Pondering to switch from Windows, so first (second) steps, hints on gaming and migration would be appreciated

General system Newbie
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Hi folks and thanks for your patience in advance. :slight_smile:

I’m starting to get fed up with MS shennigans & plans, like ads in the start menu, snapshots I fear that will one day be “secured for your convenience” in the MS cloud and the tricks trying to force you into an account.
So I started to reconsider switching to Linux. Had that thought 15 years ago, but I was using much proprietary Win-only software back then. Now I use much OS stuff anyway (gimp, blender, VLC) and gaming, so the hurdle is smaller. I searched for the different desktops, narrowed it down to Cinnamon and KDE and different distros, narrowed those down to Mint and EndeavourOS and finally made up my mind to go for EndeavourOS + KDE. So here I am. :smiley:

First steps are done, I downloaded the ISO, etched an USB stick and installed onto an old SSD I have in my PC, which was almost empty anyway. All went smooth after fighting with Windows to switch from MBR to GPS, the installation worked, internet is working (typing from EndeavourOS Firefox right now). Now the testing begins. I am surprised how nicely Dolphin just mounted the Windows drives when I clicked on them, I was about to look up the mount command, I managed to install blender, noticed it wont find the textures used (guess the blend file stores the Windows file structure) and gimp, so first steps are done.
Now I need to find out how to customize the desktop (without breaking KDE). Any secure way to change color scheme, layout (managed to show the window switcher, but the bar is bit “fat” for my taste) or good tutorials (managed to get this far on tutorials)?
What about gaming? I wanted to test few of my regular games (Paradox Catalogue, Guild 3, Grim Dawn if this helps), if they’d run. Can I use the preinstalled Windows versions for testing, before having to switch completely? I’d like to avoid another installation, as the SDD is only 128GB.
If all goes well and I want to switch completely, I’d reduce the Windows partition (I have one or two applications left, that are Windows only, like KNX ETS4) and use the major part for Endeavour OS. I still have to think if to reinstall on the newer and faster SSD on a new partition, or keep the older, slower one for the system and install apps separately on the then to be partition. Any pointers which would be better? If the latter case, how to default to another drive for installation? Any way to move the data to Linux (like games, huge amount of data)?

Any general pointers, things to try or to keep in mind? My first impression is very good, as all went smoothly and even my old workflow seem to stay in place (Win-Key + E for Dolphin, iE or Win-Key and type app name, what is the key called in Linux?). Thanks for the great work.

1 Like
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Welcome to the purple side.

Many tutorials on the internet show you how to customize your KDE. Or you can find a theme that you like and use that too. There’s a lot here.

When it comes to gaming I’m not a pro but there are a few people here who are using Enos to play games. But you might have to redownload them through Steam or whatever game store you’re using because some games need to be tweaked to run on a Linux base which cannot be done when the installation is on another platform (Correct me if I’m wrong guys).

Just test with one game you like and move forward from there. If you come across any issues just ask here more than willing to help.

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you can choose which drive to install EndeavourOS on during the install. Many ways to move data. Copy, Move, Rsync…

Always Always Always cleanly Unmount FAT/NTFS Drives or you will have issues. Dual Booting can be problematic.

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Thanks for the pointers. Especially the unmount one. In the long run I hope to go for 99% Linux, if I get everything running and I don’t expect a smooth instant transition. Actually the start on the Endeavour side was smoother than expected. Someone preferring Gnome said he manages to break KDE within 5 minutes (without wanting to do so). Can’t say it happened to me.

What I notice is sometimes the system seems to halt for a few seconds. Even my mouse light goes off and the numlock resets to off (Have to find out how to default it to on on startup). Only applications I have open is Firefox, Welcome and Bash. Happened on different occasions, like clicking on things in the welcome app, opening a new tab in Firefox, but mostly it seems FF related. Any known issue here?

As said, my first impression is very well. I don’t feel alienated and right at home, starting PCs with MS-DOS makes me unafraid of the console (just less used to it after years of Windows) and I am willing to learn the new language. :slight_smile:

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ProtonDB is a good resource for checking game compatiblity and getting tips on how to get them running if they don’t work out of the box with Steam.

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Main Problem Here: was a fab of free software I have most of my games on GOG. :grin: But I guess it is still good for checking compatibility in general. I read several posts that you can get most games to run, if you have time to wait and are not into heavy multiplayer with anti cheat software, which totally fits me.

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I’ve had pretty good luck with running other games using bottles, it does take a bit more work to figure out the requirements

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You should check out Heroic Games Launcher if thats the case. It supports GOG Galaxy as one of the launchers. You can install it as a flatpak or via yay.

yay -S heroic-games-launcher-bin

Just connect GOG Galaxy to Heroic and your games will pop up.

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I have Lutris, Steam and Heroic installed. Now I have to find the right settings to get things up and running. :smiley: I got Grim Dawn to start, but graphic settings seemed low and it didn’t react to mouse clicks (pointer was visible), but that’s a start.
I also will have to find a good tutorial to move my mails from Windows to Endeavour, but I am reluctant to start up Windows at the moment and that’s not for feeling tempted to use it again in the long run, because I am used to it. I’d rather invest some time to learn a system, that actually belongs to me and doesn’t take away options with every update. :slight_smile: