Good, gaming was the last thing keeping me on windows, once I find a distro that’s compatible with my laptop hardware I’ll move to Linux completely
Bazzite seems a famous option for gaming
Unless you have something truly obscure, I can confidently say any of them will do at this point. I recommend Pop!OS myself, others will disagree. Pop! has a download for AMD hardware and a separate for NVidia GPU-equipped machines. Try it out on a USB today! YOU CAN DO EEET!
Just made the switch, surprised how smooth the transition went so far.
For a while I never made the switch because of gaming. I did 3 years ago and never looked back. Proton is a game changer
Ooooh, what distro did you go with?
Can’t be Arch, else he would’ve already said that he uses Arch btw. /s
Listen…
I went full AMD and Fedora. Couldn’t be happier. All games I’ve tested work. It’s been a while since I’ve had a gaming pc so I don’t have a reference point, but everything is as smooth as I’d want to. Some games may need a library or so as stated in protonDB but, I’m so impressed. Now I have desktop running KDE, steam deck has KDE too and my laptop also with fedora.
For real, full AMD on Fedora is incredibly stable and smooth.
Hey! This is also my setup!
Mint, I need my emotional support windows xp.
😂
Omg saaammeeeee
Same here! Although so far my experience has been dominated by 3 little words: Processing Vulkan Shaders
While this is awesome we still need to have the same performance on Windows. Yes, some games run better through proton for some reason, but that’s the minority. Hopefully, proton will not be needed for new games in the future and we get native builds like CS2.
FYI: That’s more Windows games than run in Windows!
WTF? Why? Because a lot of older games don’t run in newer versions of Windows than when they were made! They still run great in Linux though 👍
There is like a good chunk of an entire decade’s worth of games that can’t be played on PC legitimately due to either expired licenses for music (e.g. EA Trax) or lack of support for older, disc-based DRM (SecuROM etc.).
That’s before factoring older titles that no longer work due to arbitrary changes to DirectX and the Windows kernel, which break backwards compatibility.
Huh wonder whether shadows of destiny pc port works on proton.
Might be worth checking ProtonDB, or WineDB if it’s not on steam.
It wasn’t on proton but there’s a very old entry on wine. Looks like my boy Jeff’s last entry was quite recent in 2023, he rated it a silver. There’s a known bug from some graphical glitch during certain events like the protagonist meeting himself back in time and others which may prevent completion. I wonder how it works now, tempted to test it out.
But what percentage of games that use anticheat?
Seems about 40% working, I personally only have one game that doesn’t jive with Linux. If the game you’re playing doesn’t work that’s the fault of the specific anti-cheat developers because it’s obviously possible to do it right.
Sure, but from the end user perspective, it doesn’t matter whose fault it is - the result is you can’t play a game you otherwise just can in Windows. We know it’s their fault.
If you never play any games with anticheat that’s fine, but all it takes is one game, and then later another, and then later another, to make Linux a dealbreaker for many gamers. These are not unpopular games.
It can be the whole difference between someone sticking with Windows but itching to make the switch, and someone actually making the switch.
What good is 90% of games working if you have 3 games that you really want to play that don’t work?
Those are likely shit games.
I 100% get what you are saying. But I’m also 100% fine with voting with my wallet by not supporting game developers that demand kernel-level access to my machine.
Think about the EA stuff. You install one of their games, and now Saudi Arabia and Jared Kushner* have kernel-level access to your machine. Why, why the hell is that worth it for just a game?
*I wish I was joking
I used to be huge into Battlefield. Even on Linux, I played the shit out of BF4. But I will never be sad about avoiding kernel level anticheat. I don’t even feel like I’m missing out, quite the opposite really, especially after Saudi Arabia bought out EA. Why would I ever want kernel level anything from them? They’d have to pay me.
I guess that’s all to say that I just don’t play those games, and I’m better off for it. I think we should be educating other gamers on what they’re sacrificing to play these games for little reduction in cheaters (BF6 has them, I’ve seen videos of it). Is it really worth it to have a Saudi rootkit on your computer to play that game? Are they willing to sacrifice their security, privacy, and digital freedoms so they can play a game for a couple of hours a day or week? If so, that’s fine, but games that use kernel level anticheat tend to try to mask the risks of running them, which is fucked.
