5 ms·

So, I decided to install Linux on my formerly-Windows-only laptop, and thought it was cool enough to go full time and ditch Windows completely. The downside was

by jl6 3y ago

So, I decided to install Linux on my formerly-Windows-only laptop, and thought it was cool enough to go full time and ditch Windows completely. The downside was the lack of access to top tier games. No problem though, my plan was to take a break from gaming, figuring that by the time Linux had caught up with compatibility, computers would also be much more powerful and I'd be able to resume gaming at some point in the future on better kit, and not have to worry about janky framerates on struggling hardware. Linux proved interesting enough that I kept finding all sorts of cool new rabbit holes to go down - shell scripting, filesystems, Python, databases. It was side-quests within side-quests! Plus, having kicked my gaming habit, I had plenty of time to explore these. Anyway, to cut a long story short, that was 23 years ago. I ended up getting a career in tech, relocated, got married, had kids, lived the American Dream... The "life" rabbit hole kind of got in the way of my plans, so I can't wait to finally get back on track and play GTA III on a decent box.

shokk 3y ago
You just described my life back when Slackware OG was alpha in 1993, but on a 386 PC. 31 years later I never used my EE degree but traveled through all sorts of aspects of IT and IS.
emestifs 3y ago
Is a router a decent box? https://kittenlabs.de/real-gaming-router/ https://kittenlabs.de/real-gaming-router/
- skoocda 3y ago
  This was a phenomenal read. Thanks for linking
umvi 3y ago
Let's hear your distro journey! What did you start with, what do you currently use?
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- jl6 3y ago
  I started with Mandrake (ironically for the game ban, I bought a retail version that came bundled with a copy of The Sims that had been rigged to run with wine), then tried Linux From Scratch (very educational), then a brief spell on Gentoo (because my Dell laptop needed some extra config to get the wifi working anyway, so I figured why not compile all the packages - then I figured out why). Then I liked KDE so moved to openSUSE, but then I stopped liking KDE when 4 came out and broke everything, so I moved to Ubuntu. Then I stopped liking GNOME when 3 broke everything, and at any rate I didn’t have so much time to fiddle any more, so I moved to Xubuntu, and there I remain.
  - umvi 3y ago
    Big fan of Xubuntu! Recently switched to OpenSUSE Tumbleweed so I could have rolling release, but I still use XFCE as my desktop manager!
tharkun__ 3y ago
This is the one! Same here. Life happened. What I told my dad would never happen (not using Linux From Scratch or Gentoo - like how can he use Windows and like just get things done instead of digging deep and solving problems all the time?) did happen. I now use Debian derived but more up-to-date and easy to use for mainstream people distros (like shudder Ubuntu) and they're relegated to server and TV duty and I hope nothing breaks when I upgrade from LTS to LTS version coz "I don't have time for this!" and I play a few games here and there on my Windows laptop. But I think it's important to have gone through the "rabbit hole" in the middle. All the digging and understanding I did I still do all the time at work. I just no longer spend the other half of my life on it. I spend it digging into other things.
- sgarland 3y ago
  I think the ??? --> Gentoo --> Something Stable pipeline is a defining characteristic of 90s/00s nerds. I _think_ the first Linux distro I ever installed was Slackware, but ashamedly, I can't remember. In my defense, I would've been about 10 years old at the time. I played around with a ton of others (I'm fairly certain I tried Debian Woody), but settled on Gentoo, because of course. Forget just tying up the phone line for dial-up, I tied up both of the family computers with distcc. After a career break wherein I did relatively little with computers for a decade, I got back into Linux and quickly realized I did not care about -funroll-loops. I've been running Debian non-stop since Jessie, on everything from repurposed laptops, to ancient tower servers, to slightly-less-ancient racks. > But I think it's important to have gone through the "rabbit hole" in the middle. This right here. There is an endless stream of "how do I learn Linux?" questions on Reddit, and the answers are always some variation of "read this book," "take this course," etc. Perhaps there is value there, but I learned it by trying to do stuff. Like getting an HP PSC 2610 to talk to hplip and CUPS over LAN. Or getting a Chaintech AV-710's (an obscure sound card that happened to use an excellent DAC for 2-channel output) to work under ALSA. Doing these kinds of things forced you to read man pages, forums, newsgroups, etc. And when you succeeded, you could write up a HOWTO, and the three other people in the world who also needed this particular combination would give thanks.
eddd-ddde 3y ago
The old-laptop -> install-linux-because-windows-wont-run -> tech-career pipeline is absolutely real. It got me to learn C, graphics programming, operating systems, networks and firewall, literally everything I wanted to do required a couple of days deep in arch linux wiki learning about all kinds of inter-connected systems.
- asmr 3y ago
  Yep, this is how I spent High School, although I did have prior interest in computers. I started tinkering with Debian on a hand-me-down HP pavilion and ended with a ThinkPad T60 with Arch. Developed a lot of skills that helped me get started in my career.
- captainkrtek 3y ago
  When I ditched Windows and installed Ubuntu 8.04 on my personal computer was my gateway into further tech (building PCs, using a terminal, programming, etc.) and set the foundation for my career.
pictureofabear 3y ago
It was a big moment for me too when I realized that the real world has infinitely many interesting things to do and explore. The real world is incredibly detailed.
- mmh0000 3y ago
  Hard disagree. The real world only has pain and suffering. Endless trials and never a payout. Games on the other hand and very detailed and have a well defined path to success.
  - amerkhalid 3y ago
    The real problem with real world is that it is so boring most of the time. Well designed video games can be hard or even harder than real life but they give you constant endorphins or dopamine hits to keep you going. And you can take a break from video games without any negative repercussions.
  - wdh505 3y ago
    The hardest part of life is to reward the process over the outcomes. Videogames don't have that constraint.
  - hirvi74 3y ago
    This oddly enough has been quite a big issue in my life as of lately. I need to get off my ass and start working towards better things in real life in order to (potentially) better my situation e.g. new job, better hobbies, etc.. However, I have always had issues with gaming on and off throughout my life (perhaps a lot more on than off). I seriously think that a lot of my issues with gaming is that games are preferential to life in many regards. In a game, I know if I work hard and follow the steps/guides/quests, then I will be rewarded. Goals are obtainable in that if I fail to achieve them it is my fault -- because I did something incorrectly. Sadly, when I take breaks from gaming, I am not a productivity machine. I just find something else to waste the time with. In the back of my mind, I want to believe that if I work hard and better my situation, then will finally be rewarded. But I have worked hard to get where I am, and I am still awaiting the reward, so to speak. So, I think a part of my brain has taken the shortcut to destroy my motivation because I know that Sisyphus isn't the only one rolling the boulder up the hill thinking, "maybe this time will be different?"
farseer 3y ago
A lot of the top tier games run fine on Linux using Steam/Proton Compatibly layer or just pure Wine. Do explore that.
jhanschoo 3y ago
You'll have to do some research to figure out how to get a decent copy of the old, moddable GTA III, and not the remastered, ported ones.
3abiton 3y ago
Eerly similar story! Linux is the ultimate rabbit hole.

