6* months away now. If you're on 10, do you plan to upgrade? Make the jump to Linux?

Steam OS time

I switched to Mint a year ago. Don't miss a thing.

Being a deck owner not over obsessed in the latest tripe A games.

Never again, bye Microsoft Windows 😁 Hi GNU/Linux my new friend.

43% of Steam is still on Windows

10 with support...

Seems not so many.
And if they are ending in 7 month why bother.

Just put the lin
e break right, the
n it's understanda
ble.

Only semi-related: Why do they always show pictures of Gates when he hasn't been involved in MS in a long time? Why never Satya Nadella?

EDIT: Also, yes, related to the actual question already living Linux full time and when October rolls around probably gonna back up everything from the Windows side of my dual-boot and wipe the 1TB NVMe Windows is on to use as storage.

Already did and it's glorious! Steam works beautifully and the only final thing that I'm missing is Adobe products.

I recommend, if you want to try Linux, that you try out the 'Debian' distribution, and use the 'KDE Plasma' desktop environment. It makes for a very Windows-like experience and really assisted me with the transition between OSs.

The more people hop onto Linux the faster and better funded support for Linux development becomes. If you're a single player gamer or play Valve multiplayer games primarily, make the jump to Linux. Get on Mint, get on Fedora, Ubuntu, etc and get off Microsoft's shitboat. You already took off from Reddit. Wean off all these other money/data leeches

It's not like Windows 10 will magically stop booting or something..

Switch to Linux. As a big-time gamer, I did it last year and it’s been fantastic. Only issue is if you main games with root kit anticheat…but with enough momentum in Linux direction, game studios will be forced to abandon those dubious detection methods anyway.

Starting to plan my next build and will likely go full Linux

Why Gates in the picture tough?

He stepped down as a chairman over 10 years ago and didint he leave the microsoft board like 5 years ago?

I play only on Linux, and it works great. Come on over!

I switched to linux full time almost a year ago.

I have been thus far entirely unsuccessful in convincing anyone else to make the jump. Normal people do not give a fuck, will not lift a finger to improve their digital lives. I've been telling friends and family about adblockers for YEARS, and not a single one ever bothered to do it of their own volition. If I don't do it for them, then they just sit through ads like complacent sheep. None of them are going to change operating systems if they can't even install a browser extension.

I am going to attempt to switch to Linux, I'm definitely not going to willingly use windows platforms again.

Sticking with 10 for a bit, moving to Linux

Linux is fine. Ive been using it since before ubuntu was invented. But Windows has the most goddamn computer games.

It's going to be purchase a new hard drive and then jump to Linux Mint this August.

It's not an experience I am looking forward to (5080S, I do a lot of modding, and enjoy fangames/indie games which do not always play nice with linux) but needs must - the Linux community in general is very friendly, so we'll get through it, even if the first 6 months are rough. I'll keep the dual boot and push the windows partition to 11 if needed by work, that way I can put off rewriting my elderly access database for another few years.

Honestly, Microsoft are committing suicide when it comes to home users. It won't be sudden, but the wheels are turning, all the IT savvy folks are switching people over (already did my aunt's potato, mum's demi-tato is next week). Eventually, a tipping point will be reached and offices will start switching - I hope that day comes before I die of old age!

Can’t upgrade because my 4 years old mobo is apparently too old (haven’t checked out the workarounds yet). Installed Linux Mint to give it a try and I am positively surprised so far.

IIRC W11 share is barely near W10 and they are already forcing it out and crapton of perfectly usable hardware, if it is not planned obsolescence i don't know what it is!? Fuck microsoft!

Yep, fuck M$

Made my jump to Arch (btw) a couple of years ago and haven't really looked back. I have Win10 as a second boot option, but that's reserved specifically for Game Pass and VR, but it's very rare I boot it. Don't care to upgrade even after EOL, and I'd never recommend Arch to anyone but the most comfortable with Linux, but it's been a great option for me.

