this post was submitted on 07 Aug 2024
1062 points (91.8% liked)
Linux Gaming
16886 readers
424 users here now
Discussions and news about gaming on the GNU/Linux family of operating systems (including the Steam Deck). Potentially a $HOME away from home for disgruntled /r/linux_gaming denizens of the redditarian demesne.
This page can be subscribed to via RSS.
Original /r/linux_gaming pengwing by uoou.
Resources
WWW:
Discord:
IRC:
Matrix:
Telegram:
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
If you really want to have a go of it you should either buy well supported hardware next time you buy or even better buy hardware that actually comes with Linux by an OEM that has already done the research and selection and then don't run a kernel older than your hardware. Stick with boring well supported stuff neither bleeding edge nor ancient.
It's great that you can at this point pick hardware out of a hat and have a lot of it supported by Linux but it doesn't mean you should buy hardware this way if you want to have a good experience.
So there are absolutely millions of Linux users. Either we are all masochists living in constant frustration because we are brothers in brokenness or few long term Linux users have an experience that is similar to yours and are simply trying to help you avoid non-obvious pitfalls that may otherwise lead to a shitty experience
A) First off "well supported" herein means that your hardware is known to be well supported by Linux not that its common, good, expensive, or useful. If you are having a shit experience then there is a good chance its actually not well supported.
B) Lots of "stable" distributions ship with old kernels often as old as 2-3 years old. This means that hardware that came out within the last 2-3 years isn't supported at all and even older hardware for which support was added recently wont work as advertised. There is no profit in running either the kernel that came out 10 minutes ago or the one that came out 3 years ago. This to me seems to be a common issue. Just run a recent kernel.
C) The barrier to entry to create your own distro is incredibly low. The effort required to make a good one is a lot higher. If you stick to the major distros that have stuck around over the years you will have a more consistent experience.
D) X11 is less experimental than Wayland and less hassle
E) Simple environments like XFCE and Cinnamon and window managers are more consistent and predictable than gnome
F) Flatpaking all the things brings exciting new challenges not forseen by the developers who don't actually distribute flatpaks. Stay away from unofficial flatpaks and if the developer suggests a system package or an appimage use whatever the developer recommends.
If all this advice seems awfully complicated it could be shorted to buy hardware that comes with Linux and run Mint.
What is supported is ... what is supported. Wherein the manufacturers assert that their hardware supports Linux, OEMs assert that it supports Linux, Linux developers assert that it is supported, or user reports assert that it is supported. The old school way is to plug the exact model of hardware and the word "linux" into your favorite search engine but there are actual hardware compatibility lists too.
For something to be "stock" has no meaning whatsoever and one doesn't have to guess if something is supported one can usually find out.
Then don't install Linux, if Linux doesn't work for you then don't use it. Nothing Linux has to offer is worth the pain you've gone through. As for the system, Linux has to build itself around hardware rather then the other way around which is why problems occur.
If you want true freedom, no spying, and you want to own your computer then I reccomend installing Linux. Sadly most people dont care which is why I gave my previous suggestion. I recommend installing Pop_OS as its going to make gaming the easiest and installs drivers out of the box.