Linux

1. As others have said, it's possible to play most steam games, but not all. You have to decide if you like those games more than you dislike MS and Goo. I find there's so many great games out there that I'll never get to all of them, so I'm ok with dropping some bangers that usually want too much access to my system.
2. Here's a useful resource if you need to understand slightly technical linux foundations https://linuxjourney.com/ It might not be necessary but it does help to have a foundational understanding, and honestly, the command line is awesome, powerful, and one of my favorite things about linux. Beyond having a basic understanding (and maybe having one of the books the site recommends on hand), before going to an LLM as others have suggested, have official sources of various components bookmarked and go there first. There's so much BS out there now, I actually like the fact that I can read technical documentation, test it out, and know if it's true.

one other tip: I'd recommend some kind of personal knowledge management (PKM) system to take notes. Linux gives you a lot of freedom-- that's what's great about it-- it can be complex and have a learning curve at times. It's absolutely worth it though. It's a totally different paradigm than windows. After a while you can really start crafting the whole system to your needs as an individual. I'm 3 years in and was using my first setup that whole time, i didn't realize how customized I had made it until trying to set it up exactly on a new workstation. Now I'm writing a script so to automate my setup (os settings, program installs, configs) by running a single command. Then I can really start experimenting.

Everybody's different and with a little basic knowledge, everyone's setup can be tweaked to their individual needs a little better than other "user friendly/polished" operating systems. I hope you find as much joy and freedom in it as I do.

You don't need a high level of technical skill. You can learn everything you need to get started in a few minutes of tutorials or walk throughs. The rest you learn as you go.

Bear in mind no every linux user has memorized every terminal command and the whole file structure. Lots of people are just casual users who learn what they need.

One of the things I wish someone had told me at the start of using linux is that initially your desktop environment will effect how you feel about linux more than the distribution or specific architecture of the OS.

The good news is they're all free. Try a few things and see what you like. IMO Fedora is a great, beginner friendly Gnome or KDE experience. Mint has an excellent Cinnamon and XFCE desktop either of which will feel somewhat familiar to a windows user. Mint will also run on just about anything.

Also, it's not binary. You can dual boot. If there's something you need windows for you can use it. Over time you'll eventually find that you don't really need windows anymore.

One thing I'll say is that for a lot of distros these days you shouldn't really need to use the terminal much if ever. That being said don't be scared of the terminal. It's just another way to tell the computer what to do. It takes some learning but if you want to learn things with the terminal you might eventually find it easier/faster than using the mouse for some things. Go through some tutorials and you'll probably find out that the terminal is not that actually all that scary.

Most distros allow you to try them out before you install them. You can run them from a USB stick to let you try a few out before you settle on one. You won't be able to install any programs this way but you'll at least be able to get an idea of the interface and see if there are any you like more than others. Even still you can dual boot your PC with Windows + Linux and switch back and forth whenever you need. It's not an all or nothing ordeal. I still have windows 10 on my machine but I rarely use it now.

Gaming on Linux is better than it's ever been thanks to Steam coming with proton out of the box. protondb.com is your friend for figuring out what games you can run. That being said there are occasionally some rough edges that I have run into personally. I can run most games I want just fine but occasionally I have some issues. I'm just telling you this so you know it's not like a flawless experience. Then again I've also spent plenty of time trying to get games running on my windows PC in the past too so...

My recommendation for a first Linux OS is Ubuntu because in general it's the most popular and has the most support.

Best of luck!

Bazzite. Set it and forget it. 2mo on my new PC built, has only ever had bazzite. Runs like a dream.

What I'll say is, I've got no comp sci degree, and when I started, I had no idea how the terminal worked. But... My mindset was the following:

1. I really don't like windows, I'm not going back
2. I don't like paying others to "do it for me", I want to do it myself
3. I want the freedom to be able to change anything to make the machine fit me, even if that means I need to learn things along the way.

If you're the type of person where this general philosophy, you're going to crush it.

But if you're more along the lines of "I just use this computer as a tool to do the things I want, I just need the computer out of the way, and working consistently so I can get on with my actual goals", you probably will hate it. Becuase all your troubleshooting experiences will be "why doesn't this thing just work, like it does on Windows?"

Linux is way easier than it was even 10 years ago and many games run better on Linux than they do on Windows. There’s gaming distros but I’m not sure what the benefit is other than the built-in NVIDIA drivers. I just game on Fedora. You need to enable Proton stuff in the settings and you’re off.

These folks are all giving great advice but also let us know when you're ready to really fuck around and have fun with your Linux superpowers 😀

You, in practically no time at all: "Nearly everything is working great! Now I want to make my desktop change it's background to NASA's picture of the day while also putting all my PC's status monitors on there. Oh! And I want my PC to back itself up every hour over the network automatically with the ability to restore files I deleted last week. I've got KDE Connect on my phone and it's awesome!"

Then, later: "I bought a Raspberry Pi and I want to turn it into a home theater streaming system and emulation station."

...and later: "What docker images do you guys recommend? I want to setup some home automation. What do you guys think of Pi-hole?"

"I've got four Raspberry Pis doing various things in my home and I'm thinking about getting Banana Pi board to be my router. OpenWRT or full Linux on it? What do you guys think?"

