Operating Systems

344 readers

1 users here now

All things operating system related, from Windows to Mac to Linux distros and the more obscure.

Subcommunity of Technology.

This community's icon was made by Aaron Schneider, under the CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.

founded 2 years ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

What's the best Linux alternative to Windows for gaming (beehaw.org)

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

39 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I use Windows for my desktop PC but I'm also a fan of Linux for work and programming.

I'm not really liking the direction windows is taking so it would be nice to explore some other alternatives. I mostly use my desktop for gaming, so I'm interested in how people are gaming on Linux

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It kind of doesn’t matter which distro you use. They should all work similarly with gaming, there’s no distro with some magic formula that makes it more compatible or with better performance than the alternatives. So pick one that strikes your fancy.

If you’re new, it’s probably better to stick with well known distros. I recommend Mint and Pop OS. Both are based on Ubuntu, so every time you run into an issue or have a questions, you can google solutions for Ubuntu which will also work on Mint/Pop OS. But both also have big communities, so you’ll always have help.

Word of advice that Nvidia and Linux don’t really work that well together. Some games will have issues. AMD GPUs work just fine though.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yeah I have a lot of experience with Ubuntu but I was wondering if there were any more optimal distros for gaming.

But I'm glad you mentioned Nvidia cause I have an Nvidia graphics card so that might be an issue for me

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Well, if you're up for it then try anyway. I tried to use Pop OS in my gaming machine for some months, then Endeavour OS, despite also having an Nvidia GPU. It was a cool experience, but the small issues I faced started to pile up. The last straw was when I was going to play in a lan party and Company of Heroes just wouldn't start.

I came back to Windows and honestly... It's better for gaming. Things just work. Doesn't matter if it's niche or AAA or has some anti cheat software, it will work. Regardless of your GPU, or updates, etc. No need to check protondb, troubleshoot, waste hours to make a niche game work (Dragon Commander from GOG... I just gave up and bought it again on Steam to be able to play for example), etc etc

But I'm really happy to see how far Linux has come, and hopefully someday it will be as seamless as Windows. My Steam Deck works really well and it's only going to get better, but we're not there yet.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

I think I'll keep at least one windows boot available for me to run specific games or software as not everything runs well on Linux yet. I'm excited to see how much better support on the steam deck gets soon