Its time to switch to Linux!

  • Katana314@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    11 days ago

    In the last month, I made a genuine effort to switch to Linux Mint, then Bazzite, as my daily driver. Mint could not run Hitman 3 for unexplained reasons. Bazzite frequently got graphical corruption issues when returning from sleep. Neither could run niche indie games and gave no error codes.

    I knew I’d be doing some tweaking to get Linux working how I wanted, but it was missing configuration as well as being unreliable by default. I like the principle of using a non-MS OS, but I need it to work.

    • dingus@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      11 days ago

      Yeah I’ve always been a very casual Linux enthusiast (key word is casual) since I was a teen. Setup and things “just working” out of the box have absolutely never been the case, even in 2024, and even though people like to say it does. In an ideal situation on an ideal computer with ideal hardware, you don’t have to tweak anything. But for most people, there are going to be some annoying issues and tweaks you have to work through.

      If a Linux system has already been set up and thorough tested for the end user, then it is a great alternative. But in my experience, these systems absolutely never work perfectly out of the box and it takes some technical know how to get to that point.

      I have been dealing with some issues with my Bluetooth module in Windows. I had eventually solved the problem, but the fix seemed to have reverted itself somewhat recently. Annoyed, I thought I’d finally commit to a switch to Linux since my laptop doesn’t support Win 11. Well, I chose Linux Mint since it doesn’t use Wayland which for some reason has poor compatibility with my common Logitech mouse. Everything had been fine but then I found instead of the Bluetooth module crashing like in Windows, which just makes me have to reset the module, the entire system crashes in Linux instead and requires me to reboot it. Frustrating to say the least.

    • Sylvartas@lemmy.world
      0·
      11 days ago

      I was lazy and went with pop!_os. Required minimal tweaking, and so far there are very few games I couldn’t run

      • vulture_god@lemmy.dbzer0.com
        0·
        11 days ago

        Same for me, running for a few months and all my steam games work great. I had to install some extra software to run my Logitech mouse and get the scroll wheel to be more sensitive. Otherwise though it’s been a great experience so far.

        Although I’m an IT professional, I really don’t want extra work when I’m sitting down to game. So POP! has been great overall for my use case, with the bonus of Linux for any coding projects I tackle otherwise.

    • MonkeMischief@lemmy.today
      0·
      10 days ago

      Really bummed your experience has been like that! :(

      In my humble experience, I’ve gotten almost everything new and old to run via Steam, or my GoG games to run via Heroic. Vermintide 2, Metro: Exodus, Enter the Gungeon, X-COM 2, BattleTech, MechWarrior 5, I even got old stuff like Sims 2 working flawlessly via Bottles.

      Trying to install stuff like you would on Windows by running installers manually seems to not be so great though…could that have been it perhaps?

      Using front-ends that manage Proton / WINE for you makes the process so much easier.

      I ditched Windows entirely because Vermintide kept BSODing my Win10 install, and it wouldn’t even let me “refresh” the OS. Fully doing work and play on OpenSUSE Tumbleweed these days and the only thing I’m REALLY missing is VR.

      • Katana314@lemmy.worldEnglish
        0·
        10 days ago

        I knew I had whole folders of indie games that are just a folder with an executable, so I trialed those with Lutris. It needed a huge setup form just to run one of them, and when I finished, it wouldn’t run and gave no errors.

        Having that as my experience for, as I said, a whole folder of games, wasn’t really in my interest. It takes too long for the community to say “Hey, I got Assassin’s Creed running! Just use Proton 8.13 beta, and add these 8 command line options”

        • Aceticon@lemmy.world
          0·
          10 days ago

          In my experience with standalone EXE installers and Lutris, the problem is often that Lutris just guesses wrong the name of the game executable after installation is done or can’t even guess it.

          Personally, every single time I had a problem of installing a game with Lutris from an EXE installer and when starting it afterwards the game goes to “Running” (see the left top list) and then quickly ends with no error, it’s Lutris having guessed the game launch EXE incorrectly.

