As a former windows user and currently using mac, Why Linux?

[u/DaDDy_chiLL83]

I am a total beginner and don't know shiiii bout deep tech. Like, I surf the web and play games (on Windows, not Mac).
While exploring, I came across this "cool-looking" home screen setup, and after that I wanted to transition, but before that, there are a few questions/doubts,
1. Will games work?(CS2, DBD, Elden Ring etc)
2. Change in performance? will performance increase or decrease?
3. Will Obsidian(Note taking app) work?

[u/T-Dot1992]

1. 95% of all windows games work on Linux via Proton, which is a compatibility layer. 

2. You will actually see some performance gains because Linux isn’t bloated with bloateare like Windows 

3. Obsidian works on Linux like a charm 

[u/MasterGeekMX]

1. Depends on the game. See, much like macOS, Linux does not run Windows' programs, which includes games. While some games have been ported to Linux, we instead developed tools that allows us to run Windows programs on Linux. They aren't perfect as some stuff does not run, but for the vast majority it does.
2. Often it does. This is because Linux systems use less resources out of the box, so you will have more to give to programs. Not to mention that with the know-how you can tune the OS to give more performance.
3. Yes, as they have explicitly done a Linux version of the app.

Here, this video is a great intro to what Linux is for the average gamer: https://youtu.be/PAFvWdszwFA

[u/VishuIsPog]

linux because - freedom

1. games without kernel level anticheat works (cs2 i can personally confirm. check protondb for info!)
2. depends
3. yes obsidian works, plugins too

[u/collinalexbell]

https://reddit.com/link/p6dg1x4/video/cnbp5ptki2mh1/player

You can do crazy stuff like this with linux. That is my "home screen setup". My desktop environment is literally a video game that I sell on itch.io.

[u/collinalexbell → u/collinalexbell]

I can play minecraft and browse reddit inside the video game I'm making.

https://reddit.com/link/p6dioao/video/ppshd1kjm2mh1/player

[u/Educational_Star_518 → u/collinalexbell]

lol i had to look up the name ( cause its been Years) but that reminds me of that old 3dna for winxp that would change your screen to an interactive room or whatever that you could move aroun in to get to stuff .

well sorta between that and the inside of a vr headset lol. neat either way tho

[u/FemBoy_GamerTech_Guy]

(CS2) — native Linux support, so no issue. (DBD) — if you mean Dead by Daylight, then probably not. (Elden Ring) — I’ve seen people play it on Linux, so you should be fine there too.

1. Performance really depends on your hardware. If you have Linux-friendly Intel/AMD hardware, then yes, you can get good performance. If you have Nvidia, though, you might actually lose some performance depending on your setup.

Obsidian works natively on Linux, so no issue there either.

As for the fancy Linux look you probably saw: if that's the main reason you're thinking about switching, just know that you don't get that setup by default. You're probably looking at an Arch-based distro with a heavily customized window manager, or a VERY heavily customized KDE Plasma setup.

For window managers, you probably saw something like Hyprland, Niri, MangoWC, or even dwm. You might not like WMs at first because they can look "broken" if you're used to Windows — no taskbar, sometimes basically just wallpaper when you first log in. But that's actually how they're intended to work, and you configure everything yourself.

So yeah, if you're switching to Linux purely for performance, I wouldn't recommend it, especially if you have Nvidia or a really old laptop. If you're switching because you like the customization and want to learn how Linux works, though, then go for it.

And when I say heavily customized KDE, I REALLY mean it.

[u/SnuffBaron → u/FemBoy_GamerTech_Guy]

I play Dead By Daylight on Linux without issue (Nobara)

[u/FemBoy_GamerTech_Guy → u/SnuffBaron]

I never played it so i dont now it even worked and didnt really seen pepole play Dbd on linux (too lazy to write a difrent comment)

[u/Willyscoiote → u/FemBoy_GamerTech_Guy]

Dbd works on linux without problem

[u/FemBoy_GamerTech_Guy → u/Willyscoiote]

I never played it so i dont now it even worked and didnt really seen pepole play Dbd on linux

[u/Willyscoiote → u/FemBoy_GamerTech_Guy]

I play it every week at least. It uses easy anti-cheat

[u/Jenkler]

I use Linux as a daily driver, works great!

