Basically the forced shift to the enshittified Windows 11 in october has me eyeing the fence a lot. But all I know about Linux is 1: it’s a cantankerous beast that can smell your fear and lack of computer skills and 2: that’s apparently not true any more? Making the change has slowly become a more real possibility for me, though I’m pretty much a fairly casual PC-user, I don’t do much more than play games. So I wrote down some questions I had about Linux.
Will my ability to play games be significantly affected compared to Windows?
Can I mod games as freely and as easily as I do on Windows?
If a program has no Linux version, is it unusable, or are there workarounds?
Can Linux run programs that rely on frameworks like .NET or other Windows-specific libraries?
How do OS updates work in Linux? Is there a “Linux Update” program like what Windows has?
How does digital security work on Linux? Is it more vulnerable due to being open source? Is there integrated antivirus software, or will I have to source that myself?
Are GPU drivers reliable on Linux?
Can Linux (in the case of a misconfiguration or serious failure) potentially damage hardware?
And also, what distro might be best for me?
Hello there 1- It really depends on your build, distro and drivers being used. Some benchmarks show Ray tracing causes performance drop compared to Windows.
2- There are mod managers here and there but, honestly I don’t mod so I don’t know anything about it.
3- If a program doesn’t have Linux version, there might be Linux alternative. Those alternatives sometimes might not be on par with their counterparts though. Adobe products are one bit example.
4- Applications developed with .NET may be built on Linux through Mono framework, as long as they are developed as portable. For native Windows programs, there is a compatibility layer named WINE, but it won’t guarantee that every program will work. It may support games as well, but for games Proton is more preferred. Proton is Valve’s official tool anyway.
5- Distributions’ package managers will manage updates, either application updates or system updates. Most distros will also notify users about updates, however installing them is up to user’s decision. Universal package managers like Flatpak are responsible their own updates.
6- Linux is way more secure than Windows for being what it is. Being an open source does not inherently mean that it’s secure. But open source softwares are generally peer reviewed by public and they are often recommended fixes thus if there is any vulnerability, it’s fixed more quickly. Antiviruses are not needed, not because there is not Linux viruses though. There is ClamAV anti-virus, also there are proprietary AV applications, if you still need. AV’s are mostly ineffective in today’s technology.
7- AMD drivers, for example way more reliable than their Windows ones. Nvidia also made a lot of progress in recent years, so yes. There might be still some issues, lack of features.
8- No, it cannot.
9- For a beginner, Linux Mint is and always has been best choice for start, in my opinion.