Sorry I can't do it.

I've been working on converting my gaming PC to Linux for a few weeks, but everything is running, but it all is just a little jankier than I would like.

I have an 8th gen Intel i7 and an Rtx 2070, running Arch linux.

Sometimes I boot up and my mouse doesn't work and I have to restart. Sometimes I launch games and they just don't launch right.

It feels like I'm doing a lot of work for no benefit. In fact, Elden ring runs way worse on my Linux partition than my Windows partition.

I've tried GE proton, gamemode, steam compatibility, everything... I'm sorry but I'm going to have to stick with Windows for gaming.

kusivittula ,

somebody gave you bad advice if you chose arch for your first distro

Jobe ,

I wonder if the Arch bros will ever realize they're doing more harm than good...

TeddE ,
@TeddE@lemmy.world avatar

Obviously NixOS is the way to go for a gaming OS, just use the right flake and you're all set!

/s

sugar_in_your_tea ,

Nah, use Gentoo, you'll be hard-pressed to find something simpler.

TeddE ,
@TeddE@lemmy.world avatar

How about https://www.linuxfromscratch.org/

/s

sugar_in_your_tea ,

Even simpler! Nothing to get between you and the kernel. :)

Deway ,

I started using Linux when I was in high school. LFS has been my end goal, my Linux graal ever since.
It's only been 23 years, I'll take care of it someday soon©.

amanda ,
@amanda@aggregatet.org avatar

I’m planning on making Linux from super scratch where I start with the kernel and write every other component myself. ETA: 9000000 years

sugar_in_your_tea ,

Why include Linux bloat? Just write the kernel yourself!

amanda ,
@amanda@aggregatet.org avatar

I tried but it turns out writing device drivers it very very boring

tomkatt ,

Honestly Arch-based is a good choice, but straight up Arch for a newbie? Nah.

I’m running EndeavorOS with KDE and it’s been solid for gaming. A few bugs, but mostly minor, like it picked the wrong default NIC driver (but still worked) and SMB shares wouldn’t auto mount recently until an update a week or two ago.

My main PC for non-gaming runs Manjaro. I know there are haters about it, but it’s been a solid distro for general use, and I’ve encountered no issues to speak of.

sp3tr4l ,

Yeah, Arch is not a great choice.

I would suggest PopOS! or Nobara.

Or just good ole reliable Debian.

cyberpunk007 ,

Shit that's crazy, I'm ryzen 3800x with 2070 super and Elden ring runs BETTER on manjaro Linux (arch based) than windows!

I really couldn't believe it.

Potatofish ,

Arch Linux is great for people that want to do nothing but Arch Linux.

sugar_in_your_tea ,

True. It's also good for people who want to get stuff done. I used it for 5-ish years, and it was an incredibly productive, low-maintenance distro. I only switched because I wanted to run brtfs on root, so I figured I'd give openSUSE a shot since they do that by default.

Anticorp ,

Eh, it has a lot of powerful tools for computing stuff. Like today I wondered if I can download the songs from a playlist on YouTube, checked the wiki, and within 5 minutes I was doing it. It worked perfectly. The AUR also saves a lot of time building packages that aren't available through pacman, which means they're probably not available through other distros either. So you can definitely do more than just fiddle with the OS. But getting it working stable with Nvidia cards right now is like a full time job.

traches ,

I’ve been daily driving arch for like five years now, and this is just flat out not true at all. I agree it’s not a beginner distro, but if you know what you’re doing and know what you want it’s the best.

MexicanJoker ,

I understand your struggle. As others said, Arch is not a beginner friendly distro.

I would suggest trying gaming tailored distros like Nobara, Chimera or Bazzite and see how you feel about them. Don't install your full steam library during these testing period, try games separately and prioritize the games you play the most.

Learning involves trial and error and the Linux ecosystem has a lot of that.

In the end it's ok if you say This is not for me right now

Moneo ,

Do you have any comments/suggestions on picking one of those distros? I can do my own research so no pressure.

MexicanJoker ,

It greatly depends on what type of experience you are looking for. Nobara is based on Fedora with pre installed stuff tailored for gaming and content creation, it's very configurable as most Linux distros.

Bazzite and Chimera are more SteamOS/Console -esque experience tailored. Still configurable but more limited since they are immutable distros. Bazzite is based on Fedora and Chimera on Arch.

