I just built my first gaming PC, which is the first gaming rig I’ve owned in 20 years. I did so because I could install all the games I wanted to play on Linux. I haven’t installed Windows and do not plan to.
this post was submitted on 22 Aug 2024
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I still have Windows installed (1.5tb for Linux and 0.5tb for Windows) but I use it like once every few months. The only games I have installed there are Fortnite and FiveM (RP mod for GTA 5). Even VR works great on Linux, aside from the issues that SteamVR itself has on all operating systems.
Oh what's your Linux setup for VR? I thought it was very janky still? Once I get my storage server set up I was planing on moving fully to windows except for a small drive for VR titlea.
First of all, I use a Valve Index, which has native Linux support. The HTC Vive does too and wireless headsets like the Quest can be used with ALVR.
I currently have to use X11 for VR but the next GNOME version (47) will have VR working with Wayland too. I think on KDE VR already works on Wayland.
You also need something like CoreCTRL to manually set your GPU profile to "high", otherwise performance will be shit.
Other than that, it's just install and start SteamVR and start the game.
There's also an older version of SteamVR specifically for Linux (you can use it by switching to the beta version with the fitting name) but then your VR games have to run in Proton 5 and some games don't work on that Proton version. I recommend just using the latest SteamVR version.
I got a Quest 3 that I use with a USB-c cable. Price is great but having to fiddle around with video compression settings on top of all other VR settings has proven to be a bit tedious. I'm still trying to figure out what pcvr headset to go for that won't complete drain my bank account (there's probably tons of used ones out there).
Glad to hear VR is possible and getting better on Linux though!
I understand having to fiddle with the compression settings can be annoying (I did that for my brother who has a Quest 2) but it's also something you only have to do once. And you can do a lot of trial and error without knowing exactly what the settings do. Quest 2 is probably best bang for your buck but you can get a used HTC Vive for around the same price. Advantage of the HTC Vive is that it just works with Linux and you don't need a Facebook account but disadvantage is that it's not that good. I had one too before I bought the Vive. While the resolution was pretty low, it was fine but the controllers really suck.
Yeah the issue is I wouldn't want to compromise quality too much. But I might just start saving up now for whatever valve is cooking up next :) Another issue with using a quest is that you have to run the occulus app (when wired), eating up some of that sweet precious VRAM.
I really hope another headset from Valve is coming, specifically because of eye tracking. The oculus app is only needed if you're not using ALVR. It's also not available on Linux, which is why ALVR is the only option there.
Have you tried Envision/Monado on your Index? I have a Vive Pro and the performance is significantly better, albeit you lose controller rebinding feature and OpenVR (games which require SteamVR) compatibility is meh
I have, actually and it's great. I only used it for things like racing games (I also have a USB steering wheel with force feedback) because it doesn't show you the borders of your play space (yet). The thing is just that I installed Envision from the AUR back then and it just worked and now that I'm on Fedora, I used distrobox to install it from the AUR again. When I try to build a profile tho, it tells me that dependencies are missing that simply aren't in the package manager or the AUR. That's why I currently don't have Monado working. I'd really like to get it working again tho. Wish it just had a Flatpak.
Flatpak doesn't support DRM leasing so software can't access the displays of the headset. Envision is also available as an AppImage: https://gitlab.com/gabmus/envision/-/pipelines?ref=main&status=success
It's a shame DRM leasing doesn't work for flatpak but maybe it will in the future. I tried the AppImage but it's the same issue, I can't build a profile because the dependencies are missing.
Are you interested in receiving assistance with your issue?
That would be nice but I'm gonna try if I can get it working by myself first. Haven't tried it in quite a while, so maybe it works now for some reason.
I recently tried installing Linux next to Windows in order to begin the transition, but my system has Intel Rapid Storage and Linux doesn't like that. Someday I hope to find a solution or get another drive to move off the data so I can disable RST.
what's the problem using RST with Linux?
