Mastodawn

Recommended linux variant for gaming.

https://lemmy.world/post/8999328

Recommended linux variant for gaming. - Lemmy.World

I’ve been using Ubuntu as my daily driver for a good few years now. Unfortunately I don’t like the direction they seem to be heading. I’ve also just ordered a new computer, so it seems like the best time to change over. While I’m sure it will start a heated debate, what variant would people recommend? I’m not after a bleeding edge, do it all yourself OS it will be my daily driver, so don’t want to have to get elbow deep in configs every 5 minutes. My default would be to go back to Debian. However, I know the steam deck is arch based. With steam developing proton so hard, is it worth the additional learning curve to change to arch, or something else?

SavvyWolf Dec 1, 2023

If you like Ubuntu but don’t like the direction it’s going, you can try Mint. It’s Ubuntu, but with the bad decisions reversed. Or use LMDE, which is Mint but Debian based.

mateomaui Dec 1, 2023

I’ll +1 for LMDE here as well.

entropicdrift Dec 1, 2023

Yep. LMDE, add the kisak-mesa PPA and use Steam Flatpak and you’re off to the races

RestrictedAccount Dec 1, 2023

I just run Ubuntu on an old Mac for email and browsing.

Just curious, what are these bad directions?

Platform27 Dec 1, 2023

Some people like to rag onto Canonicals bad decisions. These include:

Putting ads in the terminal

Use of Affiliate links in the DE

The forceful use of Snap

The proprietary Snap infrastructure

The feeling of being abandoned, in favour of the server market (lack of desktop innovation)

Thjoth Dec 1, 2023

I didn't know about any of these, but terminal ads by itself would be enough to make me switch to something else. So would the affiliate links. Why would they think that's a good idea?

RmDebArc_5 Dec 1, 2023

I think you just answered your question

But the ads are just for Ubuntu pro, which is free for personal use so it’s more of a tip. And the Amazon part was to my knowledge just in the unity days. Not defending Canonical, just showing more of the picture

TrickDacy Dec 1, 2023

I knew “ads in the terminal” was hard to believe for some reason. I’m guessing it’s easily disabled too.

herrvogel Dec 2, 2023

They were just MOTDs, which are few lines of text displayed on the terminal when you first launch a session. You just have to edit one line in a config somewhere to get rid of them. Annoying but not exceptionally so.

kate Dec 2, 2023

Not just MOTDs, they’re in apt now too

JTskulk Dec 5, 2023

They were easily disabled, but if I wanted to spend my time disabling annoying shit that’s on by default, I’d just run Windows :p

TrickDacy Dec 5, 2023

Haha I mean fair, sort of. But if Ubuntu worked for me better than pop os in other ways, I could easily justify commenting out that line in a script or whatever

JTskulk Dec 6, 2023

Yeah in the end it’s all just nerd gripes. I sold my old computer to my non-techy friend with Kubuntu and he likes it just fine :)

mateomaui Dec 1, 2023

Get the Garuda gaming edition and the only real learning curve is apt vs pacman.

leekleak Dec 1, 2023

+1 for that. It’s a very friendly distro from what I’ve experienced

OrderedChaos Dec 1, 2023

I’m currently experimenting with Garuda gnome. Pacman is frustrating for me. Games run incredibly smooth using proton I’m constantly amazed it’s this good now. I keep waiting for something to break though.

kariboka Dec 3, 2023

Using Garuda for 6 months now. No issues.

OrderedChaos Dec 6, 2023

I have horrible luck with any OS. They always break down and require me to reinstall even with minimal usage and zero tweaks. It has one good side effect of teaching me how the system works but it is exhausting having to fix stuff that shouldn’t be breaking. I work in IT and my coworkers agree I might be cursed. Stuff works when I walk in the room for people that ask for my help which is weird. Not complaining about that. It’s just that if it’s something for me it usually breaks.

BurnedOliveTree Dec 1, 2023

I’ve been using Nobara for some time now, and I’ve been successfully able to play on Nvidia & Wayland, so that’s quite a feat in itself. Also, everything is setup at install time, so you don’t have to setup many things yourself.

