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Many or most of those 95% who are just using Windows for PC games and using a web browser would be well served by either trying out or having a tech-savvy neigh

Many or most of those 95% who are just using Windows for PC games and using a web browser would be well served by either trying out or having a tech-savvy neighbor help them try out a Linux distro like Bazzite. I used to boot into Windows regularly to play video games. I haven't booted into Windows in ages. Proton is really good, and the major web browsers work the same on -at minimum- Windows, OSX, and Linux. Plus, it's been my experience that drivers for AMD's graphics cards just work better on Linux... especially for older games. It helps that the folks writing them aren't working for "AI"-crazy companies that have probably massively slashed the resources they're giving the driver programmers for their consumer-grade cards. (After all, why spend any money on software for video games when you can spend that money on software for "AI" stuff and get a much larger ROI?)

NDizzle 2mo ago
From what I can tell, gaming with an nvidia card on Linux is still rough. Is that incorrect?
- Sphax 2mo ago
  It depends on your card I think. I can say that with a 3080 Ti and now a 5090 I have no issue playing almost all the games on steam on Fedora 44, event a lot of games not explicitly compatible. I’ve been using Linux only for probably a year now and I don’t see a good reason to go back to Windows for gaming myself.
- thewebguyd 2mo ago
  Somewhat. There's still a ~20% ish performance impact for DX12 titles on Nvidia, but on any newer/recent card it basically just brute forces it and ends up being fine unless you are an FPS chaser and have an issue with getting, say, 140 FPS instead of 168 FPS. That'll matter if you play competitive PvP games, but otherwise you probably won't notice (depending on the game)
nessguy 2mo ago
Last time I tried out linux (Earlier this year) I had to give up on it because my system would occasionally freeze to the point I needed to do a hard reset. I thought it was a hardware issue, but it ended up being a linux amd driver issue. I haven’t had a problem since switching back to windows.
thewebguyd 2mo ago
> Many or most of those 95% who are just using Windows for PC games and using a web browser would be well served by either trying out or having a tech-savvy neighbor help them try out a Linux distro like Bazzite. This is true until you consider what that exact casual market looks like. Mainstream casual PC gamers are overwhelmingly concentrated in live service multiplayer AAA games with kernel level anticheat. Fortnite, League of Legends, Valorant, Call of Duty, Apex Legends, etc. So it's kind of a hard spot where yes, 95% of casual windows gamers would in theory be much better off on Linux but the Catch-22 is the games that market is mostly concentrated on is the single category that still does not work on Linux. It's not like Windows is an OS they love, it's just a mandatory anti-cheat wall, but its a wall Linux can't breach yet.
- vablings 2mo ago
  So, to be clear, and to really drive this point home. Gaming on Linux is absolutely viable and practical it's just the efforts are sunken by bad developers who refuse to enable compatibility or figure out a better solution. "games that market is mostly concentrated on is the single category that still does not work on Linux." All of the games you described have and will work on Linux perfectly fine under proton, it is the developers CHOICE for these games not to work.
  - Rohansi 2mo ago
    > it is the developers CHOICE for these games not to work. Can you blame them if the choices they have are a) support Linux but with weak anti-cheat, or b) exclude ~3% of PC gamers?
    - vablings 2mo ago
      It is my opinion that a large chunk of the legwork in anti-cheating is solved by protecting your game with adequate server-side checks and heuristics/data. Valve does a pretty poor job of this but there are plenty of games with a thriving competitive environment that does not require the use of kernel anti-cheat.
Rohansi 2mo ago
The problem is most people "who are just using Windows for PC games and using a web browser" are not a good fit for Linux. They don't install their OS themselves so cannot install a Linux distro. They don't do their own regular maintenance so forced updates are necessary. They expect software like Office to be available - not alternatives that work a bit differently and have buttons in unfamiliar places. Computer literacy is going down so this is only getting worse. Hardware that ships with SteamOS is the best chance to get PC gamers onto Linux. It's already being used by nearly 1% of Steam users and Steam has a lot of users. > Plus, it's been my experience that drivers for AMD's graphics cards just work better on Linux That's why Valve went with AMD for the Steam Deck and Machine. But it's also another blocker because 72% of Steam users have an Nvidia GPU.
- simoncion 2mo ago
  > The problem is most people... From the first sentence in my reply: Many or most of those 95% ...would be well served by either trying out or having a tech-savvy neighbor help them try out... > But it's also another blocker because 72% of Steam users have an Nvidia GPU. My buddy games on Linux and has an nVidia graphics card. It works well enough when you use nVidia's proprietary drivers. Distros like Bazzite install those out of the box. See also this comment [0] posted two hours before yours. [0] <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49099323 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49099323>
  - Rohansi 2mo ago
    > Many or most of those 95% ...would be well served by either trying out or having a tech-savvy neighbor help them try out... I ignored this bit because it wouldn't make an impact. Curiosity and patience is limited for most people so they don't bother exploring options - they just want to game. Having a friend/family/neighbor who can help would be great if there were enough of us, but they still need to take the first step and ask. Valve is apparently working with Nvidia for proper support with SteamOS. I have my doubts though, I expect AMD will continue to be the best choice, but official support in SteamOS would be significant.
    - 2mo ago

NDizzle 2mo ago

From what I can tell, gaming with an nvidia card on Linux is still rough. Is that incorrect?

