if I just browsed the web and didn’t play any computer games I’d be on Mac or Linux. I’m only on windows because it’s familiar, works with my games (new and old), and I’m lazy
linux is at the point where your games probably now run better on linux than on windows, simply becausr windows has become so bloated with ai spyware running in the background
As someone who made the switch last year and had hesitated for pretty much the same reasons as you, I can with all honesty tell you that it was much less of a hassle than I had feared. Basically not very different than when you do an install of Windows. There was some struggle understanding the concept of mounting drives and getting that to work, which was probably the biggest issue for me, and there was plenty of guides out there which helped me through.
The best part is when it is done and that looming depressing feeling of having to deal with Windows on a daily basis was gone. I had had no idea of how much that feeling actually had negatively influenced me until it simply wasn’t there anymore.
Been using Linux fulltime since the Win10 licensing servers were taken offline and I had a fustercluck situation with recovery. It’s been perfect, and a lot faster: 90%+ via Steam means no effort, and the rest through Heroic Launcher (and before that Lutris).
Unless you’re a fan of one of the very few games with anticheat that actively blocks Linux (Tarkov? etc), there is a way.
I switched late last year, Linux is not (that) hard and I have not had a single problem running any games (Steam, Heroic and Lutris cover them all). Hell, I run emulators now that I never did before and I have all my Wii, WiiU, Switch, PS3 and Xbox games on my Linux machine, lol.
The games thing? There are more than enough of those to play that just work.
It gets difficult when you have old stuff. I’ll put a spoiler for a pointless, pent up rant, lmao
paljastus
My problem has been getting the sims 2 working, so far I keep my main on win10 just because of it, I hate windows so much but I’m just stuck. I even have zorin on my laptop, so I know how much better things are on linux which makes this extra frustrating.
Of course I can get the legacy version through steam, but getting the game run is the least of my worries. The actual problem is I want to run ultimate collection with RPC, need tons of mods where a lot is installed in the game file folders directly, and around 7 small programs on the side which would all then have to be somehow configured to work in the same bottle (as far as I understand). And I have not even found working linux alternative to the mindmapping tool I use to create family trees, and the only working one even on windows that has auto-arranging cells you can link crosswise just by clicking is through fucking microsoft store, and I can’t run it through virtual machine because I need to use it at the same time I play and that requires way more juice than I have…
It’s all way above my skill level and I don’t enjoy tinkering enough to dive even deeper into it, so I just gave up. I’ve considered dual booting, but I game on the other screen and do other stuff on another at the same time, so it would be pointless since I’d still only use the win10 on it anyway.
It’s a damn 20-year-old game, so changes of getting any of this more easily linux compatible depends entirely on if some random hobbyists want to take a look at it. And I cannot even give up playing it the way I do, it’s one of my autistic hyperfixations so it’ll probably have to be pried from my cold, dead hands. I don’t know what the situation will be when MAS ends in few years, but I’ll have to figure something out before it
That is a tall order! Old game, lots of mods, lots of windows files/folders. Probably a lot of tinkering just to get that far.
You doing real family trees, or sims family trees?
For real ones: Gramps is not particularly easy to use, but it is real genealogy software and supports the open standard for importing and exporting data.
As for the game, this is what I would do: I would grab a $20 machine or re-purpose an older one. Put windows on it. Put your game on it. Remote into it (either RDP, or use moonlight). Clipboard is shared, the screen is the game, it works really, really well. And you can preserve your SIMS game when Windows starts to force changes that break things because your main computer is used for the secure stuff like browsing and email, and other games.
That said, I have seen the Sims 2 complete repacked with patches for Lutris that is basically click and run. How many of your mods work, I don’t know.
You doing real family trees, or sims family trees?
Sims family trees! What I use right now is quikflow, it’s the only tool I’ve found so far that actually allows me do what I need on the fly, since I use it as I play. The auto arranging especially is priceless, when there’s easily over 100 sims and they’re all related to each other it gets really difficult to keep track of the family without the fluid enough software for it. The trees also constantly grow and change, and I have to mark all the dead and family lines etc. and it’s just a giant clusterfuck lmao (but it’s incredibly fun). I do keep searching for a linux-usable program that would be even better suited for the trees, but so far I haven’t found any, they’re all too bulky and lack the auto arranging and/or easy cross-linking.
And yeah, I might have to just do something like that. With the lutris versions the trouble is the links keep dying (I think EA is intentionally targeting them to get people buy legacy edition), so every time I look into it they are dead already, or have installation requirements that are seriously complicated. I probably do have to jump to legacy version at some point, but then I’ll also have problems with the extra programs… yeah, I have no idea how to sort out that whole mess.
Even though most games do work now, when you do these weird random niche things, linux is still a bit too hard to approach
I run all my VR stuff on Linux and have for two years now. Beyond needing ALVR or WiVRn to stream wirelessly to my headset it’s painless and I get higher framerates than my friends on Windows.
