this post was submitted on 15 Jan 2025
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For those about to switch, welcome to Linux! If you have AMD hardware give Linux Mint a shot. If you have NVIDIA, Pop!_OS is worth your first install.
Debian 12 is also hat in the ring worthy, nv support is fine.
Pop_OS is a good alternative. I still believe that most non-gaming adults would be happy with Firefox and LibreOffice on Linux.
I switched about two weeks ago to PopOS on my gaming PC. Everything works smoothly now, but I am also highly knowledgeable with computers and work as a sysadmin. Even PopOS isn’t plug and play for someone who just turn on their PC and launches Steam to play some games. Whilst all my games work now, almost every game requires a small tuning, some small fix, some config changing to work properly. I wouldn’t recommend Linux gaming to those who aren’t technically capable enough to know how to install an OS or research distros without following a tutorial.
Can you give more detail? I was a lifetime windows user and recently switched. I'm running Linux mint and steam and every game I tried on it was working as expected (admittedly my samplesize is not that big but from what I remember hades 2, slay the spire, horizon zero dawn, doom, civ5, rimworld, pal world were tried. No difference to windows. Maybe not the newest aaa games...)
Sure. What GPU, Monitor Resolution , refresh rate and size are you using? Did it all work out of the box? How do you play steam games? Did you just know to go for the compatibility setting and turn on proton? Which proton version did you use? Do you know the difference between all the versions? What about non steam games? Did you install Lutris? So you know what Vine is. Is it an emulator? They say it isn’t, but it is, isn’t it? Why do you have a media player folder in each game folder you install via Lutris? What about desktop icons? How would you launch your games, if you had them all on desktop before?
The simplest thing I had to do on my 42” 4K was to increase UI scaling, which in turn made my mouse unbelievably slow. In order to change DPI, I had to install three different Logitech drivers, where none worked. In the end, I was forced to edit the matrix in xinput manually, and add a startup command to run it on launch. But that lead to most of my games being rendered in wrong resolution or crashing. The solution was to install GNOME tweaks and increase the font size.
Sure, all of this may not be a problem to me as a sysadmin, or to you, but it is a major deterrent to the layman.
Mint is better with AMD? Good to know. I was already planning to try Mint first because I heard it was easier on cavemen like me that don't speak no computer.
Love to, I've been running Fedora on my laptop for ages. Unfortunately my gaming rig still needs windows for VR stuff. Pimax has yet to add Linux support.
Either way, I've pirated a copy of LTSC. By the time that dies, I'll probably have replaced the Pimax with a Deckard headset.
I long for rock solid VR support in Linux like the rest of my gaming in Steam. I dual boot windows for the sole purpose of VR experience right now :(
Me, with an AMD CPU and Nvidia GPU, who is expecting to maybe upgrade to an Intel GPU this year and swap to Linux: visible confusion
We truly do live in the weirdest timeline.
I would just worry about GPU drivers honestly, Intel seems to be doing fine on Linux for the most part.
Yeah, it's really the fact that I am even saying that I might have a system with an AMD CPU and an Intel GPU running Linux that throws me for a loop. I'm pretty sure I can learn to handle any of that, but that is certainly not a sentence I would've expected myself to say 10 years ago.
If I am the average computer user with very little literacy when it comes to operating software, how do I go about switching from Windows to Linux? Is there a tutorial anyone recommends?
Zorin OS will be the most seamless transition to Linux based operating system.
It offers a user-friendly and familiar interface, especially for Win users with customizable layouts, pre-installed software, and tools like Zorin Connect for seamless device integration. It's optimized for performance on both modern and older hardware, provides strong security features, and delivers a polished, visually appealing experience with minimal learning required.
You can try it via live USB, compare to Mint before deciding and installing one. Start from 2:28.
there isn't one everyone agrees on, but the explainingcomputers channel is great to learn about linux.
Why the recommendation of different distros for different GPU?
That's just my guess: Linux mint may be easier to get into and more popular, however it doesn't come with pre installed proprietary drivers. Pop OS is based on the same distro so should be similar enough, but it comes with pre packaged drivers
Nailed it. The transition to Linux should be as smooth as possible for newcomers.
Bit of a weird reason to recommend a distro for me though? Isn't installing drivers (even Nvidia) basically just the same as Windows these days?
The difference with Pop OS in particular is that they offer installation ISOs with the proprietary NVIDIA drivers preinstalled, meaning you don't have to fuss with installing them at all.
Yea I get that. But installing them is far from the troublesome experience it used to be, isn't it? It's just a one-click installer that generally "just works" these days?
Depends. On Ubuntu? Sure. On Wayland Arch? Good luck.
Just works, sometimes. Other times you'll be left with a blank screen and the need for a second device to search the mint forums. It all depends on the age and support for your hardware.
It prompts you on boot (until turned off) with a list of things to do, including "driver manager" which will get those Nvidia (and any others like USB wifi adapters) drivers for you ezpz
Honestly easier than windows, even
Mint is super old and the nvidia drivers on mint are terrible.