this post was submitted on 27 Apr 2024
85 points (91.3% liked)

Technology

59417 readers
2817 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.

Our Rules

  1. Follow the lemmy.world rules.
  2. Only tech related content.
  3. Be excellent to each another!
  4. Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
  5. Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
  6. Politics threads may be removed.
  7. No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
  8. Only approved bots from the list below, to ask if your bot can be added please contact us.
  9. Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed

Approved Bots

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
L3s
[email protected]
[email protected]
L4s
enu
85
Best Linux Distro For Playing On Steam? (self.technology)
submitted 6 months ago by iMastari to c/technology
46 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/14762903

I am switching to Linux for the first time.

I heard Mint is really good but am not sure exactly which distro is best to use with Steam, as well as with newer games, as I primarily use my computer for gaming.

I generally play games like Final Fantasy XIV, Baldur's Gate 3, Elden Ring, Elder Scrolls Online, and Total War: Warhammer 3.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 13 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (2 children)

As long as you don't have an Nvidia card, choose whichever functional and complete distro (some people call these "beginner" distros).

MintLinux and Pop!OS are normally the two front-runners for new users. Basically, if you use Steam and you don't play online-only games with bad implementations of anti-cheat software, you are good to game on either.

Make a USB that you can "live boot" from, so you can test out how they work with your hardware before you actually install the OS. Generally speaking, Mint works better with AMD, and Pop! works better with Nvidia.

Here’s the official basic guide for Mint:
https://linuxmint-installation-guide.readthedocs.io/en/latest/

And here’s the official basic guide for Pop!:
https://support.system76.com/articles/install-pop/

[–] seaQueue 6 points 6 months ago

Nvidia drivers are largely reliable these days. I've daily driven AMD/Nvidia hybrid setups since ~2020 and have only occasionally had Nvidia driver issues. I've actually had more breakage in amdgpu due to insufficient testing and code churn - I think I've reported close to two dozen regressions over the last 4y.

[–] iMastari 4 points 6 months ago (6 children)

I have a nVidia card. Is that bad?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 6 months ago

As a general rule for Linux; Yes, Nvidia hates linux, and the drivers cause issues in a lot of cases.

But Pop! has specifically worded to try to deal with Nvidia, so it might be smooth sailing, depending on which card you have.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 months ago

Nvidia can be tough sometimes with linux, but not impossible. Seems like Linux Mint has a Driver Manager program that can install Nvidia's proprietary drivers for you. When you first install the OS, it'll just use the open source drivers, but those usually don't perform as well while gaming as Nvidia's own drivers, so you'll have to switch them after first boot.

protondb is a website that crowdsources how well specific Steam games work, and any workarounds that may be needed, if you'd like to check game compatibility. You can set it to show only reports from PC users, rather than PC and Steam Deck users.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago

Not at all, in Linux Mint for example I simply picked the recommended driver and I had no issues with that.

[–] seaQueue 1 points 6 months ago

AMD/Nvidia hybrid user here. I've had more breakage in the amdgpu driver than Nvidia by far. I think a more fair comment is "drivers break on Linux occasionally and it's a good idea to learn how to roll back package versions."