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General discussionLooking to move to Linux - could use advice(84 posts)(84 posts)
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This is my favourite topic
Posted August 05, 2021
So there isn't much that's keeping me on Windows besides game support and the DX API and i notice that many games I am interested in or have on GOG are not natively supported on Linux but i am slightly familiar with the fact that you could use a compatibility software like Lutris or Wine-DXVK or some such to play Windows-based games on Linux. Does anyone here use Linux as their main OS and play Windows-based games from GOG using Lutris / Wine-DXVK
Does the DRM-free aspect of GOG games help reduce the likelihood of in-game performance issues?
Does the GOG Galaxy launcher need to be installed?
What are your recommendations for a complete beginner with little to no technical experience and knowledge about Linux or programming? (adding this update in hindsight).
Post edited August 06, 2021 by Sensenacai
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Posted August 05, 2021
I’ve been using Linux only for more than ten years, including video games.

DRM-free games avoid a lot of issues, most compatibility issues with non-native games are actually due to DRM schemes, not the game engines themselves.
Posted August 05, 2021
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vv221: I’ve been using Linux only for more than ten years, including video games.

DRM-free games avoid a lot of issues, most compatibility issues with non-native games are actually due to DRM schemes, not the game engines themselves.
Do you use anything to play Windows-based games?
Posted August 05, 2021
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Sensenacai: Do you use anything to play Windows-based games?
Sure. Wine. It's not an emulator. It's a framework to translate system calls. It isn't perfect, but boy, has it come a long way.
Posted August 05, 2021
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Sensenacai: Do you use anything to play Windows-based games?
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Darvond: Sure. Wine. It's not an emulator. It's a framework to translate system calls. It isn't perfect, but boy, has it come a long way.
Does Wine come pre-integrated with Lutris or does it need manual installation? I hope you will forgive my rather limited knowledge of Linux lol.
Posted August 05, 2021
Well while drivers for video cards may be somewhat supported i wouldn't expect acceleration on them that much.

Otherwise i'd say get a liveCD and boot it up and see how it performs, if it works out of the box or needs special drivers to work (Generally anything 5+ years old will work).

Installing system/linux software can be a bit different, ranging from using a utility where you go through a list, to using the commandline of 'apt-get install gimp' and other tools.

Get to know the basic commands. Remember MS-DOS? Well you can use that. cd, rm, cp, mv, su, sudo, grep, a bit of regex and bash and you can do a lot stringing things together. While most gui/xwindows utilities won't have you touch that, getting your hands dirty can be the easier solution.

If you aren't sure about wiping your working windows machine, get an older laptop, a chromebook to modify, any of the Raspberry Pi's to play with and you can tinker away to see how you like it. The Pi4 is a fairly decent system running about the strength of a laptop, though modifying some chromebooks is easy to put full on linux on. Alternatively if you can run a VM, run one and install the OS to a virtual hard drive and use it in parallel to your system. Virtualbox tools had it where you could have 2 task bars, running linux and windows apps together. Which was very cool.
Posted August 05, 2021
Been using Linux for 20+ years now. DRM FREE games usually have less issue. Older games (15+ years ago) sometimes need older lib files but the community seems to have down, PCGameWiki has links and more modern install methods like flatpak and snap help out a lot.

A lot of people and companies are looking to migrate to Linux at this time. I've told those that ask to check their software/gaming library to see what's already supported from there use a LiveCD or dualboot to see if it's right for you.
Posted August 05, 2021
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Sensenacai: Does Wine come pre-integrated with Lutris or does it need manual installation? I hope you will forgive my rather limited knowledge of Linux lol.
You're going to have to install it, but that's really a simple dnf install wine away. (Or your local equivilant.)
Posted August 05, 2021
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Darvond: You're going to have to install it, but that's really a simple dnf install wine away. (Or your local equivilant.)
With wine i've had it come with and without Mono and other libraries/fonts needed. Expect 1Gb install with Wine.
Posted August 05, 2021
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rtcvb32: Well while drivers for video cards may be somewhat supported i wouldn't expect acceleration on them that much.

Otherwise i'd say get a liveCD and boot it up and see how it performs, if it works out of the box or needs special drivers to work (Generally anything 5+ years old will work).

Installing system/linux software can be a bit different, ranging from using a utility where you go through a list, to using the commandline of 'apt-get install gimp' and other tools.

Get to know the basic commands. Remember MS-DOS? Well you can use that. cd, rm, cp, mv, su, sudo, grep, a bit of regex and bash and you can do a lot stringing things together. While most gui/xwindows utilities won't have you touch that, getting your hands dirty can be the easier solution.

