I am and always was a casual gamer, I like playing puzzles, strategy and builder games, sometimes I play with friends some 7 days to die or AoE2. I am on Linux Mint for more than a year now and was surprised how easy gaming was. From time to time I had problems with weird DirectX error messages, but all in all everything just worked.
My setup:
- AMD Ryzen 5 3600
- GeForce GTX 1660 Super
- 32 GB DDR4 RAM
So last week my girlfriend worked on my computer (we are not living together), she wrote some bills for customers and did some table stuff in calc. When I asked her at the end of the day how it was to work on Linux, she shrugged and said “Oh I didn’t notice” lol (using Cinnamon as DE btw).
Today she bought Until Dawn the remake on Steam while she is here and because she really wanted to play she downloaded it to my PC. She just started to play and everything was great. I wondered again if I should say something like “you see how great you can game in Linux”, but then it came to my mind - she doesn’t care and she didn’t even question it! The Linux Desktop got so mature, that non-tech people just don’t notice!
I think the biggest “problem” with Linux adoption is that it does not come preinstalled on computers, and this kind of proves my point I guess.
Yeah that’s all, I just wanted to share this with you guys.
P.S.: There were some bugs btw. but it turned out they have nothing to do with the OS.
My mother, who is the stereotypical boomer that doesn’t get technology, got upset with all the privacy invasion of Microsoft, and has been running Linux for over a decade
For what? Recipe keeping?
If she is immune to branding then marry that one! She’s rare.
I do some IT at work and I don’t wanna bother with ITing my own system, so I installed Linux on it. It’s doing everything I want to, and wine does the rest. I love it.
Meanwhile I have a riced setup with programmer dvorak keyboard layout and shortcut heavy interaction which makes my computer almost unusable to normies.
That’s mostly my experience with Mint Cinnamon. It’s close to on par with windows at most things.
Yeah - my wife has occupied for hundreds of hours the SteamDeck and really doesn’t care that it’s Linux. Her games do work. And after Microsoft switched off Win10, I moved her to Mint and she really had no issues at all with that. Everything she does still works the same. We just saved a few hundred Euros by being able to keep using the Laptop
The different file system was the biggest adaptive hurdle for me. Just the default knowledge of how windows worked from the MS-DOS era took a bit to adapt to. I think knowing Windows actually made it harder to switch compared to someone who wouldn’t know much more than opening the internet browser.
But for gaming: more than anything navigating all the compatability files being used by WINE and Steam can be a nightmare.
Yeah Linux’s biggest problem now is “oups, your application / driver isn’t available”
Not user friendlyness.
What drivers are you missing?
Back then the LEGO mindstoms stuff was a problem. And my Logitech remote.
Not sure if that changed. Growed tired of dual boot, and went windows. The thing is, just one app or game you can’t use can screw up everything.
Unsupported LEGO mindstorm stuff seems to be a problem of the past https://www.ev3dev.org/ but even in the past, it was probably more a config problem.
Never the less, you don’t lower your overall efficiency because one out of a hundred apps do not work correctly. You don’t even need to dual boot. You can just fire up QEMU with a Windows VM and use this app and shut it off afterwards. That also makes snapshot handling way easier.
What I admit is, if you want to play a game, you can only use virtualization if you have a spare GPU you can pass through for hardware acceleration. Otherwise playing in a VM doesn’t make any sense. But on the same time I also have to say, WINE improved so so god damn much over the last 5 years. I am trying to get games to run with WINE since like 2005 or something and it was always painful and nothing from this side of the century worked…
But now, even with the proton wrapper, everything just works tbh. I have a lot of games, different games, new games, old games, multiplayer games with anti cheat etc…
Everything works on my machine. Now even my non-tech-friends are jumping this wagon, I now a handful of those people running Linux only for at least a year now and all of them are happy with it. I’m not saying that they couldn’t be happier, but they also sometimes overesitmate their Windows know-how, because in the end, most of their frustration comes from the fact, that they don’t know how to do certain things, but they actually didn’t know before either.