...and even later: "I taught myself Python..." 🤣

There's tons of youtube videos / tutorials on how to create a live usb of a distro, such as linux mint. This will allow you to boot into linux and play around without installing anything and get a feel for linux. It's nowhere as tech wizardry as you think.

And if all your games are on steam and don't have anti cheat things, they'll probably just all work with proton (linux compatibility tool in steam).

Yes. Steam is available on Linux, pretty easy to install and it comes with a compatibility layer (Proton) which works quite well.

Linux is a bit different than Windows. But I'd say just using it is about as complicated as using Windows. You'll just have to try and see whether you like it. And if it's hard or easy for you to relearn a few things. I mean if you're in the Browser and Steam all day, those will be the same applications and also look and work the same way. Other than that you could face some issues with gaming hardware and you have to fiddle with things, or everything works out of the box. You can't tell beforehand.

I'm moving at the moment. Linux Mint is a good stable Windows alternative, but I wanted to separate gaming from other things so I am dual booting. I have had luck with Pop_OS! before but recently had issues with a laptop WiFi adapter, had some issues getting Bazzite working, so ended up with CachyOS, which has been really slick and easy so far.

A nice thing with Linux is how easy it is to cycle through a few distros if you have your main files on a different drive or partition, since you don't lose anything important when switching that way.

Unless the Steamdeck flew under your radar you should know that you can absolutly play games on Linux. Most of the exceptions are big online games with crazy anti-cheats (yeah in that case no luck).

As for hope : migrating to another OS (be it Linux, MacOS or whatever) can be disorienting at first, wich tend to repel some people (it's like learning how to use a pc for the first time), that's actually the most important thing to keep in mind for everything to go smoothly, you don't need to be a tech wizzard, just to be patient.

As long as you don't rush things, don't expect everything to behave as somekind of windows clone and learn how it works a bit you should be fine.

Before you try anything I'd also suggest you check if all the software you are using are available on Linux and if not what alternative you can use : alternativeto.net can help. To check if the games you play work you can also go to protondb.com. Preparing as much as you can before install is a huge plus, and it's really not that hard.

As an exemple I've helped a curious friend who wanted to try Linux, they're the most tech illiterate person I've ever known..like even worse than some old people. It took them two hard month to be fully acclimated, like as fine as they were doing on windows if not better. Never even asked me for help ever since. (My eyes still bleed when I see how they're using their pc but they clearly have no issue doing whatever they're doing) So if they can I'm sure anyone can.

Consider your library: most games will be able to run fine on Linux. However, if you predominantly play online multiplayer games which require anticheat you should check compatibility on ProtonDB.

Second, consider your hardware: if your GPU is AMD you're good to go. Nvidia might have issues (not sure if this has been resolved since I last had to look into it).

Finally, choose a distro: I'd recommend Ubuntu or anything Ubuntu-based. There's a lot of mixed answers in the Linux community and definitely a ton of hate for Ubuntu. However, as someone who has been running Linux for nearly a decade at this point, there are a few key points:

1. Ubuntu is debian based, so it's extremely stable(but not as slow to update)

2. Ubuntu is very beginner friendly, and you won't need to touch the terminal if you don't want to

3. Everyone hates on snaps, but for you I don't think you'll run into an issue with it.

Personally, I steer towards debian based distros for my devices as well because I'd rather spend time messing with the software I'm running or other things NOT debugging why my config is suddenly shitting the bed

Yes, ez one (if you have installed operating systems before and know how to paste an error passage into google ) -4hours and your done start to finish. (Given you have standard hardware and don't want to set up something crazy like dual boot with raid and nas)

Moderate complexity if you have never done anything like that, plan 2-6 evenings to get it fully working with everything you need

Also: consider your scopes. For most cases Linux will just work, you just have to get used to some different interfaces.

BUT: some things will not run under linux no matter how hard you try --> google if stuff you can't live without will work

(for me I still have a dual boot windows for playing league of legends and running my vive wireless adapter, as those will not run under Linux.

For games use protonDB

I may be oldschool, but for people not comfortable around terminals I would suggest Debian KDE as it never breaks and the transition from windows is easy. You can do everything from GUI (clicky button interfaces)

For the installation of steam you might need a terminal, but there are good guides online (and you really dont need to be a wizard for that) from where you can just copy paste (when searching just add your distro e.g. "install steam Debian", and once you've got that running you can just run every game from within steam.

Since Steam has done a lot of work with proton, most games just run under Linux. In steam: Install-->play

For nearly all games not directly running, you can just force them to run with proton. It will say: "Game not compatible" in steam, you just click the gear icon on the right to open settings, go to "compatibilty" and tick "force use of compatibility layer" and select the newest proton from the drop down

The button where steam previously said "not compatible" magically turns into the blue "install" button we all know and love. And nearly all games run with only minor inconveniences (like showing keyboard hotkeys even when playing with a gamepad) or no issues at all.

You need to be aware that some games using kernel level anticheat (e.g. league of legends, valorant) can not and will never run on Linux, if the developers of the games don't add the possibility.

EDIT: for programs not related to gaming its often easier to use an alternative, if the program is not available for Linux. Most times its also more privacy foccused, open source and free

Adobe light room --> darktable

Microsoft office --> libre office

Adobe Premiere pro --> davinci resolve/shotcut

Paint/Photoshop --> gimp/davinci/dark table

Edge --> firfox

Notepad --> Kate

Fraps/relive/shadowPlay --> OBS

Etc. Pp.