While I don’t agree with Wendell on a lot of things (including his suggested distro in this vid) I feel he brings up a lot of good points concerning gaming on Linux in general. I am also quite excited to see an outlet like GN treating Linux like a viable gaming OS when it comes to hardware. I feel this is a step in a right direction to remove the ‘linux cant game’ stigma that I feel hangs like a thick fog around the discussion of PC Gaming.
I’ve never enjoyed working with hardware, but I’ve noticed over the years that channels like this or LTT are a big entry point for people early in their PC tinkering journey. If they get visibility into Linux at all I think it will be great for the broader ecosystem.
Agreed. One of the many reasons I don’t watch LTT anymore cause they purposely sabotaged themselves in their ‘Gaming on Linux’ challenge a few years back and severely damaged public opinion on Linux gaming as a result. But if people see Linux benchmarks next to windows benchmarks for new hardware they might think twice about what operating system they want to put on their new rig. Hell, they might not even consider Linux an option till places like GN are talking about it in the same breath as windows.
I agree with you on Wendell’s distro choice — though I understand why he went that route. For someone coming from Windows and focused solely on gaming, recommending something like CachyOS would likely end in frustration.
Personally, Bazzite doesn’t meet my specific needs, but it’s an excellent starting point for users who just want to game. Those who get more curious about Linux over time will naturally transition to Arch-based distros.
Yeah, that’s where I sort of settled to. He made excellent points about why he went that route and I simply can not argue with those points. The logic is sound.
However, I am also one of those that believes ‘beginners’ distros do more harm than good. Training wheels can be nice and all but the moment you go to another distro without those training wheels (because of course you will) you are going to be very confused.
I also strongly oppose the concept of flatpaks. I think adopting flatpacks was the dumbest thing the linux dev community has ever done. The IDEA behind them - self contained programs that just RUN is a great thing for someone coming from windows. It is what they are used to. They don’t have to worry about dependencies. But that right there is the problem - you are just kicking the system shock can down the road. Never mind that these programs are now sandboxed and can’t communicate with other parts of the system like they were initially designed to do before they were flatpacked. No, the worst of this is we are teaching our new users bad habits. Linux != windows. It is a whole different beast with a whole different way of doing things and the longer we let them hold on to the delusion that it isn’t the harder it will be to help them when something happens -or- more difficult when they try to fix things themselves.
BUT - I can not stress enough - end result of this I am very happy. I want new users to have a good experience but beyond that I want more hardware makers and game devs to look at linux seriously as a platform and I think this will definitely do just that.
I won’t say I wasn’t happy with Linux. I started using it back when Mandrake was still a thing (‘99? ‘01? Too old for this) and haven’t looked back. I will say there was a lot of frustration till I moved to Arch but not nearly enough to push me back to windows.
Switching from debian/ubuntu based distributions and getting into Arch based is an absolute game changer. And AUR? That right there is pure genius.
For people who want to move on. But there’s no need, you can stay there forever and be happy. - Using Arch based distros is not kicking down the Gentoo shock down the road. It isn’t a natural and inevitable progression.
I get what you are saying and I think I agree - to a point. My fear is that we are going to once again get a bunch of users that are never faced with actually administrating their systems and are powerless when something goes wrong. And when it goes wrong? Right back to microsoft because that’s the devil they know.
I think I am making the same argument as those who advocate for people to be more invested in the maintenance of their possessions. Learn how to change the oil/filters in your car, know how to drain your hot water heater, be able to replace a pump on your clothes washer, etc. I feel the same way about computers. Know at least how to do the general maintenance. Be able to install packages correctly and understand what a repository IS. Basic knowledge of the system one uses. They already have this basic knowledge of windows because they used it in school, at home, everywhere since they were old enough to sit in front of a screen.
I am willing to admit that I might be the odd one out here. Maybe this is a bit of an old fashioned way of thinking about things. Still my belief, though.
I think what we should understand is the fact that if you throw someone who comes from Windows into terminal based distro and he has no skill to do things even in Windows excluding gaming, it’s going to end badly and it’s more likely that he will return into Windows.
There’s no need to do things hard way, if they can be done easily. I don’t claim that terminal is that hard, but it can be scary, especially if you have heard, that from time to time things will break. In my opinion there’s room for all distro’s, because in the end they are step away from Windows (and Mac).
However, I think it’s little bit of an optimism to assume, that Linux is future of gaming; this may happen (and I wish this would) but sad fact is that Windows is not only a operating system, it’s an institution in computer world and that’s something we can’t challenge, at least yet. Maybe one day.
