Mastodawn

Codimp Apr 29, 2025

Rappel que si vous êtes une personne, un groupe de potes ou un petit collectif qui veut au choix (un ou plusieurs) :
- S'émanciper du capitalisme numérique via des solutions collectives
- Avoir sa propre messagerie chiffrée
- Passer sous Linux
- Mieux comprendre le fonctionnement d'internet
- Poser des questions "bêtes" (y a pas de questions bêtes !) que vous osez pas poser à d'autres libristes

Vous pouvez me demander.

J'aurai pas forcément la réponse à tout ni le temps d'aider pour tout, mais y a moyen d'avoir au moins des pistes et débrousailler le terrain.

#XMPP #Linux #LogicielLibre #Entraide

ladyteruki Apr 29, 2025

@codimp : well ! I'm going to take you up on this offer !
I've been (mildly, as it wouldn't be for right now) considering Linux, but I'm afraid of the situation related to softwares (like Photoshop) & gaming. There are specific games I want to be able to play that are non-negotiable, and I don't know how that would work with Linux, which I've heard doesn't work for gamers much.
In particular I don't know what would happen to my Steam library : would I need to buy these games all over again ?

Codimp Apr 29, 2025

@ladyteruki Hey, thanks for asking!

For softwares in Linux really big licences like Photoshop can be hard to found or impossible. But You can sometimes found replacement, it depend on your needs.

For games, if you rely on Steam it will be the easyiest: Proton (the software which permit to run Windows games under Linux) is really good nowadays and it's just one click to enable it on Linux.
If you already payed your games you don't need to buy them again, they are linked to your Steam account, you will just need to install Steam on your Linux and connect to your account to reinstall your games.

And you can check if your current games run well on Linux using https://www.protondb.com/ ! You can even connect your steam account on this website and it will list all your games and tell you if it's easy to make them run on Linux or not!

The worst issues you can encounter are for games relying on plateform specific anticheat, they will simply won't work on Linux (eg. League of Legend).

Hope it helps.

ProtonDB | Gaming know-how from the Linux and Steam Deck community

Game information for Proton, Linux, Steam Deck, and SteamOS

ladyteruki Apr 29, 2025

@codimp : thank you so much for taking the time to respond ! And so soon after I asked all kinds of questions !
See, links like that are exactly what I wish I knew about, but people who are newbies like me, by definition, don't know about these tools. Thank you so much. My main games are gold or platinum, so I'd be good, I think ; depending on the tweaks in question.

(the version of Photoshop I'm running is um, less than legal... I mostly worry about being able to use my psd files and such)

Codimp Apr 29, 2025

@ladyteruki yep for psd files I think other softwares can read them (and maybe also Photoshop can run with Wine?), but I'm really not a "design and graphism" person so I don't know how is the compatibility on this format, I retoot your post so maybe someone else will know more things on this subject

ladyteruki Apr 29, 2025

@codimp : oh yeah, exactly, running a new tool (as long as I can find something free, considering the state of my finances) is not an issue, I'm fine learning, it's just being able to keep working on some stuff. That said, I use Photoshop as a random netizen, not professionally at all, so I don't even need something targeting people who do this for money.
Do you know of a website or tool that could help me understand the differences between distributions, and that could run Proton ?

Codimp Apr 29, 2025

@ladyteruki I don't really use websites to compare Linux distributions, I always prefer to say: use the distribution your Linux friends (or Linux collegue, SO or other) use, so they can help and support you during your Linux World discovery, wich is more important to start than finding "your best distribution" (which can come later). The harder is sometime to find some Linux friends I know.

