6* months away now. If you're on 10, do you plan to upgrade? Make the jump to Linux?
-
Terminal usage is inevitable with Linux. It's not as scary as it seems and can actually create a sense of accomplishment when you use it. Pop is a solid distro for sure but you don't need a "gaming distro" to game on Linux these days (not that Pop is a gaming distro specifically). There's actually a Linux Experiment video where he proves this with a thorough test. All major distros work fine for gaming.
I encourage people to not go for SteamOS unless you're setting up a PC you want to use solely as a home console, or if you're flashing it to a different handheld.
That, all coming from a big Valve fan. I simply don't think it's a good idea for people to get their hopes up over SteamOS somehow being a no-terminal, peak gaming Linux experience. I also don't think it's a good idea to hold off until SteamOS gets its full PC release, because most major distros today will work just as well. It'd literally only benefit people to start learning Linux now so that by the full SteamOS launch, they'll be more informed as to whether it'll be something they'll find useful enough to use as a daily driver.
I understand where you're coming from. I myself prefer using a terminal for most things, and use arch (btw) for the PC I game on. I understand that learning Linux is the best move for folks, but I don't see that being an option, at least initially, for people on the fence.
I know that, from a Linux user's perspective, it is the wrong move, but I have plenty of friends that want a "no terminal, gaming ready" distro before they make the move. I see it more as a first step, removing the barrier for making the switch to Linux. Once they are already there, it's much easier to convince themselves to learn Linux a bit deeper if needed over time.
I don't know, maybe I'm just naive and hopeful, but there are a good number of my friends that I think will make the switch to Linux that wouldn't have without SteamOS.
-
I moved to endeavouros. First time using a rolling release, and I was struggling with some webdev stuff cause node was on a recent non-lts build and a few other things.
Not a problem for building, cause I already have that containerised. But things like installing packages was refusing, and obviously couldn't run dev workflows.Until I realised I should just work inside a container.
I know vscode is still Microsoft (and I'm sure I could get it to work with vscodium), but the dev container workflow is fantastic.
Absolute game changer.
And I know I can easily work on a different platform, os whatever. And still have the same dev environment.Until I realised I should just work inside a container.
Yeah, it's a game changer. Especially if you have different projects on the go. I'm used to having to deal with an ugly path with all kind of random things in it because I need them for one project. But, with containers / distroboxes / toolbx you can keep those changes isolated.
-
It's the other way around. In general, you should choose Linux over Windows, and only if you really need it, use Windows. Also, if you need Windows just temporarily for some things, consider running it in a VM inside Linux just for those occasions.
Why - well, to keep it short, Linux' main weaknesses for common users (difficulty, compatibility) are gradually fading away (they are already almost non-existent these days if you have mainstream hardware and a mainstream desktop distro like Mint, Fedora, Ubuntu) while Windows' main disadvantages (forced stuff like cloud/AI integrations/ads, complete disregard of user's privacy, increasing security issues due to outdated stuff being kept in the OS for backwards compatibility reasons, and many more things) keep on increasing at a rapid rate. Microsoft has a big business interest in getting all users locked into their cloud ecosystem, locked into a subscription with ever-increasing monthly fees, and give up control over their own computer and their digital privacy. They want users to pay them with their data AND monthly subscription fees. MS Office, for example, will probably not have a pure locally runnable version after 2029 (or around that year) anymore. Sure, it's still 4 years away. And you might still be able to use a supported local version of MS Office for a bit longer after that. But this Microsoft train is still heading towards that wall. And the speed is increasing. And tons of users are still inside that train.
Furthermore, by supporting Microsoft you're supporting a very unethical company. They partner with big surveillance companies like Palantir and the despicable ad-tech-industry (the industry that's spying on literally everyone and buying/selling/storing tons of intimate user data even though it's illegal in most countries), they partner with the military, law enforcement and other things.
