just updating them is a much better experience than on Windows. You can also just assign a keyboard shortcut to open your browser (or anything else), which is a comparative nightmare to do on Windows despite being such a simple concept.

 

Linux does the whole "being an operating system" thing better than Windows while Windows' advantage is in compatibility.

 

Other than that, Gimp may be no Photoshop, but we're ignoring the elephant in the room - a Photoshop license is incredibly expensive (even the subscription model amounts to quite a bit of money compared to Gimp's $0.00 price tag) and only professional artists/designers actually use the extra features. I use Gimp and Krita on my Windows computer, I have no reason to buy anything else.

 

The one productivity software people actually buy for home use is MS Office, which is not available on Linux - that's a fair concern if you really need Excel. With that said, I would argue WYSIWIG word processors are the devil...  but that is an argument for another time.

I don't know, early adopters are usually attracted by some killer feature for which they're willing to sacrifice some ease of use or pay more... I don't see that in Linux when it comes to games.

  

Linux on the desktop has been steadily growing (and improving) since the early '90s - unfortunately, it's not going to jump from 3% to 20% overnight. It takes some patience. Trying to force it by marketing it as something it's not can only be harmful in my opinion.

 

2 hours ago, captain_aggravated said:

Well look, my general MO is to say "try it, see if it'll work for you, if it doesn't, fine, use Windows, if it does, use Linux."  Doing nothing but steering people away ain't going to help anything.

I wanna say thanks for all of the info, and suggestions. I think that I'm gonna stick with my previous idea of dual booting Linux and Windows. Though I think that I'm going to see if I can do a super chopped version of Windows that can remove all the bloatware and whatnot using some of the Pro features. IE a mixture of Powershell and GPedit. Though in the process I also get to deal with Microsoft with my borked license, that is all the sudden "not activated". (Though that's not the reason why I wanna switch, more just a sidenote of not wanting to deal with Microsoft.)

 

Though, I've actually done that before, where I've removed all of the bloatware, and it still has somehow found its way back onto my PC if anyone knows the reason why that happened.

[wasab]

On 3/11/2019 at 10:08 PM, PorcelainRabbit said:

I'm looking to make the switch from Windows 10 to any recommended distro of Linux that is viable as a gaming platform. Though at the same time, I'm willing to wait if it isn't considered "viable" just yet.

 

I know about Wine, but I'm not very familiar with actually using it. Though I also don't know if that's the route to go. I've tried looking around online, and so far I haven't been able to find a "recent" information dump. As the ones that I could find were nearing a year old. 

 

Overall I don't really know where to start, and I don't even know if now is the time to make the switch. I just can't get over the bloatware and the lack of ability to change/personalize the Windows experience.

 

Thanks in advance!

Just stick to steam for games. Maybe also browse GoG.com Linux section. 

 

There are way too many native games on Linux for you to run out of games to play anyways. 

[wasab]

On 3/11/2019 at 10:13 PM, Binus Bech Bips000000000 said:

I honestly wouldn’t recommend gaming on Linux, as most version are somewhat poorly optimized for gaming. Gaming is getting better on Linux but I wouldn’t recommend it at all.

That is woefully wrong. 

[wasab]

On 3/11/2019 at 10:13 PM, Mo5 said:

to keep it short... going with something mainstream like ubuntu and running games through steam's proton is probably the easiest way right now

No, native is the easiest.