by jl6 3y ago

shokk 3y ago

You just described my life back when Slackware OG was alpha in 1993, but on a 386 PC. 31 years later I never used my EE degree but traveled through all sorts of aspects of IT and IS.

emestifs 3y ago

Is a router a decent box? https://kittenlabs.de/real-gaming-router/ https://kittenlabs.de/real-gaming-router/

skoocda 3y ago
This was a phenomenal read. Thanks for linking

umvi 3y ago

Let's hear your distro journey! What did you start with, what do you currently use?

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
jl6 3y ago
I started with Mandrake (ironically for the game ban, I bought a retail version that came bundled with a copy of The Sims that had been rigged to run with wine), then tried Linux From Scratch (very educational), then a brief spell on Gentoo (because my Dell laptop needed some extra config to get the wifi working anyway, so I figured why not compile all the packages - then I figured out why). Then I liked KDE so moved to openSUSE, but then I stopped liking KDE when 4 came out and broke everything, so I moved to Ubuntu. Then I stopped liking GNOME when 3 broke everything, and at any rate I didn’t have so much time to fiddle any more, so I moved to Xubuntu, and there I remain.
- umvi 3y ago
  Big fan of Xubuntu! Recently switched to OpenSUSE Tumbleweed so I could have rolling release, but I still use XFCE as my desktop manager!

tharkun__ 3y ago

This is the one! Same here. Life happened. What I told my dad would never happen (not using Linux From Scratch or Gentoo - like how can he use Windows and like just get things done instead of digging deep and solving problems all the time?) did happen. I now use Debian derived but more up-to-date and easy to use for mainstream people distros (like shudder Ubuntu) and they're relegated to server and TV duty and I hope nothing breaks when I upgrade from LTS to LTS version coz "I don't have time for this!" and I play a few games here and there on my Windows laptop. But I think it's important to have gone through the "rabbit hole" in the middle. All the digging and understanding I did I still do all the time at work. I just no longer spend the other half of my life on it. I spend it digging into other things.

