Good News For Linux Gamers

[Judge]

Holy Cow! Nvidia has decided to provide open source drivers for Linux. Who woulda thunk that?

This should make Linux distros even more of an alternative to those so disgruntled with Windows.

Then again it may be a response largely relative to Nvidia having been hacked. Where all the blueprints of their proprietary video drivers have already been stolen. So they really have nothing to lose. Either way, it's goodwill to customers instead of the usual focus on shareholders.

I guess they took "make lemonade out of lemons" to heart.

Nvidia Open-Sources Linux Drivers

 

[tkcartoonist]

I've been thinking, some time down the road, of getting a computer and putting a Linux distro on it for my more serious stuff (art, music, video). If this is true, this is another reason for me to make the jump. I've been looking into getting back into PC gaming for a while now. I'm sick of consoles that are nothing more than gimped computers.

 

[Judge]

I've been thinking, some time down the road, of getting a computer and putting a Linux distro on it for my more serious stuff (art, music, video).

I can save you some time there. Keep in mind all of this is entirely free of charge.

1. Use Windows to download a program called Balena-Etcher. Balena Etcher 1.7.8 - Flash OS images to SD cards & USB drives
2. Use Windows to download Linux Mint 20.3 iso file. Download Linux Mint 20.3 - Linux Mint
3. Use Balena-Etcher to flash the Linux .iso file to your 16GB or higher flash drive. (4GB may be too small)
4. Insert the flash drive into a USB port. (USB 3.0 will install faster) Then access your computer's BIOS to manually boot up the flash drive.
5. Follow the instructions to install Linux Mint 20.3. Shouldn't take much longer than 15 minutes. Reboot. Make sure to follow the steps in the introduction, particularly to turn on the firewall.

At that point it's just a matter of exploring the OS and paying particular attention to the software (store) manager to download some important software:

Art (Bitmap photo formats) - Download Gimp 2.10
Art (Bitmap painting formats) - Download Krita 4.2.9
Art (Vector Graphics Format) - Download Inkscape 0.92
Music Player (MP3 and other audio formats) - Download "Audacious"
Music (Editing audio format files) - Download "Audacity 2.3.3"
Video Disc (DVD, Blu-Ray) Player - Download "SM Player"
Running Select Windows 64 or 32 bit programs: Download Wine 7.0. Do not use the software manager as it only has earlier versions of "Wine". The latest version is much better for me as I run ancient apps like Photoshop 5.5 and Illustrator 8.0. Follow these precise instructions on this website to install Wine 7.0:

https://computingforgeeks.com/how-to-install-wine-on-ubuntu-linux/

Loaded it all onto a ten year-old 64bit motherboard with 16Gb of DDR3 RAM and removable SSD. CPU is an Intel i5 Quad-Core 3.4Ghz 3570. The only real hardware problem I encountered had to do with my Intel High Definition Audio using a Realtek AC driver. Installed Linux Mint, where headphone sound worked but not my external speakers. Solved this issue by downloading an app called "Alsa-Tools-GUI" directly from the software manager. This set of sound utilities had a program called "HDA Jack Retask" that allowed me to make two minor internal changes that gave me back sound to my external speakers. I also had a bit of as popping sound whenever the system accessed a sound file. This I solved by following these audio instructions under "Bad Sound Fix Tips" for Linux Mint:

http://mreen.epizy.com/SoundFixTips.html?i=2

Visually Linux Mint 20.3 has a GUI that's relatively similar to Windows 10. Though it's so customizable you can do all kinds of things that Microsoft won't allow with Windows 11 for whatever reasons.

Note how I just altered my desktop's panel (tray) icons. Centered most of them and spread the others to the left and right. And I could still move the entire panel to the left, right or top if I so desired. And of course the size of both all the icons and panel can be changed. (I hate really large tray icons or the tray itself.)

All things which Microsoft is not allowing for Windows 11. Sad as you could do some of that in earlier versions.

If you like customizing your OS GUI, you're gonna love Linux Mint 20.3.

At times it can be frustrating, as other than appearances it's all quite different from how Windows works. But it's very rewarding once you get it all up and running. Gotta love the "dark" mode. Various hues of dark grey.

 

[tkcartoonist]

Thanks for the info. My biggest holdup isn't in regard to installation (although that info does help), but the rig itself. Since I plan on primarily using it as a music studio, I'd like to have something portable for on-the-go recording. I have seen a couple of different laptops that are Linux compatible, but they are all very different in terms of capabilities/features and most of them are quite high in price, which has been the big thing in holding me back from fully jumping on the Linux train. What would you recommend? If it weren't for the portability thing, I'd have probably just built my own PC by now.

 

[Judge]

Thanks for the info. My biggest holdup isn't in regard to installation (although that info does help), but the rig itself. Since I plan on primarily using it as a music studio, I'd like to have something portable for on-the-go recording. I have seen a couple of different laptops that are Linux compatible, but they are all very different in terms of capabilities/features and most of them are quite high in price, which has been the big thing in holding me back from fully jumping on the Linux train. What would you recommend? If it weren't for the portability thing, I'd have probably just built my own PC by now.

Some Linux Distros like Zorin OS16 also offer a "lite" version of their OS for even older, less-robust computers. And we may be entering a new marketing phase involving laptops with a Linux distribution pre-installed. Another possibility of broadening the number of Linux users. Linux should fly on most laptops...even the older ones. That Linux-based computers have far less operating in resident memory on startup compared to the bloat of Windows yet with better security. Far more efficient without requiring enormous hardware resources.

I spend a lot of time these days watching various online presentations on so many Linux distros. Where the same names seem to pop up all the time about those which would be the easiest to transition from Windows users. Leaving three in particular that I have mentioned in other threads:

* Linux Mint 20.3
* Zorin OS16
* Pop! OS Cosmic

All based on Linux Ubuntu. Of the three, Linux Mint seems the most comprehensive in terms of loading a broad amount of software at the time of installation. Where you don't have to stew over what wasn't loaded that may be imperative to have- such as a firewall. (Though I quickly discovered that any Ubuntu version of Linux is apt to have sound problems with certain older types of Intel High Definition Audio.) And that there are plenty of links of helpful folks to explain how to remedy such issues.

This why regardless of what distro you may choose, you want to pay attention to online presentations outlining "the things you need immediately" after installing such-and-such operating system. Hopefully you can find one with text and images on a website rather than rely on fast-moving video presentation made by someone with a thick accent.

Something I ran into in attempting to initially install Pop! OS Cosmic. While it installed ok (with the exception of speaker sound) it did not install a firewall and left no immediate instructions for doing so. Just a "bare-bones" no-frills operating system you can enhance later by accessing their "software store" known as the "pop shop". But I didn't even know how to go about getting the firewall. My bad, as when I went over one of those YouTube presentations, it gave precise instructions in how to load a firewall. Where it pays to learn something ahead of time rather than just jump into it.

Keep in mind that these operating systems also give you the chance to simply "test drive" them on your computer rather than formally installing them. A nice choice to have in the event of a potential hardware or driver issue.

Example website help: 14 Things To Do After Installing Linux Mint 20

Perhaps most of all, get acquainted with your computer's BIOS. Where you boot up and keep your finger pressing on the delete key to bring up your computer's BIOS control panel. Some folks are totally oblivious to it, but to actually install any new OS you MUST understand how to change the boot process temporarily so it can boot up the flash drive rather than boot a hard drive with no operating system installed.

Once your BIOS recognizes that flash drive, the installation process can begin where you just follow whatever instructions are prompted onscreen. When the process is completed, you reboot and take out the flash drive from your USB port so the system then boots from the OS on your hard drive.