Will my ability to play games be significantly affected compared to Windows?
No. Thanks to Steam Deck, most popular windows games also work on Linux. See https://www.protondb.com/ for a complete list of 18,000 titles… Someone already mentioned that kernel level anti-cheat is the big, obvious blocker.
Can I mod games as freely and as easily as I do on Windows?
Im guessing that most moders target Windows users therefore, don’t think mods would be AS easy. Not saying modding wouldn’t exist or work at all. Edit: see sp3ctr4l’s reply to this comment. They know more than me
If a program has no Linux version, is it unusable, or are there workarounds?
There are workarounds. Linux has some great alternative software to popular paid stuff. See LibreOffice or Krita.
There are also more advanced options to run Windows apps under Linux, see Wine or Virtual Machines
Can Linux run programs that rely on frameworks like .NET or other Windows-specific libraries?
Yes. Similar to the above answer/ similar to aforementioned Proton. For .NET specifically, there is a Linux runtime.
How do OS updates work in Linux? Is there a “Linux Update” program like what Windows has?
This can depend a lot on what distribution you’re running, but definitely, there are ones with easy buttons for whole-system updates.
How does digital security work on Linux? Is it more vulnerable due to being open source? Is there integrated antivirus software, or will I have to source that myself?
It’s different and probably overall better than windows. Most distros are much better out of the box than windows.
Open source is ususually a security advantage because (long story short) security mistakes can be caught by more people.
I don’t have a good answer for you on anti virus. I am very privacy and security conscious and I dont use one on linux. My personal opinion is that you don’t need one and shouldn’t need one if you’re not downloading sketch stuff.
Are GPU drivers reliable on Linux?
Totally. GPU drivers are much, much better than they used to be.
Can Linux (in the case of a misconfiguration or serious failure) potentially damage hardware?
Theoretically. You would have to try really hard, but for normal use, no. More likely, you could lose data or access to the system if you misconfigure stuff (just like with Windows)
Distro recommendations. My personal opinions, don’t flame me.
Bazzite. hard to mess up, gamer focused, super simple updates, and targeted support for gamer hardware. Feels like a cross between steam deck and windows. Less support for tinkering but if you never want to touch the terminal, this is my choice.
Pop!OS. Simplified Linux with great driver and steam support with easy updates. More tinkering support than Bazzite
Linux Mint. Easy to start on but more traditional back-end. Much more support (forum posts) than the previous two. A lot of what works on Debian or Ubuntu works the same on Mint, so you’ll be able to do all kinds of fiddling
No. Thanks to Steam Deck, most popular windows games also work on Linux. See https://www.protondb.com/ for a complete list of 18,000 titles… Someone already mentioned that kernel level anti-cheat is the big, obvious blocker.
Im guessing that most moders target Windows users therefore, don’t think mods would be AS easy. Not saying modding wouldn’t exist or work at all.Edit: see sp3ctr4l’s reply to this comment. They know more than meThere are workarounds. Linux has some great alternative software to popular paid stuff. See LibreOffice or Krita.
There are also more advanced options to run Windows apps under Linux, see Wine or Virtual Machines
Yes. Similar to the above answer/ similar to aforementioned Proton. For .NET specifically, there is a Linux runtime.
This can depend a lot on what distribution you’re running, but definitely, there are ones with easy buttons for whole-system updates.
It’s different and probably overall better than windows. Most distros are much better out of the box than windows.
Open source is ususually a security advantage because (long story short) security mistakes can be caught by more people.
I don’t have a good answer for you on anti virus. I am very privacy and security conscious and I dont use one on linux. My personal opinion is that you don’t need one and shouldn’t need one if you’re not downloading sketch stuff.
Totally. GPU drivers are much, much better than they used to be.
Theoretically. You would have to try really hard, but for normal use, no. More likely, you could lose data or access to the system if you misconfigure stuff (just like with Windows)
Distro recommendations. My personal opinions, don’t flame me.
Bazzite. hard to mess up, gamer focused, super simple updates, and targeted support for gamer hardware. Feels like a cross between steam deck and windows. Less support for tinkering but if you never want to touch the terminal, this is my choice.
Pop!OS. Simplified Linux with great driver and steam support with easy updates. More tinkering support than Bazzite
Linux Mint. Easy to start on but more traditional back-end. Much more support (forum posts) than the previous two. A lot of what works on Debian or Ubuntu works the same on Mint, so you’ll be able to do all kinds of fiddling