Ace! _SL/S Dec 1, 2023

Are you not playing Windows games via wine/proton?

This issue is what stops me from switching to Wayland on my GTX 1080. It basically makes games unplayable because the frames get displayed out of order

xwayland glamor renders incorrectly on nvidia (#1317) · Issues · xorg / xserver · GitLab

xwayland windows appear misrender on all wayland compositors when using nvidia hardware. The errors for gnome/plasma can best be described as rendering the wrong frame (perhaps an earlier...

GitLab

RachelRodent Dec 1, 2023

I am a nobara user aswell, never encountered or heard about this issue

Ace! _SL/S Dec 1, 2023

Weird, it’s definitely not fixed yet (just tried it on up to date Arch). I don’t think Nobara included a fix for it, what GPU is your system using?

RachelRodent Dec 1, 2023

it is just nvidia card with propertiary nvidia drivers and kde

Ace! _SL/S Dec 1, 2023

Are you on a laptop using Prime Render offload? That fixes it, otherwise you probably just didn’t notice. I’d recommend you compare it to gaming on X11

RachelRodent Dec 1, 2023

Yep I am.on a laptop, thats probs it

russjr08 Dec 1, 2023

This bug was the nail in the coffin on Nvidia for me and I finally picked up a 6700 XT to replace my 2080 this month…

But, when I was on my 2080 trying out Wayland, I of course always noticed this bug on actual apps themselves (such as my IDE…) but it didn’t always manifest in games, at least not till 545 came out.

Not sure why, since of course most games are run through XWayland. Perhaps they’re in a similar situation and I’d be curious if they opened something like Discord, if they saw it there.

N3Cr0 Dec 1, 2023

I’m currently struggling with Nobara and the growing amount of bugs with each new kernel update.

Otherwise I would have recommended that one, since it offers some great convenient features, like a graphical management tool for all sorts of Wine versions, which can be installed in parallel. The kernel supports fsync and is tuned for low latency. Game performance is decent and I also got all my games and launchers (native Linux and also Wine) working.

For the audio part, there is pipewire, which works like a charm. There is also a compatible flatpack for DSP/equalizer which I couldn’t find it on Ubuntu’s snap store: JamesDSP. Now, after some tuning, my rather flat-sounding headphones sound do super boomy.

RachelRodent Dec 1, 2023

What are the bugs thta you have been experiencing on nobara

N3Cr0 Dec 1, 2023

It started with conflicts between the preinstalled gnome extensions - namely the desktop icons broke other extensions, like Pop!_shell for window tiling. So I had to disable desktop icons.

My latest installed kernel (6.5.11) breaks screen detection - The resolution is stuck at 1024x768.

My PC gets stuck (probably on self test) after reboot or switching it on, after Nobara has shut down. Solution: Pull the power plug, wait 10 seconds, reconnect and turn it on.

I expect more to break with the next updates.

RachelRodent Dec 1, 2023

On nobara I have never head any of these issues on nvidia and on KDE. You can get it to.look like GNOME.

N3Cr0 Dec 1, 2023

Alrighty then: Now I have a reason to switch graphics cards and install Nobara on my other SSD. I bought a Radeon RX 7600 for this setup, because of AMD’s praised open-source drivers. My spare GPU is an RTX 3060, so I can actually test both worlds.

RachelRodent Dec 1, 2023

Nah AMD works much better than nvidia, my statement was meant to be like “works even on nvidia” hit you should definetly stay AMD

N3Cr0 Dec 1, 2023

That’s what folks over here tell me, and you are most probably right. There is still one more issue scratching my head though: RayTracing performance on Cyberpunk 2077: It works great on high settings with stable 50 FPS minimum on my Windows 10 + Nvidia build, but it’s quite the opposite on this Nobara + AMD system. 5FPS and slowdowns are just unplayable. I expected the bad AMD performance being fixed by today. I think I should swap GPUs between both systems and test again.

