Sweet. Thank you.

so that it looks like you messed up the tiling somehow

I wish more tiling developers understood this. Gaps between windows looks broken. I don’t mind it being an option, but to me it’s such a weird choice for the default.

Yeah. If the whole heating the planet to exterminate all humans gets revealed to be an alien attack on us, I’ll be angry.

But if the aliens simply share a screenshot of Hotdog desktop theme, in explanation of their actions… I’ll probably just nod.

There’s an extension that lets me close and open windows with the Matrix Code Rain so I can pretend I’m cool n shit.

Awesome. Looking into that just got added to my weekend plans. Thanks!

Sounds just like my last dual boot setup, as well.

I believe I said “I’ll just boot back to Windows next time I want to play…this game…that just launched and played perfectly under Proton…or…this other game…which also works…huh…”

while Linux will boot you into broken system and expect you to know what to do.

But…

even if the answer is a simple as selecting a different entry from the GRUB.

Okay. Yeah. It’s often that simple.

I take your point, but I’ve had my Windows blow itself to hell way more than my Linux has, and putting Linux on relatives machines has been by far the least hassle of the big three, for me.

But that’s just my anecdotal experience.

I feel seen. And belittled. But mostly seen.

Then there will just be some other stuff that has been developed that people want ;-)

Yeah. As a “DOS was good enough” person, I honestly didn’t expect so exited for all the updates in Gnome this year. But the Gnome team is on a hot streak. I really may get to eat my “Debian stable is all I need” words again in a few years.

Oh I understand. I’m the person who reaches for a terminal for my Windows user relatives, when they ask nicely.

Lately though, they just live with it, or they go learn some CLI if they care enough, because Windows throws them all kinds (variety) of crap that Linux doesn’t have trouble with anymore.

(Edit: The frequency of Windows issue is fine. But the variety of Windows corner cases makes casual “I’ve seen that” friend support not work as much anymore for me. I used to be able to help my friends more when Windows was a lot worse, ironically.)

I never have to mess with the settings on my Windows boxes once I have them configured the way I want. Like, ever.

Yeah. Same here. For both my Windows and Linux boxes. Though if I’m comparing, my Windows box is the only one that demands technical support every so often.

And that’s genuinely a big change. Us tinkerers are using threads like this one to come to terms with it.

And we realized we should sort of quietly wave the “all clear” for folks who wanted to switch but couldn’t.

Then we give ourselves permission to go back to pretending Windows users are happy and don’t need our help, for another couple of years.

How is the company fucking me, if I enjoy playing the game and get my money’s worth?

If it doesn’t bother you, you do you.

To me, it’s fucking with me when they add software layers that adds no value and just makes my game harder to play, long term.

Note that I’m not as mad at anti-cheat stuff, since it does add value. It’s usually a shitty half-assed solution, but it has a reason to be there. And most of it works better on Linux anyway.

It’s the weird other extra stuff that makes feel like they’re just fucking with me. There’s no remaining technical reasons a new game can’t run on my SteamDeck better than on my Windows laptop. And most games do.

This is a lot safer on Linux than Windows, this year. A lot of engineering has gone into making updates resilient.

And Linux hasn’t done the Windows 10 to Windows 11 - black screen for a couple hours, hope you know not to touch it - that we sometimes see.

Linux now has a stronger default permissions model, so it’s a lot harder for user error to break the machine in serious ways, even if they do reboot during a sensitive update.

Month and a half into using Mint Cinnamon… frankly it’s hard to feel like I’m not still using Win10.

I haven’t used Mint in a minute, but yeah, I think that’s the dream with Mint.

I’ve been digging the vibe of recent stock Gnome and KDE releases, myself.

So I suppose in your eyes I’m basically an old Windows admin brining bad habits to Linux. I’m just not seeing the downside of these ‘bad habits’.

Yeah. Now I get the best of both worlds. First time I need a setting, I do a nice search, instant result, and click toggle.

If I love that setting, as a power user, I can script the change to every future computer I use.

If not, I search settings, instant result, toggle back.

Gnome is amazing lately.

I’m certainly buying one of whatever they release.

A large scale migration would be wild. It would be like the Commodore 64 all over again - where one of the coolest things in gaming also happens to be the most functional personal PC of the year.

I guess it could happen.

Yeah. It’s not that there’s never a surprise on Linux. The interesting thing from about the last year is that the surprises are nicer and less frequent than on Windows.

This user’s mouse issue is a hilarious example - is they gained new compatibility, without any effort, but it took a week to settle in.

I’ve never had something on Windows go wrong that nicely. Lol.

Wild. That has the vibe of them yelling “buy a real car” as they park their Pinto next to your Ferrari. Lol.

I get that not everyone has time to try new things, and -sure- their Pinto gets from A to B.

But it’s still pretty funny.

Question: Would I still struggle to get games working on a desktop using Linux as I have in the past

Maybe.

1. The Linux side problems are long since fixed. Games developed with modern engines just work on Linux.
2. The vast majority of older “this is for Windows only and we fucking mean it” games work perfectly on Linux with Proton anyway. Some require 3 minutes with a search engine to pick a preferred version.
3. nVidia is still going to nVidia.
4. Weird DRM bullshit is still going to weird DRM bullshit.

would they work as well as on a Steam Deck, that doesn’t have to account for a variety of hardware differences?

Hell no. There’s a reason we love the SteamDeck so much, and want to see the Steam Machine return.

Almost every single person I have seen lately saying gaming on Linux is awesome now, is using a literal device designed for it.

Yes. It’s fucking amazing. Lol.

But what about my hardware? Is getting wrappers for nVidia drivers still a fucking PITA with a 50/50 chance of actually working correctly?

nVidia hasn’t improved, to the best of my “fuck those guys” knowledge. (Meaning I’m not the most informed since I carefully avoid their chips. Lol.)

But the entire SteamDeck costs less than most graphics chips. It’s not equivalent, but that’s where my “fuck it, life is short” energy currently is.

I’ve heard nice things about other graphics chip makers, but I’m waiting with my SteamDeck docked for a Steam Machine console, myself.

Ubuntu betrayed the community with some opaque proprietary bullshit. We don’t recommend it to newbies anymore, because they won’t know when to jump ship to avoid a lot of headaches later.

Ubuntu may still be fine for advanced users who know what deal they’re making with which devil.

But I don’t feel ethical recommending Ubuntu to newbies anymore.

So why isn’t it Debian?

As a ride or die Debian fan, I can answer this:

A lot of really nice updates happened in the last year, and we’re not going to see a lot of them in Debian stable until 2 or 3 years from today.

If you’re already running Debian, you’ll probably just be delighted when they reach Debian stable.

But if I’m recommending a “how’s Linux today?” test, grab something that already includes the latest quality of life features. There’s been some really nice stuff added to Gnome and KDE and various Flatpaks, this year.

Edit: In about two years I’ll probably be back to saying “forget all that, just run Debian Stable, because the very best stuff is already there.”

Of course, if the current trend of great updates continues another two years, I may have to eat my words, lol.

They’re all fine, but Hannah Montana Linux is the best.