I’m just so sick of Microsoft and Google. But there’s two things holding me back:

  1. I wanna play Steam games on my PC

  2. I am just an amateur hobbyist, not a tech wizard

Is there any hope for me?

  • dingus@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    3 months ago

    If your library is on steam, then there’s nothing to worry about! Works natively on Linux. If your library is on other platforms, I’d honestly think twice about switching full time. Dual booting might be a better option. My library is split amongst multiple platforms and I decided that it wasn’t working well enough for me. Steam games will work great though!

    Many distros are easy enough to install and navigate as a newbie. My go to for years now has been Linux Mint! It’s based on Ubuntu which is based on Debian.

    • TimewornTraveler@lemmy.dbzer0.comOP
      1·
      3 months ago

      oh that’s cool. nope, whole library is on windows on one PC right now.

      I was thinking about trying out dual booting to get a feel for it. my understanding was that many programs wont work with linux or require complicated fixes to get them running. so id hate to be left downstream without a paddle, so to speak

      • INeedMana@lemmy.world
        1·
        3 months ago

        Depends which programs. Also, it’s very possible that there are open source alternatives

        But if you are dead set on using exactly the same program, https://appdb.winehq.org/ is a database of if and how to make them run on Linux. Wine’s core focus is games, but many programs are covered there too

      • MentalEdge@sopuli.xyz
        0·
        3 months ago

        They mean other platforms like GOG or Epic, not stuff like consoles.

        Steam games mostly work, with some exceptions. You can check out ProtonDB to see more precisely what games work, which ones straight up don’t, and which ones need a fix. ProtonDB will usually also tell you what that fix is, which is handy.

        But most of the time, you can just hit play and not worry about it.

        A note on dualbooting. Linux uses different filesystems from windows. It can access windows NTFS partitions, but it’s not a smooth experience.

        A common pitfall is trying use your game library while it is still on a windows filesystem, from linux. Since you can see the folders, and even add them in steam, it’ll seem like it should work. But you’ll run into issues actually running the games. It’s technically possible, but not worth the hassle.

        Generally you really want to either format your storage and redownload your games, or if you have the space, copy them over to a fully supported file system.

        • TimewornTraveler@lemmy.dbzer0.comOP
          1·
          3 months ago

          thank you for that tip. I currently run all my games and docs from external HDs. (my pc itself only has a small amount of SSD storage used only for booting etc, and i dont know how to install a new hard drive yet…) I would have definitely tried to just plug in my HD and tried to run it through steam lol