It's not at a point yet where I can recommend it to non-technical people but it's getting close.
I can play almost any steam game that I can find on it, but usually need to manually enable proton-experimental. Some Unity games have weird bugs and there are some other games I still can't figure out how to run at all.
I've run into weird errors due to incompatibility between Nvidia GPUs & their drivers with my OS. Haven't encountered the issue in 4 years but having your graphics driver break means you need to fix your crazy issue with only a terminal (hope you have another computer for googling).
My dad was becoming more pro-privacy so I got him Linux Mint, and something broke that put him in GRUB and it frustrated him so he asked me to change it back.
But Linux seems to be getting better as fast as Windows is getting worse so I still recommend trying it to anyone remotely interested
> My dad was becoming more pro-privacy so I got him Linux Mint, and something broke that put him in GRUB and it frustrated him so he asked me to change it back.
This is exactly why I don't recommend Mint or any Ubuntu-based, or even any normal (ie, mutable) Linux distros, for newbies. I learnt this the hard way thanks to my mum, who experienced the same breakage twice - once on Xubuntu, and again on Zorin. Since then, I switched her to an immutable distro (Aurora) over an year ago, and it's been flawless so far. Updates are automatic and never interrupt her, and she's been thru two major OS upgrades with no issues (for image-based atomic distros, a major OS upgrade is treated like just another update and makes little difference to the end user). And unlike regular distros, image-based atomic distros don't have to worry about any potential dependency issues or package conflicts occurring - the update will either apply or won't, there's no partial/failed state.
Therefore for non-technical newbies, I would highly recommend an immutable distro such as Aurora[1] or Bazzite (for gamers)[2], because you never again have to worry about updates. And in the rare event that an update breaks something, rollback is as simple as choosing the previous image from the boot menu, and that's it - no technical steps or knowledge required. This sort of stability and ease-of-restore is far beyond what Windows or macOS offers, which makes Linux a no-brainier.
> My dad was becoming more pro-privacy so I got him Linux Mint, and something broke that put him in GRUB and it frustrated him so he asked me to change it back.
I think Windows actually has issues like blue screens that prevent entering the operating system. Why do people have a higher tolerance for Windows? What are your thoughts on this? Could you please share some?
Did a Windows update clobber GRUB? My dad had that problem a couple of times. Since he switched to having Linux and Windows on different drives and using the BIOS boot order to switch between them, there have been no more issues.
> ignores lots of overly convoluted things Windows users do with a couple of clicks/don't have to be concerned with
> For example, GNOME’s Do Not Disturb botton allows me to toggle all notification alerts with a single click.
This has been available for some time, back to Windows 10 at some point. I always have mine set in DND.
> I have never encountered the issue on Linux where I can’t temporarily return to the desktop during fullscreen gaming, which is something I often face on Windows, where the taskbar pops up but returning to the desktop is impossible.
Author doesn't understand "Full Screen" gaming is not a thing in Windows. Everything is "Full Screen Windowed Mode", regardless of what the application asks for (unless it asks for true windowed mode).
Author doesn't demonstrate it is the 'best gaming system', but that it is catching up to Windows. And that's good.
It must be said that Windows' Do Not Disturb mode is only effective for system notifications. Many applications on Windows tend to use their own notification pushes, such as pop-ups, and Microsoft seems indifferent to this. Strangely, this is rarely seen on Linux, so the same Do Not Disturb mode becomes much more useful on Linux.
> Author doesn't understand "Full Screen" gaming is not a thing in Windows. Everything is "Full Screen Windowed Mode", regardless of what the application asks for (unless it asks for true windowed mode).
And yea, that's what I'm talking about, in fullscreen mode on Windows, it often likely means that I can't switch windows or return to the desktop unless I use borderless window mode and set the resolution properly, even so, I will still have times when I can't return to the desktop unless I exit the game. However, regardless of which fullscreen mode, I can easily switch windows on Linux. I don't know why, maybe I really don't understand Windows, lol.
