Any other Linux users here? And has anyone fully migrated?

[Vebent]

I'm currently running Garuda Linux. Which is a version of Arch. I officially moved over from Windows about a couple of months ago. I got tired of Windows removing features and adding "features" that were just ways to spy on you. So I asked a friend that have been messing around with Linux for a long time, and just now moved all of his PC's to Linux, what would be the ideal distro and version to run. He told me to try Garuda and so far the only complaint I have is the lack of Linux support with niche programs. Most times those programmers only use a single OS anyways because they only have the one machine.

 

[IDMTINP]

I'm currently running Garuda Linux. Which is a version of Arch. I officially moved over from Windows about a couple of months ago. I got tired of Windows removing features and adding "features" that were just ways to spy on you. So I asked a friend that have been messing around with Linux for a long time, and just now moved all of his PC's to Linux, what would be the ideal distro and version to run. He told me to try Garuda and so far the only complaint I have is the lack of Linux support with niche programs. Most times those programmers only use a single OS anyways because they only have the one machine.

I did that for the same reasons. I'm currently on Mac OS and, while I actually like Mac, I don't trust it nor is it the best for games (though I have to say the support is better than ever).
I took the step and put Ubuntu on my main desktop and, boy oh boy, I am way in over my head! This shit is kicking my ass!

 

[Leon]

I did that for the same reasons. I'm currently on Mac OS and, while I actually like Mac, I don't trust it nor is it the best for games (though I have to say the support is better than ever).
I took the step and put Ubuntu on my main desktop and, boy oh boy, I am way in over my head! This shit is kicking my ass!

As i said earlier in the thread try linux mint, it's probably the most user friendly distro, if you want gaming setup from install though, then bazzite or garuda linux are best because the hardest part for me was the gaming aspect.

 

[Macky]

what linux distro(?) is similar enough to windows
in terms of usage?

Linux Mint

No linux distro is 100% similar to Windows under the hood. Distros are just different package managers and the people who maintain them. From a user casual user perspective, Linux Mint is probably the most user friendly distro with a Windows feel.

I havent used Linux on my personal PC in a while, but when i do i use Arch. Arch is so nice with the AUR and super customizable. If i buy another m.2 nvme ill put arch on it again and daily drive.

However, for my work i use a linux command line everyday.

 

[diapered]

If i'm being honest, people need to be directed more to mint than ubuntu, mint is probably the better starting point for new users.

Agreed, when I was trying both out, I ended up finding mint easier to use and liked it. But I think manjaro is easier to use than either though :P

garuda linux are best

I'm starting to get interested in trying garuda, but it says video CARD under requirements. Why does it specify a dedicated card? Will it not play nice with integrated graphics? I only use cheapo laptops :(

Also why does it advise not to use flatpak? I find pcsx2 works great via flatpak install on my manjaro system (could not get pcsx2 to work in retroarch...)

I took the step and put Ubuntu on my main desktop and, boy oh boy, I am way in over my head! This shit is kicking my ass!

Try Manjaro! Since you are "shopping around" anyway, just try distros live till you find something that works best with your hardware out of the box. Then go from there.

 

[sunofpearl89]

I used to distro-hop religiously, but settled on Garuda. I use XFCE with the Chicago95 theme
for nostalgia and stuff. I'm not sure how beginner-friendly it is, but it has a lot of things set up OOTB which I like.

 

[Leon]

Linux Mint

No linux distro is 100% similar to Windows under the hood. Distros are just different package managers and the people who maintain them. From a user casual user perspective, Linux Mint is probably the most user friendly distro with a Windows feel.

I havent used Linux on my personal PC in a while, but when i do i use Arch. Arch is so nice with the AUR and super customizable. If i buy another m.2 nvme ill put arch on it again and daily drive.

However, for my work i use a linux command line everyday.

Honestly the hate arch get's is alot of times the neckbeards who push it as like you need to be a programming god to install it, arch isn't really that hard to install especially with the installer script, if you want real difficulty with installing a distro, you go gentoo or slackware.

Agreed, when I was trying both out, I ended up finding mint easier to use and liked it. But I think manjaro is easier to use than either though :P


I'm starting to get interested in trying garuda, but it says video CARD under requirements. Why does it specify a dedicated card? Will it not play nice with integrated graphics? I only use cheapo laptops :(

Also why does it advise not to use flatpak? I find pcsx2 works great via flatpak install on my manjaro system (could not get pcsx2 to work in retroarch...)

