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Linux is slowly taking over my life as a PC gamer [xda-developers] (www.xda-developers.com)

submitted 1 day ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[-] [email protected] 3 points 8 hours ago

The fungal infection of AI in everything in Windows 11 finally tipped me back fully into Proton-land, and I run Garuda and couldn't be happier. All my games run, sometimes more smoothly than they even did on Windows, and I am reunited with my love: gnome3. Thank you, Valve. Thank you Linus.

[-] [email protected] 9 points 13 hours ago* (last edited 6 hours ago)

I migrated away from Windows to Cachy OS earlier this year and I’ve never been happier. Linux still isn’t perfect for gaming but it’s night and day compared to the last time I tried like 10 years ago.

[-] [email protected] 6 points 12 hours ago

Light and day???

[-] [email protected] 6 points 11 hours ago

🤦‍♂️ How did I miss that…

[-] [email protected] 2 points 10 hours ago

Switched on my daily driver around 2016 and have been doing all but VR gaming on Linux since about 2019. I would totally recommend it to any one as long as they aren't a tripple a, release day kinda gamer.

[-] [email protected] 5 points 18 hours ago

I want to go Linux on my main gaming system coz I like KDE and GNOME more than ugly ass Windows 11, but I just don't want to deal with compatibility crap.

[-] [email protected] 11 points 16 hours ago

i think those times are over. so i put some mint linux on any pc, install steam and then add non steam game .exe file. only setting needed is run with proton10. i have not yet found a thing that doesnt run. and it so far every time outruns windows.

[-] [email protected] 9 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 9 hours ago)

As a primary Linux user, there are many cases that don't work. Many kernel level anti cheat (which I would refuse to install on windows anyway), some games have noticeable worse performance (obscure expedition 33 has low average fps and terrible dips on linux, but it's "OK" on windows for my specific hardware ).

On average, I think Linux is still better, but YMMV depending and what games your want and what HW you have.

[-] [email protected] 1 points 2 hours ago

I'm an old fart, so I don't want to play any games with kernel level anti-cheat. I've yet to encounter a game that doesn't work in Linux.

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle had some AMD driver issues early on, but I was able to tinker a short term fix until they fixed it. MachineGames' engine has always been wonky on release.

[-] [email protected] 4 points 13 hours ago

Kernel level anti cheat is the final obstacle for Linux gaming, I think. Its really the only thing that categorically does not work, so if those are the games you want to play you really are fucked.

[-] [email protected] 4 points 15 hours ago

So what games do you play?

Most just work out of the box for me without having to deal with anything

[-] [email protected] 1 points 13 hours ago

I don't think Overwatch 2 and Marvel Rivals work. Mostly coz they are online multiplayers. I also play games ranging from really old from circa late 90's to brand new games like Doom The Dark Ages. I'm sure there will be a lot of problematic ones in between as some are already problematic with Windows, let alone anything else.

[-] [email protected] 11 points 13 hours ago* (last edited 13 hours ago)

Both Overwatch 2 and Marvel Rivals work out of the box. I have had no issues playing either game. Are we anti cheat yet can help you see what multiplayer games work.

The older games you play may actually work better. Many people have found that Wine fixes several of issues when running older games.

[-] [email protected] 0 points 10 hours ago

Yeah, I've seen how you have to manually install EasyAntiCheat garbage on Linux. It looked like absolute horseshit stupidity. Wouldn't want to deal with that.

[-] [email protected] 4 points 10 hours ago

I don't understand your argument. 100% of my library works under Linux. In fact based on protondb's ratings, half of them don't even require me to do anything (this is excluding titles that run native on Linux):

For the half that requires "tinkering" it literally means adding one well documented argument to the command line to make it run smoothly.

The benefits of Linux far outweigh the cons of having to suffer the shitshow that is windows.

[-] [email protected] 1 points 6 hours ago* (last edited 5 hours ago)

Okay, fair enough. I actually have a sacrificial SSD in my system that I can entirely dedicate to Linux install without dealing with dual boot and I'm just gonna slap Kubuntu on there since I already use it on other systems and see how it works for games I'm currently playing (OW2, Marvel Rivals, Doom The Dark Ages and Oblivion Remaster).

EDIT: What about GOG and potentially Epic games? I mostly have games on Steam, but I have A LOT of nostalgic games on GOG and I'm pathological hoarder on Epic that I might play one day.

[-] [email protected] 1 points 4 hours ago

Heroic launcher takes care of both GOG and Epic, no worries.

I don't know kubuntu that well, just be aware that certain graphics cards will require a more bleeding edge distro. People have been swearing by Bazzite, CachyOS and Nobara lately.

