Like perhaps many others I am debating what to do with my PC at the end of support for windows 10 later this year. I have read a lot of discussions here about switching to Linux, and a lot of commentary that though it has gotten a lot more plug and play it maybe still has some weaknesses. I just want to know what those are, and if it can support what I currently do with my computer.

Basically my computer is just for gaming. I play a plethora of games both major titles and small indy games. I also use mods on my games sometimes. Beyond gaming it’s just basic web browsing.

More specific questions:

  1. I think I need to pick a “distro”, right? Based on the above, which distro may work best for me?

  2. what am I most likely to NOT be able to do, if anything? I have heard modding in particular can be challenging with Linux. Like Skyrim mods that use a script extender or rely on various Windows programs. Is that true? Are there some smaller indy games that don’t have Linux support (thinking back to the early mac days)?

  3. I would rate my computer technical ability at like… A 4/10. I haven’t done anything too crazy but can Google most issues and willing to learn. Is this realistically enough to get me up and running with Linux? I don’t have any programming experience or anything of the sort.

  4. if the final answer here involves running a windows partition, is it possible to safely still use a windows 10 partition, even after the end of support? Or does it need to be a windows 11 partition? Best case is no partition, but curious if it comes to that.

  5. anything else I might run into that I’m not expecting? Words of encouragement?

  • @it_depends_man@lemmy.world
    3•3 days ago

    1. just pick any of the common recommendations. Mint. Ubuntu, Kubuntu… Just search for “which linux distro is right for me” and look at a few answers and pick one. Most of them work the same way.

    2. you probably can’t use autocad or adobe products. kernel level anticheat is a problem, so games that need that are out.

    3. Yes. …ish.

    There are basically three levels, one where you only click everything and it’s basically an app / wizard as you know them.

    The next level would be that it’s possible that you have manually edit a few text or config files to make things work the way you want to, or the best solution to your problem can be a command line thing. That’s very mostly “not programming”, the command line and manually editing config files can look scary, but most of the time it’s completely harmless. This happens, but it’s rare and it’s mostly simple stuff. The bigger and more used the distro is that you pick, the less you will run into this.

    And then the third level would be “real programming” and basically nobody does that and nobody expects that.

    1. yes, you can dual boot.

    2. Just do it. If you’ve “built” a pc before, it’s the same deal. If you read the manual a tiny bit, it’s like lego. It looks way scarier than it is. And if you look up solutions it is extremely likely that you will find a well researched answer that does solve your problem.