I’ve always used Windows and am super comfortable with it. I have set up a dual boot with fedora but don’t use it because I have never identified a need to use it. I see a lot of windows hate, so what does Linux have that I need? What can motivate me to migrate? What is a good Linux to have for a desktop + steam?
Not having Microsoft install candy crush and reenable telemetry trackers with every update.
I’ve been using Linux for 19 years. In that time I’ve very rarely booted Windows.
If you don’t feel comfortable with Linux, then why use it? People who pressure you ir have an elitist attitude have always existed on both Linux and Windows, but they come and go.
The only legitimate complaint someone might generally have is Windows being a weak link on a local network, but in most cases its usually, even then, just someone trying to be part of the in crowd of Linux opposed to actually understanding what they’re saying well enough to have a reasonable concern.
Most people who become interested in Linux go through some kind of phase that involves talking crap about security or privacy or free software rights, but regardless of any of that being true or untrue, most of us just wanted to try something different when we tried it and switched after becoming addicted, then we go through our arrogant phase.
- Telemetry and Tracking, you need to sign in to legitimately use your Windows 11 Machine and it does collect data you would not want to if you would know which and what data it is.
- Psychology feels different. You could actively be creative and do everything you want because noone watches you and there are no absurd backdoors on Linux.
- Linux Desktop with KDE (?) or Gnome (Fedora) it is… or Cinamon (Which mainly Linux mint uses). You have a wide variety to choose your Team that develops all the features into your comfort zone and if you elaborate with your Linux Desktop you will notice that many useful features exist since many years that enhance productivity or comfort. Like Window Tiling, set your window Always On Top or Always Below your windows, use Widgets (depends on which Desktop), make your windows wiggle or break in a quantum pattern or Fire when closed and discover more things that would not be possible on the hardcoded private Windows 10 or 11 Desktop.
- never ever update your PC again with Linux! Just get the newest Security updates and have a system running that will never force you to reinstall the shit again because a new Windows 12 came out and the transfer tool does not exist or deletes all programs. (Depends on Distro, Ubuntu needs complete upgrades that may break system, but Arch and Linux mint were perfect)
- Interested in encryption? No problem, it was always secure and easy to install with most GUI installers at OS install.
- Nicest way to install programs? Just use the easy to use package manager and be 3 clicks away to install the official and legitimate way of Steam, Blender or other application instead of needing to search the internet.
- Its satisfying and has a nice file structure.
- Learn your OS to the roots. You can learn how the details work if you want or are interested in a specific thing.
- Nerdy community instead of casuals who downplay you for not knowing that its obviously Wednesday patchday or another irrelevant day for Microsoft. (You also can get bad communities that downplay you anyway in Linux communities, but are very rare in my opinion compared to Windows focused ones)
Btw, if you don’t feel like the current distro feels comfy, just try a different one with maybe a different Desktop or different Desktop design. The best part about Linux is, its perfect. But there is no perfect fit for every Human, thus why I hate Windows for trying this “fit for all” Philosohpy, but maybe its just that I have setup a perfect Arch Linux System with KDE after using Kubuntu, Pop OS, Manjaro for 3 years and gaining knowledge about Linux.
so what does Linux have that I need?
That should be the other way around, no? What do you need that Linux has (and Windows doesn’t). Otherwise it’s a case of “solution in search of a problem”. You presently do not seem to have a need as you have mentioned, so ideally you should leave it at that and continue using Windows.
What can motivate me to migrate?
While as I implied above only you can answer that authoritatively for yourself, a few examples of what other people seem to like about Linux might help perhaps -
- “Free as in beer”, so not having to spring for another license if you build another rig
- “Free as in Freedom”, which matters to many but not necessarily everyone
- Better environment for development
- Less susceptibility to malware (not necessarily because of inherent security, but also because Linux is not targeted as much)
- Heavily customizable, at the kernel, desktop environment, other software-level
- Choice of software update mechanisms as well frequency of updates depending on use-case
- Reviving of old computers where Windows would typically struggle to run
- Community participation, though this can be a hit or a miss depending on where you hang out and who you interact with
… and so on.
What is a good Linux to have for a desktop + steam?
