Hello, Windows 10 user of about a year now. I would like to switch to Linux (Ubuntu or Debian), but have a couple of questions.

  1. Is there a way to play steam games designed for Windows on Linux?/What are the drawbacks of doing this?
  2. Is there a way to transfer files from my old OS to the new one without using external drives (i dont have one ;-;)
  3. Is there a distro more suited to a Windows user going into linux rehab?
  4. Is there anything else I should be aware of?

TIA as always comrades and good day.

  • RNAi [he/him]
    ·
    edit-2
    11 months ago

    1 - Yes, proton.db and tick an option in Steam. Some games will never work tho. Also pirating games is harder cuz you gotta use some other non-steam compatibility tools like playonlinux (wine) which usually don't work as well as steam protondb. Nvidia is not compatible with many distros tho.

    2 - You can install linux in a disk partition and have a "double boot" (choose wether start linux or windows) and access all your windows files from linux (but not the inverse tho). But my honest advice, get a cheap backup memory and copy everything you might miss there.

    3 - The most newbie friendly distro is ubuntu cuz everyone use ubuntu. Start there and then you can switch to other ones.

    4 - You can absolutely do the install and everything alone with your phone as sole companion, but just in case, get someone IRL to help you / do it for you. 99.9% of linux nerds love to install linux in other people machines.

    • EmmaGoldman [she/her, comrade/them]M
      ·
      11 months ago

      As an aside to 1, I've had solid luck with Heroic Game Launcher plugging in any games you have on GOG, Epic, and now Amazon Games into steam/proton. I forget how I set it up, might've been with proton-GE