im currently using windows 11 on msi gf63 laptop. if i used linux i would use ubuntu,bec it seems like the easiest thing.
i game,i use brave browser,i pirate games and software. i also like that my hoarded pirated binaries of games and software will work even years later on windows without too much effort.
i use an hp printer,and need to be able to use it on linux.
i expect to be able to use the laptop and not think about the os too much,meaning i wont distro hop or try to customize it too much. im fine with the terminal,my goal of using linux is being far from malware.
As a first step, see if you can get by by just using FOSS software on Windows. If you can, then you will lose nothing, swapping your “app launcher” is inconsequential if the programs you use are the same.
Wine/Proton are very good when it comes to game support, so you should be alright there. You can always check protondb and winehq to confirm the support status of the game you want.
I recommend a boring and stable distro like LinuxMint. It is based on Ubuntu but even better imho.
This is most important, if OP isn’t using any ‘enterprise’ apps, they should be able to function on FOSS, wine or proton apps.
Direct access to microslop.
You lose:
- Your corporate shackles
You gain:
- Limitless bragging rights
other than that. what do i lose or gain?
You gain the loss of the ability to play League of Legends and Fortnite
You loose battery life if on a laptop. Battery life is not as good as on windows. And Apple laptops have insane battery life. I wish ARM laptops where a thing for Linux.
I have to input my experience here.
On what basis are you saying your batter life is less on linux? Do you use power profiles? Which distros you tried? And what kind of laptop is it?(processor is H/U/HS? Have dGPU?)
For me battery life is far better on linux than on windows. On linux(Fedora, with KDE), with balanced or power saving mode, doing the most basic stuff(say opened a pdf document and a browser and looking at it, without much interaction) my laptop, with dGPU and H processor takes like 7watts, giving more than 7hrs batter life for my 51Wh battery.
Windows on the other hand, without any tasks, only settings app open, showed less than 2 hours battery remaining at 80% charge. I didn’t test how long it takes to drain that much battery explivitly, but I belive this number is based on power usage in watts. Which tells me it is using more than 20W power. The reviews for my laptop before buying also said they get around 4 hours in medium usage.
I suspect that previously, the time before power profiles daemon, everything is by default in performance mode because it was aiming PCs, but now it goes so low with power saving modes. The 20W in windows is probably bloatware running in background.
Now, recently I came to know you can “remove” pci devices in linux so that power gets disconnected from the dGPU. Now whenever i use without it plugged in, i use it by removing gpu and it runs in 3.6-4.2W at idle(i.e, open pdf without touching anything, or using vim and compiler in a terminal) which gives me 12 hours of battery life atleast! Theese numbers are unimaginable in windows for my gaming laptop.
This is not just one exception, since my only friend who use linux also reported the same behavior. Windows uses wayyy more battery than linux. And he was even comparing power saving mode in windows vs perdormance mode in linux and linus still wins by 3-4 watts.
I wish more people check theese, since I belived “linux has bad battery life” argument beforehand and only when I compare with windows i found i am gaining a lot of battery life on linux
The spec.s may not be enough for you but I’d be remiss to not point out that MNT Reform does exist, regarding ARM laptops. So, at the very least, there is something (which may be comforting).
I agree with this in general. But, I’d like to add that well-supported hardware (like a ThinkPad) may do equally well on Linux and perhaps even better.
Compared to windows on the same machine maybe. It won’t be anywhere near a Windows arm or especially Apple arm machine. They’re nuts. Linux still worth the battery hit anyway for many people.
Your corporate shackles
i came here to say this, but you did it better. lol
Depends really on the games and software you require.
For games, check:
- https://www.protondb.com/ - people post their experiences with games if they work or not.
- https://areweanticheatyet.com/ - lists of anticheat enabled games which work or not.
- https://appdb.winehq.org/ - wine’s appdb has games and general applications listed, with some info on how they work or not. Some info is absolutely ancient at this point.
In general, indies and singleplayer games generally work fine. Battlefield/Fortnite/etc hugely popular multiplayer stuff with kernel-level anticheats generally doesn’t.
