Decided to ask here because I feel I’d be grilled on Reddit or anywhere else for this.

With data leaks, security concerns, and Microsoft’s spaghetti coding I really think it’s time for me to make the switch to Linux.

I will preface that I am used to SteamOS and KDE Plasma on my Steam Deck and love the functionality. It’s very intuitive for someone who isn’t prone to using a terminal, but I know a general understanding of when to use it and how to not brick my device.

I’m switching due to the security concerns of Windows 11, annoyances I’m sure we’ve all had, and looking for that hands-on experience for my new personal computer.

I’m going to be building a new gaming PC soon and I’m looking for a number of variables to note, warnings, and suggestions of:

    1. What distro to use that is as customizable as KDE, safe, and intuitive. Or should I stick with it? Any common issues with it or a recommendation?
    1. What games will I need to say goodbye to? I know many games using anticheat won’t always work but I understand how Proton and Wine can help for workarounds, I’ve used some to run Roblox and Rust before on the Deck.
    1. Will I need to replace parts? Maybe a stupid question, but still gotta know.
    1. Is it worth switching for the games I play or is it better to dual-boot/VM?
    1. Any other warnings that may stray me away from Linux (so that I can research and not fall into lol)
    1. Tips on applications for workarounds.
  • megopie@beehaw.orgEnglish
    6·
    1 day ago

    KDE is avalible for most distros. It being just a desktop environment. It’s well supported on Fedora, openSUSE, Debian and Arch. As well as many of the various distros based on those. Ubuntu, a Debian derivative, and fedora both have a version that installs with KDE out of the box, and the arch install script has it as one of the main options. You could also install it on mint, but, like, half the point of mint is the cinnamon desktop.

    If you’re interested in customizability, are willing to read some wiki pages, and never want to wait for support for some new feature, arch is great.

    If you want a system that’s incredibly stable, will run on basically any computer made after 1995, and is generally just very reliable. Debian can’t be beat.

    Fedora and Ubuntu are both fairly easy to use, new versions are released fairly often. If you don’t want to think much about it, they’re good options.

    As for game compatibility, most will work without any effort, some stuff will need a bit of puttzing with settings. The only situations where you may need a VM or duel boot would be certain competitive multiplayer games that specifically use kernel level anti cheat. If you play one of those, check it on ProtonDB . Notionally Proton DB is for the steam deck and steam games run through proton, but generally what’s on there also applies to any other game run through wine.

    You shouldn’t need to replace any hardware. If you have an Nvidia graphics card you will need to install the drivers as they don’t come with the kernel, but it will run just fine. I’ve heard of some issues regarding specific brands of headphones, and I had to fuss a bit to get my microphone and it’s audio interfacing working.

    Adobe products, a lot of popular music production software and a few popular CAD programs will have issues. Most of them can be run on Linux, but they don’t like it, and finding an alternative would be better.