Yeah, that’s fair. Linux has been my daily driver for like… 8 years now? And I dabbled with it for some time before that. I’ve gotten to a point where I’m MUCH more comfortable doing things the Linux way than I am doing things the Windows way. I also have to admit I don’t do much modding for my games, and the little bit that I do is often either a.) Supported/managed by the game itself, or b.) Because I still install the majority of my mods by hand rather than through a mod manager.

As someone who dailied Linux for years and years and whose primary use of my PC is to game… I have to disagree with you. The only title in my entire Steam library that doesn’t work is Halo: Infinite, and that only because I’m using an Intel ARC card which has a known issue running Infinite on Linux due to an incompatibility between a specific set of DirectX 12 calls and Vulkan. If I had chosen to upgrade to a new AMD card instead, I’d still be running Linux. But I wanted to support Intel, so here we are. When I’m done playing around on Infinite, I’ll switch back and never think about Windows again.

Hell, some of my library runs BETTER on Linux than on Windows with the ARC card. The only game that runs better on Windows is Halo: Infinite, and that’s only because it literally doesn’t run at all on Linux. 😂

My typical recommendation for anyone new to Linux looking to get their feet wet would be Linux Mint. As long as you keep the system updated, it should be a decent choice for gaming.

The following is not to discourage you, but to help keep expectations in check. Gaming on Linux is not perfect. It’s not comparable to gaming on Windows. A LOT of games (with the assistance of Steam’s Proton) “just work,” but things are not to a point where that’s ever a guarantee. I would recommend looking up your staple games on to review Linux compatibility, if the games run or need additional run options.

I say all this as someone who runs exclusively Linux, and is a gamer and occasionally streams. It’s perfectly doable, but expect to have to get your hands dirty at some point in the venture. And don’t be afraid to ask questions!

Glad I’m not the only one with this question. Feels like it’s difficult to find up-to-date information on the performance of these Arc cards on Linux; I’d like to support Intel’s move into this space but it’s hard without knowing how drastically it’s going to affect my gaming performance. 😅

I’m glad to hear the situation seems to be rapidly improving. I may pick up an A770 yet.

The argument is that it’s faith that gets you into heaven, but the proof of true faith is found in works. If you claim to be faithful but do not do good works, your faith is dead.

This is wonderful news.

Wait, they defederated from us? I thought I was noticing less of their… uh… content around.

… what are your biases against me? 😅

It’s interesting to see this in open discussion, as it’s something I hadn’t realized I did, but I do.

. You can’t go wrong whichever “edition” you download, but I’d recommend Cinnamon. It’s delightfully easy to setup, beginner friendly, has GUI utilities for most of the settings you’ll need to tweak, and leaves room to grow as you learn more about Linux. For YouTube and Google Docs, it’ll be more than performant enough.

You need another ~ at the beginning and end to get strikeout.

It’s not… unpopular? Or it’s not true?

I find the assumption goes the opposite way. Linux, and FOSS as a whole, often assumes the user is knowledgeable and knows what they’re doing. Proprietary software often assumes the user knows nothing and will never know anything if they don’t hold your hand through the entire process and obfuscate and abstract all the decisions and work to a place you won’t see it, and then puts obstacles in your way to getting to it.

FOSS says, “you wanna pop the hood? Here you go, and here are all the tools you’ll need to do whatever you want,” and walks off.

Proprietary software says, “are you sure you don’t want to drop it off at the shop first? At least call a mechanic. Tools? No, no, you don’t need tools… don’t go find some, there’s no need, we can just call a tow truck. No, no, the nails are supposed to be there. Yeah, I nailed the hood shut. And super glued it. Well, I didn’t think you’d want in there… besides, you’re not a mechanic, you’ve got no idea how an engine works…” and once you do get in, it’s peeking over your shoulder the whole time reminding you that you really shouldn’t be doing that, there are professionals for that sort of thing.

I agree with you in the mindset. “Free as in free beer” is not the important aspect for me, so much as the “free as in free speech” bit.

Funny that all the things you listed you wished were better than the competition falls almost entirely under the purview of artistic solutions. GIMP, DarkTable, Inkscape, etc. I’ve always heard, and I think for the most part it holds true, that FOSS software for artists is usually a worse experience because it’s primarily dominated by software designed and implemented by technically minded people for technically minded people who happen to be artistic, rather than designed by artistically minded people and implemented by technically minded people.

I know it’s probably an unpopular view, but I’ve found it to be true a lot.

I disagree, I think it’s still perfectly reasonable to criticize Plex. Specifically for that complacency. Just because they were an important step to getting where we are does not mean they are above reproach.

Besides, I wasn’t really criticizing Plex? All I said was that I prefer the UI/UX in Jellyfin, and that Jellyfin is still “Just Working” where Plex failed for reasons unknown. Plex isn’t bad, I enjoyed using it while I did. I just found something FOSS to take it’s place. 🙂

p7zip. TIL it is not official! Damn.

Listen, I love GIMP. I would never try to argue that the UI/UX is better than alternatives. There’s a reason it’s not the defacto tool to use in its industry, and it’s not the name.

That said, if you take the time to learn GIMP, it’s delightful. I personally like using GIMP more than, say, Photoshop, but I also learned photo manipulation on GIMP, and didn’t touch Photoshop until well after. GIMP’s UX leaves a lot to be desired for a newcomer to the software.

Wait, is 7zip not available on Linux? Then what have I been using??

Oooh, shiny. I’ll have to give it a try! I work with SvelteKit and Tailwind presently, I’ll have to see how it handles that!

I tried Kodi, it was nice. Biggest issue was no Roku app…

You’re absolutely right, and in lots of areas I use FOSS alternatives solely because they are FOSS despite less resources and objectively worse UI/UX. Photography is a hobby of mine, a huge love. There is nothing on Linux that gives even remotely close to the ease and comfort of use for RAW image editing as CaptureOne Pro, a software I paid a pretty penny for some number of years ago. I’ve tried every RAW image editor that’s been recommended, and I dislike them all so much that I actually prefer to move my RAWs to my phone and edit them there.

Despite that, I’m still running Linux. I understand the trade offs that often need to happen to adhere to an ideal, and I largely agree. However, sometimes FOSS comes out on top in all regards, including UI/UX. And those are the apps I’m inviting everyone to share. 😉

Wait that’s a thing? Oh, gods. I’m almost tempted, just to see what that’s like, but… no. 😂