Questions about moving from Windows to Linux

[Reflex_jigs]

Hi there. Recently, Windows has been getting more and more frustrating for me, just by doing, well, Windows things. I am now strongly considering moving over to Linux to daily drive it, but i do have some questions. I am by no means an expert on Linux, I have only used it a handful of times to get old computers running, so I would be grateful if you could correct me on anything i get wrong. If I do stop using Windows, I was Planning on using Linux Mint, mainly because..... well its the version that I have used a few times before. Anyway, here are the questions I had:

 

1. Is it true that Nvidia GPU's kinda suck on Linux?

From watching some Youtube videos on Linux, to me it seemed like many people were saying that Nvidia has really poor support for Linux, and that AMD gpu's are far easier to setup and use. Why is this? Currently I have an rtx 2080, and was wondering if i was going to start daily driving Linux, if it would be a good idea to swap to AMD?

 

2. Application compatibility on Linux

Mainly i just use my pc for gaming, but I also use it for CAD and 3d printing. Usually I would use Autodesk Inventor, but upon checking their website, it says that they have no support for Linux. I have heard about 'translation layers' and emulators, so would any of those work to enable Inventor to work on Linux, or would I just have to make a dual boot so I can still use windows only software??

 

3. Will my Peripherals work on Linux?

Currently, I use a Logitech keyboard and mouse, that both require their software, Ghub. This is a similar question to the one above, as it says that ghub will not run natively, so is there a way to get it working regardless. I dont really need the software for RGB, as I don't really care about it, its mainly for changing binds on my mouse and keyboard.

 

4. How good is multi-monitor support?

In the past with other computers that i had running Linux, they would absolutely freak out anytime I tried to plug in more than 1 monitor. Although, it could have just been the hardware itself being extremely slow and not really good for multiple monitors. Regardless, I just want to make sure that I will still be able to run my triple monitor setup just fine without too much of a headache.

 

Any answers are appreciated, and thank you for taking the time to read this post

[WereCat]

18 minutes ago, Reflex_jigs said:

1. Is it true that Nvidia GPU's kinda suck on Linux?

From watching some Youtube videos on Linux, to me it seemed like many people were saying that Nvidia has really poor support for Linux, and that AMD gpu's are far easier to setup and use. Why is this? Currently I have an rtx 2080, and was wondering if i was going to start daily driving Linux, if it would be a good idea to swap to AMD?

 

2. Application compatibility on Linux

Mainly i just use my pc for gaming, but I also use it for CAD and 3d printing. Usually I would use Autodesk Inventor, but upon checking their website, it says that they have no support for Linux. I have heard about 'translation layers' and emulators, so would any of those work to enable Inventor to work on Linux, or would I just have to make a dual boot so I can still use windows only software??

 

3. Will my Peripherals work on Linux?

Currently, I use a Logitech keyboard and mouse, that both require their software, Ghub. This is a similar question to the one above, as it says that ghub will not run natively, so is there a way to get it working regardless. I dont really need the software for RGB, as I don't really care about it, its mainly for changing binds on my mouse and keyboard.

 

4. How good is multi-monitor support?

In the past with other computers that i had running Linux, they would absolutely freak out anytime I tried to plug in more than 1 monitor. Although, it could have just been the hardware itself being extremely slow and not really good for multiple monitors. Regardless, I just want to make sure that I will still be able to run my triple monitor setup just fine without too much of a headache.

 

Any answers are appreciated, and thank you for taking the time to read this post

Also not a Linux expert, I moved to Fedora in April and have been using it since with great success after some initial struggle which was to be expected due to not being familiar how things work on Linux.

 

 

1.) I've seen people getting great experience with the more recent NVIDIA drivers though I can't say for sure if that only applies to 3000/4000 series or if it also applies to older cards like yours. (Speaking of distros that use Wayland).

 

2.) I use FreeCAD + Blender. Depends on how much serious work you do in CAD. FreeCAD got a lot better recently and I'd say it's more like a lite version of Catia right now since that's what I use at work and can compare. I wouldn't use FreeCAD for doing 2D sketching though, it's great for doing CAD 3D models and if you're just hobbyist then I'd say it's more than sufficient. I also do models for my 3D printer.

 

Spoiler

 

3.) Can't say for sure but Razer peripherals got a SW to do this and I believe there is one for Logitech as well but you'll have to search for it. For just RGB control you can use OpenRGB. I personally don't use any periphral software, I just saved my profile on the on-board memory and use that.

 

EDIT: https://github.com/pwr-Solaar/Solaar looks like there is

 

4.) I only ever encounter these multi-monitor issues:

After starting PC one monitor will be at "lost signal" and the way to fix it is either restarting PC or unplugging and plugging the cable from the GPU. It's a minor issue and I usually encounter it after updating kernel or drivers and restarting PC.

 

I had one game (20y old game) refusing to go on my main monitor for whatever reason. When I managed to force it to go on main monitor the framerate was so busted it was unplayable.

Otherwise I haven't got any issues.

[Electronics Wizardy]

1. I'd say they generally work fine. There are some issues, but for games It will likely be fine.

 

2. Check things like WineDB to see how well that will work, but it can often be a pain to get stuff working on linux. 

 

3. That software likely won't work, but you can try it with wine. If its a configure and forget you can use something like a VM or dual booting.

 

4. Should work fine now.

 

I'd give it a try and see how you like it.

[OhioYJ]

16 minutes ago, Reflex_jigs said:

1. Is it true that Nvidia GPU's kinda suck on Linux?

Actually in the last 20+ years I've only bought NVIDIA cards as I always knew I could just download the NVIDIA driver directly from nvidia and install it. They've always worked great for me in Linux. Typing this now from a machine with a 4090 in it.