I spent a couple hours trying to get Baldur's Gate 3 running on Linux. It was rough but I got it to run at 1440 but the latency made it sort of unplayable. It runs great in Windows 10 at 4k with the default settings. I have some other windows-only software so I guess I'm going to "upgrade" all my computers that are able to do so but I don't feel good about it. All my computers dual boot windows/linux, I would love to be linux-only.

Edit: lots of people are saying theirs runs smoothly, I'm going to have to do further testing. Thanks for the input!

This year will be the year of the Linux desktop for shure. I believe in it like the years before.

Why need upgrade at all? I've never needed "support" before

Nope, will probably avoid 11 as long as I can though. I have an Mvidia card (drivers are notoriously troublesome on Linux). And I need professional design software for work (as in, industry standard: Adobe or Affinity).

But I put 11 on my laptop to try it and I hate it. So many terrible UI changes, UX noticeably worse. Like they changed stuff just to say they changed stuff.

I considered going Linux for personal use and development, and then using another machine or dual boot for Mac for design software. But i learned about the Nvidia issues after I upgraded my card :/ and swapping to Mac's walled garden after avoiding it for decades is.... a sign of how bad W11 feels to use.

I just gave up on windows gaming. If the game cant be played on my steamdeck, I just find something else. Otherwise its macos and linux for anything non-professional that requires windows. And even then I fucking hate it. Oh look at that... all my documents say "Auto-recover (version 1)" because it forcibly rebooted on me.

I got ahead of the game a little bit by switching to Linux in 2008.

https://massgrave.dev/

I'm using 10+ years old hardware, Microsoft has already told me I can't upgrade, followed by several messages asking me to upgrade...

In other news, Linux Mint works nice and I just need to check Protondb to get Warframe running at frames per second and not seconds per frame

Switched to Linux (mint) recently.

All my games run (almost) perfect and (almost) everything has been working perfectly. Overall it is much nicer than Windows and isn't that hard getting used to.

Would much recommend!

I already switched to Bazzite Desktop and it's been so good. I had some pains configuring somethings to my liking, but that was more due to me not being familiar with Linux. I'm never going back.

too late already did switch to linux :3

Already switched the laptop over to Mint. Desktop to follow.

Been on linux for years :3

I keep recommending BazziteOS but Jorge Castro over at the universal Blue project has a really good point "Most people don't install their operating systems" and that plain fact is what stops people from moving to Linux.

Valve has momentum because they are selling you a system with the OS already on it. Sell more gaming PCs with pre installed Linux on it and the support will follow. Valve's first attempt at getting Linux based gaming hardware out there failed but that didn't stop them and the real push is coming this time.

If you do install your OS (most people here have once or twice), try Bazzite out. I'm running it on the minisforum Bd790i with a radeon 7800xt and it works great!

Obviously Linux is the correct choice but I fear most will simply continue to suck it up and update to W11.

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!

Unfortunately not. Even as an IT person I can say I just wanna come home and boot up my games without hassle. Sure alot of things have been done with proton etc but still a massive amount of games don't work without Soo much dang tweaking. I don't have time for that especially with a job/being a single parent. I am highly interested in steamos though.

Already prepared everything for the jump. Switched MS Office for LibreOffice, and Outlook for Betterbird. Tested install, configuration and access to backups in a VM. Next vacation I take I'll go for it. Mint is my choice of Distro, because of Steam/Gaming reasons. With the US being antagonistic, if not outright hostile, right now, and Microsoft having their disgusting Copilot AI Analysis Fingers in everything, it's the rational choice I think.

I won't be doing pretty much anything about it. I have 10 pro, I don't really give a shit about what Microsoft thinks I should do. My computer is behind a firewall, and bluntly, it'll be a while before the security issues become such a problem that I need to go and upgrade.

However. I already did the legwork. I went out and upgraded the hardware TPM 1.2 in my system to TPM 2.0, and I picked up some (relatively cheap) Windows 11 pro product keys. I can upgrade if I want.