IMO if you only plan to game or mainly game on the PC either Bazzite or Chimera are good options. If you also intend to use the PC as a workstation I would go with Nobara, which is my case.

PS: For those looking for a friendlier Arch experience try Manjaro.

TheKMAP ,

Do people not use Manjaro for this?

mlg ,
@mlg@lemmy.world avatar

Arch Linux

Unless you're on a good downstream like SteamOS, I'd suggest switching to something stable cutting edge (Fedora or Nobara if you want to put in zero effort).

Arch by itself will give you way the hell too many possible problems. You could waste hours on DKMS alone.

Mint will also work, but it has the downside of having slower updates to software packages.

bitfucker ,

Wait, Fedora is bleeding edge too? I don't know that

erev ,
@erev@lemmy.world avatar

It is not

sp3tr4l ,

Its generally more up to date with newer standards and such than Debian, but it is by no means bleeding edge.

Bleeding edge is generally bad unless you really need some specific thing for a specific reason.

If your whole set up is bleeding edge then congrats, you are a basically alpha testing an OS.

bitfucker ,

Huh, interesting. I thought that Fedora was following the Debian stable model. Well then my next recommendation would be Fedora based I think.

But I disagree that bleeding edge means you are an alpha tester. That means developers are releasing alpha willy nilly. I'd even argue that at a certain pace of Hardware and Software development, the latest version of software you have the better, since it has a certain possibility that the Hardware will already be supported.

Para_lyzed ,

Fedora is what I'd describe as cutting edge, but not bleeding edge. It's still behind from source, and is semi-rolling release, so it's further behind than Arch but way ahead of stable/fixed release distros like Debian

Leax ,

I've started with Nobara and it's been working great!

Voyajer ,
@Voyajer@lemmy.world avatar

Who the hell recommended Arch to you? Arch is for when you've been using Linux for a few years and have gotten bored waiting for the latest updates to hit your repos.

Jambalaya OP ,

I use Linux at work, so I am a least familiar with how to tinker with it, but it just can't seem to find the right settings to get things running smoothly. I can't imagine a different distro would be any different.

SolarPunker ,

Try Bazzite.

jjlinux ,

Bazzite is a good tinkering distro to get your feet wet into atomic distros, but in my experience, it's only a matter of time before it breaks. I've tried it in 3 different devices, including my steam deck, and they all broke by the 3rd or 4th update.

SolarPunker ,

How? It's pretty solid on my PC. Breaking an immutable distribution isn't so easy, also Bazzite has a pretty easy install procedure.

jjlinux ,

Apparently this one of those YMMV deals. Installation is painless and quick, for sure. And it does work fine (albeit a bit slower than Fedora Workstation when loading and firing up software). But after a few updates, Wayland stops working for some reason and I have to log into x11 instead.

I've no idea what the issue is, but I was only trying it, so I just went back to my trusty Fedora.

amanda ,
@amanda@aggregatet.org avatar

The hell? This is precisely what atomic desktops were supposed to save us from!

jjlinux ,

Atomic distros are still fairly new, so I expected issues and was not surprised. There's been a lot of progress done, sure, but I don't think we're "there" yet.

Telorand ,

Seconded. Also, Garuda "Dr4g0nized" is gaming focused and Arch under the hood, for a more traditional option.

Voyajer ,
@Voyajer@lemmy.world avatar

The problem with Arch is that it's philosophy includes having to set up everything correctly yourself rather than each package you install already being set up and preconfigured the way you'd expect it to be in other distros. You shouldn't need to be fiddling with system stuff at all with something user focused like Pop!OS since I believe it even handles nvidia drivers for you. I wouldn't be using arch myself if I didn't have significant amounts of free time to invest into chasing down every little problem I encountered using it in college.

Linux is in a weird spot right now where the two ends of the user spectrum seem to be handled well while the middle still has issues since they're not already experts or just need an internet browser to be completely happy.

CarbonatedPastaSauce ,

I can’t imagine a different distro would be any different.

BZZZZZZZZZZZT I'm sorry but that answer was not correct. Next player!

Seriously try some of the other distros and you'll have a much more pleasant experience. I already recommended Tumbleweed in another reply but man, anything but Arch is gonna be an improvement for somebody trying to make the switch from Windows gaming for the first time.

CrypticCoffee ,

Yeah, I use TW and it just works. I game on it with no issues.

CarbonatedPastaSauce ,

Indeed. I haven't run into a modern game that it can't handle. The only thing it has struggled with that I play is old Command & Conquer titles, but that's a Proton issue.

