Using Linux as my main OS?

[Nort]

Well, I was wondering if using Linux for gaming is a good idea. I have no experience with Linux, but I've heard it has some compatability issues and is more focused on programmers' needs(Something I'm getting into, but can do fine on Windows). Is this true, or is using Linux for gaming viable? If it is I'm going for it and saving myself some money.

[bradscoolio]

I think Linux is really cool, even with my little knowledge of it. I will move to it once all games are supported officially by steam, that's the only thing holding me back for now. I'd recommend windows 7 now if you have gaming needs otherwise pick a flavour ;)

[Marc030]

you could just run a Virtual Linux pc or do a dual boot with windows as your main system and then you can use both :)

[mybeat]

If you've never dealt with Linux, I wouldn't recommend setting it up as a gaming platform. The game choice is quite limited, or involve to much time to make it work (wine) comparing to windows. 

 

I've been using Linux as a main OS for a while now, but it's work related and I find it more efficient, my gaming rig is running Win8 because I don't have time to bother/fix the issues with gaming on Linux.

[zoltan]

+1

 

GNU/Linux is great for allround computing, it's experiencing 21st Century computing basically, but the influx of games is still slow. Not that there have been many revolutionary or exciting titles in Windoze in the last couple of years, but still, it's best to keep a Windoze install, just to keep playing games.

 

However, with Valve and other developers cranking up the GNU/Linux games development, which will really take off once devices like the Steam Box and nVidia Shield are launched, because those are dedicated linux gaming platforms, Valve is constantly putting out native linux titles to test the environment, to make sure that everything is hunky dory when they launch their new linux-only gaming platform. Windoze is probably going to become a legacy gaming platform in the next couple of years (well, EA might want to continue making games for Windoze, how knows?), just like it's a legacy platform for most other enterprise software already. The question one has to answer for him/herself is: will I be the last one that knows how the new gaming platform works, will I be the one that's still stuck in the 20th Century as far as computing goes, or will I be ready for the future of gaming...

 

One thing is for sure though, as far as other things than gaming are concerned, GNU/Linux is already way ahead of Windoze, the user experience is so much better, faster, troublefree and more modern, that there is just no comparison possible anymore, because Windoze just can't do what GNU/Linux can do.

[OPSJono]

Again I've used Ubuntu as a main PC before, but due to said 'gaming needs' I had to re-install windows,

 

I do still have an Ubuntu secondary PC (But I mainly use it for XBMC, and not much else)

 

Would love full game support on the Linux, and by extension all the other flavors. Then I could do away with Windows at home all together. (Though I have nothing against Windows, it does work, for the most part, and I have a powerful rig so it's also lightning quick). I just like to use Ubuntu, it's more "fun" (for lack of a better term).

[Keystone Nyan Cat]

You could use Wine from the Ubuntu marketplace to run Windows apps and most games, and like other have suggested, you could run a VM as well. However, not all drivers are that well optimized for Linux the last time I checked, but nevertheless, you can run games and pretty much everything on it. I managed to install MS Office on it as well and Linux is advanced enough to use as  a main OS, whether that be for gaming or office work, so go ahead and install it! However, I do recommend using Ubuntu as its the most user friendly distro out there.

 

Give it a try before installing though. You can burn it onto a CD and boot from it and try it out without having to install iot, and that should give you a pretty good feel of how its going to be.

 

PS-Also, if you are worried about any problems, Ubuntu has a pretty good and focused community devoted towards helping anyone with a problem. Just search for ubuntuforums on google.  :) Hope this helps

[Scia]

GNU / Linux will not be as easy as to simply install game x and play it.

Steam is on Linux now but there is not that big of a library yet.

WineHQ will run most Windowsprograms fine.

 

But GNU/Linux will demand some time and learning in order to get games running.

So if you are building a gaming rig, don't use Linux yet. Sadly... [i'll abandon M$ the same second I can play all my games on Linux]

 

But perhaps check out Wubi and have a dual boot [that you can simply uninstall from Windows if you don't like it] and play around with it.

 

I am using Ubuntu for a few years now on my 2nd PC and I love it. [Running 12.04, the newer versions are not running well cause it's rocking a really old GPU H3870 and xorg is not very happy about it ;P]

 

You should definitively give some Distros [ubuntu / Mint / OpenSUSE ] a try and see what you think of it :)

[joshuamurphy]

i am typing this on ubuntu. i have a windows 7 laptop but i have only used it about 10 times in the last month maybe. i am getting a gaming computer and booting ubuntu straight on it no windows at all. by the time i save up for it (im a student) i beleive there will be enough titles to play.