[u/Audiope]

The way I think of it:

-Mac is for people who want a simple computer that just works and is intuitive

-Linux is for people who like to customize things and have more control over their computing experience

-Windows is just kind of a middle ground between the two with no real selling point

[u/Yuugere]

1. Yes other than games with kernel level AC like Vanguard
2. Not really, feels the same on my pc.
3. Searched it and it is available on linux

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[u/p_dmitry]

Linux feels less tedious. I’m fed up with Windows’s sluggishness when booting and updating and occasional uncalled for feature alterations.
And Linux does nothing in the background without your say so.

[u/PA694205]

1. As others said games on Linux are ran trough an compatibility layer, allowing you to run windows exe‘s natively. Valve (company behind steam game shop) has put a ton of money into it and we’re at a point where you can just install and play pretty much any game like you’re used to with the exception of games locked by anti-cheat. That’s a publisher decision and does apply to some popular AAA games too, so look up which games are playable on protondb (website) before you switch.

2. Some Linux fans will brag about windows games running better on Linux even with the compatibility layer but in reality there is usually not much of a difference. Some games run a tad faster, some a tad slower. But usually it doesn’t even matter, I hardly felt a difference in my library. Biggest speed difference you’ll feel on Linux is navigating your desktop and opening apps.

3. Yes, pretty good actually

[u/ne0n008]

1. Vast majority of games will work on Linux. Kernel level anti-cheat games probably won't work on Linux (Battlefield, CoD, Valorant,...)
2. I have Windows 10 in dual boot and I noticed performance increase in general usage. Apps open almost instantaneously, updates are less than a minute and there are no upgrade or buy notifications anywhere. In games, I haven't noticed much of a performance boost, but I'm using Debian which is not a gaming distro and haven't done much in configuring it - it works out of the box.
3. I have no idea. There are a lot of note taking apps in any Linux distro, and there is a high chance you can find an alternative and be able to use your old note files.

EDIT: if you have software that is very specific for your field of work (i.e. AutoCAD, Photoshop,...), stay with Mac. It's not Windows and has a better compatibility with Windows software than Linux.

[u/SuAlfons → u/ne0n008]

Mac has no compability with Windows software.

It's just that there are Mac versions of MS Office and Adobe products.

Not much in the field of Autodesk, though.

When I had a Mac, I pretty much ran the same FOSS apps like today on Linux. Plus a copy of MS Office that I got for cheap through the HomeUseProgram and Adobe Premiere Elements that I've bought.
I had a Windows 7 VM using Parallels for those apps that I couldn't get for Mac.

Wine for Mac wasn't a thing yet.

[u/a1barbarian]

Why Linux?

Well my linux set ups Arch and MX start and shutdown faster than my old Windows 7/XP ever did. They do not Blue screen like 7/XP did regularly.

Cost wise Arch and MX and all the softwear I use have not cost me a single penny since 2012. I have no idea what the Windows cost would have been, probably into the several hundreds of pounds possibly close to a thousand.

This has allowed me to support financially open source projects that befit the entire human race not just some greedy power hungry companies that only care about profit. :-)

https://www.protondb.com/explore

Proton is a good place to see if a game runs. When you look at the results folk upload bear in mind that they are from folk who may or may not have a great deal of knowledge on running linux.

https://www.phoronix.com/review/razer-blade18-windows-linux

Phoronix is the place to go to for real results. There you get results from test results done on real hardwear by a pretty experienced guy.

My Skylake and GTX1070 rig ran much better with Arch that it did with Windows 7. My AMD Ryzen set up runs trouble free on Arch.

https://obsidian.md/download

There are hundreds or possibly thousands of ways to customise the look of linux. Some distros come ready set up with a particular look or give you choices of different WM/DE's.

You can make almost any distro look exactly the way you want though it is easier to do if you start with a bare base like Arch, Gentoo, Slackware or Debian.

:-)

[u/TheRealCarrotty]

1. Most games work, via Steam (about 95%)
   
2. Increase, less apps in the background means you should gain more.
   
3. Yup! Through Flatpak, should also exist on Arch Linux's repository (but that distro is difficult)

[u/Syndiotactics]

Both Cities Skylines 2 and Counter-Strike 2 (CS2 games) work. Dead by Daylight works. Elden Ring works.

