"I'll move to Linux if it runs every game I want" just say that you never will move

If the game doesn't run on Linux, there's a good chance it's using a rootkit and should not be installed on windows either.

You ever seen this XKCD about “today’s 10,000?”

Your rant reminds me of that because I think you’ve got this idea in your head that everyone in life is at the same point in their journey as you are now. Linux has been on the edge of my mind for awhile but I’m a really busy working person and learning a new operating system seems daunting when you don’t have the experience.

Then I bought a Steamdeck last year and a switch flipped in my head; I was like hey this gaming on Linux and it looks like it is actually doable. Then a few weeks back a misfortune resulted in Windows getting nuked on my gaming PC and I had some free time so installed Linux for the first time and started trying to figure stuff out.

My point is that there are people who are truthfully interested but overwhelmed with life or it’s just not as high a priority to them so it hasn’t happened yet but that doesn’t mean that it won’t happen. This approach of “they would have done it by now if they were going to” just seems silly to me. People have lives and we are all at different places in our journey.

I hate when people say that they'll only move when it has 100% support

Why do you give a shit what os others use?

This is an terrible take. You must have switched the moment you became aware of Linux, had no qualms or before the switch, didn't mull it over even a little bit.

Please go back in time to when you weren't using Linux yet, and direct this rant at yourself and see how you like it.

"Fuck you Microsoft, I'm moving to Linux" says the individual that would never move if they haven't already

I posted this in a comment somewhere on Lemmy about a month before I moved. It took me a while because I have a chronic illness, a disability, and the whole process takes a lot of sitting at my desk which is quite hard on my body.

Not everyone's circumstances are the same. I get the sentiment you're trying to share but cut people some slack...

"I want to be able to use my expensive hardware for the reason I purchased it in the first place" seems like a pretty solid argument to me.

As a Linux user, this post is exhausting.

SteamOS is exciting. Many people had their first proper experience of using Linux with the steamdeck and many of those thoroughly enjoy the experience. I imagine its a great comfort to know that your OS is being supported by the same people who gave you such a great experience in the past.

I'm sure theres a tiny fraction of people who absolutely are just moving the goalpost over and over, but most people just want something that works for them with minimal friction. SteamOS will do that, and it'll be familiar.

Pointless discussion.

It's mainly Linux enthusiasts who evangelize other people to use it. So if others don't want to move to Linux, let them be.

Frankly, I probably wouldn't move either if Windows didn't permanently break my ethernet and WiFi drivers

I think this might be colouring your expectations a bit, and you might be projecting your experiences on to others.

I've said for years that it was gaming that was holding me back from running Linux full time. I don't do a huge amount of gaming, but it is important to me, so for many years it was a deal breaker.

Now, gaming is good enough, even though it's not perfect, and I moved to linux full time around 9 months ago.

People aren't "lying". They just have different priorities to you...

Why is it a lie if people don't want to switch, because their games are not there yet? Maybe someone plays a lot League of Legends, or Fortnite, or Valorant, or Destiny 2 or whatever [insert your game here]. They don't know what awaits them in Linux and think its a similar operating system without the bullshit of Microsoft. Lot of people would happily switch, if they have the courage to install it themselves (with burning iso or boot disks). If the games are the most important thing, then its hard to argue to switch, if their games are not working in Linux. Because doing so would mean leaving friends behind too.

Its not a lie. My brother is in a similar situation. He purchased a Steam Deck in a situation where he was thinking about getting a laptop. First it was nice, but then more and more he could not play the games he wanted to, besides a few software compatibility issues like Discord. Now the next PC he purchased (I build it for him) has Windows. Windows bugs him, but its a necessary evil. He will switch, if his games are working in Linux and if he can be confident that future games he want to play will work on Linux as well.

In my experience linux runs every game I want and has done it with less issues, crashes and tinkering than it was on windows 11. I constantly see posts from windows users about how some game doesn't work or crashes while it runs fine on both deck and pc. Only games not working are those that are disabled by devs to scapecoat massive amount of hackers onto linux users.

