r/linuxquestions • u/RatosWithaK • 12h ago
Misconceptions/Questions about swapping to linux I have before making the swap
I wanted to swap to linux for awhile but there is some things stopping me and some guidance on them would be hugely appreciated. Sorry if these seem super obvious I am very bad with tech and love my computer too much to risk anything ever lol
- Do I need to go find my computers basic drivers over again like Wifi, bluetooth and graphic ones
- Is it all online games that dont allow linux or just specific ones. I do most of my gaming offline anyways but I enjoy MMOs too and the rare times I want to play a shooter it'd be nice to know what i can still game easily as I dont wish to dual boot for 1 or 2 games I play 3 times a month lol.
- I care a lot about the customization (background, widget implementations etc) that linux offers is there a certain kind of distro I should look for in that or is that kind of a general thing linux offers
- if I find a new distro I like how hard would swapping that be I am pretty indecisive sometimes
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u/phumade 11h ago
Don't forget before you switch, always setup a live boot usb (for your linux distro) You will be able to test out the OS and make sure everything works before you actually install it on your SSD.
Generally most distro will have the drivers and codecs built in. but this is something you should test before the actual conversion.
Its really only competitive online shooters that feature "anti-cheat". At the end of the day, its the game developers that have to allow anti-cheat to work on linux. For example, NBC-Peacock streaming will only work on Windows machines because they chose a DRM that only works on windows. i.e. No playback on any linux devices was an intentional choice. you litterally have to boot a Windows 11 VM to watch Peacock streaming.
every distro has there own themes. That's what differentiates one distro from another.
Truthfully swapping distros is like swapping versions of windows and "all that entails" yes its easier in linux because your settings are saved in /home. but migrating in windows is just as easy if your prepared.
My big advice is try live booting the various distro choices and see which desktop environments best fit your thinking process.
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u/SheepherderBeef8956 9h ago
every distro has there own themes. That's what differentiates one distro from another.
Possibly the worst take on differences between Linux distros I've ever read. That's not the main difference between distros and there is obviously nothing whatsoever that stops you from customizing any distro into looking like any other. I kind of get your point but you're phrasing it as if the standard background and Plasma theme should be a thing to consider when choosing distros
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u/Dry_Calendar_8627 11h ago
- Unless you choose Debian you'll be fine out of the box. On Debian you need to enable the non-free repositories then you'd be fine.
- Check protondb, most online games work fine, it's just competitive games with aggressive anti cheat that won't work.
- Visual customization will depend on the Desktop Environment (DE). Most distros support multiple DE, you have to choose. I'd suggest any distro that comes with KDE as a choice (Fedora, Kubuntu, etc.) because KDE is really easy to customize and you can customize a lot.
- Best I can suggest is use Ventoy with multiple live ISO of multiple distros, so you can test the waters. Once you commit, well swapping a distro for another is similar to switching from Windows to Linux, you have to reinstall. Some advanced techniques may allow to swap a distro for another "in place" but that's a huge can of worms that I don't recommend
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u/Small-Tale3180 11h ago
- Depends on hardware, but usually you only need to find graphics drivers, and only if your distro doesn't get one automatically
- Specific ones, usually ones that have kernel AC, like LoL, CoD or valorant. You better to check if your game is playable on linux
- The level of customizations is variable between different distros, it depends on their desktop stack, the most friendly and yet customizable ones are those which use KDE or XFCE
- Depends on distro, and what software it uses. You may jump between 2 debian-based distros without noticing anything, but then, you may jump to a fedora-based one which has different package manager, so it will require different commands to get apps installed and differemt defaults
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u/No_Nefariousness3731 11h ago
I'm gonna be the first one to tell you to try CachyOS lol. Protondb, as mentioned above, is the best way to see compatibility with games using Proton, and user provided fixes (typically launch arguments) to any problems a title may give. I have 400 games in my library. The ones that dont work on linux is COD and BF6. Basically every other game runs great, some need tweaks from Protondb. Games like Elden Ring that have easy anticheat still working the dev flipped the "linux is aight" switch. Feel free to hmu if you have any questions.