I also have access to W10 LTSC, so I can always pivot to that if I need to.

I get the security and other concerns with Windows 10. I do, but the windows 11 changes, to me seem like they're changes for the sake of things being changed. Windows 10's user experience was already quite good, apart from the fact that every feature release seemed to have the settings moved to a different location (see above about making changes for the sake of making changes). IMO, as a professional sysadmin and IT support, the interface and UX changes have made Windows, as a product, worse; it is by far the worst part of the upgrade process and I don't know why they thought any of it was a good idea. I also hate what M$ has done with printers, but I won't get started on that right now.

For all the nitpicking I could do, Windows was, for all intents and purposes, exactly what it needed to be, between Windows 7 and 10. There hasn't been any meaningful progress in the OS that's mattered since x86-64 support was added. Windows 10 32 bit was extremely rare, I don't think I ever saw it (where W7 was a mixed bag of 32/64 bit). Having almost everyone standardized on 64 bit, and Windows 10, gave a predictability that is needed in most businesses. The professional products should not follow the same trends as the home products. If they want to put AI shovelware and ads into the home products, fine. Revamp the vast majority of the control panel into the settings menu, sure. But leave the business products as-is. By far the most problems that people have with Windows 11 that I hear about, relate to how everything changes/looks different, and/or having problems navigating the "new look" or whatever the fuck.

Microsoft: you had a good thing with Windows 10, and you pissed it all away when you put out the crap that is Windows 11.

Stop moving shit around, making controls less useful, and stop making it look like the UX was designed by a 10 year old. Fuck off.

So many perfectly working older computers are going to be headed to the landfill as e-waste. That's the horrible part.

What a waste tech dollars just to play some stupid game.

I upgraded last year, have lost no functionality

Made the switch over a year ago. No regrets, everything works as I would want it to.

I run Linux on a small mini pc for some casual browsing.

I run windows on my main pc.

As long as some kernel anticheat (fortnite, cod, etc...) doesn't run on Linux, I won't be swapping.

30+y of windows use also makes me infinitely more comfortable with windows. All the complaints I always read about are totally moot for me (I understand the issue of privacy in windows. It's the price I pay to have an OS that "just works" for me) .

While I enjoy tinkering, Linux is a royal PITA to use if you're not used to it. I spend hours trying to figure out how to fix something that takes me 5m max in windows. I understand it's a more a me than a Linux problem. But I'm certain many people struggle with the same things.

I'll stick with 10 until steam itself stops supporting it I think

The only thing stopping me from really considering Linux is because I'm a Destiny player

I'll upgrade to 11 Enterprise via massgrave.

Sadly with Adobe and some of my online games not supporting Linux, I have to stick with Windows :/ I'll just try to disable all the telemetry and AI crap via O&O and group policies.

I left Windows ~2-3 years ago since I got tired of having to keep up with ways to disable the MS account requirements or disable the ads every time there is a major version upgrade on a platform I use every day.

I switched a year ago and I love it. All my old games run better on linux than windows at this point. Proton is fucking amazing.

It has been already 2 years for me, I have no intention of looking back. It even works better than Windows at times.

Been using Linux for years and the only issue with it is the incompetence of big studios. And them going out of their way to make sure stuff doesn't work on Linux.

Linux Baby, Linux 🐧😘

I'm gonna switch to Linux. My laptop still works fine, no need to upgrade yet.

Full Linux, I'm not installing that anti-privacy, ad-ridden Windows 11 OS. It's dangerous to use an unsupported system, so I'm going to be deleting my Windows partition. I know I'll run into some issues on Linux, but I'm forcing myself to learn more and work through them!

Already moved all my PC stuff to Linux. Laptop, desktop, media server. Been wanting to do this for years. Thanks, Valve and Proton, and to all those Linux developers who made this transition possible. Fuck M$

And 25% of users in Asia still use Windows 7. People are going to stay on the OS for as long as possible.

I thought I read some time ago that Windoze 10 would be the last version of Windoze ever...