I think you put too much weight on everything, including your opinion. I am not trying to be insulting, just realistic.

I can equally say that I hate how so many people say, "just switch to Linux, its easy and does everything." Neither of those is the case because it doesn't factor in the learning curve nor does Linux do everything.

So if you want more Linux users, focus more on being helpful. Ask what their specific concerns are, or what apps they must have vs would be nice to have. Point people to distros that would fit their use case (it's mind boggling as a non Linux user to just look up what distro to get). Then point them towards how to find answers to their questions and troubleshooting steps.

Nuture the seeds you plant and they will grow. Yelling at them that they aren't growing isn't going to help.

It's a little strange that you think "I want feature parity with what's working for me (from my perspective)" is:

1. A lie.
2. Unreasonable to ask for.

The healthy responses would be "Well, I hope either support grows or your needs change, because of some philosophical reasons you might not care about... yet" or, if they're open to it "Oh, it can do this if you put a little work in, let me help you."

The unhealthy response is to accuse people of moving goalposts as if someone's tool of choice is a political debate. It can be, obviously, given FOSS philosophies, but honestly this kind of screed just drives people away.

I can't believe I bought a windows license in July, back when I built my new PC - was planning to use Windows for games exclusively and Linux for everything else.

Haven't booted into Windows since at least November, it's a great feeling. Every game I play (including new releases) runs fine on Linux.

What a time to be alive!

(note: the only game I can't play is Valorant, but that's the same on Windows, too, as it requires secure boot)

Switching from Windows to Linux was a refreshing experience. I’ve never encountered any problems running Windows games on Linux.

The only thing I miss is ShareX.

I understand what you’re saying and I guess it’s true that some people are just finding excuses.

But I think you also lack some empathy towards everyone ´s user’s case.

Personnaly, switching fully to Linux was pretty easy as 99% of my gaming is being done on Playstation.

On my playstation 5 I can know for sure that I can play every game I fancy.

Why am I gaming on consoles? Mostly because it involves no tinkering.

So, despite having gotten rid of Windows a while ago, I would easily give up if I had to tinker to get a game running.

I know that gaming on Linux as never been so easy, but gaming on PC (windows or linux) looks already too difficult for some people with all the requirements.

I might jump to a Linux gaming rig in the future, but I can also understand why some people are choosing an easy path.

It's pretty hard switch. I have a high interest in Linux, and I have 100% game compatibility. But I'm always running into issues that are so bad I have to abandon ship. I broken Ubuntu, Nobara, Debian, OpenSuse, and EndeavorOS. Truly Linux isn't ready for newbies.

Im ngl, I feel like its posts like these that make people dislike Linux users. Expecting every game that you own to run perfectly isn't some insane requirement, its totally reasonable lol. I get that its kinda frustrating people won't ever switch, but lets be real, the only way Linux is actually going to gain new users is by having it come pre-installed on devices. Look at the increased Linux use because it's the default OS on the steamdeck. It just needs to be the default on more devices, and be solid enough that people don't even notice they're not on Windows. The amount of people who will actually go out of there way to switch their OS is so negligible it may as well not even count. So who cares about these people who will never switch, because they probably won't matter much in the end anyway.

--And I say this as someone who has been on Linux full time for a little over a year now.

This has been a common mode of discourse since the 90's.

Who cares.

Folks that're going to use Linux already are. Folks that are curious about it are trying it, and occasionally they post asking for help. Everybody else is using what they use and has no interest in changing.

If it doesnt work on Linux I aint buying. Fucking manchilds without self respect.

Hey it’s just like EVs or any other new technologies. The enthusiasts or believers will dive in first and deal with all the complicated setups. If it is actually better, these enthusiasts will form a company or already be a company who will create a product that will dominate the industry because they have a better product. Valve is definitely setup to be that company with the funds and competitive reasons to compete with Microsoft (windows/xbox store vs steam store). Steam store is their money maker but they face risks from Microsoft. Luckily Microsoft has to be careful due to antitrust issues because of their size, ie, Apple Store.