I’ve only ever set up few printers to work on linux, and they’ve been bigger office printers. And they’ve all worked with minimal effort. Absolutely no idea about home printers.
edit: as for windows software support, generally win-apps run on wine. Some really well, some with issues, and then some just dont. Afaik eg. ancient versions of Photoshop run, more recent ones don’t.
I run a windows version of a music software (renoise) because my effects/instruments have only windows versions. It works, but performance isn’t quite as good as it was on actual windows.
I’ve only ever set up few printers to work on linux, and they’ve been bigger office printers. And they’ve all worked with minimal effort. Absolutely no idea about home printers.
Most (all?) printers and scanners released in past decade and some supports driverless printing and scanning. As long as you have printing related systems installed on your computer, most printers should be just plug and play. Especially those that are connected over network.
Absolutely no idea about home printers.
I have 2, a samsung and a canon :3 both work OOTB. Can’t speak on HP printers, but chances are OP can find that with a web search of the model
CUPS just works
All the homies love CUPS
I’ve been able to use my brother laser printer with Linux, not quite out of the box, by it’s an older model, I think newer ones are more plug and play
Samsung is now HP I reckon. Mine laser one works just fine, too.
how do you run it? with wine? does it run good ?
The daw/music software? Just wine. used wine to install the app & vst plugins, then just using the “start menu” shortcut for the app to run it. I did have to use winetricks to install dxvk on the prefix (without it, some plugin ui’s did not work properly), but after that it works fine.
as for “does it run good” - well enough for me. Some of the guitar/bass amps and instruments I use seem to use noticeably more cpu than on windows
i never play any online games only pirated ones. i do have fitgirl call of duty tho,would that work?
would you recommend i get linux?
I don’t know, I don’t play cod. See the links from previous replies for that.
as for should you get linux, only you can answer that once you’ve done the research
i suppose i can try running it there. i think it should work bec it would be striped of drm
Probably. I run Fitgirl GTA V with wine
Wine works well for me on Manjaro. Once it’s installed and run for the first time, it’s been seamless. I think every now and then you might find a game that requires an additional patch to run.
You’re running games through wine and not Proton?
your chains, your freedom
If switching from Windows or Mac and you want to keep similar UI for easy transition, check out ZorinOS. A friend of mine recently installed Zorin OS Core w/ nvidia drivers and is enjoying it so far.
You would lose all the worthless proprietary software that you’re hoarding for no reason.
LMDE
Or OpenSUSE kalpa
Ciao, first of all, there are games that use kernel-level anti-cheat software that will not work. The good news is that many companies, seeing the growth of the Linux market, are taking remedial action. For example, EA recently announced that it will adapt its anti-cheat software for Linux. For pirated games, you can install fit-girl with bottles and use bottles to run the games as well. Technically, they should work even after years, because bottles creates a container with all the dependencies it needs to run and is isolated from the rest of the OS. It probably won’t be easy to learn how to use Linux tools right away, but it’s mostly a matter of habit, so first of all, be patient if some things don’t work right away. If you have problems, you can always ask the community. For simpler problems, AI can also be useful.
As someone with MSI gf72 who switched last year with similar use cases and zero prior experience with Linux:
I installed EndeavourOS after reading some recommendations here since its supposed to work good for games and daily use. It’s Arch so I approached it as a challenge but It turned out to be quite effortless from the start. I dual booted it for a few months without issues until Windows update broke my bootloader. After that I did a clean Linux install and never looked back. It’s been rock solid ever since.
I have yet to find a game which doesn’t run either in Bottles or Lutris. Some installers have their quirks but it’s manageable. I only play single player games though.
HP driver for Linux runs my printer without any fiddling from my side.
I don’t get into Command Line much but it’s awesome - installing packages and updating the whole system with a simple command feels like magic. It’s actually much less hassle than Windows.
You try it and see if it fits you. This is not a religion. You use what works for you.
This is not a religion.
It can be if you want.
This is not a religion.
Tell that to arch evangelists
i did try it its nice. i just didnt use it long enough to know if i would lose anything. so can you tell me?
