Basically the forced shift to the enshittified Windows 11 in october has me eyeing the fence a lot. But all I know about Linux is 1: it’s a cantankerous beast that can smell your fear and lack of computer skills and 2: that’s apparently not true any more? Making the change has slowly become a more real possibility for me, though I’m pretty much a fairly casual PC-user, I don’t do much more than play games. So I wrote down some questions I had about Linux.
Will my ability to play games be significantly affected compared to Windows?
Can I mod games as freely and as easily as I do on Windows?
If a program has no Linux version, is it unusable, or are there workarounds?
Can Linux run programs that rely on frameworks like .NET or other Windows-specific libraries?
How do OS updates work in Linux? Is there a “Linux Update” program like what Windows has?
How does digital security work on Linux? Is it more vulnerable due to being open source? Is there integrated antivirus software, or will I have to source that myself?
Are GPU drivers reliable on Linux?
Can Linux (in the case of a misconfiguration or serious failure) potentially damage hardware?
And also, what distro might be best for me?
Will my ability to play games be significantly affected compared to Windows?
That will depend on the games you play, and what platform you use. If you are using Steam, you can enable the proton layer have more access to games, but if the game in question uses any type of kernel level anti cheat chances are it’s not going to work.
Can I mod games as freely and as easily as I do on Windows?
Depends on what you are used to, if you are using mod managers and which ones.
If a program has no Linux version, is it unusable, or are there workarounds?
A lot of work has been done with WINE, games on Linux, and Proton. You’ll need to do a little bit of reading to see if it can work on Linux, but the community can often be awesome and already have found a solution. There are also a lot of great alternatives to Windows/Mac only software you can try.
Can Linux run programs that rely on frameworks like .NET or other Windows-specific libraries?
Depends on your distro but most can install .net, you’ll need to do a bit of reading.
How do OS updates work in Linux? Is there a “Linux Update” program like what Windows has?
Yes, there are package managers that you can use to install and update software, some distro’s even have a shop like interface.
How does digital security work on Linux? Is it more vulnerable due to being open source? Is there integrated antivirus software, or will I have to source that myself?
I’ve only ever had to use a virus scanner twice in my Linux journey and both of those times it was on a server. Because Linux is open source everybody can see what is going on in the code and this way bugs or security issues can be found and patched quicker.
Are GPU drivers reliable on Linux?
Depends, if you are using AMD you should be fine, Nvidia has functioning drivers as well, I can’t speak for Intel ARC support because I’ve never used it…
Can Linux (in the case of a misconfiguration or serious failure) potentially damage hardware?
I’ve never broken my hardware, but I’ve broken my system a few times by ignoring the warnings the system gave me, always got it to work again.
And also, what distro might be best for me?
Linux Mint might be a good one, the Cinnamon is great for beginners, but there are many flavors you can choose from. Start with a live system which will not require you to install anything just yet, but you’ll get a feeling for how everything works. After trying it out live you can decide if you would like to install it. But remember that when trying it live you are limited in what you can do.