Be a cheerleader, encourage these people to take the dive. If you’re hating on people who want their stuff to just work you’ll never grow to get the casual pc / gamer user. Change is hard, most people are not looking to tinker.

I feel the someway about people who say "I'm moving to Linux after W10 support ends".

I think it takes one of two things for people to move.

1. Linux has to have several features that are unavailable on Windows that makes it worth swapping.
2. Windows has to do something so egregious that they no longer consider it viable.

In my case, I swapped back 3 years ago when ads appeared in explorer for a preview version. In combination with the work the community had done for Valve to consider the steam deck worth selling with Linux, I was confident enough that I could have a good enough experience with Linux.

I can understand if the game they play is online and it has an anti-cheat that makes it uncompatible with Linux. (Mainly game devs not allowing Linux to work). Otherwise, my experince with gaming on Linux has been pretty good

I refuse to let gaming preferences dictate my choice of operating system. I choose my OS first—Linux—because I demand full ownership of my computing environment. If an entity can extract data without your knowledge or control updates, shutdowns, or reboots against your will, they own your machine—not you. With Linux, I own my system entirely. I decide when updates happen, I control what data—if any—leaves my computer, and nothing happens without my explicit consent. My computer works for me, not someone else.

"it has to run every single piece of windows software or else its useless"

I simmarily roll my eyes when people volunteer "I'll go vegan as soon as lab grown meat is cheap, healthy and indistinguishable." Every meat eater says this to me at some point.

Like okay, that's nice? Lots of us live and thrive just fine without it, but even when all your hurdles are passed you'll find some other reason.

Just own it and say you don't care. Stop lying.

Why does it matter? All that matters is that plenty of people do use Linux - literally millions of people. There is a healthy vibrant ecosystem of distros, and devs working on Linux.

I don't care if people aren't interested in Linux. I'm much more interested in ensuring those people who choose Linux are happy because that is good for all.of us.

And the best thing anyone can do is donate to the projects they care about. That helps projects fund development and support. It's much more useful than trying to convince people to try Linux when they have no real interest in it.

Try to play Diablo 2 or Commandos on a new windows box ... Possible but a huge hassle IMO.

I mean moving from linux now is a bit like moving from reddit back when they screwed with the api. I don't care really if other people do but its long past due that I move along. Should have done it years ago.

I'm having ca 20 servers at home and the majority of those are linux. I love it. My main rig is still windows and will probably stay that way unless win12 won't finally cure what pisses me off so damn much with 11. They won't, obviously. But migration would be very hard. Most of my tools won't run, most of my self made tools won't run, most of my games won't run, most 4 decades of internalization of shortcuts won't cut it short anymore. And I won't even start with the domain migration horrors as this one's still MS. I would end up dual booting for eternity until I stop booting up one of the two.

So..my point is. I use the right tool for the right job.

Every so often, when an online game gets support on Linux I give it a go. I almost immediately remember why I stopped playing them, most of them are cesspools of toxic pkayers, predatory micro (and mavro) transactions and the works. 100% of games worth playing run on linux already.

Well windows has 100% support. So it's reasonable that an alternative that people want to use would be as accessable.

Sorry

That list keeps getting smaller

I'll move once it has Steam VR support. I don't care if it's just one VR game at the start. I just want to be able to see my monitors and play one game. And I know other options exist. But I want Steam.

I'm the other way around. I switched to Debian on my main around a year ago now and I'm like "oh, this game works, and this game works too, oh and that works as well, wow!". Honestly, any game I threw at Debian, it just... worked. Granted, I don't play very recent games and most of them either single player or does not have any serious anti cheat measures. Even VR works with ALVR and Steam VR, wirelessly on my (or rather my homie's, just borrowed) Quest 2.

And not just games, a lot of Windows software just works with Wine.

So, before the change, I thought I need or use Windows exclusive software, and I did, but all of them are now have decent alternatives. Maybe except for Notepad++. (I use Kate and KWrite, but... I really don't like those softwares, but they get the job done the same way np++ did)

So, I'm really surprised how well this past 1 year went without any issue.

