Considering switching to Linux, but I have many questions.

  1. Gaming - I enjoy gaming and want a Distro that will let me play most games. I have read that keeping nVidia drivers up to date can be (was?) a problem. I currently use steam for 99% of my gaming, I’m aware steam is porting a lot for SteamOS, but what are the limitations of this? Will I have to wait for a port before I can play a new game? Are there stability issues?

  2. I’ve developed a lot of pretty basic macros for excel in Visual Basic, I’m not a programmer by any means, but I can write some algorithms to do QoL coding. Is making the switch to open office seamless? Will my .xlsx docs incur formatting issues? Will my macros translate to whatever editor is used in open office? Does open office use the same codes for cell functions? Are there statistic package add-ons like with excel? Essentially, I’m asking how much work is ahead of me if I make this switch?

  3. I do enjoy the old version of outlook and work with many people who use outlook calendars for scheduling. Is there a similar program that will work with the same functionality on their end? (E.g. a mail client that will allow me to accept calendar invites from others and confirm it on both ends?).

  4. I am familiar with Visual Studio and use it as my IDE for very basic programming (I like to tinker with automating certain tasks in games, again by no means a programmer). Is there an equivalent FOSS version that would have a low learning curve coming from Microsoft’s IDE?

  • tedd_deireadh@lemmy.worldEnglish
    3·
    21 hours ago

    I can speak to a few of your questions. I’ve been fully on Linux, both my laptop and gaming PC for two years now.

    1. Gaming - I use Steam for all of my games, and have had few issues. Steam uses Proton to allow non-native games to run, and it happens all within the Steam client. New Proton versions update within Steam just like your games. I’ve run across a few games that wouldn’t launch or would CTD, but those are few and far between and similar to my experience in Windows.

    Sample of games I’ve played without issue:

    • Star Wars Jedi: Survivor
    • Horizon: Forbidden West
    • Helldivers 2
    • Red Dead Redemption 2
    • Dwarf Fortress
    • Kingdom Come Deliverance 2
    • Fallout: New Vegas
    • Deep Rock Galactic
    • Sea of Stars
    • Factorio

    I have an Nvidia 3080Ti and use the proprietary Nvidia drivers. From what I recall, the install was painless and I haven’t had driver issues.

    1. OpenOffice - I use LibreOffice, because to my understanding it is actively maintained unlike OpenOffice, and I haven’t had any issues casually using it to view documents.

    2. I use Thunderbird for my mail client and haven’t had any issues setting it up or using basic functionality. It works just as well as it did under Windows.

    3. I installed VS Code or one of the foss alternatives, can’t remember which, and haven’t had issues with it.

    TL;DR that’s really my experience with everything in Linux. Some things are a learning curve, but most stuff just works. I’m also not a tinkerer. I just wanted an OS that works and stays out of my way and Linux has been great for that.