What good are those 3 games you want to play if they don’t work on the OS you want to use?
It’s just a matter of priority, about 8 years ago, I just made the decision to not play a game if it doesn’t work on Linux.
The game doesn’t become inherently less enjoyable just because your system doesn’t meet the requirements to run it.
There is a big problem in having to change your worldview so that no longer being able to enjoy a game you wanted to experience becomes a non-issue.
I mean, you get what you pay for with games that have anti cheat software mandatory.
Less cheaters?
I don’t know what you mean.
The rust entry is kinda wrong. Linux friendly community servers do run they just need more active players to be fun
I think the lack of EAC support is a red flag for some users that there may be more cheaters compared to windows (and more bugs). At least that was my perspective when I was reading the Reddit posts and forum posts at the time.
That’s the thing, though, EAC can run on Linux if the devs allow it. There are games that use EAC that run just fine on Linux.
Had a quick look into this, this is the best related info I could find on the situation with Rust.
As a former RUST addict, I can tell you that Facepunch didn’t really know what they were doing initially with the game on Linux (although they gave an honest try).
Later, they basically said, “Look, we don’t really have the knowledge to support this, so you can ask for a refund if you exclusively bought the game to play on Linux, and if you are using Proton/Wine/etc, you can play on non-EAC community servers” (since official servers use Linux incompatible EAC). They aren’t hostile to the Linux community, but Gary and the team feel like they aren’t up to the task, so they don’t officially support things anymore.
Probably a somewhat popular opinion in the Linux crowd already, but I think we should be pressing companies to find better ways to manage anti-cheats than kernel-level anti-cheat anyway. I’m glad I don’t play games like that because I don’t like how it works at all.
Absolutely. It’s completely possible too by using server side verification and not giving the client info they shouldn’t have, but that costs them slightly more in server costs (which aren’t significant).
It would also require designing the games code to account for this from the start, so not insignificant but definitely all reasonably possible, as in if there were magically legislation tommorow forcing all new multiplayer games to stop doing invasive anti cheat in a year, it’d be done in 6 months.
Not always, latency is a huge problem especially in action games.
The implicit implication of your comment is that sever side verification etc inherently means unacceptable latency and I see no reason to believe it; only gut feelings
No, but it is a far more complex problem than what the other comment made it sound like. That it is only because they cheap out on server hardware and it could be perfect if they just wasn’t cheap.
There isn’t a single comment in this chain that says it’s purely about server costs.
Linux Mint here. I have had only 1 issue with a game on Linux and honestly, it was an easier fix then getting some games working on Windows which I have experienced plenty of as well. Linux really is just as easy as “Install from Steam, play”.
Drivers are easy now today too, just like Windows. Honestly, if you gamed on Windows, you have all you need to game on Linux.
I’ve found Bazzite and Arch-based distros like SteamOS tend to fare better when it comes to gaming (probably due to their different update model compared to Mint), but if what you’re after is stability and familiarity and don’t play super new games, Mint’s awesome. Glad you’re having fun with it :)
Okay, but how far back does this go? It can’t really be that all games in existence that ran on Windows is being counted. Is it?
When you go far enough back less games work on windows then Linux just because you need emulation and compatibility software anyways for both of them.
And they tend to be better support on Linux.
Which is always a fun time.
…Wine Is Not an Emulator
The chart is based on ProtonDB, which covers all Steam games.
First paragraph indicates that it’s pulling from ProtonDB’s list of games:
However, the most recent stats from ProtonDB (via Boiling Steam) highlight that we are edging towards a magnificent milestone. The latest distilled data shows that almost 90% of Windows games now run on Linux.
You completely glossed over the question he was asking.
90% of Windows games…but, from how far back? Are we talking 1988 with Windows 1.0? Are we talking 1995 onwards with Windows 95? Are we talking modern Windows with Windows 10 onwards? Are we strictly talking Windows 11?
There are a lot of logical jumping off points for where you can start measuring, each with a logical arguement with why you start there, but also with multiple logical arguements for why thats a bad idea.
