* I installed Fedora 43 and it (totally unsurprisingly) worked great.
    * I installed Steam from Fedora's software app, and that worked great as well.
    * I installed Cyberpunk 2077 from Steam, and it just... worked.

I later got a hankering to play Deus Ex: Mankind Divided. This time, the game would not work and Steam wasn't really forthcoming with showing logs. I figured out how to see the logs, and then did what you do these days - I showed the logs to an AI. The problem, slightly ironically, with MD is that it has a Linux build and Steam was trying to run that thing by default. The Linux build (totally unsurprisingly) had all kinds of version issues with libraries. The resolution there was just to tell Steam to run the Windows build instead and that worked great.

This is not inaccurate, however every time I've had to interface with either Microsoft or Adobe issues, both the professional and community support have been abysmal. Both community forums seem to incentivize engagement to the point where every response is 3+ hyperlinks deep to someone else's vaguely related post.

Maybe the linux forums self select for independent problem solvers..

It really feels like everything is lined up for the year of Linux in the living room, and it’s great to see.

I'm really enjoying Linux. It's one of those things that makes me somewhat passionate about computing for the first time in a long time.

I'm sure cachyOS will work a treat out of the box, but i'm also sure that one day things will stop working and cascade into a distro hop or reinstall leaving a sour taste in the users mouth.

You do not need a "gaming" distro, all distros use the same software and you will be fine on ubuntu, fedora etc.

When I was running Windows on the same machine I was constantly trying to diagnose why things stopped working, and downloading drivers.

Perhaps my experience with Windows was worse than average, I don't know. But from my perspective there is zero reason not to run Linux full time for gaming.

Now I'm just glad I only have to suffer windows at work.

So I went and installed Fedora, and for the most part, everything's working great.

I use my machine for both work and gaming, and there are really two deal breakers right now on the work side:

1. Most of my work is web-based, and it's really surprising that this is an issue, but I can't for the life of me figure out how to get Chrome to use autoscroll on mouse middle click. In Firefox it's just there as an option, and worked great. The LLMs suggested adding a flag to the launch options (which was an additional layer of complexity because of flatpacks) but that doesn't actually work if you're using Wayland.

2. Google Drive. No native app. Was able to mount my drive with RClone, which works, but at the core of my workflow on Windows is using the Everything app (on hotkey) to quickly search my Drive files immediately as I type. I can't seem to get KRunner to index my Drive files. I add the folder path to the indexer, but it's not surfacing any results in there.

Gaming works great though.

I really wish more people would mention the option of dual booting. Use another separate SSD to install your linux OS and that way you always have the option of going back to your Windows install. You can even reserve some programs for Windows and do everything else with linux.

There's really no need to approach it with a "screw it" attitude. You'll probably get yourself in too deep with that approach.

What a mess this thing is. Though, I am definitely not moving to W11, so Linux will be in my future one way or another.

I don't think an Epic games launcher is exactly obscure. Mind you, I'm completely commmitted to Linux and having the launcher is just in the "nice to have" category, but it hasn't gone well so far.

I'm really curious what would be the appropriate solution for an anti cheat that runs on Linux in a way that a) does not compromise my OS/privacy/security b) protects the game from cheaters at the same time.

Unfortunately it turns out that I depend on too many desktop apps that runs on the major desktop OSes but not on Linux (or on Wine, for that matter).

* KakaoTalk, the major South Korean IM app ran on Wine for a week, but the updater doesn't work and freshly reinstalling the app broke Wine for some reason. (I tried removing the whole ~/.wine prefix, but it doesn't work.) Now I'm stuck without KakaoTalk.

* Discord is only provided as a x86_64 Deb file and a .tar.gz file. I tried using it from Firefox, and it works fine but audio sharing during screen sharing doesn't work.

* Disconnecting from my Bluetooth AirPods somehow does not stop my music. I'm not sure if this is an AirPods limitation or a Linux limitation (since I've never used AirPods with Windows), but it annoyed me endlessly.

* USB-C DP mode and the fingerprint sensor doesn't work. This is an Asahi Linux limitation, but I've seen various parts of the hardware not working when using other Linux distributions on laptops as well. I feel this is a common occurrence.

Not to mention that the lack of text editing shortcuts that macOS has, which is a big deal to me (but I tried as that is a macOS-ism).

I carried my MBA for 4 days before I gave up today. I brought my MBP today with me.

[0]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45940274

I've dual-booted Arch and Windows for about 16 years. I always kept Windows around for gaming, and the occasional "doesn't support Linux" workflow.

For a few years where I didn't game I found myself almost exclusively in Linux. But then I spent the last 5-6 years stuck between the two as my PC use for daily tasks dwindled, I stopped working on side projects, and I started gaming a bit more.

I hated trying to split my time between them. Most of what I used a PC for was the browser, so I could just stay in Windows most of the time. I wanted to use Linux, but rebooting to use a web browser just didn't make sense. As a result I would accidentally go 2-3 months without ever booting Arch. As a result, I had a couple of major updates that didn't go smoothly.

