Post #370422

2026-02-23 03:44 UTC

My son bought a second-hand Windows 11 PC for games, and has been having BSOD issues with the graphics card since he got it. Out of desperation he tried installing Bazzite on it, which I encouraged, but was also trying not to get his hopes up, telling him that the some things might not work. But he reports that &quot;absolutely everything works better than Windows&quot;. I suggested he use KDE for the desktop, and he is blown away about how good everything looks, and how easy the user experience is. He has used Linux for a bit probably 7 or 8 years ago when he used a salvaged laptop at uni that had Ubuntu on it, and he remembers that being a bit janky and frustrating, but now he&#39;s decided that he&#39;ll wipe the Windows partition and stay with Linux. So keep it up, clever people that are making Linux distros and software, you&#39;re winning. #Linux #Bazzite #KDE #Steam

Replies (19)

@csolisr@hub.azkware.net 2026-02-23 04:51

Does he typically play single-player or multiplayer? If the latter, he'll probably be stuck with Windows regardless for a long time.

Open ##1170932
@csolisr@hub.azkware.net 2026-02-23 13:19

The "handful" that don't work are unfortunately the most popular of the bunch: LOL, GTA5, COD, Valorant, Fortnite, Apex, Destiny 2, even FIFA/EAFC.

Open ##1170934
@NegativeK@infosec.exchange 2026-02-23 12:24

@stib@aus.social A coworker, who does desktop support for Windows users and isn't a Linux person at all, installed Bazite out of the blue and is raving about it. I was able to install a AAA title to play with some friends and it literally just worked. Zero issues. I'm so used to occasionally booting into Windows over the past couple of decades -- now I'm just confused. I wasn't prepared at all for gaming and CAD to be fully functional.

Open ##1170936
@GabeMoralesVR@mastodon.social 2026-02-23 03:46

@stib@aus.social I have an arcade machine that runs a PC inside. For some reason, I absolutely could not install windows 10 on it years ago. Any time I would try, it would crash and bluescreen constantly. It'd even crash during the install. Then Valve realsed Steam Proton and I decided to give Ubuntu a try on it. Worked flawlessly. It's still running ubuntu to this day. I played VF5 on it just this evening. If you want to really blow his mind, get him a steam deck and show him the sleep mode on it.

Open ##2323483
@kinsale42@mstdn.games 2026-02-23 04:11

@stib@aus.social I have had a similar experience, and love the KDE

Open ##2323484
@berniethewordsmith@neopaquita.es 2026-02-23 05:04

@stib@aus.social How's #Bazzite for a normal desktop usage aside from Gaming?

Open ##2323485
@donhawkins@mastodon.social 2026-02-23 05:13

@stib@aus.social Yee-Haa! Glad it worked and glad there is one less Windoz box out there!

Open ##2323491
@leberschnitzel@existiert.ch 2026-02-23 06:00

@stib@aus.social pretty much how I felt when I made the switch to Nobara 2 years ago. I was worried that it would be a worse gaming experience and that many things wouldn't work, but since even on Windows I didn't want to support Kernel Level Anti Cheat Games, the switch was pretty painless. There's still some tinkering from time to time, but the daily use experience is really really good. Much better than Windows these days.

Open ##2323492
@inaba@blahaj.zone 2026-02-23 06:07

@stib@aus.social but what about the invasive kernel level anti-cheats which takes just one hacker or rogue employee to ruin your entire system !!!!!!

Open ##2323493
@boggo@mastodon.gamedev.place 2026-02-23 08:30

@stib@aus.social What's the graphics card out of curiosity?

Open ##2323494
@oblomov@sociale.network 2026-02-23 08:56

@stib@aus.social I'm glad your son is enjoying his Linux experience these days more than 7 years ago, the software really has progressed a lot since! Re: the random BSODs, it *is* possible that they are due to flaky/failing GPU and/or PSU, so beware that this may be just because Linux is not hitting those spots and/or being more efficient, so it's possible random crashes will start happening under Linux too. Might be a good idea to try some stress test of the CPU, RAM and GPU, and check the PSU.

Open ##2323495
@britter@chaos.social 2026-02-23 09:08

@stib@aus.social parenting goals 😊

Open ##2323496
@Solemarc@mastodon.social 2026-02-23 09:19

@stib@aus.social I had a similar experience. My 2070 super was on he way out (it was only a year old!) but it would idle at 100% GPU until, it couldn't run any games on windows. I installed popos 22.04 and squeezed another couple months out of the GPU just fine. I've never understood why this happened but my work laptop (windows) is now idling on 80% RAM usage so I guess it was just a prelude of what was to come.

Open ##2323497
@Gerris_Lacustris@aleph.land 2026-02-23 09:23

@stib@aus.social My PC which formerly ran Windows 10 would also BSOD all the time after I changed the PSU (still no idea how that can be a thing). Then I installed Mint XFCE and it is probably the most stable computer I ever used and I am a complete newbie when it comes to Linux.

Open ##2323498
@meuwese@mastodon.social 2026-02-23 09:54

@stib@aus.social yes! Gaming on Linux is just ludicrously easy now. I don't even know why it took me so long to make the switch myself.

Open ##2323499
@CounterPillow@mastodon.social 2026-02-23 10:32

@stib@aus.social this has been my experience with my non-techy friends as well. They have problems with Windows and ask me about Linux, I warn them they should temper their expectations, and then they're blown away by how much better things work than either of us expected.

Open ##2323500
@4bz@freeradical.zone 2026-02-23 17:54

@stib@aus.social this is the reason I stopped dual booting windows 10 in like 2016. Windows would crash with my gpu but not Ubuntu Aside from being forced windows at work, haven't touch a non Linux machine since

Open ##2323501
@mihamarkic@mastodon.social 2026-02-23 18:16

@stib@aus.social he could do Windows restore first, just out of curiosity. Windows are bad but probably not like that

Open ##2323502
@EricLawton@kolektiva.social 2026-02-24 16:05

@stib@aus.social I picked KDE just for the tagging file system. Hierarchies are inadequate. @RaymondPierreL3@aus.social

Open ##2323503