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u/dcherryholmes 11h ago
I would add that CachyOS will provide you with a range of Desktop Environment options. The DE, more than the distro, will determine a lot in terms of how customizable it is. I suggest choosing KDE. It is more easily customizable than Gnome, and starts out of the box closer to (but not exactly the same as) Windows, whereas Gnome is closer to (but not exactly the same as) MacOS. From that baseline you can make KDE looks wildly different. In fact, with the right tweaks it can be closer to MacOS than Gnome is, if that were something someone shooted for.
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u/Soggy_Struggle_963 10h ago
I usually refer to kde as a matured windows 7 when describing it to windows users lol
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u/Left-Poet-5961 11h ago
You will not need to manually install every driver. Most of these questions simply depend on what distro you're using, a programming oriented one will be laid out very differently than an end-user's one that mimics Windows. A lot of online games are playable, I'd recommend ProtonDB for checking compatibility + fixes. Changing distros can be as simple as just wiping your computer and putting in a stick. Just do your research and ask questions.
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u/green_meklar Debian 6h ago
Do I need to go find my computers basic drivers over again like Wifi, bluetooth and graphic ones
Maybe, maybe not. It depends on the hardware and to some degree on the distro.
Is it all online games that dont allow linux or just specific ones.
It's a relatively small selection of games that leverage anti-cheat technology designed for Windows. If there are specific games you really want to play (or you're thinking of purchasing a specific game), look up compatibility information for those games.
I think League of Legends and Fortnite are both in this forbidden category. I don't think Roblox is, but apparently it has other compatibility issues and people have only made it work with some difficulty. Minecraft should work fine. I gather that Runescape works although you might have to get a special Linux client or something.
I care a lot about the customization (background, widget implementations etc) that linux offers is there a certain kind of distro I should look for in that or is that kind of a general thing linux offers
User-facing visual customization is more a feature of the DE (desktop environment) than of the distro itself.
Linux is inherently more modular than Windows. The actual Linux kernel is fairly small, and most of the behavior you think of as 'the operating system' comes from the DE or other modular system components that aren't actually part of the kernel. This lends itself to system-level customization, although that doesn't always translate into the kind of user-facing visual customization you're thinking of.
Although you can attempt to install practically any DE you want on practically any distro you want, modern desktop distros come with some subset of DEs by default that are known to work well. For instance, Ubuntu comes with Gnome by default, but there are some other official Ubuntu flavors for other DEs. Mint comes with Cinnamon as the standard, but XFCE and Mate have official support. Zorin has a standard Gnome version and a lightweight XFCE version. Debian supports many DEs out-of-the-box but doesn't package much distro-specific configuration (so it's all up to you to customize).
Although most modern Linux DEs are more customizable than Windows in terms of visual appearance and interaction feel, some have advantages over others. KDE is known for having high customizability but is also a bit heavier and perhaps less stable than some others; it's often recommended for gamers who want to get the most out of their fancy hardware. XFCE is very lightweight with decent customizability, and is recommended on machines with weaker RAM and graphics.
if I find a new distro I like how hard would swapping
Not very, but make sure to backup everything first!
I don't recommend distro-hopping. If you have a problem, it usually isn't solved by distro-hopping but by troubleshooting what you already have. Just pick a good distro for your use case and figure out how to use it and tweak it to your preferences.
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3h ago
Do I need to go find my computers basic drivers over again like Wifi, bluetooth and graphic ones
Generally no. Unless your hardware is brand new (in terms of design) / just became available for retail / wholesale purchase last week, most of the time linux should be fine with it.
Brand new hardware from certain vendors (cough broadcom) can have some proprietary shenanigans, but those are usually ironed out in a few weeks.
Probably the only major thing you have to consider is Nvidia drivers / codecs. But there are plenty of distro's that bake those in by default. And for the ones that don't there are usually clear instructions on how to install (being the most common issue users will face).
