Linux gaming

[FlyingClayDisk]

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Keep us posted.... I'm kvetching vicariously through you, by the way... 

"Kvetching" - Now there's a word I don't see very often!!!

I wondered if that was like "Verklempt"...and it kinda' is, sorta'. 
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I was happy on Win11 until Microsoft did an update that basically bricks my machine. I have to then do clean install and can only use Win11 one month until Microsoft overrides my "do not update setting" and updates and re-bricks my machine.

I’m documenting my real world experience trying to use Linux for gaming the real games I love.

So many of the Linux Gaming videos and articles are written by Linux experts and they brag about how good it is.  I’m documenting what happens when an average user tries.  Honestly documenting the good, bad and ugly.

I’m not cherry picking games to make Linux look good or bad, just documenting getting the games I actually play running on Linux.

sorry I don’t know anything about phones and my programming experience is BASIC  on TRs 80’S and commodore Vic 20s.

I've been 'wading' through your experience with LINUX here with much interest.  I'm not sure if my interest is limited to the enjoyment of NOT having gone through this experience myself, or if it is also a learning experience.  I do have a couple questions for you, but I'll get to those in a moment.  First, I wanted to tell you of my (dated) LINUX experience.

Back during the Windows XP days I picked up a copy of SUSI LINUX (which was a Novell product).  My goal was to learn something about LINUX before I waded into the downloading of tarballs (or whatever they're called) from the web.  Yes, it was a paid version, but my hopes were that it would be a good starting place to do some basic skills development.  I created a dual-boot box running XP and SUSI LINUX.  The good news was, everything about both the install and the operation went stunningly well, not a single error.  Bootup was tragically slow to get to the decision point of choosing XP or LINUX, but once I selected LINUX my machine turned into a lightning bolt (for back then).  I never really had any issues with LINUX, but I didn't really learn much.  Installing new programs, the one thing I wanted to learn, I was never able to figure out (no idea where they installed to after I installed them, they just vanished).

Fast forward to the WIN 7 days.  Everyone kept telling me I needed to get Ubuntu LINUX.  Had a couple laptops running WIN 7, so I decided to push Ubuntu on one of them just to check it out.  Again, perfect install, not even a single error.  On this machine I'd blown out Windows completely and was just running Ubuntu.  The machine was still a mechanical HDD, but it booted as fast as a SSD (like "Wow!").  Worked really well for business applications, and as long as I stayed in the 'recommended programs' area I could download and install new stuff.  However, whenever I ventured outside of the Ubuntu recommended programs...POOF!  (crickets)  They'd install 'successfully', and just vanish (no icon, nothing in any menu or directory I could find...just nothing...deep space).  I've asked dozens of people to explain where these programs go, and how to find them, but I have yet to have someone give me a "coherent" response that a human could actually try.  People from Mars, maybe, but not Earthlings.

I am not a gamer, so games aren't really my thing.  But I do have lots of fairly complex computing needs, and this is where some of the programs I refer to come into play.  My programming background is BASIC and FORTRAN (old guy, I know).  I never really learned Visual BASIC (probably a mistake).  But specifically as it relates to LINUX, I never learned UNIX programming (which LINUX is a derivative of, as I understand it).

So, to me, LINUX is this mystical thing.  I can make it work, and it works surprisingly well for basic Windows type stuff.  But when I want to venture off the beaten path and install some obscure program, I can only install and troubleshoot it using Windows.  (Did I mention I hate Windows...AND MicroSHAFT???)  I would love nothing better than to find something OTHER than windows just for the sake of flipping off Billy Gates and his empire.  I don't care how much money it costs.  The only thing worse than Windows is MAC (so, I'm not EVEN going to go there!).  Anyway, that's my story.

Now, if you've made it this far (without falling asleep), I have a couple questions for you...

1. In reading from page 1 on this thread, you've mentioned "eating crayons" a number of different times.  What do you mean by this?  Is this some LINUX lingo, or is this just some description you use?  I know LINUX has some weird terms like "tarballs", etc. so I wasn't sure if 'eating crayons' is some LINUX process.

2. I'll ask you the same question I've asked others...  How do you find things in LINUX?  How do you even understand what the different directories mean?  Where do programs go when you install them?  And lastly, how do you access a program once you've gotten it installed?  Also, how do you make an icon show up for an installed program so you can launch it again in the future?

Thanks!  Oh, and I'll enjoy reading more about your travails in LINUX.  Maybe I'll even learn something.  I'm not much for eating crayons though.  I swore those off in favor of the mint flavored school paste they had in 2nd grade.  That stuff rocked; glue sticks suck!

Enjoy!