Also, they are a US company, and we all know how US politics is like these days, and this can have a big influence on how "trustworthy" US-based proprietary software will become in the near future. Since 2020, arguably no US-based proprietary software or online service is trustworthy anymore anyway, because of the CLOUD act, which is current law in the US - it means that the US government has access to any customer data stored by a US-based company, regardless of where on Earth they are storing it. This means the often-used claim "my data stored by that US company is safe because it's in a European-based datacenter!!!!11" is false since at least 2020, because MS is forced by US law to grant technical access to customer data to their government. Also, all previous "data transfer privacy agreements" between EU and US like Privacy Shield were all a joke and were dismantled in courts already. So there's currently zero legal data protection - any data you send to a US company is theirs to do with as they please, essentially. And even if there were any meaningful legal data protections left, those big tech companies might still simply ignore that data protection law and only face minor or no fines at all.So this is not a baseless claim. Just because I might keep some statements short doesn't mean that there are no backing arguments. It's a very good idea to reduce your dependency on Microsoft's (or in general, US-based) proprietary software and services. For multiple reasons. Digital sovereignty has never been more important than these days. It has always been important but it was maybe too abstract in the past for many common users to realize. They are slowly starting to realize now that dependencies on proprietary software from any rogue regime (and the current US regime also falls into that category now) are not great to have. Plus, there is Microsoft on its own already putting ever-increasing user- and customer-hostile features into their products. It's like being in an abusive relationship. It's just not good for you long-term.
So as a user, you should instead choose software which allows you to retain your digital sovereignty and control over your own computing, and simply not take all that abuse. Linux- or *BSD-based OSes with their open/transparent development models, fork-able/modifiable code bases, permissive licensing and essentially zero unwanted crap like adware, spyware, bloatware etc. offer exactly that. And because mainstream Linux distros have already become so easy to use these days, there are almost no reasons not to start using them.
All your arguments are logically sound and completely miss the main point.
The issue with Linux is not that "it's getting there" in terms of user friendliness. It's that it's not there YET.
On top of that you have the community - just the other day I was searching to solve an issue, found a very similar thread, and the only reply the guy got was "here's a link to the ArchWiki, welcome to the Linux world, you need to figure this out yourself".
My 80 year old mother is not figuring out shit, she's terrified when she has to copy a photo from a USB stick to here Photos folder.
Saying "Linux is fine for the masses today" is just showing how detached many Linux users are from reality.
-
So many perfectly working older computers are going to be headed to the landfill as e-waste. That's the horrible part.
What a waste tech dollars just to play some stupid game.
I hope many of us are able to pick them up cheap instead.
-
They didn't get rid of it, they're allowing you to upgrade to 11 and calling it unsupported. Just like 10 is unsupported.
With Win 11, you still get the security updates though right?
-
It’s basically a Chromebook for her
If it's a her, you mean fiancée, fiancé is used only for men. And, it's basically a chromebook in how she uses it. But, chromebooks are designed so that you never have to do any system administration. You never have to upgrade drivers or figure out how to get to the next release.
She probably hasn't had to deal with that yet, but eventually the system will have to be updated. Over time, cruft piles up and makes it harder and harder to upgrade and manage. Atomic distributions are designed to be much more like chromebooks. Someone else manages the upgrades and the tricky choices, and then you just install their base image.
-
I got a new PC recently so unfortunately I am now on Windows 11. I’ve been wanting to make the swap to Linux but I can’t really make a clean break because at least some of the games I play a lot won’t work on Linux. I do think I’m gonna try to set up another hard drive with Linux on it to try to slowly start learning it and ideally move over anything that I can over there eventually and just keep the windows drive for those few games.
Does anyone have any recommendations related to that? Distro for gaming/ease of use? What’s the best option for setting up the dual boot? Anything I wouldn’t have thought of that’s relevant?
If you're a tech savvy person then I'd recomend Arch, but if you'd prefer a more streamlined approach then Baazite, PopOs, and Mint are all good starting points. As for dual booting, no matter which distro of linux you use you'll use something called GRUB. The tl;dr of grub is that it'll let you select which operating system you want to boot into when you boot up your pc
-
I'm in Windows 11. I have regret it, but after so many tweaks of the system, removing telemetries, changing menus, and other Windows shit, i had not the energy to move back to Windows 10.
Only OS change i am willing to make is to move to Linux, but gaming is not there yet, and am now trying to move from big proprietary companies to FOSS, so time is needed.
Windows 11 -> Linux just for gaming and I am satisfied!
However, I also do not play things with big graphics requirements, kernel-level anticheat, and I do not have any fancy GPUs like Nvidia that make things incompatible. I transitioned on a laptop. So YMMV.
-
It's tricky because I have things that just don't translate well to linux, or become considerably more expensive or time consuming to manage / deal with. Linux has a lot to offer and a lot of great. But I'm just going to keep running an out of date OS until I can switch.
What kind of things are holding you back?
-
Nvidia GPUs are not good in Linux at the moment. And yeah all what you said. But i had tried Linux for gaming like something 5-8 years ago, and the situation is so much better now.
