Linux: Why You Should Move

PCVGS

Disclaimer: Linux isn't for everyone. Windows still has the ease of use and with so many years being the main desktop environment, most people are familiar with it and moving over to something else can be challenging. I will admit it isn't easy and I am continuously learning every day using the new environment. And yes, the picture is AI Slop as I suck at artwork.

PCVGS

Part 1: Change isn't always easy, but it is necessary

Windows 10 is EOL (well, there is a 1 year extension if you apply for it), and the change over to 11 should be simple, right? Well, it is, but if you are willing to fight through the nonsense Microsoft has pushed into their OS with continuous popups telling you to log into your Microsoft account, or forcing AI copilot on your system. But you are fine with that, right? You don't mind Microsoft needing to keep an eye on you, needing your data to sell to third parties. You got nothing to hide and thus who cares; the convenience of an operating system you are familiar with is what you like and are willing to give up your privacy over. Sure. I myself wasn't happy with that, nor was I happy with Windows constantly trying to push me to sign in with MS account. I wasn't a fan of Copilot constantly being pushed.

So what are the alternatives? On a traditional x86 PC setup (Intel or AMD), then Linux is the answer. By now you probably seen tons of videos all over the internet talking about Linux and what distro they (influencer) is using. Alternatively, you could install Windows 11 LTSC IoT edition and that could also help resolve a lot of the nonsense standard Windows 11 Home/Pro pushes. But that means being still stuck in MS ecosystem and they may eventually make it harder or impossible to move over to a less intrusive edition. So this article I am writing, that guarantee no one will read or notice, is about Linux.

PCVGS

Part 2: So many options, which one should I use?

Go on Reddit, go on twitter/X, go on whatever tech forum and you will get multitude of answers; "CachyOS is the best!" "No, Bazzite is Better" "whatever losers, Arch itself is the best, rest are just for noobies" "Nah mate, I prefer simple, so I use Mint"

In the end, it is best to choose the distro that is easy for you. What I will mention are the distro's I have tried or I am using, and hopefully I can make it easier for you. But in the end, the choice is yours, and if one doesn't feel good to use, try something else.

Here is a list of distro's I have used or are somewhat familiar with:

Zorin OS - Debian
Endeavour OS -Arch
CachyOS - Arch
Bazzite - Fedora Universal blue
PikaOS - Debian
Mint - Debian
Nobara - Fedora
Tumbleweed - openSUSE

Each one is a link. Click to go to their respective website to get the OS image.

Now, which one do I use? I use cachyOS. Why? I wanted to use Arch linux without all the fiddling around, but still have the option to fiddle around in it. It is designed to be performance oriented and with it being based around Arch, gets a lot of the state of the art updates within Linux quicker than other distros (all Arch based distros) but is more geared towards that performance I mentioned. With the installer auto detecting your hardware and provide all the necessary drivers, makes it an easy state of the art OS.

Want to also have all that but maybe less performance geared but more stability while built around Arch? Endeavour OS is often credited as such. You can also integrate CachyOS repositories and kernel into Endeavour if you so wish.

Aside from the Arch Distro's, I have heard that PikaOS is also very user friendly and easy to set up like CachyOS is, but built under Debian. Mint is rather very popular among the masses and Zorin OS is gaining popularity among the newly transitioned over from Windows users.

I really do not feel like going through all the distro's and their pros and cons. Instead, I found a good thread on reddit regarding the differences:

PCVGS

Part 3: But "I Play Games!" or "I Cant do that on Linux!"

As a gamer, I would say that there are some games that just do not work on linux. I agree. Kernel level anti cheat games will not work for most part; games such as: Battlefield 6, Multiplayer of GTAV, Rainbow Six Siege, etc. Now, I am not much of a multiplayer gamer as I get older; although I do enjoy a few games to play with the kids such as Palworld or The Finals - to which both play on Linux just fine.

Thanks to Valve with its proton layer development, and individuals like Glorious Eggroll with his Proton-GE or CachyOS with their modified proton layer, the amount of games that have become playable has grown considerably.

If you are curious as to the games you play and if they are playable on linux, two specific resources are very important:

https://www.protondb.com/

&
https://areweanticheatyet.com/

These two sites are extremely important resources to search up if your game is playable and many users also provide possible launch commands to place within Steam, Heroic or whatever you use to play your games on to make them stable.

But what about non gaming? Productivity (whatever that is)? Thankfully Microsoft made their office suite online with MS 365! Well, it sucks in my opinion and I use it for work so I am always annoyed. What are the alternatives?

As you can see in this screenshot from the CachyOS Hello prompt for installing apps, there are a number of office software. Personally I use OnlyOffice as it is the one that mimics MS office the most. WPS Office is another good option and Libre Office seems to be most commonly used.

OK, thats all well and good but other productivity software? OBS? Photoshop? Premier Pro?

Well, this is where I am less knowledgeable on. OBS exists on Linux. You can either use a flatpak (containerized) version or you can use something more native like the one found within the same software package you see in image above. Discord works as well. But for adobe software suite, aside from using VM's running Windows in the background, there really isn't a native port as of now. Alternatively you can use GIMP but many people seem to have a disdaine for it. Krita is a great artwork based photo editor. For video editing, Davinci resolve and KDNELive are two pretty good video editors, but CapCut and Premier Pro are not on Linux as of writing this. So if this is a make or break situation for you, then sorry for the bad news. But Davinci Resolve is a very very good video editor that is growing in popularity and KDENLive is pretty good too. Going Back to Photo Editors, there is Affinity which I have done a quick guide on how to get it to work on Linux. But I have heard that Affinity is apparently working on a Linux port. So once that happens, then we got a fantastic photoshop alternative.

Below is a list of apps to use. Check to see if your distro has a native version of the app or if not, you can always try a flatpak version.

Video Editors

Photo Editors

Krita
GIMP
Affinity (Not native, requires work to install)
Pinta (Kinda like MS Paint)
PhotoPea (Web based Photo Editor)
SumoPaint (Paint like web based app)

Office Suites

I will continue to update this post (and thread) when I find more software that I suggest or something that works well or new developments.

PCVGS

Part 4: What are some resources I should follow to learn, keep up to date or gain assistance?

There are a few channels I watch quite often regarding learning Linux, software in development and or just new things going on in the scene.

These are fantastic channels that are great to watch regarding anything Linux. Mattscreative is the one who wrote the Affinity script and works on various other linux projects. He has a discord channel Linux Valhalla which is very much worth joining.

https://discord.com/invite/DW2X8MHQuh

PCVGS

Part 5 - Got Issues? So do I.........

I will use this post here to list various problems and solutions to said issues

Problem:

CachyOS Infinite Loading Bug - Trying to boot but stuck on the circle loading screen***

Solution: Youtube Video
Solution 2: CachyOS Forums Page