Sphax 2mo ago
It depends on your card I think. I can say that with a 3080 Ti and now a 5090 I have no issue playing almost all the games on steam on Fedora 44, event a lot of games not explicitly compatible. I’ve been using Linux only for probably a year now and I don’t see a good reason to go back to Windows for gaming myself.
thewebguyd 2mo ago
Somewhat. There's still a ~20% ish performance impact for DX12 titles on Nvidia, but on any newer/recent card it basically just brute forces it and ends up being fine unless you are an FPS chaser and have an issue with getting, say, 140 FPS instead of 168 FPS. That'll matter if you play competitive PvP games, but otherwise you probably won't notice (depending on the game)

nessguy 2mo ago

Last time I tried out linux (Earlier this year) I had to give up on it because my system would occasionally freeze to the point I needed to do a hard reset. I thought it was a hardware issue, but it ended up being a linux amd driver issue. I haven’t had a problem since switching back to windows.

thewebguyd 2mo ago

> Many or most of those 95% who are just using Windows for PC games and using a web browser would be well served by either trying out or having a tech-savvy neighbor help them try out a Linux distro like Bazzite. This is true until you consider what that exact casual market looks like. Mainstream casual PC gamers are overwhelmingly concentrated in live service multiplayer AAA games with kernel level anticheat. Fortnite, League of Legends, Valorant, Call of Duty, Apex Legends, etc. So it's kind of a hard spot where yes, 95% of casual windows gamers would in theory be much better off on Linux but the Catch-22 is the games that market is mostly concentrated on is the single category that still does not work on Linux. It's not like Windows is an OS they love, it's just a mandatory anti-cheat wall, but its a wall Linux can't breach yet.

vablings 2mo ago
So, to be clear, and to really drive this point home. Gaming on Linux is absolutely viable and practical it's just the efforts are sunken by bad developers who refuse to enable compatibility or figure out a better solution. "games that market is mostly concentrated on is the single category that still does not work on Linux." All of the games you described have and will work on Linux perfectly fine under proton, it is the developers CHOICE for these games not to work.
- Rohansi 2mo ago
  > it is the developers CHOICE for these games not to work. Can you blame them if the choices they have are a) support Linux but with weak anti-cheat, or b) exclude ~3% of PC gamers?
  - vablings 2mo ago
    It is my opinion that a large chunk of the legwork in anti-cheating is solved by protecting your game with adequate server-side checks and heuristics/data. Valve does a pretty poor job of this but there are plenty of games with a thriving competitive environment that does not require the use of kernel anti-cheat.

Rohansi 2mo ago

The problem is most people "who are just using Windows for PC games and using a web browser" are not a good fit for Linux. They don't install their OS themselves so cannot install a Linux distro. They don't do their own regular maintenance so forced updates are necessary. They expect software like Office to be available - not alternatives that work a bit differently and have buttons in unfamiliar places. Computer literacy is going down so this is only getting worse. Hardware that ships with SteamOS is the best chance to get PC gamers onto Linux. It's already being used by nearly 1% of Steam users and Steam has a lot of users. > Plus, it's been my experience that drivers for AMD's graphics cards just work better on Linux That's why Valve went with AMD for the Steam Deck and Machine. But it's also another blocker because 72% of Steam users have an Nvidia GPU.

simoncion 2mo ago
> The problem is most people... From the first sentence in my reply: Many or most of those 95% ...would be well served by either trying out or having a tech-savvy neighbor help them try out... > But it's also another blocker because 72% of Steam users have an Nvidia GPU. My buddy games on Linux and has an nVidia graphics card. It works well enough when you use nVidia's proprietary drivers. Distros like Bazzite install those out of the box. See also this comment [0] posted two hours before yours. [0] <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49099323 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49099323>
- Rohansi 2mo ago
  > Many or most of those 95% ...would be well served by either trying out or having a tech-savvy neighbor help them try out... I ignored this bit because it wouldn't make an impact. Curiosity and patience is limited for most people so they don't bother exploring options - they just want to game. Having a friend/family/neighbor who can help would be great if there were enough of us, but they still need to take the first step and ask. Valve is apparently working with Nvidia for proper support with SteamOS. I have my doubts though, I expect AMD will continue to be the best choice, but official support in SteamOS would be significant.
  - 2mo ago