this post was submitted on 13 Aug 2025
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Linux Gaming

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Follow-up video to https://lemmy.world/post/32690521


Spoiler alert: the main reason he says the experience "hasn't been great" is because shortly before posting the video his Linux install mysteriously broke and he had no idea why. Therefore, he recommended dual-booting Windows just in case.

Cue sea of comments explaining that the reason for the error he was getting was that Windows screwed up his bootloader (i.e. the problem was caused by dual-booting to begin with, LOL).

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[–] x_pikl_x@lemmy.world 2 points 3 hours ago

I miss the Barnacules Jayztwocents live stream days. Can't even watch Jay anymore because of the click bait, trying to appease teenage boys as a grown ass man thing he's trying to do.

[–] dataprolet@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 7 hours ago

I tried nothing and I'm all out of options.

[–] EldenLord@lemmy.world 8 points 10 hours ago* (last edited 10 hours ago)

channel name JayzTwoCents

look inside

tfw opinions aren‘t even worth a penny

[–] MoonRaven@feddit.nl 9 points 16 hours ago

I unsubbed from that channel. Every title is clickbait. I'm not going to watch a video that is like "this is a game changer", no idea what it's about, no idea if it's relevant.

[–] iconic_admin@lemmy.world 2 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

I also dual boot, to separate physical drives, and the Ubuntu bootup process is constantly breaking. Every other restart I have to fix it so that it will boot. Having said that, gaming on windows was untenable. Every single game would crash between 1min and 30min, always with an nvlddmkm error code showing in the event viewer. Using a laptop rtx 4070. I tried absolutely everything to fix it. I even tried buying new ram sticks. Same error. I started to think something was wrong at the hardware level.

Since switching to Ubuntu, I haven’t had a single crash, playing every game on steam with maxed out graphics. It works perfectly. Also I’ve noticed that booting into windows sends cooling fans into overdrive while booting into Ubuntu is quiet as a mouse. Fuck windows, it’s basically spyware at this point and it doesn’t even work.

[–] krunklom@lemmy.zip 1 points 9 hours ago

I can't get doom the dark ages to run at a playable frame rate on my Ryzen 9 / etc 5080 laptop.

Literally the only issue I've ever had with Linux gaming.

[–] Krompus@lemmy.world -2 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

Epic fail. Laugh at this user.

[–] Ronno@feddit.nl 8 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

How does that help anything? The channel is trying it out, a channel that is objectively more technically skilled than the average PC gamer. So if they can't make it work, or can't make it work seamlessly enough, then there is an issue. It reinforces the image that gaming on Linux is difficult, which frankly, it is.

[–] barryamelton@lemmy.world 0 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

His install is broken because Windows breaks the dual booting, and Microsoft has refused to fix it for a decade already..

[–] squaresinger@lemmy.world 2 points 4 hours ago

I hate that the Linux community is so quick to fall into blame mode.

That user has an issue using Linux. It's an issue that's not uncommon and it does stop that user from using Linux.

As an user, does it matter who's at fault that his Linux install isn't working as expected?


Say you buy a brand new Fiat, and 5 kilometers out of the dealership the transmission just dies.

Are you going to say "Using this car sucks" or are you going to say "The subcontractor that made the clutch mechanism in that transmission sucks"?

If your car dies, you are not getting to work today. This sucks. You don't care who is at fault, using an unreliable car sucks.


To get back to Linux: If some beginner goes through the trouble and fails, it's very little help to call them out for being a beginner or to aim the blame.

OOP's assessment is correct: Linux is nice, but there are pitfals for people who aren't versed in all the things that can go when using Linux. And yes, this one was caused by Windows, but that really doesn't help a novice user who's Linux won't boot anymore.

[–] who@feddit.org 42 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Thank you for including the spoiler. This tech vlogger's irresponsible headline would normally have earned a downvote from me.

[–] Duamerthrax@lemmy.world 0 points 16 hours ago

So a tech youtuber didn't both to do the very basics of research before trying and failing at something? Color me surprised.

[–] dontmindmehere@programming.dev 33 points 1 day ago (5 children)

the idea that you can just jump to linux with zero research needs to go

  • no you can't have every game and program you're used to
  • no you can't translate windows or mac knowledge
  • yes you have to know what partitions, desktop environments, distros, and other bunch of terms mean
  • yes you may have to type terminal commands (no one complains about ipconfig when figuring out whether it's ISP or DNS problem)
  • yes there are a bunch of shit tutorials online with copy-paste commands that don't work
[–] Ronno@feddit.nl 6 points 8 hours ago

Honestly, in that case, don't expect mass adoption. Simple as that.