> Author doesn't demonstrate it is the 'best gaming system', but that it is catching up to Windows. And that's good.
I think it's obvious that it can do what Windows can do, and do it better. Furthermore, it can do things that Windows can't do, as mentioned in the article, such as emulators I think?
> And yea, that's what I'm talking about, in fullscreen mode on Windows, it often likely means that I can't switch windows or return to the desktop unless I use borderless window mode and set the resolution properly, even so, I will still have times when I can't return to the desktop unless I exit the game.
You misunderstand. Full screen exclusive mode does not exist in Windows. You can't say that it doesn't work in "full screen" mode but works in "borderless". They're one in the same.
> I think it's obvious that it can do what Windows can do, and do it better.
You present sudo as a method of installing drivers; CLI-anything should be the last thing that makes "something better" for a bog standard Windows user! And you are aware of anti-cheat that will not function in Wine due to the anti-cheat being a kernel driver. I'm not saying this is good, it's quite bad, but it's there and prevents you from using a non-Windows OS.
> Furthermore, it can do things that Windows can't do, as mentioned in the article, such as emulators I think?
Every console you listed has an emulator on Windows.
Linux will be "better" once every vendor is shipping a native binary. But since Linux has an ABI stability problem, that won't happen. Which is why the most stable ABI on Linux is Win32.
The closest "can't do" (or rather, Linux is a better fit) in the article is the AI-related tasks when you need scale. But that's irrelevant to be a gaming machine.
> You present sudo as a method of installing drivers; CLI-anything should be the last thing that makes "something better" for a bog standard Windows user!
I agree, and this is why I also introduced beginner-friendly systems like Ubuntu here, which provide graphical driver management. This is one of the reasons why Linux is better I think, it offers a simple way for beginners and alternatives for those who prefer command line or other methods.
> You misunderstand. Full screen exclusive mode does not exist in Windows. You can't say that it doesn't work in "full screen" mode but works in "borderless". They're one in the same.
My experience shows that there are differences in implementation, at least for some games. Because I did encounter issues with not being able to return to the desktop, and I'm not the only one, my friends tell me I'm not alone, as they have had similar problems.
> And you are aware of anti-cheat that will not function in Wine due to the anti-cheat being a kernel driver. I'm not saying this is good, it's quite bad, but it's there and prevents you from using a non-Windows OS.
Yea, I have actually introduced a lot of content on this topic in the articles, including the current support for a series of anti-cheat protocols. I don't deny that there are a few very specific games that can't be played on other platforms due to anti-cheat measures, but the vast majority of games can run normally on Linux even with anti-cheat mechanisms in place. By the way, the example of Rogue Company that I mentioned in the article has happened to me more than once. Most of the time, it fails to start on Windows, especially if I reinstall the system, it will almost 100% refuse to connect online, while it has never failed on Linux. My friend also encountered connection issues when trying to play with me on Windows. I think this shows that Windows is not always exempt?
> Every console you listed has an emulator on Windows.
It turns out that they don't always run smoothly on Windows, or rather, on various versions of Windows. However, on Linux, this is no longer a problem due to packaging options like flatpak, additional dependencies may need to be installed on Windows. Users don't need to search for them everywhere, they can simply search in the store.
Strangely, the article doesn't mention any of the performance tuning benifits that Linux offers, such as being able to run system binaries and packages that are built with CPU microarchitecture optimisations for your specific CPU family; being a able to switch to a CPU scheduler that's more tuned to your workload thereby delivering better FPS and frametime stability (eg by using the LAVD and bpfland schedulers); being able to run your games under a compositor that's dedicated and optimised specifically for gaming (gamescope) etc.
