cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/14762903
I am switching to Linux for the first time.
I heard Mint is really good but am not sure exactly which distro is best to use with Steam, as well as with newer games, as I primarily use my computer for gaming.
I generally play games like Final Fantasy XIV, Baldur’s Gate 3, Elden Ring, Elder Scrolls Online, and Total War: Warhammer 3.
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I also recently switched to Linux on my main PC which is also my gaming PC. I tried Mint first but had too many hardware issues, mostly related to motherboard audio chip. Manjaro was next and it resolved my hardware issues but I didn’t like the package manager. Third was openSUSE Tumbleweed and that one stuck. Been using it for several weeks now and I love it.
One thing I’d like to ask, as someone also starting to get fed up with windows. I know there’s proton and all but how does Linux work with VR? I have an index and nvidia card, and most of my VR is playing digital combat sim (DCS) but I do enjoy playing actual VR games from time to time. Is Linux still decent with those? Or do I have to stick with windows?
VR can work but is overall a buggy and less supported platform.
Ah man that’s a shame. I appreciate the heads up! I guess for now I’ll have to stick with windows unfortunately
Check out bazzite.gg - it’s a gaming spin of Fedora atomic and I’ve heard nothing but good things.
Otherwise there’s always Arch, or a derivative like EndeavourOS, that’s where I do my steam gaming. I have, on occasion, had issues with the Nvidia dkms driver and have needed to fork the nvidia-dkms package to track a particular driver release to skip a buggy version. Aside from that it’s been pretty smooth sailing. I use flatpak steam and ProtonPlus to pull Glorious Eggroll releases and everything I’ve played has worked well.
Basically any that appeals. My biggest issue when I last used Linux with gaming was getting non steam games working through bottles or lutris, I had no idea how to set them up. Steam and proton played almost all of my library and worked well.
If you want pure gaming, one-click, steam deck like experience try Bazzite or you could also try Nobara.
Nobara works well.
I’ve been using Nobara for gaming a while now, and it’s certainly a good choice from by experience. It’s a modified Fedora distro that’s designed for gaming.
Having used many distros (gaming-oriented and otherwise) Nobara would be my recommendation as well.
People saying “doesn’t matter” aren’t considering someone brand new to Linux would probably benefit from an out-of-the-box gaming ready distro (nvidia drivers ready, rgb drivers built in for gaming laptops, other gaming specific tweaks and fixes that they won’t know to install on say mint, a perfectly fine, general use distro). Not to say they wouldn’t be able to do all that on mint or Ubuntu or whatever with a bit of googling and effort, but they’re asking specifically for gaming.