There are many, but I generally recommend Linux Mint or Pop! OS for this use-case.
Less susceptibility to malware (not necessarily because of inherent security, but also because Linux is not targeted as much)
It is always funny visiting sites that you know are riddled with malware and slipping right past as their scripts attempt to install stuff that isn’t even compatible with your computer.
For me the reason I’ve switched is Windows just feels bloated and slow to use especially on less powerful hardware. When I open a program on Linux it just opens instantly, no spinning wheel, no waiting 5 seconds for the start menu to finally decide to open
That and package management, on NixOS I have a list of installed programs and system config all in one place, so no random applications I installed 3 years ago and forgot about, uninstallers that don’t work, dodgey .exes etc
freedom of speech, actually owning your computer, more privacy. I recommend using mint or Pop!_OS
Everyone says mint overall
They’re wrong. Pop! master race.
Just wanted to share my experience as a new Linux user. I recently started getting much more serious about privacy and open source over the past year but I didn’t make the leap to Linux until Reddit killed all the 3rd party apps; probably because of all the Linux posts I began reading on Lemmy. I was searching up all posts similar to yours seeing which distro is “best” or to start out with. I decided to take the route of researching what I’m looking for and just trying out different distros and desktop environments.
Fast forward to today and after much trial and error, internet searching for troubleshooting answers, how-to videos, and testing about 7 different distros, I landed on OpenSUSE Tumbleweed and couldn’t be happier.
Linux is fast, customizable, and I no longer have to worry about windows spying on me. It definitely was a challenging switch, even though I’m very tech savvy, mainly because it’s a whole new language (for me). It was also extra challenging because I have a Samsung GalaxyBook3 Pro 360 and for some reason audio is shot on all the distros I tried. Thankfully, some very smart folk on the internet had a guide on how to get audio working (not perfectly though) using a command script and HDA verbs (like wtf are HDA verbs??? Lol). I also had to find a workaround for being able to use my laptop for work as well which heavily relies on Microsoft’s suite of apps. My solution? Install edge alongside my default browser of choice, to be used only for work, and operate entirely from office 365 web apps.
At the end of the day, I’ve found that everything you can do on windows, you can do on Linux (literally even run windows apps) and you can sometimes do things better on Linux. It takes patience, troubleshooting, and you may have to format a partition or two along the way but it’s so worth it. Just dive in and have fun with it. Everyone can give you their opinion on a distro to run or desktop environment to choose but remember they are just opinions at the end of the day and very much subjective.
Have fun! :)
Thank you
For me Linux is about customization, from windows7, Microsoft is removing a lot of things and trying to force a streamlined way of use it. I hate it.on Linux you have a much more control of your workflow, doing things in your wa, also there is a sense of community, wikies work, tutorials usually are better.
But, if you are super confortable with windows I will suggest you to not change. There is no reason for that, only if you are curious, but none system will be better that one you already like in every aspect and you need nothing.
For a beginners a distro is not even the most important thing, but the desktop environment, i can recommend endevourOS, manjaro, and mint, i the order i like most, and for the DE i highly recommend Cinnamon or KDE since you clearly don’t feel the need to change your desktop so much, Mate is also a greatDE but it is just a little bit uglier but has a good performance if you have a less potent machine
Microsoft is removing a lot of things and trying to force a streamlined way to use it
I’m still seething at their decision to rename “Prefetch” to “SysMain”. It doesn’t make any sense!
Most answers you will read here will have technical reasons at its core. For a normal average user that gew up with it, windows is fine. But as soon as you get a bit more tech savvy and/or privacy minded you suddenly see a lot to be desired. Most people switch to linux because they want more control, because its structure is more technically elegant, more responsive and because they don’t trust microsoft to respect their privacy.
Windows is 50GB on disk to install. An insane size for an OS. Windows often calls home without any indicaton or transparancy why. In linux you can control everything yourself. Windows is often slow or inefficient… On windows you have only limited ways to craft and costomize your desktop experience, which in linux allows fully. And more reasons like these.
