Linux is now the best gaming system. ｜ fernvenue's Blog
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When it comes to gaming on Linux, many many many people’s understanding stil remains in the Jurassic era. For the past few years, I’ve been using Linux as my main operating system for both work and gaming. From my personal experience, the gaming experience on Linux is far superior to that of macOS and Windows. I know I know…whenever I mention this, there are always some old-school individuals who come out to say that Linux’s driver configuration is complex, its game support is not rich enough, and its compatibility issues are significant, among other problems. In this article, I will directly address these issues and let everyone understand how much the gaming experience on Linux has developed by 2025.
  • IEatDaGoat@lemm.eeEnglish
    13914·
    2 days ago

    Let’s not become delusional now. Linux as an overall operating system feels much better to use but only because we care to become tech savvy and to troubleshoot. There are so many headaches that come with Linux which makes it unattractive to most people.

    We are probably not most people.

    • A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.worldEnglish
      91·
      1 day ago

      I’m not a techy, or a sys admin, or anything.

      I never wanted ot think about my OS. I just want to click things and go.

      Linux did have headaches when I switched. Some from my lack of knowledge, some from shit in linux just being fuckywucky. but that was many years ago.

      I wouldnt say I’m any smarter today, than i was back then… but I will say Linux is so much better today than it was back then. Its reached the “it just works” stage, even for gaming, in everything I’ve tried with it. I am back to where I was on windows all those years ago, where I dont even think about my OS. I just click things and go.

      I’m not so foolish to say its all sunshine and lollipops, especially with gaming, I’m sure there will always be a problem that crops up that needs a tweak/patch/config change to fix it… but honestly? Windows had that shit too. which is why I’d say, from a usability aspect, Linux is pretty much at parity with windows at this point.

      And thats for gaming and shit.

      if you are just a regular PC user where entertainment/email/bills/etc are all done in the webbrowser? Fuck…Linux has been good and ready for that for over a decade. My grandparents PC has run linux for over 15 years now, without nary an issue.

    • Alaknár@lemm.eeEnglish
      324·
      2 days ago

      Thank you for being the sane one.

      I’ve recently stumbled upon a lot of people like whoever wrote the article, rampaging all over the place, going “Linux is more user-friendly than Windows”, which is just an insane thing to say.

      Linux is great, I love my Garuda to bits. But games are still optimised for Windows, we still need to use compatibility layers to get them running, and even though it’s gotten MUCH easier these days, there’s still a lot of titles that require tweaking/hacking. And some just refuse to run, period.

      And then you have all the hardware compatibility issues that come with manufacturers just not supporting stuff. I can’t turn my GPU’s RGB off without Windows. I had to distro-hop to get the GPU drivers working correctly (it might be a “skill issue”, but that just proves the point, I think). Even titles that are marked as Gold on ProtonDB sometimes crash or refuse to run randomly.

      • endeavor@sopuli.xyzEnglish
        3·
        1 day ago

        Ive had less issues getting gamws to run on linux than windows. Mh world runs without bsod and has better performance on linux, older games are easier to run since proton handles that while on windows theres tons of tweaking involved if it runs at all on 11 etc.

        Not to mention all the drivers for tablet not needing to be manually started on linux every time I want to use it, my discord no longer has missing audio or audio input issues that I had on windows and almost everyone else still does etc. Flight sims and vr are the only two things I miss.

      • A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.worldEnglish
        52·
        1 day ago

        there’s still a lot of titles that require tweaking/hacking. And some just refuse to run, period.

        run into that shit on windows, too. and theres not compatability layers to blame, there.

        Even titles that are marked as Gold on ProtonDB sometimes crash or refuse to run randomly.

        and shit doesnt crash on windows? All protons in the world arent going to fix a games inherent bugs that make it crash.

        • Alaknár@lemm.eeEnglish
          62·
          1 day ago

          run into that shit on windows, too. and theres not compatability layers to blame, there.

          I honestly cannot remember the last time I had trouble running anything on Windows. Probably around early Windows 7? It’s been years.

          and shit doesnt crash on windows? All protons in the world arent going to fix a games inherent bugs that make it crash.

          Mate, come on… If a game crashes on Windows, you know it’s the game’s or the driver’s fault.

          If a game crashes on Linux, it might be the game’s fault, or the driver’s fault, or the virtualiser’s fault, or the virtualised driver’s fault, or maybe a config file somewhere has something commented for no reason, or maybe you just rebooted and forgot to re-mount the secondary drive, or maybe a billion other reasons.

          Gaming on Linux is MUCH better than it used to be, but pretending that it’s anywhere near Windows’ level of “fire and forget” is just being silly.

          • endeavor@sopuli.xyzEnglish
            34·
            1 day ago

            I honestly cannot remember the last time I had trouble running anything on Windows. Probably around early Windows 7? It’s been years.

            I have the feeling you don’t play much non-popular games.

      • nico198X@feddit.nlEnglish
        144·
        2 days ago

        do you have nvidia?

        i’m going to push back on this a bit. gaming on Linux today is nothing less than a miracle story thanks to Vulkan, Valve and Wine. i can play AAA titles on launch and it just works, and often better than on windows.

        gaming on Linux isn’t like it was 10 years ago. i’d say for most users, it’d be perfectly fine on an easy to use distro.

        some things will not work, because of companies that still oppose Linux, like Epic and Nvidia, making using those products difficult. but that isn’t Linux’s fault, it’s theirs.

        • Alaknár@lemm.eeEnglish
          92·
          2 days ago

          do you have nvidia?

          AMD. The distro I had did something weird where I was getting around 10-15 FPS on the Desktop until I added the community repos and installed drivers from there. Everything was great until I realised that Steam stopped working at all and Heroic Launcher wouldn’t launch any games. After hopping over to Garuda, everything is fine-ish. Every now and again I launch something like Hogwarts Legacy and just need to reboot because nothing loads after the disclaimers. Still haven’t figured out how to launch Mafia DE. Etc., etc.

          i’m going to push back on this a bit (…) gaming on Linux isn’t like it was 10 years ago

          I’m not arguing that, I myself said that it’s great today with things like Proton.

          But saying that it’s “better than on Windows” is just flat out insanity.

          but that isn’t Linux’s fault, it’s theirs.

          Average Joe doesn’t care who’s fault it is, just that he can’t play his favourite game without issues or terminal hacking.

          • nico198X@feddit.nlEnglish
            41·
            2 days ago

            I’m on EndeavourOS and it’s nothing but smooth sailing for gaming.

            Things often do run better than on windows, plus with the added benefits of not being on windows.

            If one were too say it’s “easier” or “more seamless” than Windows, then I’d take a pause at that statement.

            Even so, I do think gamers should start migrating to Linux, even if it’s just SteamOS.