[Prestonification]

i am typing this on ubuntu. i have a windows 7 laptop but i have only used it about 10 times in the last month maybe. i am getting a gaming computer and booting ubuntu straight on it no windows at all. by the time i save up for it (im a student) i beleive there will be enough titles to play.

Highly doubt it there will be enough titles to warrant it a gaming safe OS.

[joshuamurphy]

Highly doubt it there will be enough titles to warrant it a gaming safe OS.

yeah that is pretty true but i love linux enough to invest in it. it's sort of a circle we don't use linux because no games = that no ones makes games for linux = no one uses linux. its a circle that keeps going around and i want to be part of stopping this.

[zoltan]

Part of the problem with Windows as a gaming platform is that game developers are resting on their laurels and not innovating, just like there is no innovation on the Windows platform itself. In the last years, there have been no really exciting revolutionary titles for Windows.

 

Hence the interest of the gamers for indie games, which is fuelled by this impasse in development, and there is a lot of indie stuff coming out on linux.

 

Linux has a lot more headroom for technological evolution than Windows, and even Microsoft knows it (anyone that's seen the Microsoft XBox 720 Illumiroom video has noticed that all the games shown off in that video were linux games...).

 

Microsoft wants to get rid of the Windows platform, and they are doing everything they can to make a new platform that is based on the linux kernel but is not GNU/Linux, just like MacOS is OpenBSD but not Apache-license like BSD is. I would be prepared to bet that there is an open source reference in the EULA of the XBox 720. I'm sure it's just a closed source GNU/Linux clone they have running on it. Same for PS4.

 

Now GNU/Linux as such will never be a gaming platform for traditional AAA-Titles. Just like Adobe applications will never be available for GNU/Linux, even though they run on MacOS, which is OpenBSD, so there is no technical reason why Adobe applications wouldn't already run natively on GNU/Linux. Or just like Canonical trying to close the Ubuntu source because of the deal with Steam. The reality is that software that runs on an open source operating system, has several downsides for companies:

- it's open source, so users can provide proof of defects, security leaks and privacy invasion/spyware easily, which means product liability (which would be a first in consumer grade software) and extra investment needed in development and quality control (which would also be a first for consumer grade software), because any geek community WILL be able to do it better and will criticize the crap out of the product;

- it's open source, so you can't secretly lock down features to force consumers to buy new hardware;

- it's open source, so you can't make consumers pay for the software, only for support, but noone wants to provide consumer software support, it would drive anyone bat crazy (the open source commercial model like RedHat or IBM or Novell have succesfully adopted only works with enterprises and govermental/educational customers);

- it's open source based, so it's really easy to pirate, which limits the monetising to online micro-transactions, which is enough for indie and non-Anglo-American game studios, but not enough for traditional Anglo-American game studios, that invest much more in marketing than in actual game development.

 

So while the 20 year old Windows NT platform really isn't viable anymore, and everyone that is honest has to admit it (and things like Microsoft Illumiroom demos running on an XBox with linux games only provide superfluous proof thereof), an open source commercial model is not viable for the consumer market, where you have to take the consumer's money up front based on false promises and snake oil marketing, and then can't care about customer support at all, because there is no way to deal with consumer customer support.

 

So GNU/Linux, even though it has already become the prevalent computing platform, will never become the prevalent software consumption platform, and since games in the form we know now are consumer software products, it will never break through on GNU/Linux, unless the Indie gaming market takes over, and frankly, that is a distinct possibility, there is a lot of talent out there that Anglo-American companies can't afford anymore, and they will produce games even if it's the last thing they will do.

 

Conclusion: keep Windows 7 as your secondary operating system for gaming, don't downgrade to Windows 8 and the Microsoft re-DRM practice, but keep your options open and enjoy the much better computing experience GNU/Linux offers for everything else but AAA-title gaming and Adobe/Steinberg applications. Don't step into the Ubuntu-trap, use a sensible distro, learn and master, and you'll be able to influence the evolution whilst improving your computing experience as a whole. Anyway, that's just my opinion.

[wkronbaek]

http://appdb.winehq.org/index.php

Everything on that platinum list you can run without problems using wine.

 

Btw; Linux FTW (Especially Fedora)

[Thibaudv]

I like Ubuntu, even more than Windows 7/8, but the there are some things holding me back from using it as my main OS:

-Games (I play bf3/4, Crysis 3, and most new dx11 and AAA titles)

-School/official work requires me to use MS Excel (we get exams and stuff about excel specifically)

-Some things are just a PITA, for example setting fan speeds is SOOO hard on linux (you have to.. like .. type stuff in command prompt and more stuff..) compared to windows you can just download speedfan.