I'm a lifelong Windows user and tried Linux many many times but could never wrap my head around it. Recently I installed Nobara and it's exactly the noob-friendly experience I need. All of my games run flawlessly, even the VR game I play. And everything is just FASTER. I never realized how bloated Windows was until now. I can't imagine going back to Windows at this point.

Jumped to linux for a test on an old laptop, currently on windows on my main PC but got parts on the way for a new build that's going to be Linux.

I'm in Windows 11. I have regret it, but after so many tweaks of the system, removing telemetries, changing menus, and other Windows shit, i had not the energy to move back to Windows 10.

Only OS change i am willing to make is to move to Linux, but gaming is not there yet, and am now trying to move from big proprietary companies to FOSS, so time is needed.

My gaming pc has just switched over to bazzite (as I use it like a console/htpc). Been wanting to do it for ages but needed to get an amd card beforehand for the best experience. Windows really started to grind my gears in the last few months too.

I am on Linux and won't change to W11 for sure.

What does Bill Gates have to do with this, he hasn't been directly involved in Microsoft in 17 years? He hasn't even been on the board for 5 years.

I gave Linux Mint a try last week when I received the news about the obligatory MS account for W11. Not that I'll "upgrade" to W11 but anyway.

Very smooth installation experience. The OS and software like Steam, Brave, Nvidia drivers and some audio & video stuff installed through the package control in no time. I could actually work with it.

Half of my game library is made only for W though. Or the small blocker things like GTA V that works well in Mint in story mode, the Battleye thing won't start of course, so expect no GTA Online in Mint either.

I think I'll keep Linux Mint and Windows under dual boot and use Windows only when necessary. Or run W10 in a virtual box in Mint 😎.

Windows 10 IoT LTSC has support until 2032. Just saying...

I'd consider switching if somebody spoonfed me into being able to use/know it's basics.

I am currently way too overstimulated with switching to privacy-focused and less (US-)corpo-reigned alternatives (like lemmy instead of reddit)

No way I'm switching to Linux yet, multi monitors support with mixed resolutions and vrr on nvidia still kinda sucks. As soon as someone makes that work I'll try it out on a separate partition. Buy last time I tried my other monitors had all kinds of issues when I had games open with gysnc

Most problems people have with Linux, I think, come from trying to be Linux power users from the start by performing very advanced techniques beyond their time and patience: dual booting multiple operating systems (so they don't have to buy Linux-dedicated hardware), using any graphics card (the latest and greatest GPUs are all closed source and developers who work on Linux do so because they despise closed source), using the least expensive hardware (which are typically closed source and buggy with anything except Windows), and emulating Windows apps so they don't have to learn new workflows or abandon their favorite games (technically, Proton with Steam allows Windows games like FFXIV to be played, but it's a neverending journey to get it working and keeping it working.

If you switch to Linux, accept that for a smooth experience you'll have to pay more than you would for a Windows machine (e.g. System76, Framework) And if you want graphics card support for your emulated Windows games on Steam, you're going to have to use the specific flavor of Linux the manufacturer supports.

That said, if you value free/libre open source software, then making the switch from Windows is totally worth it.

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

I finally committed to Linux at the end of last year. Enough is working to make it preferable to Windows now. I'm still having a lot of bugs, and it's costing quite some time. But at least my computer is mine again. No more telemetry, ads, and UIs that treat me like a toddler. No more updates forced onto me instead of being done whenever I want it.

My laptop still works perfectly well so if Microsoft don't want to support it any more then I'll bung Linux on it. I've already got my Mint stick ready, just need to get round to it.

Already switched to linux

Going to migrate to Bazzite. Just need a free weekend to do it.

Upgrade? How is 11 an upgrade?

I have personally been using Linux for a few years now and I absolutely love it, however a lot of people will switch to Linux and be extremely disappointed. If you're going into Linux expecting an open source Windows clone you'll be solely mistaken. If you want an operating system that looks and works exactly like W11 youll be better off installing W11 and using something like classic shell. However if you're willing to accept that its a completely different OS (so it naturally will work differently and have different software) then go ahead.