Try Manjaro! Since you are "shopping around" anyway, just try distros live till you find something that works best with your hardware out of the box. Then go from there.

Flatpak isn't as updated as arch linux is, it's probably fine for something like pcsx2, but not for important work related programs, you should use the AUR or chaotic AUR for that.

As for gpu, it doesn't mean discreet nessisarily, but one that can run games basically, keep in mind it's possible to run linux without a functioning gpu, discreet or onboard, at all, as alot of servers work that way.

 

[Potapota]

Part time linux user since maybe the 00's, was full time for a couple years in the 10's and now it's about 50/50 win 11 on desktop and linux for laptop/server duties. Gaming seems to work just that tiny bit better on windows these days and that's pretty much the only thing keeping me on it still. Proton seems to have matured well enough that I've been thinking about switching over to linux maybe once/if valve does a proper public release for steamos.
Arch would be another option but man, I would really prefer if the os would stay out of the way when I'm in the mood for some video games and I'm not sure if I trust it for that.

 

[lil_thang]

after using the whatever KDE Plasma whatsits that steamOS on the steamdeck is in desktop mode for one microsecond i immediately felt shame for the years i have put up with windoze bullshit, such that i am planning on replacing the cracked win10 i use on main.

i mean i haven't done it yet but i am planning to

 

[Leon]

after using the whatever KDE Plasma whatsits that steamOS on the steamdeck is in desktop mode for one microsecond i immediately felt shame for the years i have put up with windoze bullshit, such that i am planning on replacing the cracked win10 i use on main.

i mean i haven't done it yet but i am planning to

My only question is why did you crack it, there are ways to activate windows without cracking it through powershell.

But yeah windows sucks.

 

[AI_Apex_Predator]

Proton seems to have matured well enough that I've been thinking about switching over to linux maybe once/if valve does a proper public release for steamos.

Ive found most games run great straight out of Steam with Proton 8.0 selected.

Metaphor ReFantazio has been running fine so far with Proton 9.0. Baldur's Gate 3 runs excellent. Its a very different world from the 00s. Wifi works. lol

 

[Potapota]

Ive found most games run great straight out of Steam with Proton 8.0 selected.

Metaphor ReFantazio has been running fine so far with Proton 9.0. Baldur's Gate 3 runs excellent. Its a very different world from the 00s. Wifi works. lol

I am still sort of amazed how well things do "just work" on linux these days having grown up being used to struggling with basic things like wifi and wine being just sometimes ok for older games with good enough hardware. I jumped on steam deck the instant it was opened up for preorders just because of how crazy the prospect of selling linux pcs for "normal" pc gamers seemed. It could have been a disaster but they really managed to pull it off.

I'm cautious of turning into a valve fanboy but I do have to appreciate them for what they've done for the linux gaming in general.

 

[King Koopa's iconKing Koopa]

I've been a windows user for about 30 years but switched over to Linux since getting a steam deck. After getting more used to it I think I enjoy it quite a bit.

 

[Leon]

I've been a windows user for about 30 years but switched over to Linux since getting a steam deck. After getting more used to it I think I enjoy it quite a bit.

Honestly my biggest problem i have with linux is how political it's gotten, thankfully arch and the distro i am using garuda seem to have avoided getting involved politically (unlike what a certain youtuber likes to mention, arch's actions heavily rely on trying to avoid all politics), the one that really annoys me is bazzite, the one i almost went with, which recently became super political.

Look we all have our political viewpoints, i respect those, but i don't want them, even ones i agree with, in my operating system, really wish gaming on BSD was viable.

 

[AI_Apex_Predator]

having grown up being used to struggling with basic things like wifi and wine

We come from the same era. I know how it feels. lol.

Honestly my biggest problem i have with linux is how political it's gotten

I feel like choosing Linux is a political decision all in itself, but more to the context of your post, I think it goes to show you that Linux is a living animal. It will morph with the times along with the needs of its users, much like a political party would in general.

 

[PhaseJump]

Daily driving an updated fresh install of Windows 10 and the nag screens, updates, and reboot prompts it feeds me never ceases to impress.

I have other machines running Mint w/Cinnamon or Arch w/Plasma. I got sick and tired of distro hopping ages ago when Valve Gnome decided to embrace the number 3 and destroy itself.

 

[Leon]

We come from the same era. I know how it feels. lol.

I feel like choosing Linux is a political decision all in itself, but more to the context of your post, I think it goes to show you that Linux is a living animal. It will morph with the times along with the needs of its users, much like a political party would in general.