But that's kinda valid that if something doesn't run, then people won't change. You are talking about people who doesn't care libre/FOSS software and all that jazz, they won't change if it's just simply worse.

I kept saying once upon a time"I'll make the switch to Linux but X doesn't work, so not yet. "

I dual booted for a while. That "a while" ended when Windows ate GRUB.

I had enough. I decided enough was enough. I kept windows on one SSD, just in case I wanted to go back. That didn't last long, I wiped that drive, and formatted it to BTRFS. Now none of my drives are NTFS.

For the one case I "need" Windows, I spun up a VM (and configured USB passthrough) for Windows. That is for a guitar pedal and amp that I need Windows for updates. But I don't remember the last time I booted up that VM.

For music recording and production I installed Reaper for Linux natively, but that was an easy transition considering Reaper was what i used in Windows. Sure VSTs were a big concern for me, so I investigated VST bridge type software. And I can't recall the ones I investigated. But this is where I am at on my journey.

I don't care how "easy" it is to just stay the same and keep using Windows, it isn't for me. I don't agree with their data collection policies. I don't agree with the "black box" mentality. I want to know what is happening on my system. I want to understand what I am using. And at a certain point with Windows, I just don't have the ability, tools, or inside scoop to fully learn that.

With Linux, the journey may have taken time, effort, and willingness to troubleshoot and learn but it ultimately is a better experience.

There have been very few games I couldn't get working on my system, but those games aren't enough to sell out my ideals. I will never go back.

I would rather be a farmer.

If your computer is mainly a toy I really DGAF what you put up with to use it.

Windows doesn't run every game i want. I couldn't get the first Command and Conquer to be playable at all. I have had the same experience many times with older strategy and simulation games: they just don't work very well on modern Windows.

By contrast, so far Linux does play every game i want. My entire library going back decades works just fine with Wine or Proton. It's easy once you get used to using a translation layer.

I don't play Apex, League, or Fortnite, so that's probably why i dont feel like i'm missing anything on Linux.

I switched to linux because Windows10 is going EoL, and my hardware is ineligible for Windows11. It's been fine, once I got it set up. There wasn't any single thing that pushed me over the edge. I just had a free weekend and I knew I had to do it eventually.

I really wanted the install to be smooth so I could tell everyone how great it was. It was not. Somehow it borked itself, and I couldn't boot from the usb stick a 2nd time until after I manually edited a file on it. Then installer hung on the last step, and I couldn't find any answers other than "Use the previous LTS". At least that worked.

This made me never want to try Linux.

Its fear of the unknown. These people know logically the flaws in windows but are afraid to experiment because they think Linux is hard or too much effort. It's similar to (although not in the same severity of) the justification that abuse victims use to justify why they stay with an abuser. Feel bad for these folks and try to educate.

1. don't play any games on windows
2. move
3. only play like 2 games, still haven't downloaded Steam

The games I want: emacs, golang, docker, nginx, prometheus, grafana...

I'm finally moving myself and my parents over to Linux this weekend. I'm putting them on Mint and I think I'll probably be using Debian 12.

For the longest time it was games that prevented me from moving, but with what MS has been doing as of late, and especially with them trying to force copilot/recall onto systems/my Win 11 install refusing to get security updates anymore, I went and checked my entire game library on steam against the proton db and found the following.

95 of my games run natively on Linux. 31 of my games are rated platinum. 73 of my games are rated gold. 12 are rated silver. 3 are rated as bronze. 3 are unplayable.

This shocked me a little when I counted it out as this is a huge improvement compared to a few years ago.

The actual difficulties I will be facing are getting all of my music/sound production stuff functioning well enough to use.

But yes, anyone who claims they won't move to Linux due to gaming in the contemporary is either sorely out of the loop or hard stuck silver in a game like Valorant which they cannot bring themselves to drop and artificially refuses to run on anything where it can't have kernel level anti-cheat.

I've used linux on my laptops and non-gaming devices for a long time, but it took me a long time to switch my gaming desktop over. I've felt i could use linux full time most of the last 8 years (and especially for games since 2020 as i rarely play anything with anti-cheat anyway), but i only went linux on all devices as of 2 years ago when i built a new gaming PC so it required starting from scratch anyway, and aside from a few components i intended to retain for the new one, i could easily drop back to play a game if i ran into problems.

