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Seeing that gamingonlinux.com from the news side is like a main hub for gaming on linux i suppose that it would be the best place to add a small but thorough FAQ-Guide Section. (another part of this section could include infos for indie developers interested in making a linux port [packaging etc.])
But my proposal is on the top of the site or on the right side somewhere noticable to make a support/FAQ/Guide/Tutorial Section Buttonlink. ["FOR BEGINNERS" in red color or something or Windows refugees ^_^]
or calling it "LINUX GAMING SUPPORT CENTRAL" or something big ;)
Introduction guides for absolute beginners into the world of linux gaming and Introduction guides for former Windows Gamers [outlining the differences, driver installation etc., distro choice, installation of steam games, programs, Gamepad and VR drivers Vive Oculus etc.] would be immensely helpful.
And many other questions which the other users could brainstorm here in the forum. Perhaps playonlinux and wine could be adressed as well, though i would rather like to accustom new users to native linux gaming only. Wouldnt even count on wine steam games being counted as linux sales at all. Couldnt bring wine to work on mint 17.2 anyway.
Introductory guides like "Introduction into GPU Drivers for Linux Gamers" outlining the essential howtos, introducing the different drivers (Nouveau, old fglrx, AMDGPU etc.) for an linux adopter. Other programs like teamspeak (installation, issues) and anything else could be spoken about as well.
Questions i would propose/SUGGEST for the FAQ Sections (and which are open for discussion as well as the answers):
Q: What distribution is best for a linux gaming beginner.
A: (For example) SteamOS (if you have an nvidia gpu), ubuntu, linux mint.
Q: Does SteamOS support AMD gpus?
A: Not really at the moment (state 26.3.2016) [tried myself :( if someone would have told me in the beginning that AMD gpus are not supported i wouldnt have invested hours trying to install it]
Q: I have an AMD HD 7000 [7850,7870etc...] what driver should i install?
A: Dont upgrade to ubuntu 16.04 and linux mint 18 because your proprietary fglrx drivers are not supported anymore.
Q: Which AMD Gpus support the new open source AMDGPU driver?
A: [insert REAL model numbers instead of annoying GCN1.0 or southern islands, pitcairn or whatever codenames. LIKE INSERT FURY NANO instead of the internal southern islands or GCN1.2. Whatever codenames, they only confuse the matter]
Q: How to install the [Hybrid AMD, fglrx, nvidia] proprietary driver part on my ubuntu 16.04, linux mint etc.
A: guide with pics [commands in commandshell etc.] (i for my part did read something about ppas but didnt investigate much. Seems to be unofficial repository libraries which can be used only by ubuntu and mint. obaf or whatever is for AMD i think and another ppa for NVidia. another ppa is for the mainline kernel.
Q: How to upgrade the [Hybrid AMD, fglrx, nvidia] proprietary driver part on my ubuntu 16.04 [14.04], linux mint etc.
A: guide with pics [commands in commandshell etc.]
Q: Do i have to update my kernel (on mint?)[on ubuntu automatic?!?] if i use AMDGPU, nvidia proprietory driver etc.
A:...........
Q: Do i have to update X.org?
A..........
A:..........
Q: Is "Debian Testing" distro better for a new system than old :) ubuntu 16.04 ? (i know it isnt released still) System would be christmas time ZEN AMD CPU and GPU polaris. Because of this is a rolling distro like debian testing better if you want to use your new components on linux right after purchase? Will they be supported from day one by ubuntu, mint?
Q: How to install steam on linux?
A: go to steampowered.com [Picture guide helpful] install button, deb whatever install on distro ...
Q: Does GOG galaxy client, origin, uplay work on linux?
A: For now GOG galaxy client doesnt support native linux but probably in the future.
Q: How to install GOG games on my distro?
A: .............
Q: Is multiplayer cross-platform? Can i play with my windows buddies?
A: Most of the games should work multiplayer cross platform [list of exceptions]
A: Yes it does.
Q: Does the Oculus Rift, HTC Vive work on linux?
A: ............
Q: i want to buy a new (gpu, cpu etc.) what differences are there between AMD and NVIDIA gpus for linux gaming and what are the consequences.
A: AMD had bad drivers, some games work some not because most are ported for NVIDIA. AS of AMD model - ubuntu 16.04 mint 18 the situation for AMD will be ....