Nvidia GPUs are not good in Linux at the moment
They've been perfectly fine for years. And now they've never been better for desktop DEs.
-
Nope, will probably avoid 11 as long as I can though. I have an Mvidia card (drivers are notoriously troublesome on Linux). And I need professional design software for work (as in, industry standard: Adobe or Affinity).
But I put 11 on my laptop to try it and I hate it. So many terrible UI changes, UX noticeably worse. Like they changed stuff just to say they changed stuff.
I considered going Linux for personal use and development, and then using another machine or dual boot for Mac for design software. But i learned about the Nvidia issues after I upgraded my card
I have an Mvidia card (drivers are notoriously troublesome on Linux).
They haven't been for a while now. On some newer distros they'll install the Nvidia drivers at the same time as the OS itself.
-
This post did not contain any content.
Honestly, I still don't know. My 3070 worked well on linux the last time I used it so hardware won't be an issue. I also don't play many modern games so that's not a problem either. It's just my partner is schizo with what games they wanna play. Rn they're obsessed with minecraft and bedrock doesn't work on linux. I know for sure I'm not going to 11 though. I've used it before and absolutely hated the UI layout.
-
This post did not contain any content.
Just upgrade yall are so dramatic for no reason at all. If 11 is that bad just switch to Linux.
-
This post did not contain any content.
-
This post did not contain any content.
I have no plans to either update to win11 or change back to chanting magic spells at my computer to get it to work (Ubuntu, many years ago).
My computer works and does everything I want it to. Basic internet security and reasonable precautions are sufficient for a low level user like me to stay safe.
-
This post did not contain any content.
I'll upgrade to 11 Enterprise via massgrave.
Sadly with Adobe and some of my online games not supporting Linux, I have to stick with Windows
I'll just try to rip out all the telemetry, etc. via O&O and group policies. -
Just upgrade yall are so dramatic for no reason at all. If 11 is that bad just switch to Linux.
People might get a little emotional about it but I bounce between Linux Mint, windows 10, and windows 11 and honestly I totally agree that windows 11 is trash. When my windows 10 computer reaches it's limit, I might try to figure out how to run games on Linux/proton or whatever that is.
-
I got a new PC recently so unfortunately I am now on Windows 11. I’ve been wanting to make the swap to Linux but I can’t really make a clean break because at least some of the games I play a lot won’t work on Linux. I do think I’m gonna try to set up another hard drive with Linux on it to try to slowly start learning it and ideally move over anything that I can over there eventually and just keep the windows drive for those few games.
Does anyone have any recommendations related to that? Distro for gaming/ease of use? What’s the best option for setting up the dual boot? Anything I wouldn’t have thought of that’s relevant?
Just in case you are thinking this like I used to, don't go by "unplayable on steam deck" to determine what games you won't be able to play on a Linux desktop. While those games include incompatible with Linux games, they also include ones that the deck hardware can't handle at a decent framerate but otherwise play fine on Linux.
-
Gaming on Linux has never been better. Out of the top 100 (mostly Windows platform) games, only 7 are entirely unplayable according to https://www.protondb.com/
80/100 are Gold or Platinum rated which means very playable. I often get better performance in Linux than Windows, even with the default open source drivers. I am using an AMD GPU which gives an advantage as they have better open source support, but for NVIDIA all the Linux distros I've used have had a documented path to install their binary drivers for better performance.
It's true that it sometimes takes a bit more tinkering, especially if you're using some esoteric controller or other funky hardware, but in the days of LLMs that can coach you through issues it's more accessible than it's ever been.
My Steam profile is apparently 30% platinum, 21% gold, 10% varying levels of broken, 39% unrated.
But Genshin Impact, one of my main games, doesn't even appear on ProtonDB, and as far as I heard you need a custom Linux launcher for it, that results in occasional banwaves, which I will not risk
-
I don't really feel like going down the rabbit hole of trying a hundred different distros to maybe find one that works. My experiences with those two were that things were completely broken, randomly. Like just trying to boot the USB installer would lock up half the time, the installer itself would fail partway through most of the time, when things got fully installed, trying to update or install new things would just fail randomly. The kde desktop would crash just from me changing settings in the kde menus.
I would try Ubuntu in your shoes, personally. It's got downsides but it's definitely plug and play. I don't know what metrics distrowatch uses to rate distros but it's widely known that Ubuntu is user friendly as hell.