They would fake read some stuff, download 3 things, randomly click on a lot of stuff, change some settings they don’t remember and when they fucked the poor rectangular prism enough, they called me to unfuck it and get done whatever they wanted in the first place. It wasn’t too different from what they are able to achieve now on their Linux machine. But I have one or two people, that gaslight themselves into believing that they knew more about the Windows Machine, didn’t fuck it up on a regular basis and did not need to call me in to fix it.
I don’t know why they talk themselves into this fictional scenario, I don’t care, they are still on Linux, everything they want works and they already started customizing KDE to their liking.
Yeah, other than photoshop/outlook, the day to day is fine for just about everyone.
The days of a kernel update screwing over a video driver aren’t quite gone yet. When things go sideways, they are much harder to fix for the average person, and the people with the necessary skill sets are still a bit scarce. Not every family has a cousin Jimmy capable of reading dmesg and screwing with kernel modules.
That said, most of the big ai’s are totally capable of walking a non-techie through fixing a pretty screwed up linux box.
But even outlook you can use in the browser for most functionality now which is nice.
I’m getting a new PC for my elderly mom and installing Linux on it. It’s just that easy for day-to-day stuff
Great use-case.
99% of the population just needs a good web browser.
AMD drivers are so smooth on Linux!
The GPU is actually NVIDIA! But planning an upgrade to an AMD card soon.
I’m dumb, I mixed with CPU…
…but AMD drivers are still smooth !!!
I have friends who says “I still run Windows because I don’t want to do any tinkering,” but don’t realize they’d do less tinkering if they switched haha. It’s not 2015 anymore.
It’s wild. “I don’t want to have to tinker,” then go on to talk about the 10 different debloating softwares they need to run every time it updates.
$sudo apt install realtek-firmware-nonfree
“NOOOOOO SO USER UNFRIENDLY!!!”
“On windows all i have to do is go to regedit, then HKEY/SOFTWARE/Microsoft/Windows/classes/someObscureSetting, then select DWORD and change the value to 0x0011111, then save and reboot. SO EASY AND USER FRIENDLY!! Thanks microslop!!!”
Lol right? I used Windows for decades, and edited the registry a countless number of times. Never did I have any clue what the fuck any of it was doing. Not once.
With Linux, I gain permanent knowledge any time I need to use a command I found online.
skill issue
“Windows doesn’t require any tinkering, just run this to make a local account, decline 100 requests to use OneDrive and Office 365, get these debloaters, uninstall all these things, and make sure you always tell Windows to not restart your computer while you’re using it every time it updates. And when it does update, you’ll need to run the debloaters again.”
I mean, you don’t really have to do these stuff. I doubt the comment’s author’s friend cares about debloating and privacy.
Yes, in the same way that you don’t typically need to tinker with Linux
In the end they’re not so different, except Windows intentionally does anti-consumer things that make people want to tinker.
No joke my linux laptop hardest part was the initial install. Steam made gaming seemless. No ms account login, no asking for ai, no drivers. Just install and boom im playing my games. Its so nice.
And the initial install has gotten so easy
Literally, my Linux Mint came with the drivers for the wifi, meanwhile Windows always needed me to put them there…
I put Windows on my laptop last year-ish, same exact one with Linux on it now. Took around 2.5x slower to start it up. Win 11 at the time. Fresh off a new image.
Linux takes less than 10 sec. And thats without any optimization and a “heavy” distro like PopOS.
Mint is a good option too :)
I prefer Mint Cinnamon because it’s the closest I have to my long time experience with Windows. It feels closer to it, more intuitive even if vastly different.
There’s what Die4Ever said, but there’s also Windows 11 incompatibility with games that otherwise just work with Proton. Around when I got my Steam Deck, I also had a Windows PC that was, to my initial surprise, way more of a hassle for games, so I pretty quickly switched to Linux Mint, and later Fedora.