But for general advices, I say:
- Avoid Ubuntu (it was a good one years ago but not today I think, they make really bad and non userfriendly choices)
- If you need stability and not a big gamer : Debian based distributions are cool
- If you want to play lot of games and want really up to date softwares : Archlinux based distributions are cool (eg. Manjaro)

ladyteruki Apr 29, 2025

@codimp : yeah, other than internet friends on Mastodon, noone I know uses Linux XD So I'm the sacrificial lamb who has to go first, here.
It sounds like Archlinux distros would be for me. I don't play A LOT of games, but I play resource-greedy games (ARK is notorious for requiring NASA-grade gear).
What would you say I need to worry about when choosing a distro ? I have no idea what my criteria could be. If I happen to choose something that eventually does not fit, how hard is changing later ?

ladyteruki Apr 29, 2025

@codimp (in general it should be noted that I'm really not a software nor hardware expert of any kind, I'm very much a "plug in and work, please" type of user)

La mère tume Apr 29, 2025

@ladyteruki @codimp

I don't really have huge gaming needs or drawing software needs, but for the "plug in and work please" part especially if you're used to Windows I think Linux Mint is a good candidate, it has a lot of GUI tools preinstalled to do things, and it usually just works out of the box, I don't really enjoy tinkering and I don't have to do it much with Mint

ladyteruki Apr 29, 2025

@Nocta_Senestra @codimp : thanks for your feedback, I'm adding Mint to my list of considered distros ! I actually have heard of Mint before, in the context of Notion.

https://www.linuxfordevices.com/tutorials/install-notion-ubuntu-linux

5 Simple Ways to Install Notion on Linux! - LinuxForDevices

Notion is a robust productivity tool that effortlessly integrates note-taking, project management, and collaboration functions. In this tutorial, we'll see ...

LinuxForDevices

ladyteruki Apr 29, 2025

@Nocta_Senestra @codimp ...man, imagine if there's a distribution called Purple or Mauve XD

La mère tume Apr 29, 2025

@ladyteruki @codimp You can make all your folders purple easily at least :D

ladyteruki Apr 29, 2025

@Nocta_Senestra @codimp : oh yeah, that reminds me : other than the obvious "I'm stepping away from Windows" reasons, what are the things you enjoy about Linux ? The perks you feel are not discussed much, or that simply fit your particular use ?

La mère tume Apr 29, 2025

@ladyteruki @codimp

Hmm I would say most of the reasons are "anti-windows"/anticapitalistic/anti-surveillance, but in a general way, regarding that, it brings me peace of mind, knowing that I'm way less likely to be spied on etc.

I know things won't always work (they mostly do just yeah), but they don't always work on Windows either, and I know that most of my problems on Linux could technically be solved even if I would probably need to spend a lot of time on very tricky ones, while Windows problems are just... obscure... hard to diagnose, hard to fix, ... That's peace of mind too

And also when installing things I can use the distro's repos and stuff and be pretty confident that I'm not installing some utter crap that will ruin my computer, that's also peace of mind

It boots pretty fast and doesn't force me to update I can do it whenever I want that's also nice

@Nocta_Senestra @codimp : sorry, what's a repo in the context of Linux ? I gather that it's a repository, but do you mean your distribution's files, or more like a gallery of apps ?

La mère tume Apr 29, 2025

@ladyteruki @codimp

Kinda like a gallery of apps yeah (but they're called packaged)

On Mint you have a GUI to install stuff (software manager I think it's called), some of it are "packages" from the distro's repo managed directly by the Mint team (or the Ubuntu team as it's based on Ubuntu), stuff you could also install from the package manager or from the command line with "apt install", some of it are from Flatpack, which is another system that I don't really like but at least it's clearly labelled when it's the case.

ladyteruki Apr 29, 2025

@Nocta_Senestra @codimp : so when you install a distribution, I take it that the experience can be pretty modular then ?

La mère tume Apr 29, 2025

@ladyteruki @codimp

Linux is modular in itself, when you install a distro it's more "what starting build do I choose", like you're relying on someone else's opinions on what to pick in a way (how your windows and files manager will look like, what is preinstalled, etc...).

Mint is relatively opinionated in the sense that it preinstalls and configure a lot of things so you don't have to, all the basic stuff you'd need, you'll still need to install stuff like Steam, Gimp, Krita, ...
But you can always change the things it configures if you don't like it.

Some distros like Gentoo are more lax, they install just a base and let you do all the work.

ladyteruki Apr 29, 2025

@Nocta_Senestra @codimp : I see. Where Windows is more about giving you SOME settings, but still installs everything by default, Linux lets you pick and choose more so that you don't even install what you don't want... am I getting that right ?