If you aren't sure about wiping your working windows machine, get an older laptop, a chromebook to modify, any of the Raspberry Pi's to play with and you can tinker away to see how you like it. The Pi4 is a fairly decent system running about the strength of a laptop, though modifying some chromebooks is easy to put full on linux on. Alternatively if you can run a VM, run one and install the OS to a virtual hard drive and use it in parallel to your system. Virtualbox tools had it where you could have 2 task bars, running linux and windows apps together. Which was very cool.
Pop OS has captured my interest as a Linux distro for a complete beginner such as myself. What's your opinion on that? I have an NVMe drive that i am using with only two games stored on it which i can move back to my other SSD so I could try a dual boot just to test it out.
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Arcadius-8606: Been using Linux for 20+ years now. DRM FREE games usually have less issue. Older games (15+ years ago) sometimes need older lib files but the community seems to have down, PCGameWiki has links and more modern install methods like flatpak and snap help out a lot.

A lot of people and companies are looking to migrate to Linux at this time. I've told those that ask to check their software/gaming library to see what's already supported from there use a LiveCD or dualboot to see if it's right for you.
I am thinking of installing Pop OS on one of my emptier drives and trying that out as a dual boot. Do you only play natively supported games?
Post edited August 05, 2021 by Sensenacai
Posted August 05, 2021
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Sensenacai:
POP OS is geared towards people looking to use their computer as a workstation in science or creative arts (though as a professional on the latter, linux is still really lacking in a few areas there). You'd be far better off with beginner friendly Mint or Zorin if moving over from windows.
Salient is directly geared towards gaming but its a very small OS (one man crew) and may not work well on a multitide of system setups.

Edit: I;m speaking from experience on all four distros I mention for what its worth.
Post edited August 05, 2021 by Sachys
Posted August 05, 2021
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Sensenacai: I am thinking of installing Pop OS on one of my emptier drives and trying that out as a dual boot. Do you only play natively supported games?
Pretty much. Outside of native games, I also play games on Stadia. Back in the late 90's I was cool with fussing with games to get them to work but that died shortly into 2001 to 2002. I just want to click and play. Staying with native games and now cloud based games is the only thing that allows that for me.
Posted August 05, 2021
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Sensenacai:
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Sachys: POP OS is geared towards people looking to use their computer as a workstation in science or creative arts (though as a professional on the latter, linux is still really lacking in a few areas there). You'd be far better off with beginner friendly Mint or Zorin if moving over from windows.
Salient is directly geared towards gaming but its a very small OS (one man crew) and may not work well on a multitide of system setups.

Edit: I;m speaking from experience on all four distros I mention for what its worth.
I come across opinions from YouTube and Reddit that seem to suggest otherwise, where PoP OS is a common recommendation. Mint does look appealing for sure.
Posted August 05, 2021
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Sensenacai: Pop OS has captured my interest as a Linux distro for a complete beginner such as myself. What's your opinion on that? I have an NVMe drive that i am using with only two games stored on it which i can move back to my other SSD so I could try a dual boot just to test it out.
Not sure it will matter that much.

It's probably going to have a number of things built into the kernel, filesystems and support-wise. It will have X-Windows, be it Gnome KDE XFCE or other for a manager depends on how heavy you like your interface, or how it feels. And which large applications will be pre-installed.

I've used Mint, Ubuntu, Knoppix, Redhat/Fedora to name a few; One even geared for PHP/MySQL development for a tiny server in a VM. My personal preference would be Slax, it's modular design and intended to run as a compressed FS, however the default LZMA compression is too slow to be usable. (Though modifying scripts i have re-compressed them to a lighter algo and had good successes, perhaps i should revisit for my Chromebook...).

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Sachys: POP OS is geared towards people looking to use their computer as a workstation in science or creative arts (though as a professional on the latter, linux is still really lacking in a few areas there). You'd be far better off with beginner friendly Mint or Zorin if moving over from windows.
It's too easy to get lost, and i don't know half the software most of the distros come with. Makes me want to stay lightweight and have installers for anything i might want later in an extra's section.
Posted August 05, 2021
Drm free helps a little yes... no Galaxy is not needed and in fact doesn't work

Games work on Linux if people put the effort into working them out and the fact that a game works on one build of Linux doesn't mean it will work on all of them

my advice is to goto the sub forum of the games you want to play and look there for posts about Linux... most linux players will put up threads about their fav games with any work arounds needed to get them running
Post edited August 05, 2021 by ussnorway
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This is my favourite topic
Community
General discussionLooking to move to Linux - could use advice(84 posts)(84 posts)
(84 posts)