There’s a missing implied knowledge they forgot to mention: ProtonDB tracks games on Steam. So it’s 90% of windows games available on Steam (without a native Linux build)
Strangely, the search page for ProtonDB shows the ‘proton rating’ for games which have a ‘native but abandoned / broken’ native Linux build, whereas the actual page for the game just shows ‘native’ and I can’t see the button to show the rest of the information. I’m sure it used to be there; they’ve started hiding a lot of stuff in favour of making the ‘steam deck’ results more prominent. But in some cases, ‘proton rating even with a native Linux build’ is quite important.
eg. Dawn of War 2 Chaos Rising.
- search page shows ‘gold’
- actual page says ‘native’, but ‘loads of rendering issues, really slow, broken on multi-monitor setup, use proton instead’.
Mark of the Ninja: Remastered:
- search page says ‘platinum’
- actual page says ‘native’, but ‘frequent deadlocking issues makes game unplayable, use proton instead’.
Yeah and it’s also bizarre that these companies released a native version, then… not test it? Why even bother?
One of the most frequently suggested beginner distros is Linux mint. It’s great, it’s stable, it’s what I use and while it’s not exactly cutting edge, or necessary the prettiest distro, it’s great for beginners and will feel pretty familiar coming from windows.
Pop_os! And bazzite are more “gaming focused” if that’s more your style, but I’ve never had an issue gaming with Linux mint.
Ultimately, it doesn’t really matter terribly much. Pick one, install it to a new drive and try it out. If you don’t like it, pick another one.
Linux mint isnt just not bleeding edge, its significantly more stable than Debian. Its so much incredibly more stable that they still use X11 and probrally will for the foreseeable future.
trying to force AI into windows 11 isnt helping MS.
I can not understand why they made that decision.
Because it allows them to collect and process more data, which can be used or sold, increasing their profits.
They think line won’t go up if they don’t shove it down every user’s throat. They’ve put most of their eggs in that basket.
–> $ <–
🫱( ‿ $ ‿ )🫲
To be fair it’s not just Microsoft doing that. I was looking at gym equipment the other day and some idiots were trying to sell a fucking home gym with AI. Everyone wants to sell it, nobody wants to buy it.
The end user is seen as nothing but an exploitable resource. If a few thousand nerds don’t like it, they don’t give a shit. Until the general public wakes up to the shitfuckery, nothing will change. Just ask your mom, what she thinks about Microsoft’s data collection.
2026 will be the year of the Linux desktop!
The time is near
Every year
Some shitty games will hold out, but as long as the majority works better under Linux, I’m fine with it.
I’m trying to get into Linux atm. Working at the kinks and work flow. I will dual boot for the exception that I really want to play that doesn’t run on Linux.
Be careful, windows can fuck up some dual boot setups and make the Linux side worse
Strangely enough, “Windows always fucking up my dual boot setup” is what caused me to drop Windows for good about a decade ago. And Linux gaming has come on absolutely leaps and bounds since then.
I don’t have much of a choice. I don’t have another system to work on and I’m not ready for Linux to be daily driver yet. I’ve installed on a separate SSD.
Edit: Sorry, I just saw and remembered what I wrote originally lol nevermind… I will keep that in mind going forward. Thanks.
If you are able to i think ensuring they’re installed on different drivers alleviates most issues
I’ve installed on a separate SSD.
Thankfully that should prevent most issues of Windows fucking up dual-booting
Lots of off topic comment threads so I don’t mind adding my own: going to make the Linux dive here soon and just had a general question on VR. I recently got a mostlySteam setup (sensors / controllers) with a Vive Pro 2 headset. Overall is VR supported? Is it limited to certain headsets? I was thinking of getting a Bigscreen Beyond 2, if that makes a difference. Any info appreciated.
Tech-idiot, here, but Linux-curious and running Windows 10 with an ardent refusal to change it to 11.
I know there are a ton of different versions of Linux, ‘Ubuntu’ and such, but I don’t know jack about any of them… which would you recommend that’s best suited to someone who’s only ever used Windows? Looking for the most idiot-proof option. Gaming and office style work are primary use.
