Seriously consider moving to Linux

[igor_kavinski]

I don't know much about gaming distros, but I recently read an article that touted Bazzite and CachyOS.

Yeah, I would try CachyOS because it's the only distro that worked right away for me in a VMware VM. I tried three or four other distros before it and they would all cease during booting.

@DAPUNISHER uses Bazzite I think. I'm sure he has some words of wisdom to share on it and games compatibility.

 

[manly]

Yeah, I would try CachyOS because it's the only distro that worked right away for me in a VMware VM. I tried three or four other distros before it and they would all cease during booting.

@DAPUNISHER uses Bazzite I think. I'm sure he has some words of wisdom to share on it and games compatibility.

The article said Bazzite is for the everyman*, while CachyOS is for igor_kavinski power users.

* Since it's immutable, it's harder to break.

But this one's almost foolproof: https://www.codeweavers.com/crossover

It's paid but you can try it out to see if your games work fine in it. It's priced reasonably.

CrossOver is subscription-ware*. Most users will do fine with Steam/Proton, and related free hacks and tweaks.

* I believe you can keep it using it, but you won't get updates and newer versions. I'm cheap, so it's not worth it to me.

 

[igor_kavinski]

I try to be a power user but I'm scared I will press the wrong button and launch the nuke

 

[DaaQ]

Storage Spaces is a Windows feature. You wouldn't be installing Linux onto a SS storage pool.

Generally, I wouldn't use motherboard RAID. It's not actual hardware RAID, because the software is doing the real work. Except for niche applications or disposable data, I'd never consider RAID-0 for anything.

Linux mdraid is very good, so you can do software RAID if you need it (usually by hand with the mdadm command). For larger arrays, something like ZFS is viable too but I'd stay away from Btrfs.

I don't know much about gaming distros, but I recently read an article that touted Bazzite and CachyOS. As for GPUs, AMD is preferred because they have long supported open source. For Nvidia gaming, you use a binary closed source driver (there is an open source driver that isn't full performance).

Board has 4 m.2 slots. If PCIe gen 5 comes down enough in price should just grab one of those and just put the ssds into the vintage bin. Or grab another 4TB gen 4. Will have to check the prices out.

 

[igor_kavinski]

Or grab another 4TB gen 4. Will have to check the prices out.

https://www.amazon.com/Empowered-PC-TEAMGROUP-T-Force-Gen4x4/dp/B0FD49116L/

 

[manly]

I try to be a power user but I'm scared I will press the wrong button and launch the nuke

 

[Indus]

I'm using Mint Cinnamon 21.1. I've barely tried to game on Linux, I dual-boot with Windows just for gaming or storage drive recovery work (NTFS).

The extent of my gaming has been OpenXCOM (native in Linux), Tomb Raider 2 and 4 (I think I got both to run fine), Star Wars Jedi Academy (using some amateur Linux port, it was unplayable), and that's about it I think.

I can't help you with Storage Spaces at all, never touched them.

AMD GPUs AFAIK have a better rep for Linux compatibility, I've used two on Linux being the R9 380X and my current 6700XT. With the latter, I've had 2-3 hangs in Linux since I built my AM5 setup in late 2023, otherwise no problems.

I've gotten every game to work in linux except EA games and PUBG.

Most work just fine.. infact smoother and less choppy than windows if you can believe it. I noticed this over 3 months.. no more random video card fan spool ups to max temps where it happens in windows.

 

[misuspita]

I've seen lately a deluge of youtubers talking about the continuous enshittification of windows 11 and especially the obsession of Microsoft to AI everything (really? Notepad ai??) and the intrusion into personal space that copilot is trying to be, so I am thinking of detaching myself from the Windows world. I'd like to do that completely, but my work software is tied into windows ecosystem. It's a DAW and accompanying VST plug-ins and instruments, and until I'll try them under Linux wrapper of some kind, I won't know if that works or not reliably.



That being said, how are you guys considering Bazzite and Zorin OS? Bazzite for my kid who is mostly playing, and zorin for myself and wife. All computers are not best of the best but newish (AMD 5600X+RADEON 6600 for the kid, 8845hs laptop for wife and a 5700g for me)

 

[Red Squirrel]

I can hear this picture.

