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Suggested Distro? (lemm.ee)
submitted 3 years ago* (last edited 3 years ago) by to c/linux_gaming@lemmy.ml
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It's time once again to bang my head against the wall of Linux gaming to see if I can make the switch from Windows. What's the flavor of the month for gaming distros for a Windows native that's not a moron but also wants something that just works once its set up?

Bonus points if you can point me at resources for how to put Linux on my Windows box as a dual boot without breaking my Windows installation.

EDIT - Tried Mint and Nobara and neither could figure out how to dual boot with Windows on a machine with two physical drives. I'm sure if I had a CS degree I could figure it out in short order but a little googling and messing around trying different things didn't work so I think I'm done. Maybe next time, Linux.

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[–] 8 points 3 years ago* (1 child)

While Linux Mint may not be designed specifically for game compatibility, it is quite user friendly. The default desktop environment (cinnamon) feels a lot like windows.
It behaves in much the same way as other distros for steam games (check protondb for compatibility). I can't say how well it works for other games as I haven't tried.

The Linux Mint installer is fairly intuitive and easy to use. There is an option to install alongside your existing OS, and the included GRUB bootloader will let you select which OS you want to boot each time you turn on your computer.

I've tried many different distros, but I keep coming back to Mint for it's user friendly feel, and simple customisation options.

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  • [–] 1 point 3 years ago (1 child)

    If I dual-boot first but decide later down the road to switch fully to Linux, is it easy to convert it from dual-boot to single-boot?

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  • [–] 4 points 3 years ago* (1 child)

    Yes. You can use gparted to delete the windows partition (remember to back-up files first), then resize the Linux partition to take up the entire drive.

    Grub should automatically detect that windows has been removed. If it doesn't, you can edit the Grub config fairly easily to tell it to not show options on boot, just boot straight into Linux.

    There is also an option to remember the last OS booted, and if no button is pressed for 10 seconds during boot, it will continue to that OS.

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  • [–] 1 point 3 years ago (1 child)

    I apologize, but I am still very much a Linux noob and so I don't understand how to use gparted. I know what it is, but my ignorance in its operation frightens me to use it, for fear of fucking up my system...

    That being said, I am no stranger to learning new things. Do you know of any good beginner-friendly guides on using gparted?

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  • [–] 2 points 3 years ago* (last edited 3 years ago) (1 child)

    Not that I can think of. Gparted is fairly self explanatory, and playing with it in a virtual machine is a safe way to practice and learn.

    I recommend installing VirtualBox, then booting a Linux Mint iso in it. (If you only have 32 bit OS options, check if you bios supports hardware virtualisation, and turn it on). The live disk has gparted installed by default. You can play with it a bit, and anything you do can only affect the virtual hard drive.

    If you install Linux Mint in the virtual machine (remember to remove the iso from the virtual machine after installing or it will keep booting from the iso), you'll have to install gparted from the package manager. You can then see what an installed OS looks like in gparted. If you make a major mistake, the worst that can happen is you destroy the virtual hard drive. In that case, just delete the virtual machine and make a new one.

    If you need real-time help, you can't can contact me on discord (same user name).

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