Just asking, my old laptop too has RST, but no problems with Linux. (Granted, the manufacturer's website states I should install only 8GBs of RAM max and once I used 16GB in it, and had some strange... memory related issues sometimes... with 12, there's no problem. Tho this wasn't a Linux problem, my laptop just hanged after booting into anything. (Linux, Windows, memtest, anything, really))
I honestly don't know. Just that I tried to install Mint and it booted from USB just fine, but gave an error when I tried to run the installer. I don't recall the error message anymore but when I googled it, the problem was RST being enabled. I (dumbly) disabled it and rebooted into Windows only to find a drive missing. Thought I lost it but after re-enabling and rebooting a couple of times it came back.
I decided not to play until I could move that data and then reformat the drive without RST.
@Kraven_the_Hunter
If you like to tinker: Out of my head, you can disable RST, but windows must be started after disabling it in safe mode for the next boot, this will disable the RST driver and let windows correct this. Restart windows normally afterwards. Then linux should find your disk.
Disclaimer: This is out of my head and might not work. Have a restoreable backup of your data. Please consult the search engine of your choice for some further information.
Hmm, I'll have to look into this.
Literally the only reason I dual booted was for gaming. Thanks to Proton, I never touch Windows ever. It's great.
I started a corporate job, back in hell with fucking windows.
I try to justify that windows is okay for corporate, but that's requiring some hardcore copium.
I just do the zombieland wiping tears with money gif.
I was honestly surprised by win11. The last time I've daily driven a windows machine was the dark ages of 8.1. My expectations were pretty low thanks to the hate people spewed about it online.
What I got was a preinstalled SSH client, easy to install SSH server, customizable terminal app with tabs and nice features related to WSL, The WSL itself! Easy to install and switch between different distros, notepad remembers unsaved work, and it finally has tabs! Explorer? Tabs! Media playback? Windows finally got the media control widget, like a normal OS! A lot of small quality of life bits I was used to on my linux desktop. They're even working on finally deprecating that mess of a control panel!
The only thing that botheres me, is that the UI is clearly being designed by someone with a football field sized monitor. Luckily scaling it back down is still possible. The same thing plagues gnome as well as some commercial prodiucts I use.
I haven't used win11 yet and my work laptop uses win10 so although I can't claim any of the benefits you listed aren't accurate, my issues with windows go a little deeper than "win10 and earlier lack features 11 has".
On the WSL front, sure it's kinda cool and a way better programming experience, but it's still just linux under windows, so I find myself asking why I wouldn't just use linux, hardly a dub for windows.
The elephant in the room for me is the invasive software, of course. Win11 looks to be even more guilty of this with the likes of copilot and recall, but I can hard copium, bury my head in the sand and ignore these for the sake of work (with a smile on my face I guess).
Equally though, I simply don't find win10 enjoyable to use, and I'm not confident win11 is the solution. I use a tiling window manager on my home desktop so Windows' floating window manager isn't going to appeal to me. Installing and updating software is okay for some programs but annoying for others, never great. Sure, windows finally realised package managers were a thing, but winget leaves a lot to be desired for me.
Also, why does an operating system need ads? Genuine question.
At least in corporate they can disable the annoying features easily with AD. And the rest doesn't really matter because you don't own those PCs anyway.
WSL2 and windows terminal are ok. I switched to Linux in my previous job back when WSL1 or VMs were the the available choices for doing Linux stuff, but later when people asked if I'd recommend using Linux for their work computer there I'd just say no. IME Linux and Windows were pretty 50/50 on how often things broke down, e.g. updates breaking the shitty fucking VPN app, but with windows you had IT solving that shit for you, with Linux you had to rely on yourself and other Linux desktop users in the company.
They had Ubuntu available at Amazon while I worked there, when Windows got native ssh there wasn't a reason to use it anymore.
Proton is what made it possible for me to escape the hell that windows is.
wait that means it was only a year of Steam Play when I first tried it. I don't think I realize how big Proton is gonna be at that time, since I'm just testing games that are already playable with WINE years before. But Proton definitely made it so much easier. Although I made the full switch one year later in December 2020.
I switched to Linux a little before Steam came to Linux, and I made my Steam account pretty much as soon as it came. I've been here a while and it has been a wild ride. I went from mostly buying games through Humble Bundle (best way to find good native Linux games in the early 2010s IMO), to Linux native games through Steam, and finally to Windows games through Proton (I did play a handful through WINE, but it was always a pain).
It's been amazing to see gaming on Linux go from something enthusiasts do to something that's a mass market product.