I wanted to use Linux, though. I like having a customized WM, I like having so many useful tools at my disposal, etc. I just like using Linux, in spite of the occasional technical complexity.

In the last couple months I rebuilt my PC and a major requirement was that I get set up to game in Linux as much as possible. I even bought an AMD card to ensure smooth driver support.

I'm so incredibly thankful that Steam has made gaming not just possible, but relatively simple. Installation was simple. My single-player games seem well supported so far. And most importantly, Steam has made it obvious they're committed to this line of support, so this isn't some hero effort that will bit rot in a couple years.

I still have to reboot to play competitive games, due to their anti-cheat requirements, but that's less of a problem, I'll take what I can get.

Not once in initial setup or first week of use did it use dark patterns to try to trick or force me into something I don’t want to do.

In any case, it's really great to see Linux overcoming its final major hurdle for a lot of technical people to dump Windows: Gaming compatibility.

https://bazzite.gg/

I just felt like I wasn't using the PC for anything but gaming so why run Fedora with FDE and everything, just go full gaming mode on it, keep it simple, and the experience has been great so far.

Sadly, they won’t (not can’t…) ship the flag in EOS (née EAC) that enables anti-cheat support on Linux. It would work, but they just don’t have the resources to support a whole other family of OSes.

So, between that and the abject murder of WMR for my Reverb G2, I’m stuck on Win10 for the foreseeable.

Really interested to see where Valve goes with the new hardware. I love my Steam Deck, so I have faith they'll do a good job.

Honestly, I'm just surprised it took this long, and this much end-user abuse, to get things to where even casual enthusiasts are realizing that Microsoft (any proprietary vendor really) is NOT their friend, and looking long and hard at giving Linux a go. But I'm glad y'all are here.

This will be like the netbook wave, or OS/2 Windows compatibility layer, a celebration until Microsoft decides the show has had its time.

Valve really should push for native Steam OS builds.

Windows 11 has been fine for me, I don't interact with it much other than seeing it for a bit when launching games.

I honestly wouldn't mind giving Linux a go, the only downside is I made the mistake of buying an nvidia graphics card, I'm not sure how much of a pain it is these days but last time I tried it was a bit of a nightmare - the general wisdom at the time was to go with an AMD card.

It really feels like evertying is ligned up for the year of Linux in the Living room and yeah, it's really good to see.

I've only had to fully reinstall once every ~2 years or so, and it's usually due to some problem with my DE/system not booting that I can't be fucked to troubleshoot. That's mostly my fault for running GNOME on a rolling distro. I just back up my home dir to the storage drive and I'm back up and running in less than an hour. Other than that, it just continues to work and I can be reasonably assured that if I don't touch it, it'll be fine.

Enable the proprietary drivers if you have Nvidia graphics during the install.

Install system updates when the pop up appears on first boot.

Install Steam from the Ubuntu App Center.

Open Steam, install a game and play it. Most of them will work without issue unless it has invasive kernel anti-cheat.

The install-to-game time on Linux is actually substantially lower than it is on Windows now.

oh no

I don't know if I would use the word approachable

Based on the marketing it seems to run a sandboxed copilot instance that can impersonate the user to take actions, with their permission?

Something like "hey copilot install Putty"? and it does it?

I can relate to the reluctance to adopt AI features into the OS -- but I would also like to understand how they work and any utility they might provide.

NVIDIA and AMD can decide to undermine it if Linux doesn't yield enough profits for them.

Even if only one of them undermines linux, linux gaming might have trouble progressing and game developers might just ignore Linux gaming.

Microsoft could also undermine it if they really wanted.

I suspect the combination of modern Linux + + Steam + LLM to troubleshoot and learn may see more conversions like myself

Started with Linux Mint then Debian/Ubuntu, tried some others too but ultimately just stuck with Ubuntu

[1] https://bazzite.gg/

Windows 94.84% -0.56%

Windows 11 64 bit 63.57% +0.53%

Windows 10 64 bit 31.14% -1.04%

OSX 2.11% +0.20%

Linux 3.05% +0.37%

In other words, for Steam users who waited to switch to Windows 11, half left Windows and most people who left went to Linux.

1. Linux decades ago was not "new user friendly"

2. Wine and PLayOnLinux was all we had with endless problem, and heavy dependency on Windows files like DirectX and libraries

3. Windows dominated the gaming market

4. 3D GPU driver was non-existent

The single reason why gaming on Linux now is better than Windows, has one name: Valve

SteamDeck/SteamOS changed everything, the whole Wine process is managed by the OS and no longer by the user. You may need to change the Proton version, that is all. That also pushed GPU drivers to be better supported on Linux.

Valve single handled what gaming on Linux has become. I run Mint Cinnamon Linux, and even tho it is not "SteamOS", I can play Steam games just fine.

Microsoft terrible takes and AI, is also pushing gamers over to Linux, better FPS on Linux than Windows. The only restriction is kernel anti-cheat software that only runs on Windows, but many games do not use that and the ones that do use it like COD(dead game), BF, etc, isn't everybody cup of tea.

