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Close to switching to a Linux distro full time. (beehaw.org)

submitted 2 years ago by sad_distro@beehaw.org to c/operating_systems@beehaw.org

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With the advances in gaming on Linux in recent years, it is so tempting to switch full time. I would absolutely love to, but I am a Game Pass Ultimate subscriber and it is where I play a lot of my games on PC. I know you can use the cloud version, but I cannot stomach streaming games in their current state, so it is a no go. A large portion of my Steam library is compatible, but anytime I have done an install I end up giving in and going back to Windows for games.

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[–] HrBingR@beehaw.org 1 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (2 children)

So one thing that might be worth looking into is virtual machines.

Currently on my desktop I run a variant of Arch (Endeavor I think) where I primarily do my gaming , but for any highly incompatible games, or Game Pass games, I have a virtual machine running Windows that uses pass-through to pass my graphics card through to the virtual machine for games I can't play on Linux. I also use CPU pinning to 'pin' 10 of my 12 CPU cores to the virtual machine to reduce potential overhead.

Works really well, might be an option for you, although it's not super easy to setup. I've tried passthrough on PopOS as well before, but it wasn't as performant, and Arch Wiki provides a ridiculous amount of super useful guides for doing just about anything, including setting this up.

Edit: Otherwise in terms of daily driver, I love Fedora, and likely won't move away anytime soon on my laptop.

[–] RichardTickler@beehaw.org 0 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Are you using single GPU passthrough? I run windows for games and linux for everything else with dedicated GPUs for each. Now I'd like to be able to do some gaming on linux as well because proton has come so far, but my linux GPU is definitely not up for the task. It barely handles hardware acceleration at 1080p without dropping frames on the nvidia proprietary driver and on nouvea it isn't even worth it to try anything higher than 720p.

[–] HrBingR@beehaw.org 0 points 2 years ago (1 children)

So yes. I had a similar setup to you, passed through my Nvidia card to Windows and kept my onboard Intel card for Linux, but much like you I wanted to game with both Linux and Windows, so now my onboard Intel card is disabled and instead I have some qemu scripts that detach the Nvidia card from Linux and to the VM, and vice versa once the VM is shut down. Was a pain to get setup, but actually works really well.

[–] RichardTickler@beehaw.org 0 points 2 years ago

I'm glad to hear that. Last time I looked into it was when I was first building a PC specifically for KVM virtualization and it wasn't working the greatest then (especially returning the card to host on VM shutdown). Now that it's working better I may make a backup then try to see if I can get single GPU passthrough working. I'm excited by far linux gaming has come and wanna give it a try myself on better hardware.

[–] Powderhorn@beehaw.org 0 points 2 years ago (4 children)

I started down the road from Windows to Linux for my main rig a couple of months back after trying out a few distros on a new mini PC for HTPC/media server. Currently running KDE Neon on the TV, and I'd really like to get away from my Win11/Kubuntu dual-boot tower situation, since Proton is handling everything I throw at it short of Cities: Skylines.

The real sticking point is that I need to be able to use InDesign on rare occasions. I've used VirtualBox in the past for old DOS games and mused that a VM would be nice for the edge cases where I need Windows but haven't gotten any further than that since it felt like the ROI wasn't there.

What's involved in setting that up in modern times? Obviously, I'm coming at this from Debian rather than Arch, but pointers on where to start looking would be appreciated.

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[–] ozoned@beehaw.org 1 points 2 years ago

Gaming on Linux has grown leaps and bounds and it's only getting better. Game Pass Ultimate though, I'm guessing you're gonna have a rough time. That's built for Window's ecosystem. So more than likely that's going to be a very sore point. The streaming Game Pass can and does work on Linux, but if you're against that then Linux might not be for you.

Steam has gotten to the point on Linux where it's basically just install and run, as long as you have compatibility for all games turned on. Very very very few games haven't worked for me or even require little tinkering anymore. That being say I pretty much really only play Indie games.

[–] Swimmerman96@beehaw.org 1 points 2 years ago

I've been Linux fulltime for years, settled on Pop!_OS for it's excellent NVIDIA graphics integration. As far as game compatibility goes, check your games on ProtonDB. Even if they don't have a Linux native version, the Proton Compatibility Layer may let you play your "windows only" games on Linux without streaming.

[–] Mummelpuffin@beehaw.org 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

This is why I just dual-boot. Keep Windows on a short leash and basically just have it for the rare instances where there's something I really want to play and somehow can't on Linux.

[–] MoistHoagie@beehaw.org 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I have looked into this myself recently. Still a few blockers for me, one of the big ones being VR. The Steam Deck and its OS have really pushed gaming forward on Linux though.