I use Arch btw

[-] [email protected] 1 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago)

Oh fuck, looks like I won't be going Linux for gaming anytime soon. Sound Blaster AE-9, almost 400€ soundcard with all the upgrades on OPAMPS that I absolutely love. Doesn't work AT ALL so I had to pair BT earbuds so I even have sound. Radeon Software. Doesn't even exist in Linux. Like, it's just not even there. Which means features like AFMF, Radeon Chill, frame limiting, all that I use in Windows for my RX 9070 XT, just doesn't exist. AT ALL. Marvel Rivals, doesn't just work "out of the box". So far this has absolutely not been a fun experience and given that soundcard situation and graphic card control panel or shall I say its lack of that's inherently "that's just how it is on Linux", yeah well, it seems this will never change. And I can blame Creative for being ass with drivers which is their unique shtick, but to not have features for my Radeon that make Radeon unique and why I love it, that's just unacceptable and makes it entirely useless.

I'll stick with Windows on this one and Linux on all my other systems where I love Linux since I don't need anything advance, it just works fine out of the box there. But for this PC, just entirely useless.

EDIT: What in the fuck is this? Steam needs fucking 5 minutes to run and it's literally stalling my entire system to a halt so that I can't do ANYTHING with it during that time. Oh, you clicked Library, lets stall for another 15 seconds for no fucking reason and I still can't see the fucking library, it's just black rectangle. I'm running a god damn 5800X3D with 64GB RAM and Kubuntu is installed on a dedicated fast SSD. This is just unacceptable.

[-] [email protected] 2 points 10 hours ago

Older ones work usually better in Wine/Proton than on Windows.

[-] [email protected] 1 points 13 hours ago

I'm using an old 2080ti still and Bazzite has given me zero issues. PoE 2 was unplayable at first but that was more of a positive for me.

[-] [email protected] 25 points 1 day ago

I started the switch over last night. Installed Kubuntu on a spare external ssd. Got Steam installed, figured out how to select the drivers I needed for my nvidia gpu. Even got remote desktop access to the game server I'm running. Linux has amazing capabilities built in, I'm impressed. Took some work to get Enshrouded running on Steam this afternoon (probably not the best game to start off with, it's problematic) but after a good bit of trying different options it started up. If I can get Orca running for my 3d printer, there really isn't much I'm going to miss from Windows.

[-] [email protected] 2 points 4 hours ago

I got over 400 hours on Enshrouded on KDE Fedora, it runs very smooth if you have the hardware, and enshrouded has high demands for that hardware.

[-] [email protected] 1 points 2 hours ago

It's running great now, played a couple hours this afternoon. Only problem I had was a connection loss with the game server once. That could be anything, not unusual. Otherwise runs really smoothly.

[-] [email protected] 3 points 9 hours ago

Orca slicer has an App image available on their GitHub release page! You're all set!

[-] [email protected] 2 points 2 hours ago

Have Orca installed, and it started up. Now I either have to figure out copying over all my configuration files, if that's an option, or rebuild everything manually. After tuning my printer settings and filaments over 2 years, would be a lot to redo.

[-] [email protected] 1 points 8 hours ago

Orca works fine on Linux, just the occasional bug. And no mesh fixing.

[-] [email protected] 46 points 1 day ago

ONE OF US.

[-] [email protected] 19 points 1 day ago

I have really high hopes about SteamOS for PC. Not because linux, but because Linux + good support

[-] [email protected] 1 points 4 hours ago

Steam OS is not, and will not be a good desktop OS. At least in the foreseeable future. If you want that kind of experience now, install Bazzite.

[-] [email protected] 23 points 1 day ago

Imho Valve's crown jewel is proton, which is already available by default on any Linux Steam install. Going for a "boring" Linux like Mint and installing Steam delivers a seamless experience for many gamer profiles already nowadays. The progress has been amazing (ymmv of course)

Still very excited about SteamOS because so many gamers seem to put enough trust in Valve to actually bite the bullet and ditch Windows.

[-] [email protected] 7 points 13 hours ago

The last bit is the key here. Is it gonna be objectively a better pick than any distro on the market right now? Not really. But the Valve name carries a lot of weight and will definitely bring in a lot of interested folks.

[-] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago

I made the switch in January, and it's been great. The only game I've had trouble with is a fully-kitted Skyrim with a bajillion external apps/runtimes, but I've managed to get even that working fine. Every other game is just Install/Play from Steam with no tweaks.

[-] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago

Are you using steamtinkerlaunch? I just discovered that and absolutely love that I can use vortex again

[-] [email protected] 7 points 1 day ago

SteamOS already has worse support than Linux distros half it's age.

[-] [email protected] 1 points 16 hours ago

You mean the old debian based version? True, but the steam machines concept was a major misfire. This is not the case with steam deck and its version of SteamOS

[-] [email protected] 1 points 13 hours ago* (last edited 11 hours ago)

No because that would be like 1/10 it's age. I mean SteamOS 3.

[-] bdonvr 10 points 1 day ago

I only ever boot up Windows for VR stuff. It's never been a barrier to me otherwise. Though I don't often play anti-cheat heavy eSports games.

[-] [email protected] 7 points 1 day ago

Monado helped me kick windows for VR stuff.

this post was submitted on 14 Jun 2025

222 points (97.0% liked)

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