As you can see for tech savvy people linux offers the tools to take control over your computing needs, if you have or develop the skills to do so. For more mainstream grade experiences distros like Ubuntu or Pop!OS provide a great environment that allows people to ignore the more technical stuff and get on with their needs. Using linux as your daily driver will require you to leave behind some old habits and learn some new ones, but its worth it in my opinion.
I daily drive PopOS on my gaming rig and whatever distro that catches my fancy on my development homelab labtop.
If you care about your privacy and you are a kind of IT guy, then never ever just watch into wireshark while using windows. I was so fucking scared about the shit running in my background while I had a really clean windows installation and a lot of services and tasks disabled. Holy moly, I could not tell if this where MS calling home or some maleware. Even a simple netstat was full of messy unneeded stuff I can‘t disable (I figured out how ti disable everything via registry, ending up having an unusable windows) Hint: I was beeing hacked on windows OS some years ago, which makes me paranoid not having any chances on windows to check if some unwanted programm uses your PC and sending data over the ethernet.
Switched to endeavourOs 1y ago and would never go back. Runs 10 times faster, can do 95% of my tasks and games without having huge workarounds, thanks to proton. I have finally the feel the OS belongs to me and I can mostly control what the hack is going on on my PC.
I recommend Linux Mint. It’s really great and works on older hardware as well as newer.
In the last 10 years I’ve used linux from time to time on my personal PC, mostly used for gaming and web browsing. Always switch back to Windows, because it was not ready for my use, mostly due to gaming.
3 months ago I got fed up by windows forcing on me the connected account and installing crap by default, so I tried a few distrib and stick to ArchLinux, this time I didn’t switch back to Windows, and for now, I don’t intend to. I don’t play online “competitive” FPS anymore, which tend to not work well on linux because of anti cheat. Linux compatibility improve every day for gaming, it has been mostly flaw less for the past 3 months. With the steam deck, compatibility greatly improved, and it’s getting better everyday.
I feel like Arch is more snappy than Windows, everything feels more responsive, and man update are so quick, Windows takes forever to update… And I like having more controls of what my PC is doing for better and worse.
Do a list of what you want and don’t want for your usage, then try some distrib and check if it fit your needs or not.
About competitive FPS I think only valorant does not work with Linux
Seems like you’re pretty happy with Windows. I don’t really see a reason to convinced you otherwise, but since you asked…
Basically, Linux can range from a bit to a shit ton more secure. It’s also, the the off and on exception of Ubuntu, free of ads, and much more respectful of your privacy. Also, depending on your hardware, Linux can offer a modest performance boost. I personally find maintenance to be much faster and less resource intensive, if a bit less noob-friendly.
But like I said - if you’re happy, why change?
the main reason are package managers, since the package managers on linux are much easier to use than winget(the one in windows). apart from that, there are not many other reasons to switch.
If you are using your PC to play games, stick to Windows.
Linux is better if you want to run servers or do software development.
If you’re a casual user who only uses office software and spreadsheets and watches pirated anime, you can use either but you should use Linux because it’s cheaper.
As a full spare timer gamer I slightly disagree with the point about games, if you can give a very small set of games away you can still play a ton of different games. But… Sometimes you will have to do some stuff to work properly, but it is very doable, i dont think it is will be a no go for anyone actually willing to switch, just my point.
IMO all three of these statements are true.
what does Linux have that I need?
- Better interface than Windows (KDE WM)
- Stable and noo downtime internet speed like Windows because background update, can increase your internet speed to 40% (can up to 80% in my case with Q4OS + pure profile installation)
- Customizable interface according to your preference (with learning curve first)
- As a home desktop, there’s so many useful apps from Linux (Recoll for example) that you can’t find on Windows
- Very lightweight and power save (according with the linux you use)
What can motivate me to migrate?
IMO when you migrate to Linux, you can learn many things that you never think about before and it give you the easiest solution for daily life. From piracy, privacy, ideology, and deep tinkering other things that you can’t do on Windows (Coreboot / Libreboot, or HAM Radio hack for example).
What is a good Linux to have for a desktop + steam?
Pop! OS is the best choice you have. But if you want to create home desktop for your family using it, I recommended Q4OS with Pure Profile installation, just install Firefox + Ublock Origin and you can go perfectly good…