If the idea is to keep Linux as a niche, then that's fine. But if you/the community want Linux to rival Windows/Mac, than these are the exact bullet points that must change.

[–] haroldfinch@feddit.nl -3 points 7 hours ago

For the life of me I cannot fathom why that crowd doesn't just switch to an Apple ecosystem when leaving Windows. The entire design philosophy is intended to cater to non-tech savvy people, and to keep them that way. Not saying every Apple user is non-tech savvy, but it is built to be stupid simple to use for anyone.

This YouTuber's "I can install Linux but abandon it because I can't figure out why it won't boot anymore" mentality shows his own limitations.

Buy an Apple if you want to leave Windows, but have no interest in becoming proficient enough to use Linux as a main driver.

[–] EldenLord@lemmy.world -4 points 10 hours ago* (last edited 10 hours ago) (1 children)

Tbf none of the points you listed are negative to me. I mean how boring would linux be if it was just go to [random site] and paste the commands into the terminal? There would be no brain training involved, no way to get better at computers.

[–] squaresinger@lemmy.world 2 points 4 hours ago

Most people use an OS to do things, not to do an OS.

It's like with cars: There are some car nerds who tune their own engine control parameters and replace broken transmissions and engines themselves.

But for most people a car is used to get to work (or other places) not to play with them.

And while there's nothing wrong with using an OS as a hobby because you love debugging things, it would be strange to expect that everyone wants to play with an OS instead of using an OS to accomplish something.

[–] Duamerthrax@lemmy.world 2 points 16 hours ago

A lot of Mac knowledge can translate. I learned the basics of bash on Mac OS X. I also kept my boot partitions on different drives before I switched to Linux only(I was never Windows only or even Windows Primary).

[–] monkeyman512@lemmy.world 15 points 1 day ago (3 children)

I want to make sure I am understanding what you are intending to communicate correctly. At first I thought you were basically saying, "normies need to get good". But in reflection you could be attempting to say, "Linux advocates are communicating unrealistic expectations which lead normal people to frustration and disappointment." Or is your intent something else?

[–] sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 11 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I'm not OP, but I agree with the latter.

Go in expecting to need to learn some stuff, and you'll probably need to learn less than you expect. Set aside a couple hours for the setup process, you probably won't need it, but you might. Figure out where to go for help before you start. Leave yourself a backup plan in case you don't finish.

Linux is pretty easy to use these days, but it's a new thing and will take getting used to. Expect the worst and be pleasantly surprised when things work out.

[–] JasSmith@sh.itjust.works 4 points 18 hours ago (2 children)

This is what burned me. I was promised that Unraid would be easier than windows. Dozens of people all promising me that I would have fewer issues, and I would never need to touch the CLI, and it would take me an afternoon to set up. I have spent 200+ hours on this thing. It's finally where I want it to be, but if I never, ever touch another Linux OS again I will die happy. If I had gone in with different expectations I would have had a VERY different experience. I wouldn't have thought that every issue I faced was me being dumb. I have since learned that my experience is totally normal, and I'm pissed off at the people who lied to me.

[–] sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 3 points 14 hours ago (2 children)

Yeah, Linux is definitely oversold.

I get where people are coming from, if you say it has a learning curve, fewer people will try it, and a lot of those people would've had a fine experience. But those that have a rough time will convince others to not bother.

I think it's much better to undersell it and have people be pleasantly surprised.

[–] squaresinger@lemmy.world 2 points 3 hours ago

And the next part of the equation is that when you go online to ask for help, people tell you you are a noob and it's a skill issue.

Well...

[–] JasSmith@sh.itjust.works 3 points 5 hours ago

100%. I'm not sure if it would have put me off, but I wouldn't be as bitter as I am now.

[–] EldenLord@lemmy.world 0 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

What lunatic recommended Unraid to you, lol? Setting up Linux mint is easier than installing Windows. And it‘s free, reliable, open source and not stuffed full of bloatware and subscriptions. Please give it a try if you ever need a new OS

[–] JasSmith@sh.itjust.works 2 points 5 hours ago

I have 15 HDDs and like unstriped RAID. My options were SnapRAID on Windows or Unraid. TrueNAS only offers striped RAID, and I am not aware of an unstriped RAID feature in Mint.