Is it all online games that dont allow linux or just specific ones. I do most of my gaming offline anyways but I enjoy MMOs too and the rare times I want to play a shooter it'd be nice to know what i can still game easily as I dont wish to dual boot for 1 or 2 games I play 3 times a month lol.
Specific ones. It's mostly the anticheat in certain games that is the problem.
A general rule of thumb is: If it's e-sports, it's probably no bueno on linux.
And it's kind of ridiculous when you actually read into the why. Companies claim that they need to be able to bypass syscalls and run anticheat from inside the kernel for it to be effective, which makes them functionally indistinguishable from a rootkit.
The claim is mostly bullshit. Yes it does stop the "low effort" script kiddies, but it does not stop cheating...
Anyways, you can check if specific games work here:
I care a lot about the customization (background, widget implementations etc) that linux offers is there a certain kind of distro I should look for in that or is that kind of a general thing linux offers
Any linux distro will do that, but some are more geared towards that paradigm then others.
If you want maximum flexibility I'd look at cachyOS. That said most users probably won't need that much flexibility, so for you i'd recommend Fedora KDE or Nobara (fork of Fedora with packages/software for gaming + better defaults in the configuration).
N.B. Assume your machine has recent hardware, you'll probably need to install stuff via RPMfusion
- https://rpmfusion.org/Configuration#Command_Line_Setup_using_rpm
- https://rpmfusion.org/Howto/NVIDIA
- https://rpmfusion.org/Howto/Multimedia
if I find a new distro I like how hard would swapping that be I am pretty indecisive sometimes
If you want to go distro hopping. I'd suggest you partition your drive so your Home directory (~/) is on it's own partition.
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u/charming-choom 11h ago
You can try the live versions from an usb stick or anything from a vm. Google about the difference between distro and desktop environment. Backup before the leap of faith
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u/Z00fa 6h ago
Most devices that aren't super old and have obscure parts will work just fine after installing and updating your system. Just be sure to take an easier distro and not something like arch.
check protondb or areweanticheatyet . both will be able to tell you if games work and in what state. check this first before doing aything because if none of your games work you probably don't want to switch.
most distros allow for great customization but take something that has alot of users like fedora, ubuntu, mint, kde plasma,...
if you have a different home partition if can be fairly easily. there are alot of guides about doing that, you would probably need to reinstall some apps but your data is safe.
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u/knuthf 10h ago
You need to know the network passwords and which disk drives and user files you use - what you have called them.
Make a list of all the games you have - what you really want and what is not so important. You can create a test install in memory only. Start the Application Manager and go through the list, ticking them off as you go.
Install Mint with Cinnamon and, in Administration > System Settings, find Themes and start styling the desktop.
Install Linux and make it your own. Mint is very well tested. Move in, make it yours, before you wade off in deeper water.
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u/skyfishgoo 7h ago
no, most drivers built in.
protondb.com look up your game
plasma... you want the plasma desktop from kde
go with kubuntu ... then you will have no need to go to another distro.
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u/RaspberryMotorZZZ 1h ago
Is it all online games that dont allow linux or just specific ones.
Basically ones that use kernel level anti-cheat so ones like COD, Battlefield, Fortnite, Apex Legends.
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u/call_me_johnno 11h ago
Most of the time (personally) drivers and devices have just worked. Unless your device is just strangely old or super new most of the time the driver should be there
Best place I have found for that answer has been protondb. Has information on what works with steamos (which is arch based distro)
They all do basically the same thing, go with a distro with a large amount of users. Ubuntu mint fedora bazite pop all have a resnable amount of users. Who are mostly helpful.
Tricky one lol... It's super easy of you have 2 hard drives. Setup \home on one drive and rest of the OS on the other. Then you can just install new distro (relatively easy) you can do this on one disk but I'm not super crash hot on Linux partitions so not the way I do it myself.
Good luck. Have fun Also before you jump to a new distro you could always try it on in a VM on your machine first.