Para_lyzed ,

Idk, I think Gentoo and Void would be worse for a new user. But yeah, most other distros will be more new user friendly. Bazzite has a great new user experience, for instance

Nibodhika ,

Linux at work and Linux for gaming are two very different beasts. For example, you didn't mention which drivers and DE (or WM) you're using which are the most crucial part to how games run, and both of which need to be manually configured on Arch but come pre-configured or are a couple clicks away in other distros.

Anticorp ,

A different distro like Pop is completely different. My Pop gaming computer runs better than Windows on the same computer and didn't require any fiddling at all. It even comes with the latest stable Nvidia driver right out of the box, and you can upgrade it with the click of a button.

Presi300 ,
@Presi300@lemmy.world avatar

If you're a beginner... or hate jank, don't use Arch. And make sure you're using a desktop environment that supports Wayland (GNOME or KDE). Gaming on X11 can be buggy, janky and inconsistent

Fuzzypyro ,

They are running Nvidia. Their only option for Wayland is kde.

Presi300 ,
@Presi300@lemmy.world avatar

What's bad about KDE?

Fuzzypyro ,

Nothing, I was just stating that the only real option for an easy Nvidia Wayland experience right now is kde. If anything it’s a complement.

Fades ,

Arch for gaming, what the hell

ulkesh ,
@ulkesh@lemmy.world avatar

Works quite well for me. But I would agree it’s not the best to start with if having little desktop Linux experience.

Fuzzypyro ,

Valve thought it was appropriate when they made the steam deck.

ComicSads ,

Valve pre installs a lot of programs and tools to make it work that stock arch expects the user to already know about or to read the wiki

traches ,

Arch is great for gaming, but it’s not for beginners

wonderfulvoltaire ,
@wonderfulvoltaire@lemmy.world avatar

For a long time I couldn't get a stable distro working on my HP laptop with Intel 4 core & Nvidia 1660ti but after numerous successful daily driving on my desktops + steam deck of course I tried Bazzite which did the trick. Everything runs smoother & I haven't encountered anything unable to run because the steam proton is mature. Lutris is perfect for anything to do with alternative launchers, roms, I even got modded black ops 2 working and I never thought that would be possible.

I wish you the best of luck.

bitwolf ,

This may seem odd, but check if your mobo has a bios update.
Often bios break uefi standards to appease Microsofts non-standard requirements.

These get fixed overtime as ACPI bugs are fixed.

Anticorp ,

Are you using KDE? I'm on a fresh install of Arch with KDE Plasma on my gaming computer and I agree, it's janky as fuck. I've gone through everything I can find about how to deal with the flicker, but it's still there and it's an awful experience.

I have none of these issues on my Arch laptop with Gnome, so I'm going to switch my desktop to Gnome too when I have the time. Plasma is not ready for mainstream use if this is the best that it gets. Gnome however is awesome!

So, I suggest changing your DE to Gnome. If that doesn't fix the problem then switch to Pop!_OS. It's a completely plug and play distro and I never had a single problem with it. I only switched to Arch because I wanted to get HDR support which requires Plasma. Well, it's not worth it. I can't even use adaptive sync which is a pretty big deal for gaming.

Good luck, we're all counting on you.

Edit: otherwise Arch is an awesome distro. The power you have with all of the available programs is great! So, now it's just about getting the screen rendering to be stable.

Jambalaya OP ,

Yes I am using KDE mainly because gnome felt too mac os to me. Also KDE supports HDR (somewhat).

Is there a way to change distro without losing steam installs?

Anticorp , (edited )

Edit: I just tried X11 and it seems a lot more stable. I didn't have time to play a game, but I checked a few things that were causing flickering before and they weren't flickering. On the login screen at the top left, pick x11 from the first drop down and then log in. Hopefully that works for you.

Original message below:
If you installed your steam games on a separate partition. Otherwise unfortunately not. You can switch DEs without losing them though. The guy above this said that x11 KDE might fix the issue, and a new version of Plasma might also fix it. Check his comment. Overall though if you want a hands off experience then Pop is going to be a way better introduction to Linux than Arch. Although... Pop uses Gnome. So you would have to change the DE. There are some other distros that are pretty plug and play like Kubuntu or Mint that use KDE. I don't think they're as dialed as Pop, and IDK their Nvidia driver situation though, so check that before deciding.

tron ,
@tron@midwest.social avatar

The flickering thing is because you're using Wayland and Nvidia GPU. If you switched to X11 (losing HDR support, unfortunately), the flickering goes away. However! I would recommend updating your system to KDE 6.1, which I believe has the explicit sync fix.