Emphasis on the idiot proof. I am really anxious about switching from fear of jacking up my computer, but am so sick of Window’s bullshit… probably as good a time to dive in now than any point going forward.
If you want a windows-like experience, Linux Mint is hard to beat. It will feel very familiar.
If you enjoy gaming (which I’m assuming you do, considering the article) then maybe Bazzite would be a good option. It comes with GPU drivers (which have historically been a giant pain in the ass for Linux) ready to go. It’s an immutable distro, which is… Contentious in the Linux community. It means you won’t be able to accidentally break your OS, but it also means it isn’t as customizable. The newer users appreciate the safety net, but the experienced power users see it as overly restrictive coddling.
It also pisses off new users frequently when they start to try to use any community tools for most games… Bazzite is a fucking nightmare for gaming because of it. It’s God damn funny counter productive issue.
The steam deck has the same problem to be fair.
Also historically is right, installing drivers has been trivial on every distro I can possibly think of for the last fuck, almost 20 years.
There have been one click gui installers for fucking ever at this point. Lol
If you need a computer that’s reliable for office work, use Debian, if you want a more console-like experience and less likely it’ll break your computer, use bazzite, if you want to be able to use new hardware, the moment it’s released to the market have the best compatibility with all games and software and the widest range of supported hardware and software use cachyOS.
Debian is stable because it updates so slowly. It makes sure everything works under pain of death. So having compatibility issues, new hardware being supported, having to do weird little things for a less than popular application is pretty normal. But if it works, it’s literally the most stable thing you can possibly put on a computer.
Bazzite it’s kind of your middle ground. It’s up to date in 95% of all cases while support. Basically everything but it is immutable which makes it hard to tinker with or change things should you need to. Which is both a benefit and a downside. Does mean you’re less likely to break your computer while you’re learning on the flip side.
CachyOS is based on Arch the most up-to-date core that you can have for any computer. It’s what steamos is based on in many other bleeding edge options. It has a focus on hardware support, gaming support, software support doing so as up-to-date as physically possible. If you need something to be supported, it’s more likely to be supported here than anywhere else. While the old joke Arch likes to randomly break itself isn’t untrue. It’s also about 15 years out of date in how true it is. Modern Arch rarely ever breaks and when it does so will every other option barring debian almost exclusively.
Realistically speaking, when it comes to actually installing and using any of these options day-to-day, they’re completely identical. Typically, if you have the ability to rub two brain cells together, read and have even a 5th grade level of critical thinking skills. If you’re planning on gaming as your main use of your computer not work, not art, just gaming, just use cachyOS.
There is one last thing to be aware of when choosing any option. If it’s based on Arch, it’s going to have the best documentation in the most user-friendly possible way. Arch has the single. Best, wiki there is. Which for a new user can be a godsend if you actually know how to read.
For gaming, you can’t go wrong with Bazzite. It’s meant for gaming to mostly just work out of the box, so you likely won’t need to tinker with anything.
It’s that tinkering that introduces stability risks. Adding third-party package repositories and trying to install newer software on top of older LTS distros is what tends to end up breaking them.
As someone who went through something similar, Linux Mint is a really great option. Based off Ubuntu so lots of software, cinnamon desktop environment for a windows familiar feel and layout, and stable releases.
Depends on how much you care about security. Some distros are still very focused on “I operate my desktop in my locked house and don’t expect police to knock” use cases. If you’re chill with typing in a disk encryption password on boot you can turn that on, but getting a seamless secure boot+tpm decrypt is pretty challenging.
And then if that is what you want, people will of course happily tell you what a stupid insecure idea that is because Intel or Microsoft or something.
Rule 1 you do not get better instructions, manuals and documentation then arch and it’s family. Full stop. It’s great
How new is your computer?
I found Pop!_OS worked out of the box fine on my new desktop.
Mint had problems, but worked fine on my older computers.
Back up any important software (like, on a separate drive or online). Get a couple flash drives. Try out mint, popos, bazzite. They’re all free so it doesn’t matter that much if you don’t like one.
I don’t recommend trying to dual boot on one drive because windows is a rude room mate.