Bought a new PC and switched from dual boot Win10/Linux to Linux only. All of the games I'm playing work well, so no need for Windows 11

I don't know. I might build a new PC, and make this one a steambox. SteamOS does sound VERY exciting, and I haven't ever been excited for an OS.

Jumping to Linux for sure. The hardest part is going to be finding time to learn it first...

Already switched to Nobara. Only have Windows dual boot because Space Engineers Multiplayer doesn't seem to work on Linux.

Already done. I dual boot at work (translated: I have a dormant win10 partition just in case, but I’m more likely to use my win10 VM in Linux) and at home I’m Linux only, having wiped my windows partition to reclaim the space within weeks of installing Linux.

I use Mint Cinnamon in both places. It’s a very polished, all in one, install and go OS. But it’s still Linux so I have the terminal available and I can find out how to fiddle with and change whatever I want.

For all manner of 2D desktop use, I find it superior to windows. Even being a very full-featured distro, when the software is made to serve the user and not 50 competing corporate priorities, you can tell. It’s so much more responsive and nice to use. (It is not flawless of course)

For gaming, I don’t play the newest stuff or multiplayer games with crazy anti-cheat, but I have not had any regrets so far. Many games have native Linux versions, probably thanks to valve and the Steam deck, but windows games running in proton have been smooth sailing for me.

I think I’ve just dealt with enough computer crap in my life that I prefer using not just Linux apps but FOSS software for as much as I can. If some game or some photo editing suite will absolutely not work in Linux or work acceptably in a VM, I am fine with it not existing in my world. I used to not find that acceptable, but now I’m over it. In a chill way though, not an angry anti-Microsoft way.

I literally just swapped my key for my win10 pc's to win10 ltsc iot with mass and now dont have to worry for wayy longer. I suggest everyone without the option to switch to do the same.

My gaming PC is on Win 11 because it's recent and I'm lazy and it's convenient. My laptop runs Win 10 so it'll be Linux I guess. Not really looking forward to finding a distro and reinstalling and whatnot but what can you do. It's been a good few years since I last had a Linux box so I'm pretty rusty and not up to date on the recent best distros.

I'm going to Linux because I have an older i5 (I think 5th or 7th gen?) which isn't compatible.

I only really kept Windows for gaming but Valve has put a lot of effort into making Linux gaming more accessible and I'm willing to try it out now

Just moved my Win10 machine to Pop OS. No issues at all. Haven’t tried Steam VR on it yet.

Been on Linux for like 15 years now

I'm probably gonna go full Linux, I already run it on my laptop and my closet computer lol

I wonder if Steam OS will be ready for desktops before this

If I can still game. I might just move to Linux. But also am enjoying pricing out a windows 11 build with my imaginary budget.

My gaming 'puter is running win 10, and the plan is to replace it with one running Manjaro. Will have to see when that happens, not upgrading to win 11.

I'm already on Linux, gaming isn't as good but I only play old games anyway so it doesn't matter.

I moved back to Linux and it works wonderfully. Except for HDR. That require a bit of tinkering. And there is no good way of getting it to work in any Linux browser, except for some very clunky workarounds. Hopefully that will be fixed.

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.

I already moved to linux (In my case Linux Mint) two weeks ago ^^

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.

No, I do not plan to jump to Linux, which doesn't play many games still without a lot of headaches. Any other questions?

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

Use my PC for gaming and RTX so Windows only I'm afraid.

I'll keep using linux on my main pcs and I'll still keep using windows 10 on my secondary laptop

Already on Linux. And proud.

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.

Made the upgrade last week to Linux mint and I’m loving it. Got my Arr stacks and stuff setup as dockers and it’s never worked so well. All the connection issues I’ve had on windows is now gone.

The interface is nice and not bloated. And I’m not being tracked which feels liberating.

