this post was submitted on 22 May 2024
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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

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Tips on distro for gaming (aggregatet.org)
submitted 5 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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Hi! I'm getting a new laptop any day now and I plan on going back to Linux after maybe a decade on Windows. What works best for gaming nowadays? Is manjaro good for that? I prefer a distro with a nice name but of course that's not the central thing. I'll also do some book keeping, writing et cetera but I don't think it's much to worry about. I also hope to use my Valve Index on it.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago

I think any distro will do really. I'd go for something that is friendly to new users, if you're not very familiar with Linux in general. For example: Linux Mint. Here is an example on how you can get your installation setup easily: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyT4wfz5ZMg

Regarding your Valve Index. It will likely work, but don't expect it to be very easy to get it running well. I'm currently on Arch Linux with red team hardware and a Valve Index. For example, you will need to ensure the udev rules are set properly: https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-devices. New issues occasionally arise, see: https://github.com/ValveSoftware/SteamVR-for-Linux/issues. Currently, it's not switching audio devices automatically, so I use pavucontrol (with PipeWire) to switch that manually.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago (2 children)

I prefer a distro with a nice name

That's honestly a really good distro picking strategy for someone just moving to Linux.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago

Unless you think "from scratch" sounds nice.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago

Credit where credit is due. I was taught the strategy by Amelia Andersdotter, back then running for the European Parliament (then member of parliament).

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago

Any distro will do honestly. If you are a beginner and just want the distro to work out of the box, something like Pop!_OS might be for you.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago

Bazzite, it's an immutable Fedora-based distro, so in the unlikely event that it breaks, you can just revert back to whatever you had before.

Nobara is similar, Fedora-based but not immutable, which means you can tinker with it, but possibly also break it. Made by Glorious Eggroll, the guy behind the GE versions of proton and wine.

Mint is a more general-purpose distro, based on Ubuntu (which itself is based on Debian), but it's very user-friendly and does just fine with games.

Manjaro is fine, it's the one I put on my mom's computer because she needed a Windows program that I found in the AUR. It was pretty decent for the four games that she plays lol (The Sims 4, AoE2, Neverwinter Nights, and Prince of Qin). It's Arch-based, but not bleeding-edge like Arch, so it's ostensibly more stable.

As far as the Index goes, idk about that, as I don't own one. However, I just DDG'd "valve index on linux", and quite a few guides came up, so it shouldn't be too hard to get it going. Plus Valve is a pretty Linux-friendly company,

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

Ublue Bazzite.

Bazzite is fundamentally different as it is based on Fedora Atomic Desktops. This is huge.

The OS is worlds more stable and reliable.

They use Fedoras base and add all the gaming stuff to it, to work out of the box.

I use Aurora, coming from Fedora Kinoite (KDE Atomic) and then uBlue Kinoite.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Thank you so much to everyone for answering. Appreciated!

[–] [email protected] 0 points 5 months ago (1 children)

So..., what will it be 😜?

[–] [email protected] 0 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I'm kinda leaning towards Bazzite. I've downloaded it, but I realized I don't have any USD drives at home :-/

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Excellent choice! I'm sure you'll manage 😉 (right after you've found yourself a USB drive).

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Installing now. Surprised by the amount of work needed to make my BIOS accept that Linux isn't a security risk, but also surprised that Wifi worked just out of the box, even during the installer. A sign I've been away from Linux for a while.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Consider making another post after everything has been done in which you note down your expectations, experiences etc.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago

I never got around to writing it, but I'll share a couple of things shortly.

  1. I tried two gaming profiled systems: bazzite and manjaro. The systems in themselves worked great and the gaming was good. But I had some other systems I needed for work that I just couldn't get to run smoothly. I think the biggest problem was Dropbox. One of the systems used a file management protocol or whatever it's called that Dropbox didn't work with at all. I ended up installing Ubuntu and it worked pretty well out of the box there. And the gaming is actually working great.

  2. when I installed Ubuntu, I also installed some kind of community built steam app. Extremely buggy. I replaced it with the official steam app and now it's extremely smooth. Very little difference to gaming on windows except of course that everything in the system and ui is a little bit quicker, including the games.

  3. more games work on Ubuntu than are marked as Linux compatible by steam. I've tested a lot of games I already own and they usually work.

  4. the only thing I haven't been able to get running is my (Swedish) book keeping system. I think I just need to get more comfortable with wine and I'll probably get it working. We'll see. I keep a small windows partition specifically for book keeping.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Ill put my vote in for Garuda Linux. If you're using Intel nvidia it is optimized out if the box. It is built on arch so youd manage it similar to Manjaro. kDE Plasma with Wayland is smooth. I cant get GNOME network displays to work to add my TV as a monitor but otherwise everything has been great.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago

Thank you!