It’s really easy and quick to install a distro so you can just test them out. Get three you think you’d like, try em out, you’ll probably like all of them, but you get to pick your fav.
There is no “best”, just “best for you”.
If gaming is your focus and you just want to go into Linux without research, I’d start with Ubuntu or Mint for a couple weeks. If you’re liking it, check out some others, but don’t be surprised if you go back to Ubuntu or Mint simply because you found them easy and working just fine. There’s no wrong choice, just lots of good ones. It is all up to how you like it with no anxiety of making a bad choice 😁
Tbh it actually doesn’t matter that much. There’s like a million different distros, but really there’s like 3 base distros (yes Linux nuts, this is an oversimplification) of Debian, Fedora, and Arch. Ubuntu has gotten a lot of hate lately for their choice of forced package manager, but it’s probably fine. It’ll matter way more to you what desktop environment you select. I’d recommend looking into Bazzite for gaming. It’s based on fedora and it has a bunch of gaming stuff built in, but also does great for anything else. It’s made to be the steamOS for anything not a steam deck. Go with KDE for a windows-like desktop experience.
lol, lots of folks responding to me doing the exact thing i was warning about. Honestly, just pick one that seems like it offers what you’re looking for.
If you want it to feel kind of familiar to windows, pick KDE as your desktop environment. you can have this in pretty much any distro, some make it easier to set as part of the install process.
If you want it to be harder to fuck up, but with less flexibility for customization or being on the bleeding edge of support, pick an immutable distro like bazzite
If you wan full flexibility and the added danger and complexity that brings, go for an arch-based distro. lot of great comments below too with actually good details and not just “people are dumb for using X, they should use Y because i’m smarter” - specifically dubyakay and Holytimes are offering some great details.
For gamers who are newcomes to Linux, Ubuntu (or Debian) should be a hard pass. Linux gaming is advancing too fast for the 2-3 year gap between LTS versions to not matter, and trying to work around the stable (outdated) packages is typically what ends up breaking installs.
I actually just switched to Ubuntu 25.10 from Bazzite. Can you recommend me other (non atomic) distros that play nice with both secure boot and nvidia drivers? I don’t think fedora does. I’m not interested in managing keys and certs for my drivers, and do occasionally play those anti-cheat games on a dedicated windows partition. I’d rather not toggle secure boot each time I reboot.
CACHYOS literally ANYTHING arch based.
There’s a REAL good reason steam uses arch. A REALLY REALLY GOOD ONE.
Cachy won’t necessarily be a magic bullet for Nvidia drivers, especially for older GPUs.
It’s a good option though, I just wanted to set expectations.
Did you set up secure boot during setup of Bazzite, out of curiosity? It has the ability to function with it and should prompt you if I remember correctly.
I don’t think I did originally, but I don’t recall secure boot being an issue with it when I did do the switch. I may have had to install a key or something, but I honestly don’t remember.
I’ve had driver issues with Fedora 42 under secure boot (RTX 3060ti), and Ubuntu seems to be the winner so far that’s playing nice with everything. I haven’t run into any gaming issues yet besides the latest Sonic Racing game not starting.
I love the philosophy of Atomic distros like Kinoite and even run Bazzite on my AMD living room “console”. I’d recommend them all day long to folks new in the space since they’re hard to break by design - especially Bazzite for a gaming machine if invasive anticheat isn’t needed - but it’s not for me.
How fedora still struggles to keep up sometimes which has always confused me why people suggest a bazzite. Not to mention how many community tools and communities that are starting to support Linux. Only support Arch and don’t support anything else.
Which means you now have new users trying to figure out how to f*** to compile or install software outside of their package managers without a flat pack or anything. Just to use the same community tools that they used on Windows.
While it’s just in the aur because it’s supported. Seriously cachyOS is such a easier solution for new comers.
People suggest Bazzite because it just works and is difficult to break or otherwise have things to wrong. I’m not sure what you mean by “struggles to keep up”, can you explain?
Also, you know about rpm-ostree and distrobox, right?
Dude, we don’t know what you just said. Lol
The three base distros mentioned are ones that most other distros use as their base
E.g.