If it wasn't for Valve, Linux gaming would still be as dead as it has always been.

To make it more perfect, users that use their computer for browsing, writing docs (LibreOffice), etc, can be done on Linux for free.

You as a computer user in 2025, you have little to no excuse to try Linux, but try something good like Mint Cinnamon Linux that is extremely new user friendly, good for browsing, good for development work, solid for gaming, video editing is chef kiss, etc, etc. Avoid Ubuntu (they are going proprietary).

I'm mostly playing MtG: Arena and it works like a charm.

I could even install Steam via the package manager.

A good deal of VSTs run in Wine already, Ableton works, Bitwig works...

take one of the most popular ea sports title. it does not run:

- on linux via proton, because of anti-cheat

- inside a windows vm (in linux), because of anti-cheat

- via cloud streaming (technically perhaps because of the previous reason)

still got people exploiting and just a horrible experience in competitive mode. so much so that devs refuse to allow a universal marketplace. the console folks disable crossplay to avoid any trouble in competitive modes.

the same publisher went out of their way to support nintendo switch with crossplay, but steam deck does not seem to be big enough to go through with the actual work in making things work right. these titles print money and have the most means to make this possible from their end.

so if you want to play mainstream online experiences, or with simulator accessories, you are mostly on your own or dedicated community efforts. maybe a few more years in the oven?

I tried various Linux flavours. Starting with Ubuntu. From memory, I tried Mint, Fedora, Slackware, Manjaro, etc. I cannot remember when I last tried a Distro. It likely ended by 2010. Since I have just stuck with Debain.. for both client and server installs.

I said goodbye to Windows a few weeks ago.. fully. While Windows has served my purpose in certain ways, I have always been critical of Microsoft and their practices. I would agree that Windows 11 is a solid OS.. its the "features" added on top that slows it down.

This time, I have the latest version of Debian. No dual-boots.. nothing else! Despite being aware of Steam's Linux support for some time, now.. I actually gave it a shot and suprised how easy it was. I then tried Heoric (Epic) Launcher and just as easy!

It probably helped that my laptop is an AMD. I normally hear effort and difficulty with nVidia but I did not have much trouble 10 odd years ago. Not sure what its like to properly work today.

So far I have tried 4 games. 2 modern games, and two 90's games. All of the worked! Whiles the 90's games had their issues at times.. this mostly refers to using a gamepad.

The 2 new games (sure this is not a good experiment for all games) have worked flawlessly!

Honestly.. in my opinion.. installing Debian appears exactly the same as it was back in 2010.. maybe more. I rarely had issues. It's just this time I am able to play Steam and Epic games and installing dotnet is easy on Linux.

Let's not forget the work Steam are doing. We have a new Steam Machine. While being marketed as a new games console it's still a PC... and new users will try it out. For the younger generation, it might increase the Linux skills and spread wider adoption.

The only thing Linux has against it is time. Time is something humans lack... we lack patience! I knew that one day Linux would get better games support. It was possible even back in 2008. I managed to get GTA3:ViceCity working through Wine.

Mark my words. Linux will gain marketshare. The only part I am concerned about is infiltration of corporations jumping all in. It's not the kernel I am concerned about as it's protected by the GPL.. it's the larger corporations selling their products which the average user adopts and eventually becomes "required" software in most distributions.

The best way to understand this is, in an alternate universe, Microsoft drops Windows and encourages everyone to use Linux. How do you think they would get involved. Just think about that.

Just you're kind of SOL if you want to play anything that isn't based on some flavour of Quake or Unreal engine.

Well, that's different now. See? Told you. Faster, smoother, less crashy.

Oh, you want Microsoft Office? Yeah well you're probably using Office 365 these days anyway. Everything's in a browser. No, it looks just the same. Edge? It's less crashy in Linux, weirdly.

AutoCAD? Nah. Still SOL.

Since I am a software person I have become the person that my parents call for IT help, and increasingly I have grown pretty frustrated with Windows. I have been trying to convince them to move to Zorin or Mint or something or to buy a Mac, and they will not yield.

In a bit of fairness to them, the biggest issue is MS Office; they did recently try LibreOffice and the MS Office online, and they had shortcomings with both. Since I have been wholly unsuccessful at getting any modern Office to work on Linux (without virtualization), so now I don’t have a case for them to move.

Which is annoying, because I really hate having to deal with it.

I recently vibe coded a voice typing software (using Parakeet — your best bet is probably Handy though).

It works in my terminal. (I just changed my paste shortcut to Ctrl+V

I can now literally speak software into existence!

I made a thin wrapper around my llm() function I can pipe text into from Bash.

This allows me to make many other thin LLM wrappers, such as one that summarizes then contents of entire directories.

I have a thing called Jarvis inspired by a Twitter post, where I ask it to do anything in bash, and it just does that.

I wouldn't exactly say it's useful (I am unemployed) but I am kind of having my mind blown a little bit.

The future is already here, it's just not evenly distributed yet.