I used Ubuntu way back when on secondary PCs mostly for fun, but Linux has only outpaced Windows imo in the past five years.
I’ve been using Linux for 3 years, Mint then LMDE and the not tinkering is bullshit
On my laptop the boot drive is forever filling up with Linux Kernel updates and i need to delete them. i have a 1GB partition, there’s no simple way to. do that, there’s a bunch of commands i need to use in Terminal, it’s bullshit that I even need to do it
On my desktop just installing Signal was a drama (no official flatpak) the command line given on the Signal site is not just copy paste and it’s Debian.
then lets not even talk of Davinci Resolve.
i have zero intention of going back to Windows and my needs are quite simple but there is a fair bit of tinkering even then.
There is a setting in the update manager which deletes the kernels for you. Regular Mint is also the better option because of the Ubuntu base.
i have a 1GB partition
Uh, I’m going to go out on a limb and say that this is probably your main issue.
I didn’t even know you could run Linux on a 1GB partition.
That said, you should be able to increase the size of that partition with something like gparted. I had to do it recently for my Bazzite install as I didn’t make the OS partition big enough at first.
It was a little confusing at first because you have to actually move partitions around and make it so the blank space that you want to add to the partition is right next to the OS partition on the table before it will let you make it bigger.
Out of three issues, two are just “app isn’t made to be easily installed on Linux”, which isn’t on Linux itself, but the ones making the app. still, valid issues.
The boot drive filling up is REALLY annoying because on modern systems there’s no need for it to even BE a dedicated partition.
Even with encryption and BTRFS, boot can live in your root partiotion just fine. Only EFI needs a partition and that never fills up.
Distros need to change this default!
I don’t think Kubuntu makes partitions by default, I just have a single large partition aside from the EFI
And if some obscure error code shows up, the first five points in the knowledge base are powershell commands.
Absolutely this. I was spending 2-3 hours a week making my Win11 box stable.
Once a month I had to redo all the sound drivers, as with each reboot sound would get quieter and quieter until I was running a lottery of which program wouldn’t be affected any given day and suddenly have it’s volume loud enough to shake the house.
I upgraded CPU/MB after the MB failed, MS cancelled my Win11 licence. I realized I still was spending stupid amounts of time keeping things working, and I am very against all the AI being shoved into every Windows book and cranny.
The first week of ditching Win11, I was tinkering everything because New Shiny, but now things were working I’m not even sure I’ve spent 3 hours in the last two months tinkering.
How is it that people have unstable Windows installs?? Mine is consistently an unwavering pile of shit.
never have to tinker more in my life than on windows. its even worse with the batshit things Claude will do. On Linux shit just works
Yeah, back then when I made my move from Windows to Linux I mostly did so because I wanted something complicated to tinker with, but I had to go to Gentoo to find a Linux distro that was more complicated then Windows. And that was nearly 20 years ago!
N00b or liar?
claude on Linux? it works.
Too bad Linux users don’t.
they don’t work?
It’s pretty obvious that they’re generally anti-work, and have all day to spend online extolling the virtues of GPL/ Linux. Commies don’t tend to know the reality that it only works at gunpoint. And they’re not intelligent enough to simply make enough money doing just 1-2 hours of work a day. The stereo type of ‘mom’s basement dweller’ is real. Also explains why we don’t run into LiGNUts in public.
what a complete cluster fuck of wildly inaccurate generalisations. this reads like ai-slop from a microsoft-hired bot farm using free tier AI
So you are just a troll. Took a minute to figure that out.
I shouldn’t feed you, but its been so long.
Even in 2015 I was doing more setup on Windows than Linux… honestly even in 2005 too.
That’s interesting. I was definitely a Linux noob in 2015, so that might have been a me problem. Like I know Lutris was a thing even back then.
