OS Dilemma

[trackstar_160]

I am finishing a new build and am deliberating between going with Windows 10 (I've grown up using Windows, so way more familiar with it.) or Pop_OS (After watching some videos on various Linux OS/Distros and narrowing the choice down to one that felt like a better fit for me based off what I found.). The PC will mainly be for gaming, watching videos/YouTube, and being on the net. Is there a way to decide between the two OS? I shy away from going with Windows due to everything that seems to be happening with updates recently. Is that really a concern? Would it be easier to stick with a more familiar OS? (Though I am ready to branch out and try a new OS and become more knowledgeable with other aspects of technology. [In this case, namely new OS's.])

[XAIXER]

Star with Windows and virtualize whatver distro you want to try.

[Radium_Angel]

23 minutes ago, trackstar_160 said:

I am finishing a new build and am deliberating between going with Windows 10 (I've grown up using Windows, so way more familiar with it.) or Pop_OS (After watching some videos on various Linux OS/Distros and narrowing the choice down to one that felt like a better fit for me based off what I found.). The PC will mainly be for gaming, watching videos/YouTube, and being on the net. Is there a way to decide between the two OS? I shy away from going with Windows due to everything that seems to be happening with updates recently. Is that really a concern? Would it be easier to stick with a more familiar OS? (Though I am ready to branch out and try a new OS and become more knowledgeable with other aspects of technology. [In this case, namely new OS's.])

Gaming can be tricky under non-windows OS. In STeam's case, Proton helps a great deal (though not 100 percent) with allowing you to play windows games under linux, and it works well, when it works.

 

Epic store, and others, well you are on your own there.

What games do you play?

[trackstar_160]

On 10/3/2020 at 8:33 PM, Radium_Angel said:

Gaming can be tricky under non-windows OS. In STeam's case, Proton helps a great deal (though not 100 percent) with allowing you to play windows games under linux, and it works well, when it works.

 

Epic store, and others, well you are on your own there.

What games do you play?

ES5 Skyrim; HoMM 3, 5; Zoo Tycoon; Roller Coaster Tycoon; Settlers 3, 5, 6; . . . . . I am sure there are others. Haha. I do have a Steam account. (Not current with the Epic Store or the Humble Bundle.)

[Radium_Angel]

2 minutes ago, trackstar_160 said:

ES5 Skyrim; HoMM 3, 5; Zoo Tycoon; Roller Coaster Tycoon; Settlers 3, 5, 6; . . . . . I am sure there are others. Haha. I do have a Steam account. (Not current with the Epic Store or the Humble Bundle.)

If those games are not run under Steam (i.e you bought them as stand-alone games) then you *might* try WINE, or Lutris, but IME, they have sucked rather badly.

 

I *believe* you can throw a game on Steam that wasn't originally bought there, and have it run under Proton, but I cannot confirm, this as I'm not much of a gamer.

If you are interested in Pop_OS, I'd consider dual booting, running it under a VM will *not* give you a good gaming experience.

 

[Dat Guy]

On 10/4/2020 at 4:08 AM, trackstar_160 said:

The PC will mainly be for gaming

Windows is your best option.

[Worstcaster]

You can check this site to see how your games work under proton and what people had to do to get them going.  https://www.protondb.com/ For single player games Linux is pretty good, but for multiplayer things like easy anticheat and denuvo tend to cause problems.

 

I would say try Linux first.  It is free, so you have nothing to lose.  If you try it and don't like it, then just switch back to Windows.  If their is something you find you don't like with POP OS, for example the desktop environment, try changing and customizing it first before you try another distro.  Doing that will give you a better experience, because you will learn more about what you can do with LInux and you won't find yourself missing "that one default feature" that your distro doesn't have but another does, just to miss another one.

 

The Linux community can be pretty good, if you try googling the answer first and can't find it.  Besides the forums at LTT, here are some other useful resources.

 

Ubuntu Community: https://ubuntu.com/community

Mint Forums: https://forums.linuxmint.com/index.php?sid=bb50d7f542ac77082ada94818aab3833

Level One Techs: https://forum.level1techs.com/

Chris Titus Tech: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCg6gPGh8HU2U01vaFCAsvmQ

Steam for Linux: https://steamcommunity.com/app/221410/discussions/

Basic Linux Commands for Benginners: https://maker.pro/linux/tutorial/basic-linux-commands-for-beginners

Lethal Linux Commands Never to Run (for the occasional troll in the forums): https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/9-lethal-linux-commands-never-run/

[sezir]

I would agree with Worstcater, try PopOS, if it doesn't work go back to windows.
 

If you are interested in linux, and PopOS isn't meeting your gaming needs, you can also dual boot, there is a good guide for that here: https://support.system76.com/articles/dual-booting/

This will give you the option to decide what you want everytime you boot, in the era of SSD's I think this can be preferable to Virtualization because it has no performance impact.

Linux does have a learning curve, and Pop is no different, so make sure you give yourself the time to figure out the stuff that is different.

[Dyaets]

If you are already familiar with Windows, continue with it. 

[azblurbit]

If you're not really familiar with linux already I would avoid going with it on your main device. Gaming on linux, even with Proton, isn't quite there. It's GREAT and better than ever. But still not there. Go with Windows if you game and that's what you're familiar with.

 

There have been some weird things happening occasionally with Windows 10 updates but I've never run into them, no one I know has run into them, and I've never run into them at work. That's completely anecdotal but I feel like it's enough to show that it's not a big deal.

 

If you want to get into linux more just download VirtualBox and import a distro into there. It's a really easy way to familiarize yourself with it and maybe by the time you're proficient with linux, gaming will be a much better experience.

[Sandro Linux]

I suggest you use Linux and if you need Windows use virtualbox