Also, the article fails to mention how nice the overall user experience in Linux is, due to the lack of various annoyances which Windows has. For instance, Windows Updates tend to interrupt you, reboot at the most inopportune moment, and when you do reboot it holds your PC hostage with the message "working on updates, don't turn off your computer" (which can take ages), sometimes requiring multiple reboots. Linux has none of that nonsense - you update whenever you want to, reboot only once, the reboot is also instantaneous and doesn't hold your PC hostage. And if you're on an immutable/atomic distro, you get the advantage of fail-proof atomic updates, and the option for updates to be fully automatic, and if for some reason an update doesn't work out for you, you can rollback instantly right from the boot menu without needing to use a separate tool. Honestly, the superior update handling - especially with immutable distros - is a major selling point of Linux over Windows. Just ask any veteran Windows user and they'll say updates are probably one of the biggest annoyances in Windows, so I'm surprised that the article doesn't mention this.
The article also doesn't mention the issue of spyware and bloatware in Windows, which is not only annoying, but can also slow down your gaming experience. Of course, you can run a debloater tool - and most tech-savvy users do indeed run one - but you need to do so every month because Microsoft tends to sneak in new bloatware, or the changes you made to the packages/filesystem etc can get undone due to updates. Also, there's the issue of thirdparty spyware which no debloater handles, such as the rootkits installed by anticheat programs. Privacy issues aside, these rootkits are even known to cause BSODs and cause Windows Updates to fail! No such issues on Linux.
Finally, the biggest thing most gamers want is a hassle-free gaming experience without all of the above nonsense. Many of them want a console-like experience, where you come home after a hard day's work, power on your PC, and bam, you're off gaming without having to worry about a thing. Linux can offer that experience with gaming-optimised immutable distros such as PikaOS, or Bazzite where your PC boots straight into Steam (if you get the "deck"/htpc edition) and you can jump straight into your game, without having to worry about OS updates or any other maintenance tasks.
And that's what gamers want the most, they just want to game, without any nonsense from the OS. And the article fails to capture this. This, IMO, is why Linux is the best gaming system.
It's not at a point yet where I can recommend it to non-technical people but it's getting close.
I can play almost any steam game that I can find on it, but usually need to manually enable proton-experimental. Some Unity games have weird bugs and there are some other games I still can't figure out how to run at all.
I've run into weird errors due to incompatibility between Nvidia GPUs & their drivers with my OS. Haven't encountered the issue in 4 years but having your graphics driver break means you need to fix your crazy issue with only a terminal (hope you have another computer for googling).
My dad was becoming more pro-privacy so I got him Linux Mint, and something broke that put him in GRUB and it frustrated him so he asked me to change it back.
But Linux seems to be getting better as fast as Windows is getting worse so I still recommend trying it to anyone remotely interested
> My dad was becoming more pro-privacy so I got him Linux Mint, and something broke that put him in GRUB and it frustrated him so he asked me to change it back.
This is exactly why I don't recommend Mint or any Ubuntu-based, or even any normal (ie, mutable) Linux distros, for newbies. I learnt this the hard way thanks to my mum, who experienced the same breakage twice - once on Xubuntu, and again on Zorin. Since then, I switched her to an immutable distro (Aurora) over an year ago, and it's been flawless so far. Updates are automatic and never interrupt her, and she's been thru two major OS upgrades with no issues (for image-based atomic distros, a major OS upgrade is treated like just another update and makes little difference to the end user). And unlike regular distros, image-based atomic distros don't have to worry about any potential dependency issues or package conflicts occurring - the update will either apply or won't, there's no partial/failed state.
Therefore for non-technical newbies, I would highly recommend an immutable distro such as Aurora[1] or Bazzite (for gamers)[2], because you never again have to worry about updates. And in the rare event that an update breaks something, rollback is as simple as choosing the previous image from the boot menu, and that's it - no technical steps or knowledge required. This sort of stability and ease-of-restore is far beyond what Windows or macOS offers, which makes Linux a no-brainier.
[1] https://getaurora.dev/en
[2] https://bazzite.gg/
> My dad was becoming more pro-privacy so I got him Linux Mint, and something broke that put him in GRUB and it frustrated him so he asked me to change it back.