I was kinda thinking about it from the other direction, like I’ve never had to deal with printers on Linux like I have on Windows and don’t remember ever needing to install hours worth of Service Packs on Linux with a fresh install. That being said, I’ve been using Linux since the Caldera days (late 90s) so I might be being one of the geologists in the XKCD cartoon right now too.
it is a shame some of my apps and games just dont work flawlessly with WINE.
If you’re explicitly using WINE to open games in 2026, then you’re doing it wrong. Launch the games through Steam and enable Proton in the compatibility settings.
That, or get a more lightweight launcher like Faugus, and select Proton (GE or Cachy flavors might work slightly better for some games)
i know, i’ve tried. some essential stuff breaks which keeps me from using it. for now i’ll use the web version
Games should work in Steam with “Steam Play for all titles” enabled. What are the apps?
zalo (vietnamese messaging app), polytoria (not sure if that has a linux client)
Zalo has at least unofficial linux client and polytoria seems to offer flatpack. So those should run on linux, but that’s just based on few quick web searches.
i’ve tried the unofficial zalo client, calls, notifs, and some other small stuff just doesnt work for me. for polytoria, i’ll try it out.
ntlite but also a painless way to flash windows 10 usb that does NOT INVOLVE WOEUSB-NG CLI
I suggested a friend to try out Bazzite (KDE desktop). He told me it felt like he was playing on a console because everything works from the get go. He didn’t have to tweak or install anything.
Is it doable in Bazzite for a non-technical person coming from Windows to install software outside of flakpak?
It’s built on an immutable Fedora, right?Edit: for example: can you install rpm files or software from a Fedora repository via GUI?
That was exactly my experience with that same distro + flavor. One of my happiest moments of the past year has been buying a new prebuilt gaming PC with Windows preinstalled and immediately wiping Windows in favor of Bazzite.
(Because I know someone will wonder: I bought prebuilt because, for a brief time, a store near me still had pre-RAMpocalypse prebuilts for their original price. They had already increased the build-to-order and individual part price to account for higher RAM cost, so for that brief time I was able to get a reasonably-priced, decently-spec’d prebuilt gaming PC for cheaper than building my own. It had Windows preinstalled, and having them remove it for me would’ve saved me like $10 on the license, but made the machine into a build-to-order, which would’ve ballooned the RAM price by like $300. Plus, holding Windows’ head under the water until the bubbles stopped was unexpectedly awesome.)
It is indeed quite satisfying to get a new machine and never let the pre-installed Windows boot even once.
I’m usually frantically pressing del, f2, and f10 when I turn it on to make sure I can set the boot priority to the usb stick so the virgin machine is never tainted.
I’ve never run actual Windows 11 before, so I did boot it once out of curiosity. It was actively trying to make me hate it before I ever got to the desktop, so to the bin with it. I still see the OEM Windows license sticker on the back every once in a while and chuckle.
I’ve also had a great experience with Nobara. I did try Bazzite, but the immutable nature of it stopped me from doing the things I’m used on Linux. However, I’ve got my partner on Nobara as well, and she’s verrry much not techy and still having a great experience.
Nice it’s always great to hear the work millions of people put into the Linux ecosystem is paying off.
This is the kind of story we should forward to Linus Torvalds, the Linux mailing sublists and other volunteers so they see how their work gets recognized ^^
The “doesn’t come preinstalled” part is still huge, combined with the “doesn’t have first-party device manufacturer support”.
If you buy a PC with Windows preinstalled, that doesn’t only mean that you don’t have to install Windows, but also the whole set of hardware in there will work just fine under Windows. They don’t put a fingerprint reader in there that doesn’t have a Windows driver, or a GPU with bad Windows driver support.
And yes, most hardware natively works pretty well under Windows, but the manufacturer taking care that they only select components that work fine under Windows is a big part of why there isn’t a hardware lottery under Windows.
taking care that they only select components that work fine under Windows is a big part of why there isn’t a hardware lottery under Windows.
