Help me make a decision

[Jerm1990]

I'm gonna start off by saying I know this has been asked 1000 times, please dont beat me over the head lol. Long story short I'm fed up with windows and looking to switch to linux for my gaming pc. Ive done some looking around and it looks like the best kernels are Pop!_os  and manjaro. My question is witch do you recommend? I'm running a i5 4690k, gtx 980 ti, 16gb ddr3 if that matters. I've also seen where some people say NVIDIA drivers have issues in linux?  

[TheBean]

14 minutes ago, Jerm1990 said:

I've also seen where some people say NVIDIA drivers have issues in linux?  

mostly true. installing the drivers for nvidia products is kinda hard on linux so many people use popos since you can download it with the drivers for nvidia preinstalled. the issue is slowly getting better, but really slowly. 

[Giganthrax]

Any of the mainstream distros will do. Ubuntu flavors, Mint flavors, PopOS, etc.

 

Setting up nvidia drivers is super easy on Ubuntu and Mint as you literally have an app called "Additional Drivers" where you can pick between proprietary Nvidia driver and an open source one. 

 

That being said, I suggest you don't get rid of Windows just yet. Instead, install Linux on another drive and dual boot them for awhile. Gaming is pretty janky on Linux, so you may regret it if you don't have Windows when you need it. 

[Jerm1990]

16 minutes ago, Giganthrax said:

That being said, I suggest you don't get rid of Windows just yet. Instead, install Linux on another drive and dual boot them for awhile. Gaming is pretty janky on Linux, so you may regret it if you don't have Windows when you need it. 

Yeah that's why I've been hesitant to switch but windows forcing updates down your throat every other week and the last update broke something because I've had windows modules installer running ever sense that update. Ive read that it has something to do with updates and tried every "fix" i could find short of reinstalling windows, if thats what its going to take to fix this crap I'm just goin to switch to something else

[Alexeygridnev1993]

3 hours ago, Jerm1990 said:

Yeah that's why I've been hesitant to switch but windows forcing updates down your throat every other week and the last update broke something because I've had windows modules installer running ever sense that update. Ive read that it has something to do with updates and tried every "fix" i could find short of reinstalling windows, if thats what its going to take to fix this crap I'm just goin to switch to something else

Give Linux a try, but have the right expectations. Not all games will work (Steam Deck will definitely push more and more games to be compatible with Proton or to be ported natively, but there will be holdouts). MS Office won't work, so, your options are Office 365 online, Google Docs, or Libreoffice. Photoshop won't work, you'll have to switch to Gimp or Krita. Same with Premiere, the best you can do on Linux is DaVinci Resolve. At some point, you'll likely have to use the terminal and you need to at least not freak out because of that.

 

If none of the above is a dealbreaker for you, then welcome! Just install it as a dual boot and give it a try.

[Giganthrax]

5 hours ago, Jerm1990 said:

Yeah that's why I've been hesitant to switch but windows forcing updates down your throat every other week and the last update broke something because I've had windows modules installer running ever sense that update. Ive read that it has something to do with updates and tried every "fix" i could find short of reinstalling windows, if thats what its going to take to fix this crap I'm just goin to switch to something else

Keep in mind that Linux distros get updates all the time as well and in my experience they tend to be a lot buggier than Win10. Linux Mint gets major updates that actually urge you to back up your system before installing them due to the risk of something breaking being pretty high.

 

I'm not telling you this to put you off Linux but rather to help you temper your expectations. Linux is great but it has a significant learning curve and it takes a long time before you can master it to the point where you're able to ensure flawless operation.

[Alexeygridnev1993]

7 hours ago, Giganthrax said:

Keep in mind that Linux distros get updates all the time as well and in my experience they tend to be a lot buggier than Win10. Linux Mint gets major updates that actually urge you to back up your system before installing them due to the risk of something breaking being pretty high.

 

I'm not telling you this to put you off Linux but rather to help you temper your expectations. Linux is great but it has a significant learning curve and it takes a long time before you can master it to the point where you're able to ensure flawless operation.

Surprised to hear that! Did you do simple "upgrade" or "full-upgrade"?

[Giganthrax]

12 hours ago, Alexeygridnev1993 said:

Surprised to hear that! Did you do simple "upgrade" or "full-upgrade"?

It's a feature update to the next Linux Mint version. It literally comes with a step-by-step guide on how to install it that requires me to backup my system. I didn't install it because I use my laptop for work and don't need this update. Still, it's something inexperienced users need to keep in mind to keep from accidentaly wrecking their OS. 

 

 

[Alexeygridnev1993]

30 minutes ago, Giganthrax said:

It's a feature update to the next Linux Mint version. It literally comes with a step-by-step guide on how to install it that requires me to backup my system. I didn't install it because I use my laptop for work and don't need this update. Still, it's something inexperienced users need to keep in mind to keep from accidentaly wrecking their OS. 