They won't do it, whether they just fear change or think it'll break stuff or they can't bother

Not everyone has the time nor feels the need to just rip and replace on a dime. Not everyone has the luxury of multiple devices to gain confidence. Some people only have a handful of hours a week to play games, so switching OS isnt going to be an immediate priority sven if its their desire.

And I'm not going to lie, I don't hate them or debate with them for it, I just hate the bold lies they tell just to get with the crowd

The world already has enough things to tear us all down, why flip a table and possibly be unable to game for a time just because doing it right away, according to you, is the only way to be honest or whatever. A vocal desire to dump windows doesnt equate to lying. Let people be excited about linux even if they dont make the switch themselves. Maybe their excitement inspires someone else to take the plunge who wouldn't have done so otherwise.

Also, if you felt the need to write this rant, seems like you do kinda hate them.

At least don't lie that you'll move to Linux at a goal post that you'll just move whenever you get close, maybe say that you'll move to Linux when you finally get a new pc with a new disk or something?

even tho i knew i was "done" with the windows since like 2018, I just simply waited until it was convenient to switch. Should i have qualified every conversation where i discussed linux gaming with this? Idk, maybe just let people be excited about something, even if it takes them a long time to get to it.

Maybe they will, due in fucking 2028 or something when they invent a really easy way to use built in Linux tools to move your files from NTFS to Linux and then when you launch steam you have a perfect library of Linux compatible games that are as good or better than windows

Uh... This has existed a long time. Mounting ntfs on linux is rather easy. Even a windows boot disk. Just point steam at the library folder. In fact, my steam library is installed on ntfs in case i ended up dual booting or using gpu passthrough to a windows vm for a few items. If you're gonna sit here and virtue signal about who is a real linux gamer or not maybe you'd at least know something as basic as mounting ntfs in linux...

Since ProtonDB (and obviously Proton itself, Wine with its own WineApp DB, SteamOS) there is an easy way to check if your favorite games do work. That being said I understand that people are afraid. They might think "OK... well Elden Ring works but what about the DLC, or upcoming Elden Ring Nightreign?" and believe, probably rightfully so to be honest, that because Windows is still the most popular OS for gaming on PC and that game publishers are economically rational actors, more testing and fixes will be done against that target platform.

So... 100% is a ridiculous coverage because it's impractical but IMHO they are not that silly to "want" it. It's just a simpler way to say they are scared and do not want to bother. They would rather follow the crowd than take a risk themselves and be trail blazers.

All that being said now that ProtonDB exists and Valve is actively radically improving support via Proton, that gamers see in the wild SteamDecks popping up literally around them, in flights, airports, waiting rooms, etc they just can not ignore the fact that support is improving enough to have fun. Mentality will change but it takes time and Microsoft is fighting back because despite having Azure as their dollar printing asset, they are just hooked on bundling.

If you want something you'll find a solution, if you don't you'll find an excuse

People won't like it to hear but let's face something: if your reasoning to keep using a proprietary system that violates your privacy and belong to a evil company is because you have to play videogames your intelligence and self control is that of a child.

I need Hdr and vrr to work and a replacement for madvr that can make movies look as good as it can.

That's what's holding me, and multiple people I know, from moving to Linux.

The hdr and vrr seems to be about there but as far as I understand there's still not an equivalent to madvr.

I really don't get this community's insistence on getting people to use Linux no matter how much destruction they bring. Steam games on Linux are not what anyone has in mind when they say Linux doesn't have games. Because Linux isn't binary compatibility, it's libre software.

In my circles, if someone says "Linux such and such", we assume they might be referring to their FreeBSD computer as well. Here it seems Linux is more likely to refer to Android. Emulating a sketchy Windows game doesn't make Linux the better platform for games. The Windows games are always going to be best on Windows, and now your Linux computer has malware on it.

modern games are trash and slop

better to install linux and play retro games made by creative game devs