Do you guys recommend dual-booting a Linux distro on a secondary drive, or running Linux as a main OS, using Wine for Windows applications?
I’ve wanted to make the switch for a very long time, just worried about compatibility issues or even performance loss in gaming using Wine.
Thought this was a thread about drinking alcohol while gaming, my bad, I’ll see myself out
I would recommend just running Linux. Unless there is some game that you really want to play that is not supported (probably due to AntiCheat). Almost all games work really well right now, especially if you are using Steam. I’ve even stopped checking compatibility anymore and just assume everything works, and it almost always does.
Personally, when I had brief period of double-booting I never used second partition, it is just too much hassle to switch between systems. So unless there is something stopping you, I would embrace Linux full time. Plus, you won’t be getting issues with Windows overwriting your EFI partition, so you cannot boot into Linux.
The only thing I would be careful about is choosing distro with up-to-date software, especially if you are using newer hardware. Ideally rolling distro.
I agree. I tried dual-booting several times before finally committing to Linux Mint as my daily driver. Just too inconvenient to have two slightly-worse computers instead of one normal computer.
OP, my suggestion would be to double-check on something like ProtonDB and/or WineHQ to make sure that you can run all the games you want on Linux. And if you have an NVIDIA GPU, make sure you know how to handle that going in! I was caught off-guard by it and it gave me some hassle.
On most main distros, nvidia isn’t really an issue anymore. Unless you want to try Wayland or something more exotic, it shouldn’t be a problem.
I mean, it wasn’t an insurmountable issue for me, but like I said, it caught me off-guard a little. Better to go in knowing that it might cause some hiccups.
Will do, can’t wait to make the plunge. Time to go distro shopping, I’ll make sure to settle on a rolling distro.
Good luck, once you get into Linux, you will wonder how you could live without it.
It depends on what kind of games you want to play. Indie games either have a native Linux build or just work in WINE or Proton. But if you mainly want to play the latest AAA games you’re far more likely to run into issues due to AntiCheat software, Windows-only Launchers or other Windows-specific DRM goodness. Dual booting any OS with Windows tends to be a pain in the ass. Windows can overwrite bootloaders and EFI entries on major updates and system repairs. If you don’t need to use Windows for anything specific then don’t bother with dual booting. Performance wise there shouldn’t be any noticeable difference. If you have an NVidia card just make sure to install the proprietary nvidia driver since the built-in FOSS driver (nouveau) is terrible for 3D stuff.
Personally Linux on its own and nothing else. But if you need windows, using a spare drive is probably your best bet
Linux gaming is getting really good with Proton or Proton-GE unless it’s a rootkit like Valorant or an online game with anti-cheat (Destiny, FF Online). I play mostly single player so it suits my needs. But I have a windows 10 install for audio recording needs… I don’t have time to learn a new DAW.
One more thing, dual booting on the same hard drive is more trouble than it’s worth if you have any other option.
You can simply install Steam. There are many Linux native games and steam has a compatibility layer that makes it easy peasy to play almost anything. Wine isn’t necessary.
Technically, Proton (the compatibility layer) is using Wine, so you will still be using it.
I have a secondary drive with windows installed, in case I ever run into a game I need it for but I have yet to run into a game I want to play that doesn’t run through wine. I guess it’s because I only really play single player games and nothing with funky anti cheat, that’s usually where compatibility issues happen.