The problem is it's not, linux has always been about freedom in many ways, which is why the current state of linux worries me, most linux users and devs seem to want nothing to do with politics in linux, seeing it as unhealthy to the os and community as a whole but in the long run it doesn't matter how many want it, if a few politically minded people get in the right positions they can take over the entire distro, as with what happened to opensuse (which ironically, has caused a shortage of devs willing to work on their board or the distro as a whole, putting them in crisis mode atm), i have to wonder how much of this is related to subversion tactics by illicit actors (if you live in the us you likely know what i'm referring to), microsoft and apple though, none of those 3 would like open source projects to exist and people in general reject software that get's too political if they can(You need a os so unless your willing to use bsd or temple os, your options are very limited if you don't like the big 3).

My main worry about this is it's gonna negatively effect linux going forward, i've seen multiple people considering going back to windows over the political climate of linux, luckily we still have a few that have tried to stay out of politics like mint, manjaro, ubuntu and open mandriva, so far my current distro garuda linux has avoided this too.

Anyway this is getting too close to a political discussion so i'm ending it here so that we can keep spike's no politics policy adhered to (one i agree with).

Daily driving an updated fresh install of Windows 10 and the nag screens, updates, and reboot prompts it feeds me never ceases to impress.

I have other machines running Mint w/Cinnamon or Arch w/Plasma. I got sick and tired of distro hopping ages ago when Valve Gnome decided to embrace the number 3 and destroy itself.

Dude don't even get me started on gnome, gnome has been a massive pita with it's policies since at least the 90's.

 

[PhaseJump]

The only political debate that matters in Linux is the eternal battle between vi & emacs.

 

[Leon]

The only political debate that matters in Linux is the eternal battle between vi & emacs.

And of course, the debates on systemd and on rust.

 

[AI_Apex_Predator]

Anyway this is getting too close to a political discussion so i'm ending it here so that we can keep spike's no politics policy adhered to (one i agree with).

Yea, dont want to ruffle anyones feathers. If you like, we can talk in PMs. Im a bit of a Falcom fanboy as well.

 

[Leon]

Yea, dont want to ruffle anyones feathers. If you like, we can talk in PMs. Im a bit of a Falcom fanboy as well.

I mean sure though i'm not sure what else to say i'm always open to conversation, glad to see another falcom fanboy on here.

 

[Potapota]

Part time linux user since maybe the 00's, was full time for a couple years in the 10's and now it's about 50/50 win 11 on desktop and linux for laptop/server duties. Gaming seems to work just that tiny bit better on windows these days and that's pretty much the only thing keeping me on it still. Proton seems to have matured well enough that I've been thinking about switching over to linux maybe once/if valve does a proper public release for steamos.
Arch would be another option but man, I would really prefer if the os would stay out of the way when I'm in the mood for some video games and I'm not sure if I trust it for that.

Update: I just installed arch on a secondary drive and things went so smooth that I just straight up wiped my windows install. I was tempted with i3 as a wm but I figured going with the popular option (kde) would cause me less pain in the long run.

 

[Leon]

Update: I just installed arch on a secondary drive and things went so smooth that I just straight up wiped my windows install. I was tempted with i3 as a wm but I figured going with the popular option (kde) would cause me less pain in the long run.

Just avoid messing with global themes, no matter what distro, global themes are always the one thing that if you touch them i swear is destined to break kde, just download the parts manually if you want that (or use global themes sparingly).

 

[Potapota]

Just avoid messing with global themes, no matter what distro, global themes are always the one thing that if you touch them i swear is destined to break kde, just download the parts manually if you want that (or use global themes sparingly).

Oh I didn't know that was prone to breaking. I'll keep it in mind.
For some reason the fresh install on the main drive was missing the default taskbar. Not a big issue but still made me wonder why it happened. It's often up to user error or the lack of user friendly instructions with linux in my experience but I just can't even fathom what I did differently this time.

 

[DragonMals]

I just started using Mint, but for the foreseeable future, I dislike how I have to have both Photon and Wine installed on a distro just for me to have a side of Steam games to play with a compatibility layer and a standard EXE. Maybe this might change if I were to somehow replace Mint with SteamOS as it should have Photon automatically installed on there. I'm forcing myself to get used to the instance of using it though because I really like the environment and features of Mint. It comes with LibreOffice built in and it seems more at home than how Windows treats it. I'm doing this on my WorkPC so if I ever want to game, I would have to use my Lap-Desktop PC setup I just recently made, but Linux is seeing more comfortable at home the more I use it.