          Having started with using Lutris’ GoG integration first (were an install script generally takes care of all that) and only later moved to standalone EXE installers, I can see how one would lose hope on the whole thing if they started with the installers since so far for me almost all of such installations failed to give me something that just runs without tweaks afterwards, and for almost all of them the problem was Lutris picking up the wrong launch EXE or even having no launch EXE at all (which gives you a small and easy to miss warning in the Lutris install log at the end of installation).

          If you still can, go and check in the game configuration in Lutris for one of those games (it will be in a tab with only a handful of option, not in the last tab with a ton of obscure options) if the launch EXE is present and correct.

          • Katana314@lemmy.worldEnglish
            0·
            10 days ago

            The version of Lutris I installed used a file opening GUI to select the exact EXE to run. I was using simple unzipped folders, not installers.

            Even if the fault of the game in question ends up being simple:

            • It’s not fun to correct that fault on every single game I run
            • It could be a slightly different fault on every single game

            I am fine with one-time setup configuration for my OS to get preferences right, devices working, and settle myself to my steady workflow. I am not okay with doing laborious one-time setup for every single game I ever try.

            • Aceticon@lemmy.world
              0·
              10 days ago

              Oh yeah, it’s still not at the same level of ease of use as Windows.

              It’s massivelly better if compared to the old days in Linux and, curiously, it’s easier for those who in Windows were never “sophisticated” user that did not relly on store frontends to manage the installation for them, but if you’re the kind of user of Windows that does actually know what folders and executable files are, it’s more complex to get going than Linux.

              Curiously in my experience even Linux native games are way more complex to get working in Linux that the Windows equivalent are in Windows (or even Linux: I have at least one game were the Windows version installs almost flawlessly in Linux whilst the Linux version is a “missing library” nightmare), unless they’re recent enough that they come in something like Snap or Flatpack)

        • NutWrench@lemmy.world
          0·
          10 days ago

          If you’re using Steam, they use a native Linux client and a custom Proton that has all the settings and presets for their game library.

          Everything I bought on Steam works for me under Linux Mint. And almost all my older games, like “Deus Ex” or “Giants: Citizen Kabuto” I can run directly under Wine with the default settings.

  • Cornelius_Wangenheim@lemmy.world
    0·
    11 days ago

    Every OS version has a limited life span of support. Linux is no different. Every distro I’m aware of does less than 5 years of support vs Microsoft’s 10 years.

    • tequinhu@lemmy.world
      0·
      11 days ago

      I would disagree on the basis that Linux upgrades don’t require hardware upgrades (unless you have a very low end hardware that’s hanging by a thread already)

      For example, I don’t remember seeing all this fuss about upgrading when people were moving from 8.1 to 10 (but it could just be me on my bubble)

      • Xatolos@reddthat.com
        0·
        11 days ago

        The difference is you now need a TPM 2.0 chip. That’s pretty much it. Hardware requirements were the same as Win8.

        If you are using a desktop computer, all you need to do is buy a $20-30 TPM 2.0 module and install it. It connects to a few pins and your done. It’s cheap, simple, and easy to do.

        The issue is most people now have laptops and quite a few didn’t have that chip or that version (some have TPM 1.2, which isn’t as secure anymore.) and you can’t install it on a laptop motherboard. TPM 2.0 has been available since mid-2016, but some manufacturers might have cheapened out and not added it to save costs as it wasn’t a necessary part. So basically, any laptop that is 9 years or older (or the manufacturer cheapened out) won’t be able to upgrade to Win11.

        • Trainguyrom@reddthat.comEnglish
          0·
          10 days ago

          Unless something has changed they took an axe to all 7th gen and older Intel CPUs and Ryzen 2000 and older AMD CPUs. This is the big challenge since this includes some very capable systems that are now just ewaste because Microsoft didn’t want to maintain compatibility all the way back to the Pentium 4 and Core 2 Duo and cut off platforms that still have life left in them

          • Xatolos@reddthat.com
            0·
            9 days ago

            You are right, those are not compatible, didn’t realize that. The speed specs are the same, just a series block. With the worst part of this being that these are all going to be 10 years old when Win10 is completely unsupported, which is better then the non-Linix alternatives (MacOS, ChromeOS(?), Android, iPadOS).