"How are you gentleman! All your base are belong to us! You have no chance to survive make your time. Ha ha ha. "

 

[evident]

I've seen lately a deluge of youtubers talking about the continuous enshittification of windows 11 and especially the obsession of Microsoft to AI everything (really? Notepad ai??) and the intrusion into personal space that copilot is trying to be, so I am thinking of detaching myself from the Windows world. I'd like to do that completely, but my work software is tied into windows ecosystem. It's a DAW and accompanying VST plug-ins and instruments, and until I'll try them under Linux wrapper of some kind, I won't know if that works or not reliably.



That being said, how are you guys considering Bazzite and Zorin OS? Bazzite for my kid who is mostly playing, and zorin for myself and wife. All computers are not best of the best but newish (AMD 5600X+RADEON 6600 for the kid, 8845hs laptop for wife and a 5700g for me)

I just need to get used to Office 365 thru linux MS Edge browser. I still use W11 for gaming on my home theater pc. too easy to fire up steam and play my games. i have nothing else installed on it and tried my best to disable everything

 

[WelshBloke]

That being said, how are you guys considering Bazzite and Zorin OS? Bazzite for my kid who is mostly playing, and zorin for myself and wife. All computers are not best of the best but newish (AMD 5600X+RADEON 6600 for the kid, 8845hs laptop for wife and a 5700g for me)

I'd absolutely recommend Zorin as a Windows replacement, it's very polished and unless you have some specific software incompatibility you can have it work exactly like Windows (just without the loss of trust).
I was on Zorin for awhile and very much enjoyed it and didn't really have any problems.
I ended up using the 25.10 Ubuntu and tweaking it a lot (I'm not a fan of snaps and there's a few things I found visually jarring about Ubuntu) but it was nice to get the latest Gnome (so you get HDR and VRR support if your monitor supports it) and the latest kernel (I had a suspicion that my WiFi 7 card wasn't quite working as well as it could with the older kernel).

Tbh I think that the whole "gaming distro" thing doesn't make a lot of difference. If you have a kernel that supports your hardware and your power saving isn't set to something extreme then most distros are going to perform fairly similarly (or you can make them perform similarly).
I guess that there's an advantage in an immutable installation (like Bazzite) as it's a lot harder to break. It does make it a lot harder to fix if it doesn't work though.

 

[Zepp]

I've seen lately a deluge of youtubers talking about the continuous enshittification of windows 11 and especially the obsession of Microsoft to AI everything (really? Notepad ai??) and the intrusion into personal space that copilot is trying to be, so I am thinking of detaching myself from the Windows world.

and they eventually want to completely integrate copilot into file explorer.

Copilot could soon live inside Windows 11's File Explorer, as Microsoft tests Chat with Copilot in Explorer, not just in a separate app

On Windows 11, Copilot will live inside File Explorer, likely in a sidebar or Details/Preview-pane-like interface.

www.windowslatest.com

That being said, how are you guys considering Bazzite and Zorin OS? Bazzite for my kid who is mostly playing, and zorin for myself and wife.

I had really good experience with Zorin and Zorin Lite version 17. Like Mint it's been around a long time and has a large community to get assistance.

 

[misuspita]

Yeah, their corporate stupidity will be the downfall of windows. They need to insert AI into everything so it looks good on for graphs of usage expectations (see how many of our users are now using Ai? We need moar!), but they will destroy the OS. I don't need AI to know absolutely everything I do. Fuxk'em.

I have a very stripped down Windows 11, without all the crap inside and with no auto update courtesy of https://schneegans.de/windows/unattend-generator/ , but I don't want to continue using and supporting such a crap company. Will install in the kid's gaming pc Bazzite, and in mine and wife's, Zorin, especially for the wife, as she's completely non techy and want everything to look and feel like windows without being windows. She's not using the computer any more differently than her phone, except editing some docs, so Libre office is perfect for that. I'll use Zorin too, because I am used to windows and don't want to fuss with too many things in the background, because if not for work, my main usage of pc is exactly as my wife's, browsing, movies, social media, some light editing, maybe a touch of photoshop some photos and that's it.

For me, I will dualboot for now, because my work software (audio production) is tied within windows ecosystem, so until I try it extensively in Linux and see if it works, will be the way forward.

 

[misuspita]

I just need to get used to Office 365 thru linux MS Edge browser. I still use W11 for gaming on my home theater pc. too easy to fire up steam and play my games. i have nothing else installed on it and tried my best to disable everything

I don't play anymore, maybe 3-4 times a month, old games, so for me won't be a problem. As for office, I use Libre office on windows for over a year, no problem for me or the wife.

 

[Ken g6]

For me, I will dualboot for now, because my work software (audio production) is tied within windows ecosystem, so until I try it extensively in Linux and see if it works, will be the way forward.