Q: Do i have to install and update drivers for Steamos?
A: no it does it automatically [i think so but did not use it]
Q: After installing proprietory driver from AMD. My Linux distro doesnt start anymore and i get a black screen
A: ...........
Q: Installed a proprietory driver and now my system boots to the linux console. Can i remove an incompatible driver from the console and if so with which command. (to restore my system)
A:...........
Q: If i want to install a propietory driver, must i check which kernel, x.org etc. i have so to be sure that the driver is compatible? If so then where to check what versions i have? How to update them (x.org etc.)
A:
Q: has Ubuntu any advantages over Linux Mint?
A: NOT SURE myself. i think ubuntu updates its kernel and such things automatically while mint must be updated manually.
Q: What is Mesa?
A: Not sure myself. is it the opensource intel gpu driver? If i have a dedicated AMD, Nvidia gpu does it concern me?
Q: i have Linux Mint installed which is based upon Ubuntu. On the AMD GPU driver site are drivers for ubuntu and Linux Generic available. Which should i choose?
A: [I wrecked my own mint install after installing the ubuntu driver] The generic driver worked on Mint. I dont know if i chose the wrong ubuntu driver, [should have been ubuntu 14.04 because linux mint 17.2 is based upon 14.04 LTS as far as i know] or if i should have used ppas [dont know how to use them on Mint anyway and dont know if ppas are recommended at all]
Perhaps even dual booting and installation of distros like ubuntu and so on could be put in guideform.
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Good, I would also say manjaro should be mensioned as an easy arch-like choice.
I would also add a recommendation about hardware.
Nvidia 6xx or newer on desktop
Intel HD Broadwell or newer on laptop
Amd not very recommended at the moment.
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There is a SteamOS icon (just left to "steamplay") that really means Linux.
A better check seems to be this list:
https://steamdb.info/linux/
i disagree. OLD Open Source Drivers for AMD (before AMDGPU) are even slower than the already slow proprietory FGLRX driver from AMD. (Slow in comparison to nvidia that is.) Example: i can play Bioshock Infinite on windows with 60+ fps with my HD 7870. With the catalyst/crimson i get 20-30 fps and that is not acceptable. With your suggestion, using the old open source driver i would get around 10 fps. So why should it be better to use open source drivers? Another case of course is the AMDGPU driver which my card from around 3 years ago doesnt support. Nevertheless the card is still widely used. As i said i can have 60+ fps with it on windows and play stable with highest details on 1080p. So suggesting to use the opensource driver makes no sense at all. (Only if you want to play 2D Games that is)
Featurewise: the open source drivers from ALL GPUs are on the level around and before OpenGL 4.3 Release date: August 6, 2012. So opengl 4.5 is not supported at all and 4.3 after about 4 years is not supported as well. Forget about Vulkan API open source driver alltogether if they are 4+ years behind in opengl adoption. (if you dont care about speed optimization that is). From a gamers perspective the open source drivers suck. And thats very unfortunate but people like lucinos who tell fairy tales about open source drivers are the problem with linux gaming.
The following is a fictional encounter of a linux noob and an opensource drivers supporter for linux gaming:
Example: Linux Noob comes to "FOSS driver supporter" and asks what driver shall i install?
"FOSS driver supporter": the open source already preinstalled driver is just fine!
Noob: Ok but i get only 10 fps instead of 120 on my 120 hz monitor in windows. Is there no better alternative?
"FOSS driver supporter": No the drivers will get better over time.
Noob: How much time?
"FOSS driver supporter": Well we are speaking about decades not years or months that is. Open Source Development takes its time.
Noob: Ok thank you for your help! I am back to windows gaming ^_^
So my point is proprietory GPU drivers are unfortunately a must for SERIOUS 3D linux gaming and people who claim otherwise confuse noobs and destroy their first experiences with linux gaming.