There isn’t a hardware lottery under Linux, either, unless you buy random hardware instead of choosing known-good components or turning to one of the system vendors who do this for you.
I find it kind of weird that people who would never take mystery medication without it being prescribed to them, and would never buy a paycheck worth of food without considering its contents against their allergies and tastes, would buy a computer without checking whether it will run the software they intend to use.
Perhaps the perceived problem would fade if we taught people that computers and operating systems are not all equal, and that just as MacOS is more likely to run on a machine made for it, Linux is more likely to run on a machine made for it. (Edit: The same is true for Windows, for what it’s worth.)
That’s a bit of a weird argument to make.
We were talking about PCs with preinstalled OSes. How often do you come across DIY-built PCs with preinstalled OS?
If you select your own components you never have a preinstalled OS.
Also, most people who switch from Windows to Linux do so on existing hardware. It’s rare for people to buy a completely new PC to try out an OS. Maybe if €1000+ is something you shell out on a whim, but not if you actually work for your money.
For existing hardware you always have the hardware lottery on Linux.
Perhaps the perceived problem would fade if we taught people that computers and operating systems are not all equal, and that just as MacOS is more likely to run on a machine made for it, Linux is more likely to run on a machine made for it. (Edit: The same is true for Windows, for what it’s worth.)
Congratulations, you just happened to get the point that I made. And for some reason you thought that was a gotcha.
My argument was that if Linux came preinstalled on machines (apart from the current selection of tiny boutique manufacturers), these machines would be configured by the manufacturer to include only components that work well with Linux, which is not the case if you use a device that doesn’t have manufacturer support for Linux.
All in all you ended up at the whole point I was making, but somehow you first had to claim that it’s all nonsense.
All in all you ended up at the whole point I was making, but somehow you first had to claim that it’s all nonsense.
No, I pointed out that the problem you described is completely avoidable, which wasn’t apparent in your original comment. This is an important distinction to other readers who are considering a move to Linux, since they otherwise might be put off by your suggestion that doing so is necessarily a hardware lottery.
It’s a different perspective, not a personal attack.
Your combative, snarky response is unpleasant, unwarranted, and unnecessary. Goodbye.
I get your point, although probably most people install it on whatever hardware they have on their hands. Thus the lottery.
Trying whatever hardware one already has on hand is perfectly reasonable, but it’s not a lottery.
I almost broached the topic with my mother (60s) the other day about moving to Linux. She’s got a computer that sucks, and my other brother got windows 11 on there so it’s exceptionally slow. I was helping her with some documents and printing and whatnot so I started asking a couple of the questions you would ask, like what she uses the pc for. She uses this tax software and “needs” it installed (as opposed to the browser version) so I didn’t continue down that road but I’m pretty sure it’d blow her mind how much better this thing would run with mint. And other than that tax software, it’d be nearly identical for her, open a browser and go to the thing.
I got my mom (about the same age as your mom) setup on Linux for her new laptop about a year ago. She’s been using it fine, and was even excited to tell me how she figures stuff out without me.
Honestly, I’ve had to do less work on her machines since I switched her over. Package management makes it easy for my mom to add or remove apps.
My mom was running slackware for a couple of years in the early 2000s. She kept downloading viruses on her computer and I was tired of her having her ship it across the country so I could fix it. I installed slackware on her computer and shipped it back, and walked her through setting up a port forward on her router for ssh access. She had no idea she was running Linux the entire time until she went to Walmart to buy Peachtree Accounting software. She couldn’t get it to install, so she called and asked for help. I got in with SSH and installed KMyMoney for her and she used that for a year.
It lasted up until she bought a laptop, one that came with Windows 7 I think. I stopped helping her after that because I didn’t really remember how to use Windows anymore. Windows had a subscription antivirus at that point, before Defender days, and she just paid for that.
if you can, get a 2nd hdd/ssd and install linux in parallel
i actually have mint on two older pcs with hdds and while it takes some time to boot, once it’s up, it’s quick, unlike windows