[–] alehel@beehaw.org 1 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

SteamDeck has been great for Linux gaming. I've ordered a ROG Ally, and I really hope that Steam will officially open up their latest SteamOS version for other device makers. Considering that's how SteamOS was originally released (a desktop gaming OS for pc based consoles), I'm surprised they're not still operating like that

[–] CDN@beehaw.org 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

What kind of setup do you have? There's a few issues you may come across with an Nvidia GPU, but it's largely smooth sailing for everyone else with their Mesa drivers.

[–] fred@beehaw.org 1 points 2 years ago

My biggest gripe with nvidia is the total number of gpu options. You have mesa, nouveau, and even the dedicated proprietary gpu, but then also specific kernel builds with said gpu drivers.

Personally I use the nvidia kernel module drivers. They are good, even for my wonky egpu+dgpu+onboard graphics setup. I have to reboot to connect/disconnect the egpu, and had to copy my x11 config over to the gdm login manager but otherwise it works great (with x11).

Wayland and other dwm…will have different results.

[–] chaNcharge@beehaw.org 0 points 2 years ago

I'm currently on mac because I have always and will always despise windows, but now that mac's gone to ARM (which don't get me wrong they run amazingly) its pretty bad for games. Ideally I'd have a work computer on mac and a linux desktop. I'd say just go for linux as majority of games should work fine on it but I'd check each game case by case.

[–] Brock@beehaw.org 0 points 2 years ago (4 children)

I'm in the same boat. I'm ready to move over to Linux Mint, but I don't want to have to download my entire game and program library again because NTFS won't play nice with Linux.

[–] SanityFM@lemmy.world 0 points 2 years ago (1 children)

NTFS is fine with Linux, but any new OS tends to need you to install things again. There used to be a way to zip all of your Steam downloads for a new install, but I can't seem to find any instructions that still work.

[–] GhostMagician@beehaw.org 0 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I think the option is under Steam > Backup and Restore Games. I successfully backed and restored some back ups I had made about a year ago with that method.

[–] SanityFM@lemmy.world 0 points 2 years ago

I think you're right. I've used this before as well, but I was thrown because my Linux Steam only has "Restore Game Backup" as an option in the menu. I wasn't sure whether something had changed, or if this is a Steam for Linux peculiarity.

[–] oishiiburger@lemmy.ml 0 points 2 years ago

If you don't mind doing it one at a time, and you've got a different drive besides the NTFS one (i.e. you're not just looking to just reformat the NTFS volume), this currently works:

Format the new drive with whatever, likely Ext4 or Btrfs
Install Steam and make a fresh library on the new drive
Copy the contents of the NTFS steamapps/common into the new steamapps/common (or copy the individual folders of whatever games you don't want to redownload).
Go into Steam, and act like you want to do a fresh install of whatever games you just copied over. Steam will act like it's going to start from scratch, but you'll get "discovering local files" before any downloads start.
Steam will either show the game as installed as-is or will update the delta to the current version.

I use this method also for restoring backups of games to an SSD that live on a mechanical drive.

[–] shadowintheday@beehaw.org 0 points 2 years ago

If you choose Arch/Arch based, or choose to install one of its supported kernels, NTFS support is integrated into the mainline kernel since version 5.15

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/NTFS

So you'd be able to use your already existing disk/partitions that have NTFS. Of course you'd still need to install the OS in another partition.

I tried to keep NTFS around when I switched, but ext4 is much better for spinning disks and support for whole disk encryption (LUKS) is also another pro that made me switch everything after a while

[–] Squiddles@beehaw.org 0 points 2 years ago

NTFS is fine in Linux. I have a dual-boot setup for when I need to run or test something in Windows, and I use my Windows install drive as a Steam library in both. When I swap back and forth Steam occasionally does a file integrity check, but I don't typically have to redownload anything as far as I can remember. The only caveat is that if a game has both a Windows version and a Linux version I have to set my Linux library to use Proton for the game instead of the native Linux version, otherwise, yeah it'll see the files are wrong when I switch and redownload.

[–] Lowbird@beehaw.org 0 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

It's possible to get gamepass and steam (and epic and ubisoft and itch.io) to both integrate with Playnite launcher.

This would still require you be able to run the xbox launcher, but it makes Playnite the interface you use and the other launchers are just opened in the background mostly, except for updates.

Anyway Playnite is a very customizable and lightweight open source launcher and maybe you might like it even though it doesn't actually solve the problem you're talking about here.

Edit: Playnite works on both windows and linux.

[–] mtizim@beehaw.org 0 points 2 years ago

I'd recomment Lutris over this, as it often does contain custom install scripts with workarounds.