Well that’s even better! I had issues trying to do it, but that was a few years ago. Thanks for the input, any tips on making this work, or is it easy enough? What is the headset?
Quest 3 (until the Frame comes out and I can get the fuck out of Meta’s garbage).
There’s a Linux VR Discord that’s super helpful of you’re in that ecosystem, but basically look into WiVRn and ALVR projects, install, and play with configs. It’s easier to do than it looks but depends on your distro, video card etc.
On my system both ALVR then WiVRn installs were as simple as installing the packages and running them. Some games complained with WiVRn but all I had to do was add a string to the launch options in Steam that was provided by the launcher for just such a case.
Linux VR has come a long way for sure! Feel free to hit me up if you have more questions, or hell I’m happy to help in VR Chat/Resonite too if you just wanna chat about the tech lol, I’m one of the weirdos that still thinks this stuff is cool even if it’s never going to be mainstream the way corps keep trying to monitize it.
Thanks! I am away from home for about two more weeks, but I am going to give it a try. I like buying the humble vr bundles just to play with them, and any sort of motion game for fun/keeping active on rainy days.
I have a quest 1 and 2, but I havent used either in a while. Both were given to me, so I can’t complain. Half Life Alyx was a fantastic game, and really showed me how good it could be.
I am right there with you: as soon as I can get a frame I am moving on to it.
Lol, no idea. She mentioned hers was melted and wouldn’t charge and asked if I wanted it while I was on that side of the country. The plastic around the USB charging port was completely melted/burned. Luckily the port itself is mounted on its own daughterboard and I just build/wired up a new one.
Ended up with a Quest 3 shortly after experimenting.
I have been in Linux since Windows 11 for a few years now and it’s the laziest OS i use, barely any maintenance, works with most games (and those who don’t work is usually because of the kernel anticheat or refusing to implement the anticheat) but I don’t play mp games anymore.
if I just browsed the web and didn’t play any computer games I’d be on Mac or Linux. I’m only on windows because it’s familiar, works with my games (new and old), and I’m lazy
linux is at the point where your games probably now run better on linux than on windows, simply becausr windows has become so bloated with ai spyware running in the background
I agree with you. I’m just scared/lazy and don’t want to take the dive. one day though
Eh, stay on Lemmy long enough and one day you’ll boot your computer and find it running Linux
As someone who made the switch last year and had hesitated for pretty much the same reasons as you, I can with all honesty tell you that it was much less of a hassle than I had feared. Basically not very different than when you do an install of Windows. There was some struggle understanding the concept of mounting drives and getting that to work, which was probably the biggest issue for me, and there was plenty of guides out there which helped me through.
The best part is when it is done and that looming depressing feeling of having to deal with Windows on a daily basis was gone. I had had no idea of how much that feeling actually had negatively influenced me until it simply wasn’t there anymore.
Been using Linux fulltime since the Win10 licensing servers were taken offline and I had a fustercluck situation with recovery. It’s been perfect, and a lot faster: 90%+ via Steam means no effort, and the rest through Heroic Launcher (and before that Lutris).
Unless you’re a fan of one of the very few games with anticheat that actively blocks Linux (Tarkov? etc), there is a way.
YMMV, etc, etc. You do you. ☺️
I switched late last year, Linux is not (that) hard and I have not had a single problem running any games (Steam, Heroic and Lutris cover them all). Hell, I run emulators now that I never did before and I have all my Wii, WiiU, Switch, PS3 and Xbox games on my Linux machine, lol.
So weird. I too am lazy, it’s why I use Linux. I don’t have time for windows bullshit.
The games thing? There are more than enough of those to play that just work.
Playing the latest resident evil, mewgenics and the french 33 game, whatever its called.
If you are doing VR, well then you got a point. Still if I had to, I would simply dual boot for it.
It gets difficult when you have old stuff. I’ll put a spoiler for a pointless, pent up rant, lmao
paljastus
My problem has been getting the sims 2 working, so far I keep my main on win10 just because of it, I hate windows so much but I’m just stuck. I even have zorin on my laptop, so I know how much better things are on linux which makes this extra frustrating.
Of course I can get the legacy version through steam, but getting the game run is the least of my worries. The actual problem is I want to run ultimate collection with RPC, need tons of mods where a lot is installed in the game file folders directly, and around 7 small programs on the side which would all then have to be somehow configured to work in the same bottle (as far as I understand). And I have not even found working linux alternative to the mindmapping tool I use to create family trees, and the only working one even on windows that has auto-arranging cells you can link crosswise just by clicking is through fucking microsoft store, and I can’t run it through virtual machine because I need to use it at the same time I play and that requires way more juice than I have…
It’s all way above my skill level and I don’t enjoy tinkering enough to dive even deeper into it, so I just gave up. I’ve considered dual booting, but I game on the other screen and do other stuff on another at the same time, so it would be pointless since I’d still only use the win10 on it anyway.
