Proton from Steam allows any game that runs on Windows to run on Linux, alongside all the games that run natively on Linux. The SteamDeck’s main OS (SteamOS) is an Arch-based Linux distro, if a steam deck can run it, so can your Linux computer. Thanks to proton, pretty much any Windows game can run on Linux. I literally stream from a Linux Machine.
I usually recommend Mint, Zorin, MX Linux and Pop OS starting out. But since Linux is free, all it costs you is time and energy if you want to shop around. DistroWatch.com has an expansive database of distributions.
There’s a lot of good reading material and tutorials out there. And while you might find some folks who can be dismissive or elitist in the community, genuinely helpful and friendly people are out there too, so don’t be afraid to ask for help.
here’s a TL;DR from a seasoned linux user for distros.
For new users shit like mint and ubuntu are really good do to the OS itself being pre packaged, and having a large community. However once you become accustomed to linux enough i recommend most people move to one of the big three distros to get more familiar with how a linux system works.
Archlinux is great for this because it will literally walk you through every step from creating install media, to manually partitioning, to configuring the bootloader, to installing the system, to installing a DE/WM etc.
anyway, the big three i recommend are debian, arch, and gentoo, although it’s worth noting that gentoo is the try hard OS, and it’s arch on steroids. Still a neat OS, and a rather useful learning experience though.
Debian is super trivial to pick up, arch is less so, but i already talked about it.
And what about gaming?
Proton from Steam allows any game that runs on Windows to run on Linux, alongside all the games that run natively on Linux. The SteamDeck’s main OS (SteamOS) is an Arch-based Linux distro, if a steam deck can run it, so can your Linux computer. Thanks to proton, pretty much any Windows game can run on Linux. I literally stream from a Linux Machine.
That’s really good to know. Besides Mint is there any other distributions I should check? Can you recommend a good source of Linux stuff in general?
I usually recommend Mint, Zorin, MX Linux and Pop OS starting out. But since Linux is free, all it costs you is time and energy if you want to shop around. DistroWatch.com has an expansive database of distributions.
There’s a lot of good reading material and tutorials out there. And while you might find some folks who can be dismissive or elitist in the community, genuinely helpful and friendly people are out there too, so don’t be afraid to ask for help.
here’s a TL;DR from a seasoned linux user for distros.
For new users shit like mint and ubuntu are really good do to the OS itself being pre packaged, and having a large community. However once you become accustomed to linux enough i recommend most people move to one of the big three distros to get more familiar with how a linux system works.
Archlinux is great for this because it will literally walk you through every step from creating install media, to manually partitioning, to configuring the bootloader, to installing the system, to installing a DE/WM etc.
anyway, the big three i recommend are debian, arch, and gentoo, although it’s worth noting that gentoo is the try hard OS, and it’s arch on steroids. Still a neat OS, and a rather useful learning experience though.
Debian is super trivial to pick up, arch is less so, but i already talked about it.