RachelRodent Dec 1, 2023

I am also getting like 20 fps less on linux than windows, I think its just how it is

Quetzalcutlass Dec 2, 2023

For that last one, try disabling Fast Boot in your BIOS/UEFI. That may be the culprit.

RachelRodent Dec 1, 2023

Go with nobara.

simple Dec 1, 2023

I second Nobara, but IMO get the KDE edition of it if you’re used to Windows. You’ll feel much more at home.

DarkThoughts Dec 1, 2023

You could've at least read his post first?

simple Dec 1, 2023

What about it? OP is asking for a distro recommendation.

DarkThoughts Dec 1, 2023

if you’re used to Windows.

While OP writes, in his first sentence:

I’ve been using Ubuntu as my daily driver for a good few years now.

war Dec 1, 2023

It doesn't matter what distro you use. I use openSUSE Tumbleweed. Never had an issue running anything. Would not have an issue on other distros either. Use Debian if you like it. Install Steam and Lutris as flatpaks. Job done.

Victor Dec 1, 2023

I game on Arch, works great. Flatpak Steam, X11. 👍

Nilz Dec 1, 2023

Why Flatpak over the multilib one? Would it be easy to switch to Flatpak Steam?

Victor Dec 1, 2023

I dunno, just felt better not enabling a whole repo just for one app, so I went with the flatpak version.

Super easy, just install it and go. Just remember to also install the Proton flatpak package in order to enable running Windows games on Linux. And to enable it in the settings. I don’t think there’s much else to it other than standard flatpak stuff, like things don’t work too great if the system GPU driver version is out of sync with the flatpak one. So if you upgrade one make sure to upgrade the other, etc.

Give it a whirl if you like, and if you bump into issues I might be able to help. We’ll see. 😅

Rustmilian Dec 1, 2023

It doesn’t really matter what distro you go with, just don’t go with something like Debian because of how old their packages are. You don’t need a rolling release system, but you also don’t want something to old for gaming.

ono Dec 1, 2023

Please stop spreading falsehoods.

Rustmilian Dec 1, 2023

Have you ever tested Debian stable vs Debian sid? You’ll notice a clear performance difference. Why? Because Debian stable has older packages that don’t include performance related patches found in the newer ones. This is basic knowledge.

ono Dec 1, 2023

(Elaborating now that I’m not on mobile…)

Have you ever tested Debian stable vs Debian sid?

Yes, I have, as well as developed and packaged software for both. And not just a little. Your comment about how release cycles work is patronizing, and your diatribe is wrong on several points.

Arch is at kernel 6.6.3.

Debian Stable currently has kernel 6.5 for those who choose to install it. Not that it matters, because a higher kernel version number doesn’t magically grant better performance. Specific changes may help in specific cases, but most kernel revisions don’t offer any significant difference to most games. The more common reason to want a new rev is to support specific hardware.

Unless you have a very new GPU (released less than a year ago), your games are not likely to get any benefit at all from the latest kernel.

And unless your games require the very latest Vulkan features and you run them without Steam, Flatpak, or any other platform that provides its own Mesa, you’re not likely to get any benefit from a distro providing the latest version of it.

Practically everything else that games need is comparable across all the major distros, including Debian. (Your example, Arch, might have hundreds of newer packages, but approximately zero of them will make games run better.)

OP, choose a distro that makes you happy, not one that some random person claims is best for gaming. If what Debian offers is appealing to you, rest assured that it is generally excellent for gaming.

Rustmilian Dec 1, 2023

Bruv. I’ve packaged software for all 3.
Which btw is completely irrelevant here so get off your high horse.
There clear performance differences between 6.1 and 6.6. Why? Because there’s several patches that effect various APIs both Wine & Proton take advantage of.

ono Dec 1, 2023

There’s clear performance differences between 6.1 and 6.6.3

As already stated, kernel 6.5 is available on Debian Stable.

Ofc, you can install newer kernels, you could install kernel 6.6.0 if you wanted, but you’d be going outside of the stable repo to do it which kinda defeats the entire purpose of Debian Stable.