The Linux onboard ramp is as shallow as it has ever been. Just pick up a usb stick, shove a Linux distro on it and boot it on your PC or on an older machine you don’t use anymore. Use it to do what you do usually. Things will be different. Resist the urge to shove random software from the net in it to solve problems. This is not windows. Don’t reinstall even if you fuck up your system (and you will, multiple times). Ask questions and fix it yourself. Learn. Level up. Use the huge software repositories that are built in the system. Use flatpaks for the other stuff. Persist. Things will eventually click. One day you will feel at home. Then you have won.
You are the only one who can answer that. Things will change, but if you qualify that as a loss that’s up to you.
In my experience with Linux, where there is a will there is a way. If you want something to run badly enough it will simply work.
Personally I still play Dark Souls and Dark Souls 3 a lot, including mods, randomizer etc. I’ve even used cheat engine on those, for example to spawn items at the start of the game to do challenge runs. That’s old software and primarily designed for Windows, it runs just fine on Linux tho.
Same with religions actually.
Nobody’s ever going to start a war in the middle east to murder a bunch of people because they think that’ll make Tux return.
Pretty sure the people starting wars don’t actually believe in tux, they just talk about tux so much to convince their followers of whatever BS is needed at the moment
Yeah that’s why fascism is winning.
But you use what works for you.
im currently using windows 11 on msi gf63 laptop. if i used linux i would use ubuntu,bec it seems like the easiest thing.
Ubuntu is popular but I wouldn’t necessarily say easiest. Something like Linux Mint would probably be simpler.
i game,i use brave browser,i pirate games and software. i also like that my hoarded pirated binaries of games and software will work even years later on windows without too much effort.
My child, you’ve come home.
i use an hp printer,and need to be able to use it on linux.
Stop using HP printers. That being said if it was made in the last 5 years it’ll probably work on Linux out of the box.
i expect to be able to use the laptop and not think about the os too much,meaning i wont distro hop or try to customize it too much. im fine with the terminal,my goal of using linux is being far from malware.
I’m a big fan of immutable distros like Bazzite and Bluefin. They’re so stable they’re almost boring. As far as malware goes I would say standard rules apply: scan random binaries before execution, run normal operations as non-root/unprivileged users, patch regularly.
The best way to go into it is to think of it as learning a new skill. Some things are done differently, some things may require a bit more setup the first time you do them, but once you have your system where you like it, it should be possible to use without thinking about it too much.
Printers generally work fine in Linux. This is one area where Linux does surprisingly well.
For all the games, I’m not sure. They may just work with Wine or Proton, but it is far from guaranteed. I have had good results running even quite old games from the late '90s through platforms like GoG, though.
If you are invested in Windows software… don’t run Linux. Being able to run Windows software is like a “patch” to get you by until you find a Linux equivalent. Pretending you can have your cake and eat it too will just leave you disappointed.
Linux has amazing software… but in most cases it feels very different from Windows. If you learn why it is different then you may start to appreciate Linux for what it gives you rather than what it takes from you.
im not invested no. all of software i use is generic and can be replaced by linux apps easily. what i really want to work is my browser (brave) and my pirated games.
so what will i gain or lose with linux?
I don’t know why you want to use Brave. It’s overrated and its devs are bigots.
its fast and has adblocker
With use case IMO, you’ll lose absolutely nothing. Literally any game ever now runs on Proton and Wine.
okay great. i will see then if i will use linux
That use-case IMO, you’ll loose absolutely nothing. Literally any game ever runs on Proton by now, unless the developer deliberately disables that, see Bungie and “anti-cheat” rootkits.
The transition won’t be painless. You’re going to have to learn new things, especially if you’re familiar with the windows file system and how to work within that.
Linux doesn’t use “drive letters” for mount points, so you’ll have to learn that.
Many games through steam or other game managers are just as easy if not easier than in Windows. Some are more challenging.
If you’re tired enough of Windows that you’re willing to push through some discomfort and new learning, then it’s time.
Once you get to know the distro you choose (Ubuntu is fine), you’ll just work, and it won’t get in your way.
