Adapted from my blog post on WordPress
I have been using Linux for a long time now, maybe since 2022-23 or so. My first distro is Zorin OS, which I quitted due to very limited customization on graphical.
I rarely talk about Linux; I used to have a Linux blog but abandoned it after one post (the blog is still available to read though). The only few times I talk about Linux is when I’m on Reddit, whether it’s r/thinkpads, r/debian or r/unixporn. Most people who use Linux (esp. Arch Linux) often boasts about using it with other people on the internet. Well, weird flex, but I usually don’t.
Aside from that I use Windows 11 for gaming, office and dev tasks for Windows.
Devices
Not many people know that I have two laptops: a small ThinkPad X13 for portable work, and a thick, heavy, metal Dell Precision 7550 for main tasks and gaming. Both uses Debian sid, the rolling release version of Debian.
specs are on screen
Things to say
To begin with, installing and using Linux is very easy (unless you want to torture yourself with the endless cycles of updating and breaking of Arch Linux, or the neverending build process of Gentoo). It’s as simple as one-two-three.
However, using certain hardware on Linux is a pain in the ***. For example, Nvidia cards and Realtek WiFi cards. The former has terrible driver support (to compare with Intel dGPU (Arc) and AMD dGPU (Radeon), both of which have open-source drivers available on the kernel defaultedly). The latter is a hit-or-miss; Realtek WiFi often drop signal terribly (poor driver), while Intel cards are much better in this aspect.
There are also software compatibilities. Most Windows software can run on Linux over Wine/Proton. The few that can’t are newer Adobe tools (seriously? still using Adobe in 2026?) (CS6 or older works fine), kernel-level anticheats (e.g. Riot’s Vanguard, FACEIT Anticheat, whatever Ubisoft is using for R6S, Epic Games’s Fortnite’s version of Easy Anti-Cheat (EAC for most other games work fine), Activision’s Ricochet,…) and modern Office tools.
Other than that, using Linux is relatively easy…
The Linux experience
Linux is known to run on surprisingly old hardware efficiently. It is light on all aspects: use little CPU/GPU power, use little RAM, take little storage. Unless you want to use GNOME, all desktop environments/compositors (or windows managers), which are what you use for controlling things with your mouse, are super light on resources, with some taking so little but making no compromises like Xfce or LXQt.
Most people would think Linux is terminal-heavy, maybe because from the Internet and movies. In reality, it is to an extent. You need to learn to use the terminal to install and update your software (it’s easy, sudo + your package manager + your synonym for update or install + your package to install), modifying your installation system-wide (copy and move and delete file, making a text file,…). Most other times you can just use the GUI, which contains everything: settings at an intermediate level, app store for Flatpak apps (a special type of apps), file manager,…
Linux is, unsurprisingly, good for software development. The Linux ecosystem, as well as how GNU/Linux is designed, allows a great variety of developmental tools to be used, including compilers, IDEs, terminals and shells,… Linux also runs great servers, but I would leave you on your own for learning about that.
Most people would say Linux can’t game. That is utterly wrong. Linux have Steam, in which have a lot of major titles running natively on Linux e.g. Dota 2, CS2, … If your title don’t have native Linux builds, you might have some luck with Proton. Proton is Valve’s fork of Wine which adds some gaming-focused features. Simply, open Settings and enable compatibility support from Compatibility tab. It will download Proton and when it finishes, you can install your games. Most games work fine on Linux, unless it uses any anticheat mentioned above. You can check if a game works on Linux by searching for it on ProtonDB.
What if your game isn’t on Steam? Lutris hosts a variety of install scripts for those games, as well as providing multiple compatibility tools (e.g. DXVK, dgVoodoo for old games,…). In addition, there are a lot of community-built launchers for those games.
Comments
Post a Comment