 

 

Oh, I see. Luckily, it's not really necessary as long as your distro is officially supported, and, in case of Ubuntu LTS and its derivatives the official support is 5 years.

[Jerm1990]

So I went for PoP!_OS. I'm trying install grub but for whatever reason it just boots strait to PoP it doesnt give me the grub menu. Any ideas? Is there any other dual boot software thats more strait forward than grub?

[AlanyG21]

On 8/9/2021 at 12:22 PM, Jerm1990 said:

I'm gonna start off by saying I know this has been asked 1000 times, please dont beat me over the head lol. Long story short I'm fed up with windows and looking to switch to linux for my gaming pc. Ive done some looking around and it looks like the best kernels are Pop!_os  and manjaro. My question is witch do you recommend? I'm running a i5 4690k, gtx 980 ti, 16gb ddr3 if that matters. I've also seen where some people say NVIDIA drivers have issues in linux?  

I recommend you use Zorin OS 16 Core (Either the Beta or wait for it to be officially completed)

Why? Because you will be with updates for quite some time (It is based on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS) and has compatibility with many applications, games and extra weas

What I think you could have problems with are games that have Anti-Cheats such as EAC and BattleEye (That is the reason why games like Rainbow Six Siege, Apex Legends and Fortnite cannot be played.)

I recommend you check ProtonDB to check compatibility with the games you want to play

[Giganthrax]

6 hours ago, Jerm1990 said:

So I went for PoP!_OS. I'm trying install grub but for whatever reason it just boots strait to PoP it doesnt give me the grub menu. Any ideas? Is there any other dual boot software thats more strait forward than grub?

It probably boots into the live usb version of PoP which is designed to let you try it out before installing. There should be an INSTALL POPOS icon on the desktop or somewhere on the menu which starts the installation.

 

At least thats how it works with every other distro I tried.

[ZFSinmylungs]

"I'm gonna start off by saying I know this has been asked 1000 times, please dont beat me over the head lol. Long story short I'm fed up with windows and looking to switch to linux for my gaming pc. Ive done some looking around and it looks like the best kernels are Pop!_os and manjaro. My question is witch do you recommend? I'm running a i5 4690k, gtx 980 ti, 16gb ddr3 if that matters. I've also seen where some people say NVIDIA drivers have issues in linux? "

I am dead.
I didn't know there's a Manjaro kernel.... PHAHAHA just kidding it's okay you are new, God knows I made ultimately dumb mistakes - mistakes one cannot recover from, even in 100 years, such as piping an entire list of files into `rm` which, if you did not know - reeemooooves theeem.. HAH.

But yeah - so what if this question is asked for a 1000th time? - At least you'll be up-to-date ;).
Yeah.. Windows likes to feed you stuff, even if you want your mouth shut lmao.
Gaming gaming.. please not that not all games are compatible with Linux nor can be made to run. That being said - lots of games do run, again - those with an anti-cheat ..... bad luck mate.. but I did hear something about someone getting the anti-cheats to work? I am not sure, I believe it might be Steam? :/

Now a bit more technical stuff so you don't talk funny again: Linux is one of the kernels available for dozens and dozens of distributions. There's also Linux Hardened, Linux Zen, Linux-LTS and so on.. basically variants of the one and ONLY kernel - Linux. Distributions are made my adding the kernel with a shit-ton of GNU aka GPL-d (GPL is a license) software utilities that run and/or help run that same system. While anyone can contribute to both the Linux code and to some GNU utility - GNU utilities are far easier to program, or so I would thought - not 55+ million lines of code haha. So yeah - the userland of GNU is much bigger. So - I call Linux distributions - GNU+Linux, because that is what they are - the combination of both - neither would work (well) on it's own.

Hmmm I believe that NVIDIA did release some open-source drivers (not sure if it's GPL-d though) that have like less performance and I believe that are prone to bugs?
Because again - the more you spy on people the better right? haha yeah there's like an close-source drivers or so called "non-free drivers" by the Manjaro installer, because they do not give you GPL freedoms over the software and they restrict your rights.


So final note:
I'd try installing Manjaro with free drivers (non-spyware) as it's the GNU+Linux normal.. and if you cannot - try the non-free drivers, and see if that works instead :)
Steam is compatible with Proton, which makes many games work, you can find the compatibility list at https://protondb.com/ .

[Alexeygridnev1993]

On 8/12/2021 at 11:50 AM, ZFSinmylungs said:

So - I call Linux distributions - GNU+Linux, because that is what they are - the combination of both - neither would work (well) on it's own.

Alpine Linux is not using any GNU tools. Neither does Android. It is entirely possible to even replace GCC with Clang for compiling all that. So, that 25-years old "GNU + Linux" nonsense is even factually incorrect.