Anticorp , (edited )

Edit: I just checked and I'm already on kDE Plasma version 6.1. And KDE Frameworks version 6.3. I wonder, do I need to undo some of the settings I made for KDE by following the Wiki if 6.1 was supposed to fix it?

I've thought about switching to x11 instead of going back to Gnome, but I haven't decided yet. HDR is definitely not worth all of these other visual glitches and latency, so I need to do something. I don't understand how the system can perform so poorly and be considered stable enough to be the default. At least half the people out there are probably using Nvidia cards.

Is there anything I should know before I switch to x11? Like, do I need to undo all these custom settings I made for the Nvidia driver, or use another driver? I'd appreciate the advice since this is one issue I've encountered that is definitely not resolved by reading the wiki.

tron ,
@tron@midwest.social avatar

KDE 6.1 just hit Arch repos like 3 days ago. You're likely on 6.0.5. Switching between X11 and Wayland is effortless just change the default manager in SDDM settings.

Anticorp ,

Thanks. I verified and I'm on 6.1. I forgot I ran a system update a couple days ago.

tron ,
@tron@midwest.social avatar

Ah okay then. As user Russ said above it's gotta be Nvidia drivers are still in beta with the fix from Nvidia side. I'm using an AMD card as well for this exact same reason. Wayland runs great on team red!

russjr08 ,
@russjr08@bitforged.space avatar

I'm pretty sure the explicit sync fix requires the 555 beta version of the Nvidia driver to be installed, as there's a driver component that's required.

What distro are you on? If it has a decent way to install the 555 beta that would probably be a good route to go with - but otherwise, no, switching to X11 shouldn't require reverting any settings at all. I used to switch between the two sessions all the time, right before you enter your password on the login screen (you have to be completely logged out, not just at the screen lock) click the menu at the bottom right and it should have a "Plasma (X11)" option.

Anticorp ,

Thanks! I'm on Arch. I actually tried X11 last night after posting and it seems to fix the glitch. I'll see if there's a driver update for me. I appreciate the advice!

russjr08 ,
@russjr08@bitforged.space avatar

No problem! It looks like there's an AUR package for it - though exercise caution since it is still in beta. That being said, 555 has been in beta for a bit now, so I expect it'll probably be promoted to an official release imminently.

Definitely would give Wayland another try once the newer Nvidia driver is installed later on (either via the beta or the official release). I don't use an Nvidia card anymore (this bug is precisely what caused me to switch, ironically - it has been around for a while and got worse for me when 535 came around) but I've heard from a lot of folks that it resolves the flickering issue.

Either way, I'm glad to hear that you're glitch free now - and on a side note, it appears its your cake day so happy cake day!

Anticorp ,

it appears its your cake day so happy cake day!

Yaaay! Wow, a year already? Crazy.

CrabStick1 ,

I had screen flicker on my endeavour os using kde and had to switch screen dimming off. Haven't had it since.

Anticorp ,

Cool. Thanks! I'll try that.

HelixDab2 ,

Allow me to piggyback on this a bit, s'il vous plait.

Is there a Linux distribution that will run Adobe CC out of the box, games from Steam, and VR headsets? I need a new desktop badly, but I need to be able to use Adobe products as part of my job. (No, I can't switch to GNU products, because I get files from clients, and I have to be able to work to industry standards.) I've used Tails before, which is not a user-friendly product, and it doesn't play nicely with any other software.

sugar_in_your_tea ,

Pretty much any major distro is going to have similar support for all of that. And for Adobe CC, that's going to be limited at best. You didn't specify which part of CC you need, but here's an option for installing Photoshop 2022 on Linux. Trying to get the latest is likely going to be painful, since WINE would probably lag with supporting all the new updates.

Steam works pretty well pretty much everywhere. I've used it on Fedora, Arch, and openSUSE, and I'm sure it works fine on any Debian-based distro. VR support is similar, you're going to have a much better time with SteamVR headsets. That said, here's a guide to VR on Linux, stick to "confirmed working" sections for minimal tinkering.

Tails

Yeah, don't use that for regular work, that's an uber-paranoid distro that's intentionally locked down, which means things are likely going to be more difficult to get working.

