this post was submitted on 24 Apr 2025
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Linux

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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Basically the forced shift to the enshittified Windows 11 in october has me eyeing the fence a lot. But all I know about Linux is 1: it's a cantankerous beast that can smell your fear and lack of computer skills and 2: that's apparently not true any more? Making the change has slowly become a more real possibility for me, though I'm pretty much a fairly casual PC-user, I don't do much more than play games. So I wrote down some questions I had about Linux.

Will my ability to play games be significantly affected compared to Windows?

Can I mod games as freely and as easily as I do on Windows?

If a program has no Linux version, is it unusable, or are there workarounds?

Can Linux run programs that rely on frameworks like .NET or other Windows-specific libraries?

How do OS updates work in Linux? Is there a "Linux Update" program like what Windows has?

How does digital security work on Linux? Is it more vulnerable due to being open source? Is there integrated antivirus software, or will I have to source that myself?

Are GPU drivers reliable on Linux?

Can Linux (in the case of a misconfiguration or serious failure) potentially damage hardware?

And also, what distro might be best for me?

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[–] GeraltvonNVIDIA@lemmy.ml 1 points 6 hours ago

If you have any App you used before and isnt available on Linux: You can try to install the .exe-file with a Tool named "Bottles".

Each Programm you run with that tool gets its own virtual Space, so if you mess something up, you can throw that one bottle away and just create another in its fresh New environment.

It has a clean UI and you can play with all kinds of different configs to get your Bottle to run. You can choose between different Windows Versions for example.

Under the hood it uses Wine and Proton.

Pro-Tip: Start Programms via the UI in "Terminal-Mode" so you can See potential Error-Messages which you would normally not see, if you just run the Programm.