Comment on Microsoft to stop forcing Windows 11 users into Edge in EU countries
kescusay@lemmy.world 9 months ago
I’m under no illusions that Linux is a viable alternative for everyone, but if you’re just using your computer as a web terminal and light gaming system, a decent Linux system + Steam makes for a very usable alternative these days.
I have exactly one computer in my house that has Windows on it. It was provided by my employer, and I turn it on maybe once every two weeks or so, for special-purpose activities that can’t be done on my Linux laptop. And most of the time, for most activities my Linux laptop is the clearly superior performer - it’s not even close, despite their similar hardware specs.
I don’t think everyone should - or can - switch. But if you’ve got an old beater laptop gathering dust, try popping Ubuntu or something on it, see how it performs. See if it’s something you could legitimately switch to full or part time.
I’m a gamer. I’ve used Windows since the 95 days. I’m done with Microsoft. I was not happy with Windows 10 and the bullshit they introduced but there is no way in hell I’m signing up for Win11.
Steam has made a lot of progress with Proton. My next computer will be Linux-based.
It’s getting pretty easy to ditch Windows these days. Microsoft got too greedy and desperate, and actually using the damn platform they built is getting harder and harder, especially if you don’t want the nagging and annoyances that come from them trying to turn your computer into their subscription revenue stream. My impression is that Valve is aware of the problem, and wants to make sure that their store works regardless of which operating system you prefer.
Valve is and was aware of this problem even back then. I don’t have a reliable source on this but from what I remember it all started when Microsoft begun pushing the Microsoft Store.
Gabe Newell even said Linux is the future of gaming
And for this I have a source: https://www.pcgamer.com/gabe-newell-linux-and-open-source-are-the-future-of-gaming/
You’ll be just fine. So long as they fix the issues with anticheat software at some point. Gaming on linux is great these days in most cases though.
Yeah this is so true. I have a gaming laptop with Linux on it and a steam deck. If it doesn’t run on Linux, I don’t buy it. The problem is that strategy isn’t really saving me any money these days.
There’s a real sense of relief whenever I close my (work) windows laptop and open my personal Pop_OS laptop… and then start up Baldur’s Gate.
I’ve been primarily a Linux user for several years now and it seems like Windows is just getting worse and worse in terms of user experience. I fear the day that my company wants everyone to move to Win11.
I’m just hoping 12 is better… somehow… and soon? I loathe 11.
Give me GOG Galaxy and Path of Exile on Linux and I would install it now. Last time I wanted to switch, I installed everything I needed, went to download GOG and remembered why I switch back last time. :(
You don’t need GOG Galaxy. I play my GOG games through Heroic Games Launcher on my Artix Linux system.
Path of Exile is rated Gold on ProtonDB and according to reports works out of the box through Steam Proton.
Does it connect to achievements?
I can’t view my achievements so I don’t know. I assume no because there’s no overlay. I actually forgot GOG even had achievements. I just don’t care about them that much usually.
Steam achievements work normally, of course.
I use Lutris to install my GOG games, Battle.NET, EA launcher, and Ubisoft Play. It’s a very simple solution.
I use heroic launcher, works perfectly for me
If everyone swapped to Linux, how quickly do you think it’d be as viable as Windows?
5 years for personal, 20 years for professional
Ummm… I’m thinking more like two years for personal, and now for professional. I’m a professional, using Linux as my daily driver.
The software has to be developed and then it has to be adopted
You can find companies running XP still just to avoid upgrading their system
How or why does Linux have a higher performance for you?
not OP but similar situation. My Linux desktop is just more snappy, despite being 5 years old (and the work Win11 laptop brand new). I already have customized with my shortcuts and apps. I don’t have to listen to the fan spinning up every time I open a new window (exaggerating a bit, but not much). Also I am not tied to work filters. If I want to read the news online for 5 minutes in a coffee break I don’t risk being monitored and potentially evaluated. But really, I’ve been a Windows and Linux user for 20-odd years. I’ve always found that Linux installed on the same hardware of Windows is just smoother and faster. Windows is getting so much bloatware (from MS or enterprise apps) that it doesn’t even have a fighting chance.