 

On 8/12/2021 at 11:50 AM, ZFSinmylungs said:

Hmmm I believe that NVIDIA did release some open-source drivers

Unfortunately, not. The Nouveau drivers are GPL-d, but not endorsed or supported by Nvidia in any way, it's straight up reverse engineering.

 

On 8/12/2021 at 11:50 AM, ZFSinmylungs said:

GNU aka GPL-d

You can use GPL license without any relation to GNU project. There are tons of GPL-licensed software written exclusively for Windows or MacOS. By the way, that doesn't make Windows "GNU + Windows" or MacOS "GNU + MacOS"

[ZFSinmylungs]

@Alexeygridnev1993
"Alpine Linux is not using any GNU tools. Neither does Android. It is entirely possible to even replace GCC with Clang for compiling all that. So, that 25-years old "GNU + Linux" nonsense is even factually incorrect."

Interesting... I am sorry if that's true... because that is so sad.
I wanted to try out Alpine Linux.. sure I'll do a bit more research on the matter, but damn.

" Unfortunately, not. The Nouveau drivers are GPL-d, but not endorsed or supported by Nvidia in any way, it's straight up reverse engineering. "
I see. I understand :d fuck NVIDIA I never bought nor will buy their anything.

"You can use GPL license without any relation to GNU project. There are tons of GPL-licensed software written exclusively for Windows or MacOS. By the way, that doesn't make Windows "GNU + Windows" or MacOS "GNU + MacOS""
I know I can xD I wrote some stuff and GPL-d it. But I do consider myself, in the merit of the GNU project :).
I know that doesn't make it GNU+Windows in your sense, you dumbass! But when you do look at it - you would be using GNU+Windows - using both GNU software and Windows software soo you're kinda wrong there if you think about it hmm :/
What I meant as in GNU+Linux is Linux itself using some GNU utilities, which would be GNU+Linux.

[Jerm1990]

Thanks for all the input guys! So far Ive got Pop!_os installed, figured out the dual boot problem I was having, and got my video card drivers working (I think anyway). So time for another question, I've got my steam library on 3 different NTFS hdds.... and now I'm finding out that its a PIA to get read and wright access on linux for NTFS, So is there some kind of trick to getting Pop!_os to read and wright to my windows 10 drives? Or am I better off buying yet another hdd formatting it with linux and going from there? I've been working on this sense the 9th and still have yet to get any games to launch via steam/proton and I think its because all my games are installed to NTFS hdds

[Guest]

NTFS Partitions are known to be problematic with Linux. It is generally recommended to use a Linux Filesystem with Linux Applications.

Steam is known to be especially problematic with NTFS on Linux.

With that said, we do have a new NTFS Driver coming in the near future, so the situation surrounding compatibility may improve when that lands.

[wasab]

Fedora all the way. 

[Jerm1990]

On 8/25/2021 at 7:39 PM, Nayr438 said:

NTFS Partitions are known to be problematic with Linux. It is generally recommended to use a Linux Filesystem with Linux Applications.

Steam is known to be especially problematic with NTFS on Linux.

With that said, we do have a new NTFS Driver coming in the near future, so the situation surrounding compatibility may improve when that lands.

So I found a guide on youtube on how to use NTFS-3G and finally have games booting on linux!  Now (you'll never guess) I've got another question lol. Ive got some older games I still play and Im trying to add them as a non-steam game and play them through proton, Ive went into the compatibility settings for these games and set it to proton but nothing happens, it sets there loading forever and nothing ever happens. Is there another way to load my old games? Games like command and conquer, red alert, Warcraft orcs and humans, Mech commander, mostly windows 9X/XP stuff. Yeah Im old lol

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Jerm1990 said:

So I found a guide on youtube on how to use NTFS-3G and finally have games booting on linux!

That's the problematic Driver. Just be aware that sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't, on rare occasions Windows will also reject the drive and ask you to format it after it's been used in Linux. This is the driver to be looking forward to https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Paragon-Read-Write-NTFS-Linux

 

1 hour ago, Jerm1990 said:

Ive got some older games I still play and Im trying to add them as a non-steam game and play them through proton, Ive went into the compatibility settings for these games and set it to proton but nothing happens, it sets there loading forever and nothing ever happens. Is there another way to load my old games? Games like command and conquer, red alert, Warcraft orcs and humans, Mech commander, mostly windows 9X/XP stuff. Yeah Im old lol

I have personally never added a non-steam game to steam so I can't offer any advice on that.

Usually Lutris is the simplest way to install other Games, The community uploads installation scripts to the site for easy installs, but it also assumes your installing the game and not utilizing a pre-existing install. It's less convenient than steam, but it's better than setting up WINE Prefixes from scratch. Lutris uses WINE builds based on TKG PKGBUILDS, which are the equivalent of Valves Proton, if a Game is old enough it may however utilize dosbox instead.