Try Linux Mint or Fedora (or Bazzite if you want gamer flavor), they're both solid and tend to work pretty well out of the box. Software and hardware support doesn't vary much between distros, so if it you can't get it working with one of those and it's not "officially supported" (i.e. instructions aren't in one of my links), distro hopping probably won't help.

HelixDab2 ,

I have to use Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, and Acrobat Pro every day for my day job. I have to keep up-to-date with my versions, because clients send me files that use features in the latest releases, and not being up-to-date means that things don't render correctly. (I'm super-pissed that I have to update since Adobe dropped all support for Pantone colors abut a year (?) ago.)

I use Corel Painter 2022 and a Wacom pen display for fun. My guess is that a pen display might get a little weird in Linux, but the one I have is not cutting edge at least.

Yeah, don’t use that for regular work, that’s an uber-paranoid distro that’s intentionally locked down, which means things are likely going to be more difficult to get working.

I know, I know, but I liked being functionally untrackable online, and not getting ads shoved down my throat (...despite working in advertising...) all the time. It's neat, but almost everything online seems to have privacy-invading features so deeply embedded that the browser built into Tails just can't use them at all.

sugar_in_your_tea ,

Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, and Acrobat Pro every day for my day job

Probably easier to run a VM or dual-boot then. Trying to keep those up-to-date is going to be a nightmare.

Honestly, if I were in your shoes, I'd probably get an Apple device. Adobe works great, and macOS isn't as bad as Windows IMO.

I liked being functionally untrackable online, and not getting ads shoved down my throat

There are a lot of ways to get around that, such as:

  • uBlock Origin - blocks ads
  • use a VPN and switch locations periodically - limits efficacy of tracking
  • try Mullvad Browser - basically Tor Browser (i.e. the browser included w/ Tails), but without Tor, so fewer breakages

But honestly, the first two are really easy to do and solve 80% of the problem with a very small amount of breakage, and Firefox is installed by default in most Linux distros, and is available in the repositories on those where it's not the default.

HelixDab2 ,

Honestly, if I were in your shoes, I’d probably get an Apple device.

Sadly, I also don't like spending money. :P You used to be able to make Hackintoshes, but Apple tends to break them with every software update.

I had been thinking about getting an IoT Enterprise LTSC release of Windows and manually adding the components that I needed. Might still do that with dual boot.

There are a lot of ways to get around that, such as:

I'm doing all of that except the last one already. As has been noted in many other places, Windows itself is now in the business of serving ads directly, and it looks like that's getting harder and harder to disable. I managed to mostly lock down the Pro release of Win 10 that I'm on right now, but Win 11 will make that much, much harder. If it weren't for security issues surrounding end of product life, I wouldn't switch versions at all.

C'est la mort.

But yeah, I'll def. look for a user-friendly version of Linux when I build my next system in a few months.

sugar_in_your_tea ,

So it goes.

Good luck! I also don't like spending money, so I don't blame you. Definitely consider a dual-boot w/ Linux though, it can at least help you separate work from play. :)

warmaster ,

Arch for a beginner can be a bit too much.

Try Bazzite.

RootBeerGuy , (edited )
@RootBeerGuy@discuss.tchncs.de avatar

I also heard good things about Nobara in terms of gaming. Haven't tried it myself though.

MexicanJoker ,

I've been using Nobara 39 for the last month and it has been a smooth ride. I'm playing Elden Ring with 0 issues and no tweaking needed on my part. The only friction I had was with the installer because I have a Nvidia card but once installed and got drivers updated all issues were gone.

thesporkeffect ,

I installed Bazzite on my gaming computer and it just isn't great, there is screen flickering and occasional crashes:( I am not going back to Windows but it has required more emotional energy to troubleshoot than I wanted

I probably should get an AMD card, but I am going to try Nobara next to see if it just works...

CarbonatedPastaSauce ,

I switched my gaming PC to Linux a few months back. I distro hopped for a while due to various issues, and landed on openSUSE Tumbleweed. Everything just works (except for the occasional bug in the updates where I have to wait for the next snapshot for a fix, but that's NBD).

Caveat: I'm all AMD so no Nvidia stuff to worry about. YMMV.

Jode ,

Same here except I stuck with leap as the newer kernel does not play nice with the suspend function. My little travel laptop has tumbleweed on it no problems. I'm surprised I haven't seen more suse recommendations because it's the only one that mostly "just worked" out of the box.

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