Memory management and file IO is far more efficient in Linux. So much so that I even got better performance in Windows running Debian in a VM for some very file-intensive stuff.
Also, MORE FILE SYSTEMS! NTFS is crap
Probably just down to less stuff running in the background using up CPU cycles. I can’t imagine it makes a huge difference, but more than nothing.
Depending on the situation, it actually can make huge differences.  For instance, I built my computer in 2010 it’s 13yrs old now. it can’t run windows 11 and while it can run windows 10 it runs like complete shit. Start up would take forever even on a fresh install, half the time Windows freezes just trying to get to the desktop after a fresh reboot. at idle background processes from windows would leave me running over 50% CPU usage just idling and opening anything like Firefox and Discord at the same time would jump to 100% CPU usage.
On Linux it runs just as good as the day I built it. Startup takes around 30 seconds and I can actually start working the moment I’m on the desktop, no freezing or waiting for background startup processes to finish. I currently at this moment have around 20 workspaces (aka virtual desktops) open across three monitors, within those work spaces is hundreds of tabs open in Firefox, simultaneously playing RuneScape and dwarf fortress. A bunch of terminals, SSH sessions, and other miscellaneous work stuff running. a ton of docker containers running, I also have both discord with a call going and Spotify playing in the background and I am setting at 30% CPU usage with the occasional spike to 50%. I can actually use my computer to do a ton of stuff and have power left over while windows would max out and freeze up just the start up, even on fresh installs. And it’s not just this one old computer, I can consistently see rather large performance differences going from Windows to Linux across the number of different computers. 
Also, the file system. For the longest time windows used NTFS exclusively, which is (or was) slower than Ext4 (the most widely used on Linux).
I think MS is moving away from NTFS and are going to use a different file system in the near future (maybe even now, I don’t know anymore)
I don’t think NTFS is the actual problem, but the Windows VFS layer (or whatever it’s called over there).
Running windirstat (or similar programs) is dog-slow on Windows, k4dirstat eats through the same partition quite a bit faster. Getting metadata to sort a directory with what 5000 files can take minutes in explorer, with Linux it’s pretty much instant. minutes. That’s not just non-optimised that’s abysmal.
They’ve been talking about replacing NTFS for a long time. 10 years ago they put ReFS in the server builds and… show of hands anyone using it?
Most desktop environments are really efficient at what they do and minimize the background resources they take. Just checked my system and GNOME takes ~350MBs RAM and literally 0.0% CPU, it's insane. I looked up Windows 11 and it seems like it can use up to 4 GBs (!) of RAM all by itself.
It can and will if you let it
I’m gonna ride out Windows 10 since I’ve got it behaving and I’m lazy. But if Windows 12 is just like Windows 11, or worse, I’m switching to Linux and figuring out how to get a vGPU VM up and running for when I have to run something on Windows for one reason or another. I messed with a vGPU in Hyper-V on Windows and was amazed by how seamless the performance was compared to other VM GPU acceleration options. I found a project to do something similar on Linux, so I’m gonna mess with that. If I can get it running as well as I’ve seen in some videos, I won’t need a bare metal Windows install anymore.
You should probably just go ahead and switch now. It’s not going to get any better, at least not over one iteration. Maybe Windows 14…
Should I remind you of Me, Vista and Win8?
Yeah same. When they do eventually kill 10 then im bailing for Firefox and Linux. I do also have it behaving but sometimes it tries the odd bullshit about edge.
Linux needs a Chrome OS type thing but FOSS with steam and it’ll be the best version for most users, and if it’s configurable unlike Chrome OS it’ll even serve power users
(Chrome OS was actually really good imo, especially with their container method of running Android and Linux apps, but they moved it to VM, and it’s not as good functionally for some reason)
You know there is a Chromium OS out there that is not only for Chrome OS computers. I don’t remember the exact name, Google it.