sgarland 3y ago
I think the ??? --> Gentoo --> Something Stable pipeline is a defining characteristic of 90s/00s nerds. I _think_ the first Linux distro I ever installed was Slackware, but ashamedly, I can't remember. In my defense, I would've been about 10 years old at the time. I played around with a ton of others (I'm fairly certain I tried Debian Woody), but settled on Gentoo, because of course. Forget just tying up the phone line for dial-up, I tied up both of the family computers with distcc. After a career break wherein I did relatively little with computers for a decade, I got back into Linux and quickly realized I did not care about -funroll-loops. I've been running Debian non-stop since Jessie, on everything from repurposed laptops, to ancient tower servers, to slightly-less-ancient racks. > But I think it's important to have gone through the "rabbit hole" in the middle. This right here. There is an endless stream of "how do I learn Linux?" questions on Reddit, and the answers are always some variation of "read this book," "take this course," etc. Perhaps there is value there, but I learned it by trying to do stuff. Like getting an HP PSC 2610 to talk to hplip and CUPS over LAN. Or getting a Chaintech AV-710's (an obscure sound card that happened to use an excellent DAC for 2-channel output) to work under ALSA. Doing these kinds of things forced you to read man pages, forums, newsgroups, etc. And when you succeeded, you could write up a HOWTO, and the three other people in the world who also needed this particular combination would give thanks.

eddd-ddde 3y ago

The old-laptop -> install-linux-because-windows-wont-run -> tech-career pipeline is absolutely real. It got me to learn C, graphics programming, operating systems, networks and firewall, literally everything I wanted to do required a couple of days deep in arch linux wiki learning about all kinds of inter-connected systems.

asmr 3y ago
Yep, this is how I spent High School, although I did have prior interest in computers. I started tinkering with Debian on a hand-me-down HP pavilion and ended with a ThinkPad T60 with Arch. Developed a lot of skills that helped me get started in my career.
captainkrtek 3y ago
When I ditched Windows and installed Ubuntu 8.04 on my personal computer was my gateway into further tech (building PCs, using a terminal, programming, etc.) and set the foundation for my career.

pictureofabear 3y ago

It was a big moment for me too when I realized that the real world has infinitely many interesting things to do and explore. The real world is incredibly detailed.

mmh0000 3y ago
Hard disagree. The real world only has pain and suffering. Endless trials and never a payout. Games on the other hand and very detailed and have a well defined path to success.
- amerkhalid 3y ago
  The real problem with real world is that it is so boring most of the time. Well designed video games can be hard or even harder than real life but they give you constant endorphins or dopamine hits to keep you going. And you can take a break from video games without any negative repercussions.
- wdh505 3y ago
  The hardest part of life is to reward the process over the outcomes. Videogames don't have that constraint.
- hirvi74 3y ago
  This oddly enough has been quite a big issue in my life as of lately. I need to get off my ass and start working towards better things in real life in order to (potentially) better my situation e.g. new job, better hobbies, etc.. However, I have always had issues with gaming on and off throughout my life (perhaps a lot more on than off). I seriously think that a lot of my issues with gaming is that games are preferential to life in many regards. In a game, I know if I work hard and follow the steps/guides/quests, then I will be rewarded. Goals are obtainable in that if I fail to achieve them it is my fault -- because I did something incorrectly. Sadly, when I take breaks from gaming, I am not a productivity machine. I just find something else to waste the time with. In the back of my mind, I want to believe that if I work hard and better my situation, then will finally be rewarded. But I have worked hard to get where I am, and I am still awaiting the reward, so to speak. So, I think a part of my brain has taken the shortcut to destroy my motivation because I know that Sisyphus isn't the only one rolling the boulder up the hill thinking, "maybe this time will be different?"

farseer 3y ago

A lot of the top tier games run fine on Linux using Steam/Proton Compatibly layer or just pure Wine. Do explore that.

jhanschoo 3y ago

You'll have to do some research to figure out how to get a decent copy of the old, moddable GTA III, and not the remastered, ported ones.

3abiton 3y ago

Eerly similar story! Linux is the ultimate rabbit hole.