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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[–] woelkchen 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Debian Sid should be fine. I wouldn't go with Stable − too old.

Personally, I'd go with the Flathub version of Steam and not pollute my main system with 32bit libraries Steam required for backwards compatibility. With the 32bit dependencies as Flatpak Runtimes, the main system stays clean.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

You need an up to date systems to utilize newest packages of drivers (etc.) to make full use of recent hardware and to be able to play new games.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

Linux Mint Debian Edition (LMDE 6) might also be a good fit for you.

[–] c10l 1 points 11 months 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.

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[–] [email protected] 0 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

If Debian Stable supports your hardware, go for it. If not, try Debian Sid, but it won't be as stable. You can install up-to-date applications, like Steam, using flatpaks in any case.

Even if you opt for stable and there's an update that you may take advantage from, you can always update your kernel in several ways or change to Debian Sid (unstable), but you can't go back unless you change to Debian Testing and then wait the freeze of Testing which then becomes Debian Stable.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

All I know is wine-mono and wine-gecko doesn't come in any default package lists on apt that you get on Linux Mint (which should include Debian and Ubuntu packages), not sure if they exist on some other mirror list somewhere but it didn't seem like it, while on Arch I got them directly from Extra (not even AUR).

Well you technically don't need mono or gecko, especially not if you're just going to use Steam Proton to play, but I use pure WINE a lot and it was a pain having to install them manually. Eventually I gave up on using mono and just downloaded the .net runtimes I needed through winetricks.

 

There were also some lib32 package I got from AUR on Arch that didn't exist on apt. One of those gst plugins (ugly/good/bad/nice/whatever)

[–] [email protected] 0 points 11 months ago

At the end of the day, the distribution is not that important for gaming, unless you need those 1-2 extra fps. Debian is a very good choice for workstations nowadays. I was a long time OpenSUSE user, always had joys with Debian, but yesterday switched to Garuda Linux (Arch variant optimized for gaming) and I love it so far very much.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Don't opt for an LTS distro for gaming (or even for regular desktop use), opt of a rolling release one... or at least one that has 2 or 3 regular yearly releases.

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