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[–] ISolox@lemmy.world 45 points 1 day ago

As someone who games on Fedora as my main OS, we need to stop pretending that Linux gaming is all sunshine and rainbows.

Yes, fuck Windows, and it probably did fuck his boot loader, but it doesn't invalidate his other poor experiences he had with the OS.

Hell, I don't think that even that was necessarily an invalid experience just because it was caused by Windows. Dual booting is a thing people have to do, especially if they want to play the games that just don't work on Linux. Even if you don't like the games personally, they are huge and a lot of people want to play them. Even my main Linux group dual booted recently to play the BF6 beta.

Being elitist and calling people stupid because they had a bad experience will do nothing but hurt Linux gaming. Instead of calling JayzTwoCents stupid because he dual booted for a valid reason, explain alternatives that he could have done to prevent the issue. If we want to grow as a community, we need to provide actual helpful feedback, not by being toxic.

[–] grue@lemmy.world 95 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (8 children)

The other two main TL;DWs are that:

  • He justifiably complained about PVP games having non-Linux-compatible kernel-level anti-cheat.

  • His benchmark testing showed a big performance difference between Windows and Linux on his system, which has an AMD Radeon 7900 XTX. Being an admitted noob, he didn't notice that it was an unusual discrepancy and figured that worse gaming performance in Linux was "real," but a bunch of folks in the comments are telling him that RDNA 3 drivers have a known issue that means the card probably isn't running at full power and tweaking the settings can probably fix it.

[–] TheBat@lemmy.world 79 points 2 days ago (14 children)

tweaking the settings can probably fix it.

Which is another points against Linux. Stuff should work correctly out of the box. That's what average user expects.

[–] Damage@slrpnk.net 86 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Stuff should work correctly out of the box.

That's why Windows isn't ready for mass adoption

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[–] Zikeji@programming.dev 34 points 2 days ago

I helped my mom with her windows install when the update half a year ago nuked keyboard support (I had to use the onscreen keyboard just to login). Before thar I had to forcefully install the correct wifi driver as well to get it working properly. This is was running from their factory installation. Stuff working correctly out of the box is a problem on both platforms.

[–] unexposedhazard@discuss.tchncs.de 29 points 2 days ago (13 children)

Its not the fault of linux that the hardware manufacturer doesnt make functioning drivers tho...

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[–] noobdoomguy8658@feddit.org 38 points 2 days ago (1 children)

He justifiably complained about PVP games having non-Linux-compatible kernel-level anti-cheat.

I'm tired of people conflating gaming as a whole to extremely mainstream titles that fit into "online PVP with malware anti-cheat" such as Apex Legends, Valorant, and Battlefield, and then bashing Linux for "poor gaming experience".

Their experience with titles they enjoy is very valid, as valid as any other, but it's not the entirety of gaming and OS experience, at all. There's tons of games that run extremely well on Linux, even out of the box, no tinkering required, both on Nvidia and AMD hardware.

Grrr.

[–] Buddahriffic@lemmy.world 10 points 1 day ago

Personally, I find the Linux incompatibility with games that want to do shit to the kernel a plus so I don't accidentally install one without realizing it comes with malware.

[–] Zikeji@programming.dev 36 points 2 days ago (2 children)

To your first comment about incompatible anticheat - in must cases it's a conscious decision the publisher makes. Are We Anti-Cheat Yet it's a good resource. Personally I find my OS preventing me from being able to run a privacy invading rootkit to be a pro as well.

To the second comment, a good amount of games bench better on Linux, not sure what's going on with his system so I agree.

Definitely unfortunate to see a creator publishing content without first doing some research but that's more and my common nowadays.

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[–] TheHobbyist@lemmy.zip 2 points 1 day ago

I've come across multiple times situations which arise from known issues leading to a worsened experience for the user. Linux cannot solve all problems, some are difficult to solve or some require solutions which may not be possible to be resolved but in any case, what the user usually misses, is that the OS identifies these situations and inform the user.

In this case, Jay would've really been off better if the user interface was able to simply inform the user of the circumstances or the limitations that it had detected.

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[–] july@leminal.space 48 points 2 days ago (1 children)

average tech youtuber not knowing anything about tech

[–] grue@lemmy.world 37 points 2 days ago (14 children)

Hey, at least he's up-front about it and didn't type in yes, do as I say! like Other Linus did.

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