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I'm planning on switching to Linux on my main PC as I don't want to move to Windows 11 and was curious about other people's experiences doing so.

I have a Steam Deck and everything there works out of the box, but I imagine that's a more curated platform compared to standard distros.

What are your experiences, good or bad?

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[-] riskable@programming.dev 11 points 2 days ago

FANTASTIC! I love that 100% of the games I want to play work great without issue but what I love even more is the conveniences that Linux provides over Windows:

  • It is trivially easy to sync my configs/saves/game data across my network to different PCs with rsync -ave ssh (i.e. if I want to play on the big screen via the HTPC).
  • I can do the same with my phone using the FolderSync Android app (which supports sync over SSH just like rsync).
  • I can script stuff! Example: A lot of games (especially those with 3rd party mods) can be buggy AF and as a result of that, increase the possibility of corrupting my saves/game/world data. For these games I use rdiff-backup right there in the save/game/world directory every 10 minutes with say, 100 backups. Put that in a cron job and the worst that happens is I lose 10 minutes.
  • If the game has a server, chances are there's already a native Linux version which means I can run it locally on my PC in the background or just sync my whole game over to another of my Linux PCs and run it there. No need for complicated setups where you have to manage things across two completely different operating systems (like Windows 11 and Windows Server 2025 ahahaha; that's a joke poking fun at the Windows ecosystem if you don't get it 🤣).
  • I actually have the power to control where my sound goes on the fly and it actually fucking works (unlike Windows where you get to pick one device at a time and good luck keeping that one active if you have a Bluetooth audio device that likes to lose its connection from time to time... Ugh). You can actually do weird shit like send your audio over the network to a whole home's worth of PCs (or stream it over the Internet I guess) but I only ever did that once and man was it cool, haha. Still, it's nice to have the option (some open source dev worked really hard to make sure that works; and fantastically well too).
  • Multiple applications can use the GPU at the same time (if you're using Wayland) and that actually works properly. Unlike in Windows—where if you enable "hardware acceleration" in an app like Discord it can suddenly become slow AF scrolling when you've got a game open in the background.
  • You have vastly more control over gamepad/controllers in Linux than you do in Windows. In Windows—if your controller is detected properly (which hopefully doesn't require that you download a ~4GB of driver/bloat app bullshit)—you can test the buttons in the Settings/Control Panel. But that's all you can do. The X button is the X button is the X button. You want that button to send something else? You need sketchy proprietary 3rd party software for that! In Linux, you can do whatever TF you want with that button and there's several ways to do it (qjoypad gives you a nice GUI—right there in your distro's repositories for quick install).
  • No "You need to reboot your computer" popups in the middle of gaming/streaming!
  • You don't need sixteen bloated system tray/processes running at all times (slowing down your PC) to keep all your stuff working! If you use a Linux desktop for a few weeks then go back to Windows you'll get annoyed AF pretty fast at all those pop-ups, "Why did I put up with this BS?" 🤣
  • Privacy by default: HP, Nvidia, Dell, Logitech, Razer, and Microsoft can't see that you're playing that game that just got banned by MasterCard/Visa 🤣

Also—generally speaking—Linux is just more fun to use! Customize TF out of your desktop experience. The only thing stopping you is... you.

[-] termus@beehaw.org 1 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Is there a co-pilot like function that can pair two controllers together? That feature with my Xbox Adaptive Controller is kind of keeping me on Windows. Or I have to give up those games.

[-] verdigris@lemmy.ml 1 points 2 days ago

I don't understand what you mean, how do you do this in Windows?

[-] termus@beehaw.org 2 points 2 days ago

Through the Xbox Accessories app you can enable co-pilot mode between two Xbox controllers. So both are seen as one device. So I can use Left trigger and right trigger with my feet on the XBAC while keeping my controller in my lap and disabling the triggers on it so they are accidentally pressed.

[-] verdigris@lemmy.ml 4 points 2 days ago

Hmmm okay I understand. There might well be a dedicated program for this, but I'm also sure it's technically possible, just maybe far from trivial.

A bit of searching turned up this, I haven't tried it myself but it claims to offer the functionality you want: https://sourceforge.net/projects/linuxjoymap/

[-] termus@beehaw.org 2 points 2 days ago

Ooh this looks like it has some potential. I'll give it a shot. Thanks so much!

this post was submitted on 07 Aug 2025
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