I think Windows actually has issues like blue screens that prevent entering the operating system. Why do people have a higher tolerance for Windows? What are your thoughts on this? Could you please share some?
Did a Windows update clobber GRUB? My dad had that problem a couple of times. Since he switched to having Linux and Windows on different drives and using the BIOS boot order to switch between them, there have been no more issues.
> ignores lots of overly convoluted things Windows users do with a couple of clicks/don't have to be concerned with
> For example, GNOME’s Do Not Disturb botton allows me to toggle all notification alerts with a single click.
This has been available for some time, back to Windows 10 at some point. I always have mine set in DND.
> I have never encountered the issue on Linux where I can’t temporarily return to the desktop during fullscreen gaming, which is something I often face on Windows, where the taskbar pops up but returning to the desktop is impossible.
Author doesn't understand "Full Screen" gaming is not a thing in Windows. Everything is "Full Screen Windowed Mode", regardless of what the application asks for (unless it asks for true windowed mode).
Author doesn't demonstrate it is the 'best gaming system', but that it is catching up to Windows. And that's good.
It must be said that Windows' Do Not Disturb mode is only effective for system notifications. Many applications on Windows tend to use their own notification pushes, such as pop-ups, and Microsoft seems indifferent to this. Strangely, this is rarely seen on Linux, so the same Do Not Disturb mode becomes much more useful on Linux.
> Author doesn't understand "Full Screen" gaming is not a thing in Windows. Everything is "Full Screen Windowed Mode", regardless of what the application asks for (unless it asks for true windowed mode).
And yea, that's what I'm talking about, in fullscreen mode on Windows, it often likely means that I can't switch windows or return to the desktop unless I use borderless window mode and set the resolution properly, even so, I will still have times when I can't return to the desktop unless I exit the game. However, regardless of which fullscreen mode, I can easily switch windows on Linux. I don't know why, maybe I really don't understand Windows, lol.
> Author doesn't demonstrate it is the 'best gaming system', but that it is catching up to Windows. And that's good.
I think it's obvious that it can do what Windows can do, and do it better. Furthermore, it can do things that Windows can't do, as mentioned in the article, such as emulators I think?
> And yea, that's what I'm talking about, in fullscreen mode on Windows, it often likely means that I can't switch windows or return to the desktop unless I use borderless window mode and set the resolution properly, even so, I will still have times when I can't return to the desktop unless I exit the game.
You misunderstand. Full screen exclusive mode does not exist in Windows. You can't say that it doesn't work in "full screen" mode but works in "borderless". They're one in the same.
https://devblogs.microsoft.com/directx/demystifying-full-scr...
> I think it's obvious that it can do what Windows can do, and do it better.
You present sudo as a method of installing drivers; CLI-anything should be the last thing that makes "something better" for a bog standard Windows user! And you are aware of anti-cheat that will not function in Wine due to the anti-cheat being a kernel driver. I'm not saying this is good, it's quite bad, but it's there and prevents you from using a non-Windows OS.
> Furthermore, it can do things that Windows can't do, as mentioned in the article, such as emulators I think?
Every console you listed has an emulator on Windows.
Linux will be "better" once every vendor is shipping a native binary. But since Linux has an ABI stability problem, that won't happen. Which is why the most stable ABI on Linux is Win32.
The closest "can't do" (or rather, Linux is a better fit) in the article is the AI-related tasks when you need scale. But that's irrelevant to be a gaming machine.
> You present sudo as a method of installing drivers; CLI-anything should be the last thing that makes "something better" for a bog standard Windows user!
I agree, and this is why I also introduced beginner-friendly systems like Ubuntu here, which provide graphical driver management. This is one of the reasons why Linux is better I think, it offers a simple way for beginners and alternatives for those who prefer command line or other methods.
> You misunderstand. Full screen exclusive mode does not exist in Windows. You can't say that it doesn't work in "full screen" mode but works in "borderless". They're one in the same.