Also, I have to defend Debian. All distros have their hiccups and if you look this Forum here, one can see that it’s not all sunshine in Arch and Arch -based ones. Because if it would, need for this forum would be minimal and there would not be that many posts where people require support. There are benefits from rolling release and there are benefits from version based ones; cutting edge doesn’t always mean something is the best and on other hand same goes with version based one.
However, both have their place and offer something to those who use and prefer them and version based offer stability, that rolling ones cant always offer. I think we should get rid of this “your distro is better than mine” -attitude and accept the fact that there is always need for all operating systems, even Windows, as unfortunate it is to admit.
Absolutely this, i used ubuntu based distributions in the past. Outdated, lack of drivers and always needed to work around things. Installing ppa’s and stuff, nothing pure. Arch based has everything in one place.
Same happens with debian/ubuntu based. They claim it is stable, look at the zorin forums how many issues there is. They say arch based can break the system, looking at their forums and i see the same. They don’t even frequently update
Three things. You put a new user in a Debian-based distro and immediately they are struggling against things that JUST WORK out of the box with Arch… they don’t make it to arch. They quit. Because it there is no reason to have an operating system with drivers that are YEARS out of date and no reasonable way to update them.
Secondly, you are VASTLY underestimating the average PC gamer. These are people that hack windows for a 10% uptick in FPS. I doubt they are scared of a term.
Third. There are plenty of female gamers and geeks. Check yourself.
This all goes down into the fact that you assume that Arch is something that everyone must use. That’s fine. But someone else may want to use something else. That’s also fine. So there’s no need to argue.
Arch is not answer to everything.
And about me using “he”, I am Finnish. In Finland there are no “he/she/they” when speaking of someone, there’s only “hän” which means everyone without assumption of gender. And I have to translate everything in my head to English, so this is simply mistake I make, that’s why I usually use “one” etc. This time I didn’t, and that was honest mistake.
So sorry about that, my bad. But please don’t sidetrack this into this kind of discussion. It won’t benefit anyone.
You can’t really compare Debian/Ubuntu-based users with Arch-based users. The number of newcomers on Debian derivatives far outweighs the more experienced crowd. It’s also worth noting that advanced Debian users usually stick with it for very specific reasons (mainly productivity and stability). These users aren’t typically gamers or even hackers, they just want a clean, reliable system that lets them work without distractions.
Most new users start with something like Ubuntu, Zorin, or Mint, and that’s fine, until they run into issues with exotic hardware or something as simple as a recent Nvidia GPU.
From my experience, even on Windows, the majority of hardcore gamers barely understand the basics of their own system.
Gamers ≠ Hackers
Arch-based users, on the other hand, tend to be more technically inclined or at least more curious about how things work under the hood — and Arch is perfect for that. Personally, I recommend EndeavourOS to those kinds of new users. For everyone else who’s not into gaming, Linux Mint is my go-to choice.
No, most of them just copy and paste commands they find in YouTube videos or random websites, or worse, run shady programs with admin privileges without thinking twice. Believe me, I know a few CS:GO pros, and it’s honestly scary how clueless they can be when it comes to their own systems.
I think nowadays, mostly because Proton, it really doesn’t matter that much which distro you use, but if you use newest-of-the-new -hardware, then you totally want EOS or CachyOS, Garuda etc. which most likely have their drivers available faster than others.
I think for basic gamer, if Debian based (Ubuntu, Mint, etc.) or some other distro has compatible drivers available, then there’s really not much difference on experience. I think Nvidia’s decision to move their open drivers -concept has somewhat shortened the gap between.
But if you are “power gamer” who needs to take everything out of the machine, then rolling release is definitely for you. Because you want it all.
Like @Biotico1974 , I think Linux Mint is an excellent first distro. It’s stable, does 90% of what most users want or need, and uses a similar interface to what MS and Apple users are familiar with. It is also a good starting point for working with terminal apps and editing config files. Newcomers can explore and tinker, and for any problems over their heads, there is a large, active community that can help guide them to a solution.
There will always be self-proclaimed “power users” who want the new, the cool, the edgy, but have little to no interest in understanding how or why things work. They’ll install the hotness, things will be broken (or they’ll break things), and want to push a button (or rage in a forum) to make things better. I think they’re the ones who poison the well for other users who may want to make the switch to Linux, users who would be quite comfortable with Linux as a permanent daily driver.
As much as I’d like to ship the power users off into space with the other marketing executives, management consultants, and telephone sanitizers, I think we’re stuck with them.
