Switching from Windows to Linux: A Smooth Transition and Positive Experience
Greetings from the world of Linux gaming!
In November, I hit a wall with my current setup and decided to dive into Linux. Since then, I’ve faced a series of minor hiccups, but none of them were due to Linux itself. It just took me until Sunday evening to finally get it installed on my desktop.
My mission? To see how far I can go using Linux as my primary operating system without spending excessive time tinkering or researching beforehand. I’m not looking to add another high-maintenance hobby to my plate. I want to find out if Linux can serve as a viable alternative to the increasingly frustrating Windows experience.
So far? It’s been surprisingly smooth. Many of the challenges I anticipated, like getting my Nvidia graphics card up and running, turned out to be straightforward. However, a few seemingly simple tasks proved trickier than expected. I even encountered a quirky issue with my gaming mouse that only functions in games. Despite that, I managed to use my Linux setup for work, played a game, and even printed something from my notoriously finicky printer.
**Day One**
I opted for CachyOS instead of a more mainstream distro like Ubuntu because it’s tailored for modern hardware and is reportedly easy to set up for gaming—one of the reasons I stuck with Windows for so long. After backing up my Windows image in December, I followed the installation guide on the Cachy wiki, downloaded the CachyOS live image to a Ventoy USB drive, plugged it into my PC, disabled Secure Boot in the BIOS, and booted into the CachyOS installer.
First hurdle: my mouse buttons were unresponsive. I could move the cursor but couldn’t click anything. Plugging in another mouse didn’t help either. Not a huge deal; I navigated using just the keyboard. Maybe it was just a quirk of the live image.
Once I launched the installer, I was hit with analysis paralysis. An operating system comprises many components that you don’t think about when using Mac or Windows. How do you boot into the OS? What manages the desktop environment? How are windows rendered? What’s the file system? Where do you get software updates? In Mac and Windows, these decisions are made for you. But Linux is different: the core is the kernel, and the rest is up to you. A distro is just someone’s take on what components to include. Some, like Pop_OS! and Mint, prioritize simplicity and handle these choices for you (though you can still customize them). Cachy, being based on Arch, is more DIY, and I had to choose one of four bootloaders. I went with Limine for reasons I can’t quite recall.
Next, I had to decide where to install it. Following advice from a podcast, I chose to install Cachy on a separate physical drive from Windows, as Windows updates often overwrite other bootloaders.
I have a 4TB storage drive with just over a terabyte of data, so I shrank that partition to 2TB using the installer’s manual partitioning tool. Then, following the guide, I created a 2GB boot partition and a root partition using the btrfs file system. The guide recommended at least 20GB for the root partition, so I went big and set it to 100GB, which would lead to a minor issue later.
Next up was selecting a desktop environment. With thirteen options, it felt overwhelming. KDE and Gnome seemed to be the most gaming-friendly, so I chose KDE. I could have delved deeper into this, but I didn’t.
Finally, I picked a username and password and named my computer Maggie, after my in-laws’ cat, who half the family calls Linux. She doesn’t respond to either name.
Installation took just six minutes. I rebooted, and the Limine bootloader appeared, recognizing my Windows installation, allowing me to choose between Cachy and Windows.
Once on the Cachy desktop, my mouse buttons were still unresponsive. Switching USB ports didn’t help, nor did plugging in my trackball. Eventually, I unplugged the mouse, and the trackball worked normally. My gaming mouse, an old Mad Catz Cyborg RAT 7, has a known issue, so I decided to leave it unplugged for now.
**Stuff That Works**
Aside from the mouse issue, all my hardware has functioned flawlessly. Cachy automatically installed the correct GPU drivers, and my monitor, speakers, and Logitech webcam worked without any hassle. Even my printer printed with just a minor tweak to the firewall settings.
There are various ways to install apps on Linux. You can download them directly from a company’s website, access them from your distro’s official repositories, or find them on GitHub. While there’s no official app store for Linux, several projects aim to provide universal Linux apps: Flatpak, AppImage, and Snap. I grabbed Chromium, Discord, Slack, and Audacity using the “Install Apps” button on Cachy’s welcome screen. I sourced Slack from the Arch User Repository. After a brief interruption to pick up my kid from a playdate, I successfully installed 1Password.
**What’s Missing**
I prefer the Arc browser, which doesn’t have a Linux version, but there are plenty of alternatives like Firefox and Chromium. I couldn’t find official apps for Airtable (which I use for work), Spotify, or Apple Music, but they all work fine in the browser for now, and I’ll revisit this later.
**Shall We Play a Game?**
Cachy includes a one-click gaming package that installs the Proton compatibility layer, Steam, and Heroic (a launcher for Epic, GOG, and Amazon). I decided to try a game, but then remembered my root partition was only 100GB. I rebooted into the Cachy live image, used the Parted utility to expand it to 1TB, and created a second btrfs partition with the remaining space. After rebooting and logging into Epic and GOG, I started downloading The Outer Worlds, a game I’ve been enjoying lately. It ran smoothly with Proton, and I could even sync my cloud saves. I played for a bit with my trackball, but quickly remembered I dislike gaming with it, so I plugged my gaming mouse back in. It worked perfectly in-game, but outside of it, the mouse clicks stopped responding again. It’s amusing to have a gaming mouse that only functions in games.
**The Children Yearn for the Mines**
The biggest challenge so far has been with Minecraft: Bedrock Edition. For some reason, Microsoft hasn’t prioritized a Linux version of Bedrock. While Java Edition runs fine, I play with my kids on Bedrock Edition on their iPads. There’s a way to run the Android app with MCPE Launcher, but I couldn’t get it to work. There’s also a project to run the Windows version on Proton, which I plan to explore next.
**Stuff I Haven’t Tried Yet**
I’ve heard good things about howdy, a Linux equivalent to Windows Hello for face authentication, but I haven’t installed it yet. I also want to check out the Zen browser as a potential Arc alternative. I still need to sync my cloud storage, configure git for compiling programs from scratch, establish a backup strategy, and test more hardware beyond what’s currently connected. There’s a command-line Spotify player I’m curious about. I’ve only scratched the surface.
I did take the time to install a KDE Plasma theme that mimics Windows XP, just for fun.
**Regret Level: None**
I know this is the honeymoon phase, and using Linux for less than a week isn’t exactly a badge of honor. Many people use Linux, and I haven’t tackled anything particularly complex or played a game released in the last decade. But the transition has been smoother than I expected, and the experience feels quieter overall. My OS isn’t trying to change my browser or search engine to appease shareholders, nor is it nudging me to try some gimmicky AI feature.
Will I revert to macOS or Windows the first time I need to edit a batch of photos? Possibly! I’ll definitely boot back into Windows—or grab a Chromebook—to play Minecraft with my kids if I can’t get it running on Linux. I doubt I’ll ever use Linux exclusively; my role as a reviews editor requires me to stay familiar with various operating systems, which can be a bit maddening.
I’m sure I’ll encounter plenty of interesting challenges soon enough. But for now, the first few days have been fantastic.