Chromium OS is the worst of both worlds (limited to chromium and you don’t get the ease of use from Chrome OS), unless you meant a fork of it, in which case I’m not aware of it and a Google search doesn’t give me any good results.
(Though I still should have remembered chromium OS, but that’s on me being used to it being ignored because of lacking Android apps mainly)
And you can put windows in a virtual machine for edge cases for most use cases. Use Linux for everything else.
@kescusay Just out of interest, what are the "special-purpose activities that can’t be done on my Linux laptop" if you don't mind sharing?
Running AAA games with kernel level anti-cheat (aka malware) would be an example. Or special-purpose Windows-exclusive software like some ERP client, specific hardware drivers etc.
Ironically enough, some of the Linux certification exams only work on Windows and macOS.
For most things I fully agree, unless it’s for windows specific applications that don’t exist in other platforms.
What about Nvidia drivers for games?
Use X11 and you are fine
Actually, these days you can use Wayland and be fine, too. It’s my daily driver now.
I would switch tomorrow if I didn’t play competitive CS that requires third-party anti-cheat like Faceit/ ESEA.
Which version of CS? Many of them work fine now.
CSGO. all those anti cheat clients are kernel level and only work on windows AFAIK
FatTony@lemmy.world 9 months ago
Is Linux still a good option for gaming if one were to not purchase games?
e-ratic@kbin.social 9 months ago
Yes, you can either add the game as a non-steam game and force proton, or use Lutris or Bottles. For repacks with installers, you can launch the setup.exe with Lutris or Bottles, just make sure you're include dependencies that require it (usually .net framework).
Source: most of my steam library on my steam deck is plundered loot
SSUPII@sopuli.xyz 9 months ago
There are also repackers like jc141 e LinuxRulez
Pharceface@lemm.ee 9 months ago
Not to necro this thread, but lets say someone I know has gotten copy of a repack and when they try to install it with Lutris it says they don’t have enough disk space to run the installer, is it possible to create the wine bottle and specify the size of it before launching the installer?
Granixo@feddit.cl 9 months ago
Linux is paradise when it comes to emulation 🎮
reflex@kbin.social 9 months ago
😏
Caradoc879@lemmy.world 9 months ago
Take your piracy back to the piracy sub
Qvest@lemmy.world 9 months ago
Take your ignorance elsewhere
Kodemystic@lemmy.kodemystic.dev 9 months ago
fuck off buddy
ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca 9 months ago
Yes, Steam doesn’t do anything
You can just as easily use Wine/Proton as your runner as you can set up Steam to use Wine/Proton as your runner
beatle@aussie.zone 9 months ago
Not true, steam makes it incredibly easy. Install steam, tick compatibility option, install, click green play button.
ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca 9 months ago
Lutris makes it incredibly easy. Install Lutris, tick runner option, install, click play button
nicman24@kbin.social 9 months ago
yes but steam is so easy
visor841@lemmy.world 9 months ago
Steam works on Linux.
nicman24@kbin.social 9 months ago
yeah and it is very easy
Zpiritual@lemm.ee 9 months ago
Sure. I’ve run several modern … repurposed… games and it usually works through lutris.
dinckelman@lemmy.world 9 months ago
At this point in time, I only occasionally have mild issues with newest games, because Wine is a continuously developed software, and games with an annoying anticheat, such as Destiny 2 or R6 Siege. Everything else just runs, including older games, that don’t even run on Windows, or titles you had to sail the seas for
Jumper775@lemmy.world 9 months ago
Yeah it’s great. Bottles is the best tool imo, lutris almost feels like a relic from the early days of Linux gaming, and non-steam games in steam don’t always work exactly how you might want, and aren’t so much fun. There is also heroic games launcher now which lets you add custom games and is also a very nice option if you don’t use gnome (bottles is a gnome style app so it may look out of place elsewhere). I would put some thorough research into VPNs if you torrent though because the one I used on my Linux box (expressvpn) leaked my ip at some point and I got a letter in the mail.