Linux doesn't support VR.

i jumped 🫡

I am on Fedora. But i still have Windows dual boot left. But I dont use Windows 10 that often - I don't see the need. I just have it as a backup OS. I have free enough diskspace on my SSD so currently not doing anything.

Linux for gaming and most other use cases, Windows for the one proprietary application I use. Although I suppose I might go IoT LTSC.

My (perfectly good) PC isn't Win 11 compatible, so I can't upgrade from 10. I've got Linux running on an old laptop so I'm thinking of installing it on my PC. Buuut a few years back I moved from Google Drive to OneDrive and so now I'm looking at Proton Drive instead. It's all a big time soak, sigh. But worth it? I guess... The timing isn't great either - I've got an exam in October that I need to study hard for and do practical prep as well, plus I have travel plans. It's all a bit much. I'm too old to be this busy!

Upgrade tool says my hardware isn't supported, seems like I can enable TPM on my motherboard but it doesn't work right for some reason I think I managed to install Windows 10 without secure boot or something, not sure if those two are even related. I was thinking maybe I'd have to reinstall windows 10 with those modules enabled in order to upgrade to windows 11... Has anyone else encountered something similar?

Just waiting for daddy gabon to release steamos. If not I swear I'm going to just use the most windowsxp distro available. I thought I was being simple by going with mint and KDE. Dare me.

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

Been Linux exclusively for 20 years. Win 11 sure isn't going to change that

I upgraded to Windows 11.

I tried Linux but but so much stuff isn't supported so I got rid of it.

I would love some advice, personally. How big of an issue is this really? Like....do I really have to care if there aren't system updates anymore? How big of a security risk is it actually?

Went to Linux a couple months ago, its freaking awesome, you'll never look back. And it is way easier to use than people make it out to be. Also my PC has never been faster thanks to having zero bloat.

Already upgraded to Linux Mint - https://lemmy.world/post/24365609

It’s been going great! Everything works as I expected. I now have full confidence that I will never switch back to Windows. It really does feel liberating having an OS that doesn’t track me.

Installed bazzite today. Was easier than installing windows.

Linux is the way

How do I even get started? Do I just install Mint and figure it out from there? Linux seems so complicated but it's been a decade since I last tried. Nowadays, I feel old and this seems like it needs too much research

I'm planning on it.

I tried a rest run with Kubuntu on an old laptop I had, and it runs 95% flawlessly. My biggest issue is my new Brother printer that I'm trying to install connected to Wi-Fi. The system sems to know it's there, but then doesn't seem to install the drivers. My Android phone prints there just fine.

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.

Made the jump to Linux. No issues so far, very happy with the switch

Already transitioning. Been half doing it for ages. This'll just be the last bit.

Can anyone recommend a distro (and desktop environment?) that's going to be almost the same as desktop mode on the Steam deck? I'm getting more comfortable in that than I expected to be in any Linux, and to my surprise and delight I haven't had to delve into the command line at all yet.

I have no plans to either update to win11 or change back to chanting magic spells at my computer to get it to work (Ubuntu, many years ago).

My computer works and does everything I want it to. Basic internet security and reasonable precautions are sufficient for a low level user like me to stay safe.

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.

No, I use windows 11 and it works great.

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.

linux, either endeavor or nobara

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.

20 years for me (even thought I used Windows for a year in there). There's no point in using Windows at all, unless you're forced at work, or stuck because you don't want to learn an alternative tool.

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

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.

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

Upgrade

to Linux

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).

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.

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.

I was running mint, but had to go back to windows because of a hardware bug I'm still trying to fix where my PC will randomly not wake up from sleep and that results in corrupted drives, which windows can fix with it's automated repair at boot, but Linux has done commands that I need to run and if I fuck it up it would fuck my computer up even more, so until I can fix the hardware bug I'm stuck on windows, but by fuck do I hate it. I prefer Linux so much more over windows, so much more convenient, efficient, personalizable and it actually works in many places where windows simply doesn't even with a lot of fiddling around in settings and shit