It’s a damn 20-year-old game, so changes of getting any of this more easily linux compatible depends entirely on if some random hobbyists want to take a look at it. And I cannot even give up playing it the way I do, it’s one of my autistic hyperfixations so it’ll probably have to be pried from my cold, dead hands. I don’t know what the situation will be when MAS ends in few years, but I’ll have to figure something out before it
That is a tall order! Old game, lots of mods, lots of windows files/folders. Probably a lot of tinkering just to get that far.
You doing real family trees, or sims family trees?
For real ones: Gramps is not particularly easy to use, but it is real genealogy software and supports the open standard for importing and exporting data.
As for the game, this is what I would do: I would grab a $20 machine or re-purpose an older one. Put windows on it. Put your game on it. Remote into it (either RDP, or use moonlight). Clipboard is shared, the screen is the game, it works really, really well. And you can preserve your SIMS game when Windows starts to force changes that break things because your main computer is used for the secure stuff like browsing and email, and other games.
That said, I have seen the Sims 2 complete repacked with patches for Lutris that is basically click and run. How many of your mods work, I don’t know.
Sims family trees! What I use right now is quikflow, it’s the only tool I’ve found so far that actually allows me do what I need on the fly, since I use it as I play. The auto arranging especially is priceless, when there’s easily over 100 sims and they’re all related to each other it gets really difficult to keep track of the family without the fluid enough software for it. The trees also constantly grow and change, and I have to mark all the dead and family lines etc. and it’s just a giant clusterfuck lmao (but it’s incredibly fun). I do keep searching for a linux-usable program that would be even better suited for the trees, but so far I haven’t found any, they’re all too bulky and lack the auto arranging and/or easy cross-linking.
And yeah, I might have to just do something like that. With the lutris versions the trouble is the links keep dying (I think EA is intentionally targeting them to get people buy legacy edition), so every time I look into it they are dead already, or have installation requirements that are seriously complicated. I probably do have to jump to legacy version at some point, but then I’ll also have problems with the extra programs… yeah, I have no idea how to sort out that whole mess.
Even though most games do work now, when you do these weird random niche things, linux is still a bit too hard to approach
I run all my VR stuff on Linux and have for two years now. Beyond needing ALVR or WiVRn to stream wirelessly to my headset it’s painless and I get higher framerates than my friends on Windows.
Same, both with Index and Quest 2.
A bit more fiddly than running a game on Steam, but if you’ve installed mods in a game then you’re more than capable of getting VR working.
Nice to hear… However I haven’t figured out how to get my HTC Vive to behave nicely on Linux…
Well that’s even better! I had issues trying to do it, but that was a few years ago. Thanks for the input, any tips on making this work, or is it easy enough? What is the headset?
Quest 3 (until the Frame comes out and I can get the fuck out of Meta’s garbage).
There’s a Linux VR Discord that’s super helpful of you’re in that ecosystem, but basically look into WiVRn and ALVR projects, install, and play with configs. It’s easier to do than it looks but depends on your distro, video card etc.
On my system both ALVR then WiVRn installs were as simple as installing the packages and running them. Some games complained with WiVRn but all I had to do was add a string to the launch options in Steam that was provided by the launcher for just such a case.
Linux VR has come a long way for sure! Feel free to hit me up if you have more questions, or hell I’m happy to help in VR Chat/Resonite too if you just wanna chat about the tech lol, I’m one of the weirdos that still thinks this stuff is cool even if it’s never going to be mainstream the way corps keep trying to monitize it.
Edit: links help 🙄 https://discord.gg/QxrS6dcaa
Thanks! I am away from home for about two more weeks, but I am going to give it a try. I like buying the humble vr bundles just to play with them, and any sort of motion game for fun/keeping active on rainy days.
I have a quest 1 and 2, but I havent used either in a while. Both were given to me, so I can’t complain. Half Life Alyx was a fantastic game, and really showed me how good it could be.
I am right there with you: as soon as I can get a frame I am moving on to it.
The Quest 2 should work fine for all of this. I got started down this path after rebuilding my sister’s that had caught fire and melted 😆
How common are quest fires!
Lol, no idea. She mentioned hers was melted and wouldn’t charge and asked if I wanted it while I was on that side of the country. The plastic around the USB charging port was completely melted/burned. Luckily the port itself is mounted on its own daughterboard and I just build/wired up a new one.
Ended up with a Quest 3 shortly after experimenting.
I have been in Linux since Windows 11 for a few years now and it’s the laziest OS i use, barely any maintenance, works with most games (and those who don’t work is usually because of the kernel anticheat or refusing to implement the anticheat) but I don’t play mp games anymore.
Truth, I feel the same way. If my pc broke tomorrow, it’d be rebuilt as Linux