Considering I'm unemployed and job hunting, and Windows says I can't upgrade my current (old) PC, and I regularly play Warzone with friends? No, probably not any time soon.

Maybe if I get a job with a six digit salary in a city with a reasonable cost of living (or remote) so I can jump out of debt before 6 months? But I'm not holding my breath.

Windows is a weapons contractor that is entangled in the domestic markets. Linux is not. Windows is spyware and anti consumer. It is time to at least be familar with Linux. Try it on a old laptop or something. Linux is free.

My plan is to use my Linux box as my main PC with Steam installed so that I can remote play from my Windows gaming PC since not all titles natively work on Linux for me. That way, the only activity being performed on my Windows machine is gaming and everything else will live in Linux Mint

How to give it a go:

• Get a 256GB SSD and install it on your computer alongside the existing drives.
• Install a gaming-oriented Linux distro such as Pop!OS, Bazzite, SteamOS or similar, on that drive (don't let it touch any other drive - those things generally have an install mode were you just tell it "install in this drive" which will ignore all other drives)
• Unless your machine is 10 years old or older, during boot you can press a key (generally F8) and the BIOS will pop-up a boot menu that lets you choose which OS you want start booting (do it again at a later date if you want to change it back). If your machine is old you might actually have to go into the BIOS and change the boot EFI (or if even older, boot drive) it boots from in the boot section of the BIOS.
• Use launchers such as Steam and a Lutris since they come with per-game install scripts that make sure Proton/Wine is properly configured, so that for most game you don't have to do any tweaking at all for them to run - it's just install and launch. In my experience you still have to tweak about 1 game in every 10.
• If it all works fine and you're satisfied with it, get a bigger SSD and install it alongside the rest. Make one big partition in it and mount you home directory there (at this point you will have to go down to the CLI to copy over your home directory). You'll need this drive because of all the space you'll be using for games, especially modern ones and launchers like Steam and Lutris will install the games in your home directory so having that in it's own partition is the easiest way to add storage space for games.

As long as you give a dedicated drive to Linux and (if on an old machine before EFI) do not let it install a boot sector anywhere else but that drive, the risk exposure is limited to having spent 20 or 30 bucks on a 256GB SSD and then it turns out Linux is still not good enough for you.

When NOT to do it:

• If you don't know what a BIOS is or that you can press a key at the start of boot to get into it.
• If you don't know how to install a new drive on your machine (or even what kind of drive format it takes) and don't have somebody who can do it for you.
• If you don't actually have the free slot for the new drive (for example, notebooks generally only have 2 slots, sometimes only 1).

I want to move to Linux, but I need to be able to use the VPN service my work uses and I'm just not sure how to get it working on Linux. I should just dual boot.

My friend was unable to update to windows 11 due to the TPM requirements and looking to switch to linux. I upgraded my CPU and said they should buy my old one. They finally said OK and asked if I could help them install it before they switched to Linux. I installed the CPU and they never switched to Linux because now they have a CPU that meets the TPM requirements.

Windows users really hate change. Microsoft will force them to update and the users will whine but 1 week later they will be used to it then they will stick on windows 11 till EoL.

Unpopular opinion but I'm just using 11. I deal with enough problems with Linux at work and as hard as it is to believe, Windows just work and fits my workflow too well. Linux works great on my Steam Deck but the occasional weird quirks it has with certain games/launchers means I can't use it as my main gaming platform, it's only fine on the Deck because it has advantages for the form factor.

I have 11, so not directly affected. But with "no more security updates" being the only real reason one needs to change, the obvious question here is if there is 3rd party software that can protect a Windows 10 system?

I remember when anti-virus software was in common use.

I run Fedora KDE now, but I’m going to keep my Windows 10 install on Windows 10.

yeah i need star citizen, ableton, fl studio, premier, photoshop and more before i can dedicate a jump to linux

I'm not making the jump to Linux fully.

I will and have done this thing where I will wait until Microsoft has enough of their head out of their ass to make another decent Windows version again, before I consider hopping to it. They're due to make one sometime soon, don't they? They'll soon realize Windows 11 like 8, Vista and ME before it, was a stupid idea and do something nicer for Windows 12 or whatever they do with Windows next after 11. Windows 11 is already like 4 years old and one of its versions is going to expire next year. What will they do then?

Linux doesn't have my full attention because I don't think it'll run everything I use for Windows. My user activity/behavior is slowing down to where I'm probably a casual user at best who does the bare minimum. Yet, there's things I'd like to run without having to use third party software as a bridge to get to what I want to run as simple as it would if it was on Windows with a simple click or two. Oh and not to mention, hardware driver and support with Linux is one of my major concerns and I don't think there's a Linux driver for every piece of my hardware.

Unfortunately, I use some software that's Windows-only, and can't be bothered to set up a VM or anything

I'm a Linux user who had Windows 10 on one computer for VR but once I saw Microsoft's CEO at Trump's inauguration I removed that last install, deleted my Meta accounts, and put my Quest 3 in a box.

I've been trying to get a good domain authed nix set up for a while. Alternately, if I could set up a gaming server using sunshine/moonlight.

I might get downvoted or whatever but Windows 11 is fine. I get it if your PC straight up can’t run it, that’s a tough spot. But as an OS it’s fine, even has a few handy features (besides all the AI crap shoehorned in). I actually like the File Explorer changes and the window snap stuff can work in the right setting.

Installed bazzite today. Was easier than installing windows.

I can't afford a new computer right now and tariffs meaning higher prices means I can't anticipate affording one in the near future. My plan is to see where everything's at when they stop doing updates. Unfortunately.

Man, I really tried today to get Linux on my Framework laptop.

I can't believe how goddamn frustrating the experience has been, and I've dabbled in Linux for decades.

I try Mint. Install as a dual boot... Installation done. Reboot. Straight into Windows. Check partitions and nothing has changed.

Try again. All seems fine. Boot. Some error screen that won't let me get into Mint.

Do this like four more times with no luck.

Tried Ubuntu. No easy way to install as a dual boot unless I want to mess around with custom paritions. Also, GNOME sucks ass, but Ubuntu seems way more polished than Mint.

I did get mint on a mini PC I have running through my TV. But audio wasn't working, so that took a while to sort out. And the onscreen keyboard does nothing on the lock screen. So unpolished, and I have no idea why it's recommended "for beginners" when it feels unfinished.

With windows, there's no messing around. Everything just works. And I fucking hate that I feel forced to choose a miserable, hacky, terminal-based experience with countless hours of installing shit through commands... Or a smooth, reliable, easy one with bloatware and spying on the backend. Goddammit!

I had read that Steam on WINE is pretty stable. Is it not?

Bought my wife a framework laptop, slapped fedora on it and have been helping her make the switch. So far so good other than Obsidian not working the same as OneNote.

Well my PC can't do windows 11, and upgrading is now impossible thanks to a certain someone. So yeah...

Not gonna upgrade.

Have already had Linux for decades.

Linux still can’t handle anticheats for the games I play, so primarily on Windows I stay.