Tl;Dr: if you don't do nothing, the CPU stays at 0% utilization. Magic?
~~(I'm kidding)~~
this post was submitted on 17 Aug 2023
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Linux
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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?
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.
The first sentence is invalid. There is such a minuscle amount of games not working on linux. On top of it, most games run better on linux (e.g. frametimes). Also your second argument is flawed and outdated. Privacy and having freedom and control is probably a much bigger driver to run and use linux on your desktop.
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.
I think that, IMO, you have to have a reason to move AWAY from Windows. The fact that you're asking the question tells me that you may have problems with Windows (and maybe Windows 11 in particular?). TPM and an initial user creation process that requires a Microsoft account come to mind.
I still recommend Ubuntu or Mint Linux for new users, although I dislike Snap packages (in the case of Ubuntu) and I recommend getting away from Snaps as soon as possible. These distros pretty much just work. I'm more fond of the MacOS look and feel, so this is what my desktop looks like currently
.
EDIT: I should point out that this is actually STOCK Ubuntu 23.04...
As you can see, my setup is very similar to MacOS (but not EXACTLY the same, which I prefer). Mint Linux is basically like Windows 10, only much better IMO. You pretty much can't go wrong with these two...
I’m in a similar boat—would love a compelling reason to move to Linux but just don’t feel it yet. Many of the things other commenters dislike about windows I don’t experience. I’d consider myself fairly competent at tinkering with windows, so I have a completely local login, don’t see any ads, and it doesn’t install updates until I tell it too (I scripted manually installing the Defender definition updates every day though). I use Actualtools AWM for fine grained control over desktop and window features which I’d need to find the equivalent of in a Linux desktop—doable I’m sure, but it feels like a lot of effort to be exactly where I am right now.
So I’ll keep looking for the opportunity to move, install Kubuntu on an old laptop, and in the meantime just get on with work.
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I have had better luck with Linux updates applying faster and they are more reliable than Windows. You can customize your desktop to have whatever theme you want. Also the privacy benefits are great too
I like linux lite
My server is Linux and it works great. My PC is Windows because, despite its flaws, it just works. Especially for playing games.
You say that I've actually got better performance in a few games running under proton
Linux for the most part just works for games now
If the games you want to play work well on Proton then it's fine. You'll receive a minimal performance hit, or on very rare occasions, none at all. Unfortunately something like half the top 10-20 games on Twitch either don't run on Linux at all, or run really poorly and require a lot of workarounds.
I've only really run into one or two games that haven't worked flawlessly not for lack of variety
I'm guessing the top games on twitch are probably competitive things with strict anti cheat right?
Yes, I think it's mostly anti-cheat causing the issues. Still, these are some of the most popular games in the world like Fortnite and Destiny 2 and Valorant.
Valorant I'm not surprised isn't that the one with the super invasive anticheat?
I’m not sure. I think any effective anti-cheat is invasive. I hate them but I hate cheaters even more.
Games manage to have good anti cheat that doesn't do that though, I rarely encounter cheaters in overwatch for example and if I have they've been really subtle about it
Last time I investigated this, Overwatch used a very poorly-designed client-side solution called Warden. It's a signature-based detection system, similar to antivirus. It looks for process IDs of known cheats. There is also some server-side heuristic detection which looks for impossible player stats that reveal rage-mode cheating. Again, this is easily defeated to the point that it doesn't work at all because cheaters know about it and spend the first few minutes of the match firing into walls and floors to dilute their stats. Detecting process IDs is useless when you can just make some minor changes and recompile every few days, which is exactly what the subscription-based hacks do. It is a naive and amateur solution, and because of its flawed architecture it can never be effective.
The only serious anti-cheat in any game is in Valorant. It's a kernel module that can detect low-level hacks. Overwatch's anti-cheat runs in user mode, and all the serious hacks use HID drivers that are recompiled periodically to prevent signature detection.
But how often realistically do you run into people who have spent money on clients like that? I'm going off perceived experience in the game and I have very noticed cheaters, and if they're around they aren't OP enough to ruin a game single handedly or it'd be obvious
Cheating estimates are hard. I think my Fortnite games are plagued by cheaters, but maybe I just suck and everyone else is competitive level. This study found that 32% of gamers had admitted to cheating, and 12% claim to cheat regularly. This study found astonishingly high levels of people searching for cheats for their games, with Sweden topping the ranks of cheaters.
Bottom line: if it's not a problem for you, that's great. It's a big problem for me and others, and I'm grateful to give up a little privacy in exchange for a cheat-free experience, which Valorant does.
You say that but I've cheated, I haven't cheated in any competitive games but I cheat in PVE stuff for shits and giggles all the time
Still salty about getting VAC banned dying light from for swimming at super speed in a co op lobby with vac explicitly disabled in everyone's settings
Cheating doesn't neccesarily mean ruining other people's experience unless the survey is specifically about competitive games
For home desktop use you really shouldn't.
Hard disagree. I use mint as my daily driver and gaming PC and run into less issues as a whole than if I was running windows
So I ended up going with mint XFCE (?) and I really dig it. It's comfortable. Now I'd have to work on migrating proper documents and files over but I might just keep them separate (have spread out over different drives anyways) until I get some hdd/ssd updates.
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