 

18 minutes ago, Reflex_jigs said:

2. Application compatibility on Linux

I have very strong feelings about Wine, and similar programs, and they belong nowhere near your Linux install. You should dual boot or find an appropriate Linux based solution.

 

20 minutes ago, Reflex_jigs said:

3. Will my Peripherals work on Linux?

Generally I just program my mouse and leave never touch it again (which means I can remove Ghub). How are you re-programming these keybinds that often? Generally in my experience hardware support in Linux is better than Windows.

 

25 minutes ago, Reflex_jigs said:

4. How good is multi-monitor support?

This should just work. I've pretty much always had two monitors, and it just works.

[Reflex_jigs]

3 hours ago, WereCat said:

Also not a Linux expert, I moved to Fedora in April and have been using it since with great success after some initial struggle which was to be expected due to not being familiar how things work on Linux.

 

 

1.) I've seen people getting great experience with the more recent NVIDIA drivers though I can't say for sure if that only applies to 3000/4000 series or if it also applies to older cards like yours. (Speaking of distros that use Wayland).

 

2.) I use FreeCAD + Blender. Depends on how much serious work you do in CAD. FreeCAD got a lot better recently and I'd say it's more like a lite version of Catia right now since that's what I use at work and can compare. I wouldn't use FreeCAD for doing 2D sketching though, it's great for doing CAD 3D models and if you're just hobbyist then I'd say it's more than sufficient. I also do models for my 3D printer.

 

  Hide contents

 

3.) Can't say for sure but Razer peripherals got a SW to do this and I believe there is one for Logitech as well but you'll have to search for it. For just RGB control you can use OpenRGB. I personally don't use any periphral software, I just saved my profile on the on-board memory and use that.

 

EDIT: https://github.com/pwr-Solaar/Solaar looks like there is

 

4.) I only ever encounter these multi-monitor issues:

After starting PC one monitor will be at "lost signal" and the way to fix it is either restarting PC or unplugging and plugging the cable from the GPU. It's a minor issue and I usually encounter it after updating kernel or drivers and restarting PC.

 

I had one game (20y old game) refusing to go on my main monitor for whatever reason. When I managed to force it to go on main monitor the framerate was so busted it was unplayable.

Otherwise I haven't got any issues.

Thank you very much!

 

I will definitely take a look a FreeCAD, and it seems like drivers shouldn't be an issue! 

[Reflex_jigs]

3 hours ago, OhioYJ said:

Actually in the last 20+ years I've only bought NVIDIA cards as I always knew I could just download the NVIDIA driver directly from nvidia and install it. They've always worked great for me in Linux. Typing this now from a machine with a 4090 in it.

 

I have very strong feelings about Wine, and similar programs, and they belong nowhere near your Linux install. You should dual boot or find an appropriate Linux based solution.

 

Generally I just program my mouse and leave never touch it again (which means I can remove Ghub). How are you re-programming these keybinds that often? Generally in my experience hardware support in Linux is better than Windows.

 

This should just work. I've pretty much always had two monitors, and it just works.

I most likely will just dual boot so I dont have to go through the hassle of getting anything like that to work, as for peripherals, I usually have different profiles for each game I play, and ghub just changes whenever i go into a different game, rather than me changing settings in game. Its kinda the weird backwards way to do it, but I'm just weird i guess haha

[Reflex_jigs]

3 hours ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

1. I'd say they generally work fine. There are some issues, but for games It will likely be fine.

 

2. Check things like WineDB to see how well that will work, but it can often be a pain to get stuff working on linux. 

 

3. That software likely won't work, but you can try it with wine. If its a configure and forget you can use something like a VM or dual booting.

 

4. Should work fine now.

 

I'd give it a try and see how you like it.

I definitely will! thanks!

[YamiYukiSenpai]

17 hours ago, Reflex_jigs said:

1. Is it true that Nvidia GPU's kinda suck on Linux?

Not as much as you think.

 

Compared to AMD & Intel GPUs whose drivers are in the kernel, the "annoyance" with NVIDIA is that you just have to install it.

 

I play with VMs using my secondary low profile RTX 4060 with both Windows and various Linux distros.  With desktop environments using Wayland by default, there were some issues, but NVIDIA is on the roll with fixing them (especially with NVIDIA 560 & newer).

 

17 hours ago, Reflex_jigs said:

3. Will my Peripherals work on Linux?

Currently, I use a Logitech keyboard and mouse, that both require their software, Ghub.

I never bothered to try.  I have a Windows VM or a tiny Windows partition (128GB) that I use to modify my Logitech peripherals or update firmware of my PC components, if needed.  Recently, I acquired an old 2016 MacBook Pros that were decommissioned from work that I use with GHub if I ever needed to do that same thing.

 

For RGB, OpenRGB may work, but no guarantees.  My G502 X Plus is currently not supported, sadly.

 

I switched from a Cooler Master keyboard to a Keychron for the QMK/VIA compatibility, which works well on Linux (RGB & key customization).

18 hours ago, Reflex_jigs said:

4. How good is multi-monitor support?

I guess it depends on the hardware.  I have a 1440p MSI ultrawide + LG DualUp in 2×1440p split mode, and I frequently unplug/replug using one of the 1440p "displays" using a KVM whenever I'm playing with a VM (with GPU passthrough) or using my work setup.

 

I'm using Tuxedo OS (KDE Plasma 6 via Wayland)