            • Trainguyrom@reddthat.comEnglish
              0·
              9 days ago

              Yeah the one saving grace is it’s a very long lifespan compared to all other computing platforms, plus one can actually install an alternative operating system or even hack Windows 11 to install in an unsupported manner, but it still means millions of computers going to the ewaste bin

          • Daveyborn@lemmy.worldEnglish
            0·
            11 days ago

            I don’t have any without. I do have ones where it’s not mentioned in the manual but clearly there though. Edit: double checked the 9 boards I have laying around. All of them going back to 4th gen intel have them. dont have any pre ryzen amd laying around to check though.

            • spookedintownsville@lemmy.worldEnglish
              0·
              11 days ago

              I’m likely going to have to upgrade to ryzen or similar if I wanted to dual boot 11. I’m on an FX-8350 so it might be time anyway.

    • Zess@lemmy.world
      0·
      11 days ago

      They’re acting like all the security just disappears lol. My workplace still uses Windows 8 which hasn’t been supported for almost a decade so there must be ways to maintain security without Microsoft updates.

  • yesman@lemmy.world
    0·
    12 days ago

    They just fired two workers for organizing a protest against supporting Israel. You don’t have to make up conspiracy theories to convince people that Microsoft: Bad.

    Step 1: damage your customers

    Step 2: ?

    Step 3: profit

    • KryptonBlur@slrpnk.netEnglish
      0·
      11 days ago

      IIRC it wasn’t even a protest, it was a vigil for Gaza, so it was an act of remembrance for those who are suffering. Which makes it an even stranger thing to get fired for.

      • ieatpillowtags@lemm.ee
        0·
        11 days ago

        The article is light on details, but one of the fired individuals, Hossam Nasr, said the purpose of the vigil was both “to honor the victims of the Palestinian genocide in Gaza and to call attention to Microsoft’s complicity in the genocide” because of the use of its technology by the Israeli military.

        Not that I think they shouldn’t have the right to protest, but it was clearly more than “just” a vigil.

      • Lucidlethargy@sh.itjust.works
        0·
        11 days ago

        They often extend these, FYI. But it’s not a big deal, windows 11 is the same as 10, although they removed a lot of features like the metro tiles. It’s like 10, but noticeably worse… Free, though (if you have 10).

          • Harvey656@lemmy.world
            0·
            11 days ago

            Currently rocking Kubuntu, it’s okay with my Nvidia GPU, mint was good but hated my GPU. I’ll try popOS next.

            • lost_faith@lemmy.ca
              0·
              10 days ago

              Kubuntu has gotten me further in my quest to leave windows so far, I need to use the official Nvidia drivers for my Vive to work on my 4070ti super. Now waiting on proton to make another huge leap and give me access to the 70ish VR titles that are not showing up on Linux. Fingers crossed. So many suggest bazzite but… no Nvidia support

              • Harvey656@lemmy.world
                0·
                10 days ago

                The shit thing about having built this pc for windows originally is that I wouldn’t have bought Nvidia. They really suck to use on Linux.

        • spookex@lemmy.world
          0·
          11 days ago

          I guess the Manjaro partition on my dual-boot laptop will finally be woken up for the first time in months

          Side note: Anyone got advice on how to make my Synaptics touchpad work the same as it does on windows? That’s like my number 1 pet peve whenever I try Linux on my laptop

          • Sparky@lemmy.blahaj.zone
            0·
            11 days ago

            If it’s weird and or has latency, then make sure you have manually installed the synaptics drivers. That was at least the fix for my ThinkPad.

            • spookex@lemmy.world
              0·
              10 days ago

              I think that I had installed them, but IIRC you had to configure them by editing a config file and I couldn’t get it to work just right

  • Count Regal Inkwell@pawb.social
    0·
    10 days ago

    I feel like Microsoft fully intends to remove the TPM 2.0 requirement in the nearish future

    Otherwise it wouldn’t be so easy to disable when writing an iso to a USB drive.

    Looking at it from a capitalistic point of view, they gain nothing by keeping people from installing their OS on the long term, the lock out was just for the short-term gains they got out of OEMs selling new computers for Windows 11 and such.

  • Nougat@fedia.io
    0·
    12 days ago

    Its time to switch to Linux!

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      • Nougat@fedia.io
        0·
        12 days ago

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