Debian -> Ubuntu, Mint, Pop_OS!
Fedora -> Bazzite, Nobara
Arch -> EndeavourOS, Manjaro, CachyOS
While you can customize the base distros however you want, think of these derivate distros as various prebuilts.
Most distros come with a package manager that allows you to download (software) packages from a centralized repository. Similar to say Microsoft store. Ubuntu was dissed for Canonical (the creators of Ubuntu) forcing their own package manager into it, which had various issues, while there were already well established package managers available.
Desktop Environment (DE) is what you see on your screen. Various elements control how the task bar or app bar behaves or what it looks like, what windows are stylized like, and how they behave etc. For someone coming from Windows, Linux Mint’s Cinnamon DE or any distro with KDE will likely be most familiar experience, while those switching from MacOS, Gnome DE as the Fedora default is very similar.
Bazzite is a gaming focused distro based on Fedora.
Any questions remaining?
Which distro is the steam deck based on?
Arch. Use cachyOS which is arch it’s just what steamOS is but with a focus on also being a normal desktop on top.
Seriously do not understand why people push bazzite when it’s just a more complicated less supported option compared to cachyOS. For the exact same work load.
You keep saying this, but then do not elaborate very much. A lot of your comments in this thread have been something about Bazzite being bad/complicated/slow. Bazzite is not necessarily more complicated, it’s actually a lot less complicated in most ways and is difficult to break by design, as are other immutable distros. This is precisely why it is pushed to new Linux users. It’s a good starting point to have something that just works and not have to worry about much. I think a lot of long time Linux users are used to having full control over every piece of the OS, and have (like yourself) come to expect all distros to work that way. That’s fine and I totally understand that, but you should also consider that those who have not built the same habits from non-immutable might prefer a more hands off approach. I’ve used Linux for almost two decades, and I daily drive immutable because it’s so stable. I’m able to scratch the itch of wanting to mess with stuff by using distrobox, and if I’m really messing around, just using rpm-ostree. Sure, it’s different than normal distros, and it’s not for everyone, but it got my partner to use Linux on their own without any issues.
It’s okay to suggest other options for sure, but don’t get snarky when people are suggesting what works for them. The main benefit of Linux is that you have a choice in the first place, and you aren’t going to be stuck with whatever distro you’re using if they decide to do something catastrophic.
There is no such thing as a one-fits-all distro.
The problem with bazzite is it’s just an objectively worse option then cachyOS if your using your PC exclusively to game.
Immutable distros and the lack of aur can be such a massive pain in the fucking ass if you play games with a lot of community tools.
Almost exclusively every community tool I’ve ever seen for any game only ever supports Arch and never anything else. So while you can use other things, it sucks to have to compile it all yourself every f****** update.
I’ve never had an issue with any community tools on an immutable distro. Especially distros that have distrobox, but for the most part, the community tools I’ve needed use lutris or flatpak and do not require compilation. Do you have an example of some of the tools you’re talking about? I’m not necessarily doubting you, I just haven’t encountered it before. You can also still install things (at the cost of image space) with rpm-ostree.
Listen, there’s dozens of Linux users on Void, Slackware and Gentoo. Dozens! Especially the ones wanting to run the latest games. Can’t just leave all of them out.
lol, i know you’re joking, but this is the kinda thing i think actually really confuses and scares people who are unfamiliar with linux. There absolutely are really great distros out there that aren’t the big players, but for a newcomer they can probably stick to a big distro that seems nice and if they start getting the bug they can come back for a deeper dive. deciding to just do it is way more important than getting it “right” imo.
I made the switch almost a year ago when they started announcing all the spyware coming to win11. The distro you choose matters a LOT. After several that were buggy and frustrating I landed on Garuda dragonized. Setup was easy with their assistant finding the drivers I needed and I have yet to have any system breaking updates. Better track record than windows TBH. Performance is great, and steam integrates so well with proton that my experience is honestly just as good as windows native. I should probably go make a donation to the Garuda project, now that I’m thinking about it.
This is great but my MSI laptop wasn’t very compatible with Linux.
Like how? You may need some proprietary firmwares.