[–] pushka@beehaw.org 0 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

I have an Adobe creative suite login through my work , plus gaming - but if I ever left the company I may switch too especially if windows adds ads to the start menu - or charges for upgrades

I have the first ever aluminium MacBook from 2008 running linux (new SSD , new battery , added ram )

[–] thegibs@beehaw.org 0 points 2 years ago (2 children)

For people who use Linux full time, how is VR support on it? Is ALVR a viable alternative to Virtual Desktop/Link? And do VR games run well or at all through Proton?

[–] Squiddles@beehaw.org 0 points 2 years ago

I have an Index and it was seamless for me. Everything runs fine in Proton, and I didn't have any performance issues with my 2070 super. Tried the same games in Windows and it was the same experience, plus a couple of FPS (I assume because it wasn't going through DXVK). Can't speak to your other questions, though--those are outside of my experience.

[–] OneRedFox@beehaw.org 0 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Are Ubuntu-based distros still the king of gaming on Linux?

[–] flying_gerbil@beehaw.org 0 points 2 years ago

I honestly don't think the distro matters too much if you just use steam. I use Arch and haven't had any issues with steam or proton that I can recall. SteamOS is itself Arch-based as well

[–] zonaston@beehaw.org 0 points 2 years ago

I've been hopping between distros (and windows) for what feels like the past 6 months. Honestly it doesn't make too much of a difference but my preference for games is fedora or arch base and wayland. The biggest difference is the default kernel version really (AMD drivers in my case) but you can also add a newer kernel to any distro. I'd recommend just choosing a distro based on the package manager you like to use and stick with that.

[–] gale@beehaw.org 0 points 2 years ago

I just did, not for the gaming capabilities as I'm not a big gamer myself but because WSL malfunctions pissed me off. Moving to Pop!_OS after considering Nobara.

[–] anormalusername@beehaw.org 0 points 2 years ago

I tried Pop!OS and I liked it a lot, but I wasn't big on the built-in store for downloading apps as it felt a bit clunky to me. Still, it's a solid option. Kubuntu was a pretty decent one too that I tried.

For me I found myself going back to Windows because of hardware incompatibility. I know that of course you either need to be really good at building compatibility yourself or scouring the Internet for a solution someone else already found, but unfortunately it was one of those cases where searching ended up with those results where it was from several years ago and they just said "I figured it out" without added context.

[–] luckless@beehaw.org 0 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

Just remember what distro you pick for gaming doesn't matter as much as the effort you're willing to put into learning its ins and outs. Use of distro wikis and protondb are key. Also dual-booting is honestly the way to go when starting up, just in case.

[–] Skyhighatrist@lemmy.ml 0 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Also dual-booting is honestly the way to go when starting up, just in case.

I generally agree, but I always found when I did that, that I would never take the time to resolve issues I encounter and just jumped back into Windows. It wasn't until I went full immersion that the switch stuck. It's been a few years now, and I'm glad I did.

[–] luckless@beehaw.org 0 points 2 years ago

I'm totally with you, I only suggest what I did if the person has tried linux before but ended up going back to windows. Not having to pick one or the other can help some people stick with their linux install.

[–] Witch@beehaw.org 0 points 2 years ago

After about a month of contemplating going back to Linux, I've finally found my usb drive and I'm going to download Linux Mint.

The only thing keeping me from going back was the fact that Clip Studio Paint and some of my games didn't play nicely with it. But to be honest, the only game I play these days can also be played on my phone, so.. Back to Linux it is.

[–] ookees@beehaw.org 0 points 2 years ago

I just use moonlight and sunshine. My network is good enough and I just stream from my Windows PC. I use either Linux or Mac for my day to day and stream from PC when I'm gaming, depending on the game. Some games I just need to play in front of the PC.

Recently been streaming Diablo 4 to my Xbox and or laptop. Works great. I play most of my games at 1440p.

[–] anthoniix@beehaw.org 0 points 2 years ago (1 children)

You can always dual boot and use Linux for whatever you like it for. Sadly Windows is still the go to thing for gaming, since it's the target platform for 99.99% of software and especially games.

[–] psudo@beehaw.org 0 points 2 years ago

Proton/Valve has made a lot of headway here. Mostly I'm seeing mmos/Destiny 2 being the only big holdouts anymore, but the niches I am in have tended to have good Linux support for quite some time.

[–] grte@lemmy.ca 0 points 2 years ago

There are definitely a few games you sacrifice going Linux-only still, mostly to anticheat support. That said, my productivity has absolutely tanked in the last couple years so you can certainly find games to play. Being a patient gamer has great synergy because by the time you get around to playing something whatever kinks there may have been are usually worked out.

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