No, it does not. Stable Backports exist for exactly this reason.

Not to mention that mixing and matching packages can lead to problems in the future. Like accidently using the wrong dkms driver version on the wrong kernel version.

I don’t know whether you somehow managed to do those things or you’re just fabricating imaginary problems, but no, installing the Backports kernel would not cause either of them.

Rustmilian Dec 1, 2023

Ignore reality, I don’t care.

ono Dec 1, 2023

Changing the subject away from Debian’s gaming performance is a strange tactic, but since you’ve shifted to mocking the name of the distribution, you should know that Debian Stable’s name comes from this sense of the word:

stable 3 of 3 adjective
1b : not changing or fluctuating : unvarying

I would expect someone so familiar with “all 3 and beyond” to know that.

To indulge your sophistry, though, all operating systems have released broken packages at some point. Debian Stable has a well-earned reputation for doing it less than others. Even with kernel Backports. Trying to scare people away from it is a disservice to the community.

Definition of STABLE

Definition of 'stable' by Merriam-Webster

Bloodyhog Dec 2, 2023

A question here: plan to upgrade to 7800xt sometime in the near future. The card is quite new, so i have doubts after your reply above. I am mainly gaming and do basic office stuff (Libre office is enough). Also, though I can install Ubuntu - press X to win type install works for me - I am new to linux, so not big on fiddling with obscure packages. Just want games to run well - so, in this specific usecase, what distros would you recommend to try?

ono Dec 2, 2023

That GPU is indeed new, and I don’t have one, but I think the amdgpu driver has supported it since kernel 6.4 or 6.5. Any distro offering that and recent AMD firmware will probably work. (You could also manually install the firmware files if you change your mind about fiddling and want a specific distro that hasn’t caught up yet.)

I don’t generally recommend specific distros, since people’s needs and preferences vary so widely. However, Linux Mint gets a lot of praise for being an easy distro based on the good parts of Ubuntu. Mint also maintains a Debian edition (LMDE), which I think is a good insurance policy in case Ubuntu ever goes off the rails and becomes unsuitable as a base for Mint.

Making sure you're not a bot!

Bloodyhog Dec 2, 2023

Thank you, that helps.

The fiddling bit is not that i am particularly against, it just requires learning things that have no other use for me outside of playing a random game in my free time (so spending that valuable time on learning about OS internals instead of things i actually care about).You can call me a perfect user for windows - i just am tired of them trying to track me, changing their shit constantly and pushing their services within the product i paid for with my own money. Hence linux.

So what i am looking for is an out of the box experience that will not turn my eyes red.

JTskulk Dec 5, 2023

For what it’s worth I have an RX 7900XT and it works great with the Free software driver. The other reply is right that amdgpu is supported. I use Endeavor and was a bit confused about setting it up at first, but the nice guys at the GamingOnLinux discord helped me out and now it’s extremely painless to use and upgrade.

Bloodyhog Dec 5, 2023

Thanks! Can you walk me through here: what exactly is a Free software driver? As with everything in linux - you either know, or don’t)

JTskulk Dec 6, 2023

It’s just what it sounds like: the driver is Free software. This is in contrast to the situation with Nvidia where there’s a Free software driver that doesn’t perform well and a proprietary driver from Nvidia that performs better, but is kind of a pain in the ass for users and distro maintainers to maintain. You’re reliant on Nvidia for support so you’re forced to use certain versions of kernels and libraries (I think). The AMD driver is free, open source, performs well and is more flexible.

Bloodyhog Dec 6, 2023

Ah, so you mean the one supplied by AMD themselves? Good, thanks.

JTskulk Dec 6, 2023

Yes, but you don’t want to actually go get them from AMD’s site like I was doing. I think this is what I followed: github.com/lutris/docs/…/InstallingDrivers.md

docs/InstallingDrivers.md at master · lutris/docs

Contribute to lutris/docs development by creating an account on GitHub.

GitHub