Like perhaps many others I am debating what to do with my PC at the end of support for windows 10 later this year. I have read a lot of discussions here about switching to Linux, and a lot of commentary that though it has gotten a lot more plug and play it maybe still has some weaknesses. I just want to know what those are, and if it can support what I currently do with my computer.
Basically my computer is just for gaming. I play a plethora of games both major titles and small indy games. I also use mods on my games sometimes. Beyond gaming it's just basic web browsing.
More specific questions:
-
I think I need to pick a "distro", right? Based on the above, which distro may work best for me?
-
what am I most likely to NOT be able to do, if anything? I have heard modding in particular can be challenging with Linux. Like Skyrim mods that use a script extender or rely on various Windows programs. Is that true? Are there some smaller indy games that don't have Linux support (thinking back to the early mac days)?
-
I would rate my computer technical ability at like..... A 4/10. I haven't done anything too crazy but can Google most issues and willing to learn. Is this realistically enough to get me up and running with Linux? I don't have any programming experience or anything of the sort.
-
if the final answer here involves running a windows partition, is it possible to safely still use a windows 10 partition, even after the end of support? Or does it need to be a windows 11 partition? Best case is no partition, but curious if it comes to that.
-
anything else I might run into that I'm not expecting? Words of encouragement?
If you’re going to dual boot, the latest version of Fedora makes that really easy to set up. Linux Mint is also a really good choice. For the love of god, avoid Ubuntu like the plague. It is not user friendly anymore. If you ever have to look up a guide on how to set up Flatpak, you’re in the wrong distro. Flatpaks should be front and center in the software center.
Btw, you don’t download installers from the internet like you do with Windows. You install software from the software app. On Gnome, it’s called Software, and on KDE, it’s called Discover. Fedora offers both Gnome and KDE. Since you’re new to Linux, I’d recommend KDE. It’s similar to the Windows layout.
Then Mint uses Cinnamon. It’s similar to a Windows layout. I don’t know what the software app is called. Cinnamon is really user friendly and familiar. You’d like it.
Then there’s Bazzite. Bazzite is great if you only want to game. Like, if you’re setting up a console-like PC for your living room. But, it does have some issues. The biggest one is that it’s immutable. That’s great (and actually beneficial) if you don’t need to change anything about the system, which you probably don’t anyway, but it gets annoying if you ever need to do anything more advanced. It also can only install containerized apps, so like Flatpak. (It can technically install packages, but they get wiped on the next update.) If you’re really 100% sure that you’re only ever going to game and do very basic things like browsing, basic photo editing, media, etc, then Bazzite would work for you. Remember to run the updater from Desktop Mode once in a while.
Since Linux is free and easy to installed, you can try out all and see which one you like. If you’re dual booting, that might be a bad idea, so instead, try them out using VirtualBox in Windows. In a VirtualBox, your games won’t run, btw, because they don’t have access to your graphics card.
If your games aren’t running well, you may need to install the Nvidia drivers from the software app. Just search for Nvidia driver, and you’ll find it. After an install and a reboot, your games should run fine.
Backup everything on your PC before you continue, in case anything goes wrong. As another user recommended, installing Linux to a separate drive is a lot easier and less problematic than trying to resize your Windows partition and use the same drive.
Final notes, some things to know about Linux:
/, and other drives get mounted to paths inside that. This is how normal computers have worked since the 60s. Windows has drive letters because it is based on DOS, which was weird. Also, it uses a slash to separate paths instead of a backslash. Again, backslash is a weird DOS thing.Weird question: is bazzite console enough that I can just control the whole thing with a controller? My PC does live in the living room connected to the tv for couch gaming most of the time, but I do still do basic internet browsing periodically.
Yes. It’s really good at that actually. The browser can be cumbersome, but it’s not too bad for just basic browsing with a controller. I wouldn’t want to write an article on it, though. xD