(why are there so many distros >_< no I get it, precisely for that reason, different people want different "opinions" but it's very confusing from a noob's point ov iew)

La mère tume Apr 29, 2025

@ladyteruki @codimp

Windows will restrict what you can do
Linux never does
A distro just makes a lot of choices by default for you, but you can always change those choices if there's a thing you don't like
Distros like Mint are made for people who don't really want to spend a lot of time choosing and configuring I think.

ladyteruki Apr 29, 2025

@Nocta_Senestra @codimp : well my issue is less the time I'd sink into it, than my lack of knowledge and the risk of breaking something.

La mère tume Apr 29, 2025

@ladyteruki @codimp

As codimp said I think, first step is to make a backup of all your files just in case.

There is an installer on Mint that does the "install next to Windows" automatically for you but it might not perfectly fit your needs, if you have specific needs you might want to go into manual mode and set-up your partitions. I could help a bit with that but not sure of the setup that would allow me to help x)

ladyteruki Apr 29, 2025

@Nocta_Senestra @codimp : I was really hoping not to have to backup ALL my files...

La mère tume Apr 29, 2025

@ladyteruki @codimp Are all of those external drives? you should just need to backup the internal drive files, and unplug the external drives just to be sure you don't mess with them if you wanna be extra cautious

ladyteruki Apr 29, 2025

@Nocta_Senestra @codimp : ooooooh ! I thought you really meant ALL. That's how noobish I am XD

La mère tume Apr 29, 2025

@ladyteruki @codimp

Well there's technically a possibility you'd ask your installer to install it on one of your external drives and fuck the files on it that's why I said you can unplug them when installing if you wanna be sure, but yeah it should be fine

The files that have the most risk to be lost are the ones in the internal drive that you're gonna install linux on.

Also after making a backup of them, refragment them from Windows

ladyteruki Apr 29, 2025

@Nocta_Senestra @codimp : I see, thanks for the clarification. As you can tell, I'm quite computer illiterate.

La mère tume Apr 29, 2025

@ladyteruki @codimp

That's okay!

La mère tume Apr 29, 2025

@ladyteruki @codimp

There is one thing that is puzzling to me though:

How do you intend to install a Linux distro without a USB key? You kinda need to be able to run Linux on an external thingy (could be a disk too) to install it on the internal drive

Could you borrow a USB key from someone?

ladyteruki Apr 29, 2025

@Nocta_Senestra @codimp : you know... that's a great question. I was not putting two and two together here. I guess I'll have to include a USB key in the computer budget then. I imagine I'll need something pretty large ?

La mère tume Apr 29, 2025

@ladyteruki @codimp

Actually I think a 4Go key should be enough

ladyteruki Apr 29, 2025

@Nocta_Senestra @codimp : oh. OH. Oh ok, that sounds doable :)

La mère tume Apr 29, 2025

@ladyteruki @codimp let me double check to be sure

La mère tume Apr 29, 2025

@ladyteruki @codimp random article says 8Go actually

ladyteruki Apr 29, 2025

@Nocta_Senestra @codimp : I'm updating the Notion board in consequence, thank you ! ^_^
It's past 1am so I'm going to go offline for a bit, but thanks so much for your help and advice (both of you !).

La mère tume Apr 29, 2025

@ladyteruki @codimp

Of course, good night 💜

La mère tume Apr 29, 2025

@ladyteruki @codimp

Linux Mint is a bit less lightweight than most distros but it's still way lighter than Windows I think x)

La mère tume Apr 29, 2025

@ladyteruki @codimp

What you can do is make a USB key with Linux on it, and try it for a bit without actually installing it on your computer, see how it feels

ladyteruki Apr 29, 2025

@Nocta_Senestra @codimp : I thought about it but I'd need to buy a USB key and that's not currently in the budget.

ladyteruki Apr 29, 2025

@Nocta_Senestra @codimp (I had an ex who used Linux and had offered to do exactly that for me, but at the time I turned it away... and anyway, it'd be a 2010 USB key !)