this post was submitted on 08 Dec 2023
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Hello everyone - I have been wanting to ditch windows on my gaming pc for a while now, and since I have recently finished a large project, I now have the free time to switch. I am relatively comfortable with Debian having used it for a while on my web server as well as school laptop, but I am concerned about using it on my gaming computer since I have heard stock Debian is not the greatest for gaming. All of my other daily driver programs I know will work, so I am mainly concerned with the gaming aspect.

In the case that you don't recommend Debian for my gaming computer, do you have an OS that you would recommend?

I appreciate any insight!

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[–] c10l 1 points 1 year ago (12 children)

I’m using Debian testing + a few packages from experimental (Mesa) and xanmod or liquorix kernel.

It’s been a great experience. Stable as expected, performant as anything else.

[–] deepdive 2 points 1 year ago (11 children)

You probably have your reason to run Debian testing but I read somewhere that testing is somehow a bad idea as desktop environment !

If somehing is stuck and being updated in sid, and bugs are still happening, you could be stuck for month without the correct update in testing.

Sorry if it's not clear, but I read it somewhere in the official debian documentation.

[–] c10l 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

Hey, I appreciate your warning.

For a bit of context, I have been a Debian user for almost 30 years now. Mostly using testing for desktop / workstation systems, and stable on servers and containers. Debian is comfortable and provides me with stability where I need and cutting-edge where I want. It mostly "just works" with great defaults for everything, and it's easy to customise where I desire.

With that out of the way: you're not wrong. In fact, the testing FAQ describes situations where these kinds of breakages could happen.

That said, this is exceedingly rare if not nearly unheard of, and I can always pull packages from sid or experimental if I need (like I do Mesa).

Edit to add: for anyone interested in trying out Debian testing, please check out the Wiki: https://wiki.debian.org/DebianTesting

Edit 2: I have published a blog post describing my setup if you're interested: https://blog.c10l.cc/09122023-debian-gaming

[–] deepdive 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Thank you for your insights and personal experiences :) I love Debian stable as server, never had any issues on a old Asus laptop ! I have only 2 years of "experience" and started with Ubuntu. Good introduction to linux but switched to Debian (<3)

That's way I'm asking arround I don't wan't to have a too bad experience with Debian as main personal PC !

Thank you for your personal blog post and the wiki link :) will surely read through before making my final choice !

[–] c10l 1 points 1 year ago

No worries! I also posted the blog on this community (https://lemmy.world/post/9543661) and someone mentioned in the comments they’re running Debian stable for gaming.

That can also be an option if you’d like to avoid testing for the minute, though I’m not sure what pitfalls that setup might have.

Good luck on your journey!

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