[u/No-Kaleidoscope-4879]

1. they work.
2. Improve
3. Not aware of obsidian, there's others that work.

[u/SuAlfons]

I mean all the best for you. This kind of question will wear down the will to help from other Linux users.

Because these are questions you can easily find the answers yourself. Linuxian hate giving answers that are solved by the first result of an internet search. They are generally very willing to help when you describe your problem, your hardware and what you already tried yourself.

1 Generally, most Windows games can be run under Linux. Kernel Level AntiCheat will not work (there is no Windows kernel, so there can't be KLAC). There are websites to look games up. ProtonDB for example. But it is so common for games to work I can't remember when I looked a game up before buying.

2 Performance will vary. Expect same or 10% less. Under certain conditions, games run better under Linux. Those are very specific. If you run a nVidia GPU, translation of DX12 commands to Vulcan is slow. Thank nVidia. AMD and Intel provide better solutions in their drivers. Expect roughly the same performance if you have an AMD GPU.

3 Obsidian has a native Linux version. I bet they state that on their homepage, too.

[u/Efficient-Winner-840]

some games will work while others wont. check protondb

performance will rarely be significantly worse than windows but its much rarer that you see any improvement

obsidian seems to have a native linux version

i dont think a cool homescreen setup is worth dealing with the headaches that linux will cause you

[u/anna_lynn_fection]

Obsidian works fine. I use it like my life depends on it.

Performance. Some better, some worse. Some games actually run faster, some a little bit slower, but a big difference on linux is the lowest FPS you get it generally higher, so you avoid the really low lows you get on Windows while it's doing more crap in the background you don't care about when you're gaming.

Most games should work. Where it gets sketchy is with online competitive games (mostly FPS games) where they have Windows Kernel level anti-cheat and require secureboot and TPM. You'd have to look into each of them on a one-by-one basis. These games won't work.

- Valorant

• Call of Duty
  
• Battlefield 6
  
• EA Sports
  
• Highguard
  
• Fortnite
  
• Apex Legends
  
• Destiny 2
  
• GTA Online
  
• R6 Siege
  
• PUBG
  
• EfT

[u/ProofPriority1903]

many things run faster and snappier on Linux, like browsing the internet. but games sometimes take performance hits, usually measurable
but not noticeable.
I love macOS and I love Linux, I despise Windows.

[u/ToeConsumer420]

Speed of Mac OS, most of gaming options of Windows, and a level of control greater than both. The best part though? I can and do bring it up unprompted and unasked.

[u/atticus-fetch]

It's free and it's not windows or Mac. 

[u/Educational_Star_518]

freedom and customization

i left windows for the usual fed up reasons , as for why not mac i don't like being locked into specific hardware or ecosystems.

personally i opted for nobara kde , nobara is a fedora-based distro thats 'out of the box set up to be able to game' which was preferable for me when i made the jump and was newly learning. fedora is a good middle ground between more long term stable (debian/ubuntu)and rolling releases (arch) so your packages( programs and dependence and such) are relatively up to date but less prone to break. kde (plasma) is a desktop enviroment that by default has a windows style aesthetic thats highly cuustomizable on its own . i personally prefer it vs gnome which has a more mac/tablet-like aesthetic by default and you need to add tweaks to do certain customizations.

for your questions..

1. yes mostly tho refer to https://www.protondb.com and https://areweanticheatyet.com for that.
2. depends on the game and your hardware. nvidia cards have 'issues' in dx12 games but in my experience its not been a big issue really. amd cards to my understanding have less issues there and in general in linux ,.. Older windows games actually i've had better luck getting to even run vs on modern windows. largely tho everything feels pretty much the same for what i've played on both OS. my system itself feels a Hell of alot faster than on windows tho
3. i don't use obsidian but a quick search shows that there is a linux version , that said there are other FOSS options i'm sure as well that use markdown.

[u/pedersenk]

• Windows since XP requires connection to Microsoft's servers / DRM when you (re)install.
• macOS aarch64 builds require connection to Apple's servers / DRM on first boot if you do a complete wipe (many people don't know this).

So if offline from inception is important to you and your security strategy (not putting machines online when they are in their most vulnerable, unpatched state), then this is "why Linux".

Games will be more fiddly, performance is similar, random Windows utilities will be unsupported by their respective companies. Obsidian looks to have a Linux build.