My experience shows that there are differences in implementation, at least for some games. Because I did encounter issues with not being able to return to the desktop, and I'm not the only one, my friends tell me I'm not alone, as they have had similar problems.
> And you are aware of anti-cheat that will not function in Wine due to the anti-cheat being a kernel driver. I'm not saying this is good, it's quite bad, but it's there and prevents you from using a non-Windows OS.
Yea, I have actually introduced a lot of content on this topic in the articles, including the current support for a series of anti-cheat protocols. I don't deny that there are a few very specific games that can't be played on other platforms due to anti-cheat measures, but the vast majority of games can run normally on Linux even with anti-cheat mechanisms in place. By the way, the example of Rogue Company that I mentioned in the article has happened to me more than once. Most of the time, it fails to start on Windows, especially if I reinstall the system, it will almost 100% refuse to connect online, while it has never failed on Linux. My friend also encountered connection issues when trying to play with me on Windows. I think this shows that Windows is not always exempt?
> Every console you listed has an emulator on Windows.
It turns out that they don't always run smoothly on Windows, or rather, on various versions of Windows. However, on Linux, this is no longer a problem due to packaging options like flatpak, additional dependencies may need to be installed on Windows. Users don't need to search for them everywhere, they can simply search in the store.
Strangely, the article doesn't mention any of the performance tuning benifits that Linux offers, such as being able to run system binaries and packages that are built with CPU microarchitecture optimisations for your specific CPU family; being a able to switch to a CPU scheduler that's more tuned to your workload thereby delivering better FPS and frametime stability (eg by using the LAVD and bpfland schedulers); being able to run your games under a compositor that's dedicated and optimised specifically for gaming (gamescope) etc.
Also, the article fails to mention how nice the overall user experience in Linux is, due to the lack of various annoyances which Windows has. For instance, Windows Updates tend to interrupt you, reboot at the most inopportune moment, and when you do reboot it holds your PC hostage with the message "working on updates, don't turn off your computer" (which can take ages), sometimes requiring multiple reboots. Linux has none of that nonsense - you update whenever you want to, reboot only once, the reboot is also instantaneous and doesn't hold your PC hostage. And if you're on an immutable/atomic distro, you get the advantage of fail-proof atomic updates, and the option for updates to be fully automatic, and if for some reason an update doesn't work out for you, you can rollback instantly right from the boot menu without needing to use a separate tool. Honestly, the superior update handling - especially with immutable distros - is a major selling point of Linux over Windows. Just ask any veteran Windows user and they'll say updates are probably one of the biggest annoyances in Windows, so I'm surprised that the article doesn't mention this.
The article also doesn't mention the issue of spyware and bloatware in Windows, which is not only annoying, but can also slow down your gaming experience. Of course, you can run a debloater tool - and most tech-savvy users do indeed run one - but you need to do so every month because Microsoft tends to sneak in new bloatware, or the changes you made to the packages/filesystem etc can get undone due to updates. Also, there's the issue of thirdparty spyware which no debloater handles, such as the rootkits installed by anticheat programs. Privacy issues aside, these rootkits are even known to cause BSODs and cause Windows Updates to fail! No such issues on Linux.
Finally, the biggest thing most gamers want is a hassle-free gaming experience without all of the above nonsense. Many of them want a console-like experience, where you come home after a hard day's work, power on your PC, and bam, you're off gaming without having to worry about a thing. Linux can offer that experience with gaming-optimised immutable distros such as PikaOS, or Bazzite where your PC boots straight into Steam (if you get the "deck"/htpc edition) and you can jump straight into your game, without having to worry about OS updates or any other maintenance tasks.
And that's what gamers want the most, they just want to game, without any nonsense from the OS. And the article fails to capture this. This, IMO, is why Linux is the best gaming system.
Good point! I plan to update the article and add more screenshots for demonstration, and at that time I may supplement these! Thank you so much!