Honestly - depending on the hardware and the specific game - sometimes better than on Windows.
For Steam itself, the experience is functionally identical up to a point. There's a "start" menu entry, it checks for updates and it has a tray icon that allows navigating the standard library/store/chat dialogs. In order to run games that aren't native to Linux, you need to essentially check a box in the master settings to allow the Proton compatibility later that can (usually) run those games on Linux.
What it's running on and the specific game matters though, since some hardware isn't always compatible or requires additional work to get running, and some games won't work on Linux. Usually the latter is due to Windows-specific anti-cheat or DRM (ironically,often the same DRM also f***s up Windows systems or causes performance issues).
Regarding hardware: AMD graphics cards are the easiest to get up and running with. Nvidia is getting better with newer devices. Intel is generally pretty good for compatibility though I've had to mess around for some of the Arc based cards in some cases.
It's usually peripherals that can be a pain and especially with newer stuff. For example, there is no built-in kernel module for the Ethernet card on my current motherboard. Getting it up required finding source for the driver online, and running some commands to compile it for my kernel. Annoyingly, the vendor's code doesn't work with DKMS (which would do this automatically on kernel updates) so I need to re-run this whenever a newer kernel comes out. Eventually the driver will likely make it's way to the mainstream kernel and then not require manual work. My previous several boards never required such manual intervention, but this one came out recently and I hadn't checked in the specific hardware.
One other issue is games on Steam that require a 3rd-party launcher (EA, Ubisoft, etc). These sometimes break when updated and often aren't so friendly with offline play without an Internet connection. That said I've played through plenty of EA/Origin games and an Ubisoft (at home with wifi) just fine.
Most games say whether they're Deck compatible. If they are, that should also mean they're Linux compatible.
You can also check https://www.protondb.com/ for compatibility ratings.
While this all sounds like there's a lot of BUT's, I've been using Linux as a desktop for years and since the Deck came out compatibility has gone up FAST. I used to dual-boot Windows for a few games - mostly VR - but now even those games tend to run fine on Linux. It's mostly the 3rd-party stuff or shooters with heavy anti-cheat that area an issue. You won't be playing the newest Battlefield or Fortnite, but there are plenty of AAA games and others that run just fine on Linux (and again, sometimes better than Windows at least on my devices)
My wife bought a laptop around when Win11 was just coming out. It has a Celeron based CPU but 16GB of RAM which is decent enough. After trying the "upgrade" to Win11 it ran so poorly as to basically be unusable.
My wife got a newer laptop and the old one sat in a drawer for a year until I threw Debian on it, which runs better than the original win10. Since it's a lower power CPU the battery lasts a long time too, making it a good browsing/coding device
I used to know a gal who did SW at night, though at the time I wasn't aware of her occupation. She'd regularly hang out with my buddy and I. One day he was complaining about his back and she offered him a massage, then offered me one as well as I'd been known to have a bad shoulder
While it wasn't the absolute best massage I'd had, it was up there above most places covered by my medical.
I could 100% see people paying for company and a non-sexual contact from somebody like that. She was good with people and had a sense for now to relax people physically and emotionally.
There are some in-between boards as well. I've an Intel 12th gen board that comes in DDR4 and DDR5 varieties. Either one will be an upgrade from an 11th gen, but it will be a bit faster with the DDR5 board.
For all the US bitches about piracy costing the industry and jobs, they sure do a fucking terrible job about policing stuff like counterfeits that can be tied to real numbers of economic harm (because people that buy those were actually willing to spend money). eBay is rife with counterfeit media sales and Amazon ain't great either. I've never tried third party sellers from others but I'd bet that Walmart, Bestbuy, and others have a share as well given the ones I see selling "new" items that haven't actually been produced in a decade.
Agreed. Multi-pairing is such an underrated feature. It's especially great when it comes with a hardware selector (in case you've got multiple devices paired in range).
I picked up a Logitech mouse that pairs up to 3 devices and has a button+LED's on the bottom to switch between. It's awesome
If they've already got a 4B there's no reason not to use it for one of the many low-power low-profile uses, especially when the cost of PC components is going nuts now
I was thinking on that yesterday.Mass local storage affordable? No no no, better to drive those prices way up so that we can sell you "cloud" services instead.
Yeah guaranteed this isn't the first incredibly stupid thing he's done - probably while ignoring the advise of everyone else - but it may be the latest or most expensive.
Google based Android off Linux. Apple based IOS off BSD.
Both of those were the result of collaborative work between thousands of millions of contributors.
Frameworks exist that assist in making apps for either or both, just like they exist to build games for multiple consoles etc.
Meanwhile, Google has now declared that they will require developers register signing key WITH THEM in order to make software that will run on Android (regardless of whether it's installed via their store or another) and has been taking steps away from providing the the necessary codebase under AOSP etc that allow for third-party projects that were based on Android
Google has also transitioned readily to "rent" based services such as YouTube while killing off Google Play Music etc (such actually allowed purchases/downloads of media). Both companies are already heavily investing in generative AI.
Do you think that once they have control of all app signing they'll allow apps that circumvent their advertising or data-harvesting?
This doesn't "make sense", it makes us pay more to a digital landlord who throws around their weight to lock us in further and further while using their increasing wealth to buy up or crush all the competition. We're accepting chains of convenience today in trade for restrictions and exploitation tomorrow.
I can think of one company that holds a dominating market position and has been somewhat benevolent, and that's Valve. They don't buy out competition, they've been active contributors to open-source (to the extent that they've made gaming on Linux actually viable and good), and they often seem listen to their customers in order to improve. They still do take a goodly % of sales revenue from developers who list with them though.
I'll admit I kinda would have liked a boy and girl, but I'm not going to shoehorn my girls into any particular roles (except for the particular video games and 80's movies they must learn of).
"But daaaad, I want to play Animal Crossing today"
'Absolutely not, today is Chrono Trigger and RTS day!'
Uncle Phil from Fresh Prince (the Will Smith version, I think they tried to remake)
From all I've heard the actor (James Avery) was a good guy IRL as well