So I am hoping to finally get around to installing Linux for the first time. Ideally I would like to eventually replace my win10 installation with it, but for now I plan on dual booting until I am comfortable enough on Linux. This leads me to a couple questions:

  • which one is best suited for gaming? I do a couple other things as well but I would expect that any OS could deal with those. I know vaguely about proton / the steam deck improvements that trickled down, but don’t know if and how that affects different Linux versions.

  • I read some days ago that ubuntu is being used by Microsoft, does that mean it is more compatible with their other applications?

  • I also read that amd is better suited to linux because nvidia refuses to support it, which would be a happy coincidence for me because I just recently built a fully amd computer, is that actually true?

  • And lastly, provided there is even a definitive answer to my first question, where should I look to get started? I have never dealt with Linux before but would consider myself reasonably tech / computer savvy.

Thank you

  •  bl_r   ( @bl_r@beehaw.org ) 
    4•10 months ago

    which one is better suited for gaming?

    All linux distros use the same set of tools for gaming: proton + wine. Any distro that has graphics drivers for your gpu will be fine.

    … Microsoft is using ubuntu, does this mean it is more compatible with their other applications?

    Unfortunately, microsoft does not make linux versions of their apps. Online versions work fine.

    AMD is better suited for linux

    AMD is better suited for linux because of open source drivers, but nvidia still works. I run a 4080, and it works perfectly. The only area where AMD works where Nvidia fails is Wayland support, which works perfectly on AMD, and is hit or miss with nvidia.

    where should I get started?

    The best place to start is just using linux. I started my linux journey by just installing debian on my desktop, and sticking through all the mistakes I made along the way. I highly recommend installing fedora, since I’ve found it to be easy for new users, up to date, and extremely stable. Ubuntu is another good choice, but I found it to be less stable long term (my installs always broke 8-12 months in). I would avoid using arch based distros since they are more prone for breaking updates. The most recent Debian sounds really nice, but I haven’t used it yet.

    I’ve taught a few people cybersecurity, and I always start with linux because the tools are linux exclusive. With that in mind, I’ve had success having people just use OverTheWire Bandit, which teaches you how to use linux using ssh. It is somewhat difficult to jump in blind, and it is fully self taught as it requires googling how to use commands to do things to solve the challenges, which is a useful skill in itself.

    •  phoenixz   ( @phoenixz@lemmy.ca ) 
      4•10 months ago

      Microsoft does make Linux versions of certain apps. I know teams has a (very shitty, don’t use it) Linux client. I use the browser version of teams because the app is so shitty and the browser version too is just sad, I got a 20+ point buglist within a day. Microsoft software usually is sad this way.