In my opinion the point of a BEGINNER guide section is to cover at ONE place the main issues concerning linux GAMING. Linux Mint for example, which i used has a very small active community on their forums. Although being the most popular Distro (according to Distrowatch) and ranking SECOND on Steam Surveys. Their small active community has not much interest in gaming, it seems. Questions on their forums get not answered for days and weeks. If somebody answers he uses opensource drivers and doesnt even care about gaming at all. That was my experience. As i said before here are LINUX GAMERS, and many who are active in distros dont seem to care about gaming. Of course with Ubuntu, because of a bigger community and Wiki, the support would have been better i think. Valve recommends Ubuntu. Personally i dont like Ubuntu's GUI, so i used Mint instead which had the above mentioned problems with small community. Steam OS could not work with my AMD GPU. Then i tried to install Debian. Thought it has a big user base and so on. But couldnt find an easy answer on how to install "Debian Testing". Seemed i have to install Debian Standard and then console command until somehow the repos get changed and Debian Standard changes to Debian Testing. On google i found no guide, on youtube no video tutorial so i stopped.
You could of course say that games SHOULD work on all distros. But we are speaking about BEGINNERS. And beginners should use an easy friendly to use distro to get a first impression of linux gaming. Or do you want to put them in front of Arch Linux where they have to fiddle with the console just to install their distro? Because of this Valve recommends Ubuntu. If ever linux gaming should gain more users, the MAIN distro used and in the spotlight has to be userfriendly or else it cant compete with windows. When the users get aqcuainted to ubuntu and mint and such then over time they can migrate to advanced distros if they want.
Of course i am ignorant. I am a linux noob who started to use linux for about 6 months. I just want to tell my noob story so that we as a linux community can improve linux support, so that other people who want to come to linux, have it easier than myself.
I am very sorry if you think i am aggressive or arrogant on the other hand. I am merely humbly making suggestions in a forum part of gamingonlinux.com, which is intended for website suggestions. What i state are my opinions and can be right or wrong and are put here open for discussion. If you mean that i used CAPITAL LETTERS, this was only intended to emphasize my point i am trying to make and not to shout or being rude. Rudeness is in the eye of the Beholder. If you have any other complaints then at least you could quote so that i know what you are referring to. The decision making anyway is not up to me so why should i be arrogant if in the end i dont even have a say in the matter at all? (i am not the website owner here :) ) I am merely making a suggestion trying to be objective from my subjective viewpoint. If you dont like the distros i mentioned then make your own suggestions with reasoning. Anyway the topic is NOT myself, it is a LINUX GAMING GUIDE SECTION. So please stay on topic and i didnt intend to hurt anyone's feeling. Let's just review the matter objectively for the advancement of linux.
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Although I kinda like Ubuntu's Unity interface, it is not something I'd give to a new user. If they're coming from Windows, a traditional desktop would probably make him feel more at home. Again, focusing on Mint here - The distro offers a desktop interface similar to Windows.
The last thing to point out in Mint is the out of the box features: Codecs, popular software such as VLC and GIMP (they're both missing in Ubuntu), Shortcuts in the file manager such as "Open Terminal Here" or "Make Link". I find Ubuntu rather clunky in the UI department, at best I'd recommend one of it's derivatives (Kubuntu, Xubuntu..etc) but not the standard one.
Other than that, both distros are very solid stability wise and updating them isn't any different from Windows. Performance wise I prefer the Mate desktop and (to me) it feels much faster and responsive than Unity.
I completely agree with you. I like Mint because of the points mentioned. I just hope i can learn about ppa's (general use and such) and how you can use them in Mint. It seems Ubuntu has a "App Shop" full of ppa's but i dont know if you can access it directly from within Mint. It seems you can just download specific ppa's from Mint commandline if i am not wrong. Such would be a good topic (PPA's in general and usage in Mint (especially GPU and kernel driver Upgrades)) for a guide.
Another thing i encountered is the claim that mint is insecure. It seems on default critical security patches are set "OFF" and the Mint developers chose stability over security. Although you can change it yourself which is very good indeed, but if their choice is really a smart one (default off) i dont know. Stability is certainly most important, if you consider a noob who updates his Mint and suddenly because of kernel changes his gpu driver doesnt work anymore and Linux reverts to the console. On the other hand most users wouldnt even had heard about the issue (that they have a choice regarding critical security patches) and therefore would stay on default-off. It would be commendable if they integrated an Article or something in their "Welcome Screen" explaining the issue of critical security updates, so most users could make an informed choice for themselves. But now as it is users encounter the issue mostly when reading claims of users of other Distros who say Mint is insecure. So Mint should definitely inform and ask you about the update policy either on installation or on the Welcome Screen.