I don't suppose Audacity, which is available in Linux, is enough for your work?

 

[misuspita]

Tbh I think that the whole "gaming distro" thing doesn't make a lot of difference. If you have a kernel that supports your hardware and your power saving isn't set to something extreme then most distros are going to perform fairly similarly (or you can make them perform similarly).
I guess that there's an advantage in an immutable installation (like Bazzite) as it's a lot harder to break. It does make it a lot harder to fix if it doesn't work though.

Yeah, Bazzite is for the kid and because I'm not knowledgeable about Linux in any way, I don't want to search for stuff to install to make it work, and bazzite already has all the stuff correctly installed and functional.

As for Zorin 18, now it's like Mint, on the last LTS Ubuntu, so it's uot to date

 

[misuspita]

I don't suppose Audacity, which is available in Linux, is enough for your work?

No, I am already invested in Presonus Studio One, and a crapton of plugins that are not working in Linux. Yet. Who knows, when Linux will be 15-20% of the market, companies will port their plugins to Linux too

 

[mikeymikec]

No, I am already invested in Presonus Studio One, and a crapton of plugins that are not working in Linux. Yet. Who knows, when Linux will be 15-20% of the market, companies will port their plugins to Linux too

It might be worth checking if your software needs will work in a Windows VM. As my bread and butter is Windows based, I dual-boot with Win11 but I also have Windows VMs set up in Linux. I would do data recovery work using software running in the Win11 install but that's becoming increasingly rare, so basically all my productivity is with Linux as the primary OS.

Side note - I really hope you guys are seriously trying out these other distros before you think it's all going to turn out fine!

 

[Fallen Kell]

I'm getting closer to switching over my last gaming system. Still need to check compatibility with everything that I tend to play, but most games seem to be able to work either through steam support or via wine (been a unix/linux admin for 25+ years now, so I have no problem with the OS itself). Plan on finishing this off before I am forced off Win10 and onto the crapfest that is Win11 (so I have a few more months).

 

[misuspita]

It might be worth checking if your software needs will work in a Windows VM. As my bread and butter is Windows based, I dual-boot with Win11 but I also have Windows VMs set up in Linux. I would do data recovery work using software running in the Win11 install but that's becoming increasingly rare, so basically all my productivity is with Linux as the primary OS.

Side note - I really hope you guys are seriously trying out these other distros before you think it's all going to turn out fine!

Problem is, for audio you need a stable system that provides low latency. I don't need it just to work, but to work fast and through all the layers of Linux-Wine-Windows... I'm not sure until I test it very thoroughly. There is studio work and live work, and the studio work requires stability because while you can manage a few crashes and instability when you're working alone, when a client is present or recording, you need to be bullet proof, no-one is going to accept excuses like "I'm new to Linux, the plugins are not native , etc" on their money. On the other hand, in a live music situation, the system must be absolutely crash proof. Probably for live, I'll stay on Windows until every software I use is native linux, because that system does not go on the internet for updates after initial setup, so it wont bother me with the copilot and AI shit, as I use a older .iso and made a very lean windows installation specifically for that PC.

 

[mikeymikec]

Problem is, for audio you need a stable system that provides low latency. I don't need it just to work, but to work fast and through all the layers of Linux-Wine-Windows... I'm not sure until I test it very thoroughly. There is studio work and live work, and the studio work requires stability because while you can manage a few crashes and instability when you're working alone, when a client is present or recording, you need to be bullet proof, no-one is going to accept excuses like "I'm new to Linux, the plugins are not native , etc" on their money. On the other hand, in a live music situation, the system must be absolutely crash proof. Probably for live, I'll stay on Windows until every software I use is native linux, because that system does not go on the internet for updates after initial setup, so it wont bother me with the copilot and AI shit, as I use a older .iso and made a very lean windows installation specifically for that PC.

I fully understand that for some usage scenarios that middle-man software isn't going to cut it and I won't try to convince you otherwise!

I did suggest trying a VM rather than Wine. For example, I use an obsolete bit of software called Mozilla Sunbird for my remote calendar. It loads a calendar noticeably quicker through a Windows VM on Linux then it does through Wine on Linux.

I've also checked using a 32-bit Wine subsystem vs a 64-bit subsystem for this particular app it made no difference but the general advice AFAIK is again to check both.

I'm not suggesting the VM will always be better, I'm just saying as a general rule to people here that if you need a Windows app on Linux, check both routes.