M$ ended win7 support in January 14, 2020. Steam did not end win7 support until January 1 2024. M$ ending support for their OS does not mean Steam will do so anytime soon. Considering how small number of their users has updated, there’s a good chance Steam will keep supporting win10 for many more years. By that time I know I will no longer be using Windows.
There’s a decent chance M$ continues supporting Win10 after “End of Life,” just like [ checks notes ] every single “mandatory” update they’ve ever attempted.
You are not wrong here. However, this is a double edged sword. By running windows 10 after a good while (let’s say, after 1 year of eol) you are risking for malware that is going to be non patched on windows 10. Of course, if you use the PC mostly for gaming and get stuff mostly from the usual places, I really doubt you get anything. If you work with documents however with macros and stuff, or you might have questionable internet hygiene or foreign external devices like usb on a frequent basis, do not get close to an out of date system
Yep, that was the only reason I finally pulled the trigger. What makes me laugh is it wasn’t even about windows, it was because of fucking CHROME.
And even then, the only reason Steam ended support for Windows 7 was because it’s an Electron (Chromium) application. They decided to upgrade their version of Electron, probably to take advantage of newer security fixes in Chromium, which forced them to drop Win7 support because Chromium already had ended support for it.
Or, like me, still on Windows 7, they could just no longer use Steam. Lots of games I can still play on this OS or in my browser. Maybe someday I’ll go back to Linux, or maybe even React, just for the hell of it.
I just use Windows 10 v1809 ltsc, I’m good for a few more years.
If they want to buy me a new laptop, go for it.
The only reason I’m still on windows 10 is because I’m dreading the weekend of head banging against table I’m going to have when I do the switch to Linux before October… Not looking forward to getting it all set up and working
Make a dual boot system. You can continue to use win10 while getting comfortable with linux. If something breaks just reboot.
If you have a spare drive on your PC I’d recommend trialling Linux on that. With that setup, you will have it dual booted with your existing Windows installation. It should help with the transition since you can just boot into Windows if you still need it for anything. That will give you time to get accustomed to Linux while still having that Windows safety net for a while.
Also if you later find that Linux isn’t for you then it’s easy to undo that, since all you will need to do is boot into your Windows drive instead.
I went with that strategy when I made the jump 4 years ago, and later dropped Windows entirely when I built my new PC a few months later since I realised I didn’t need it at all.
If I modify my existing PC to dual boot from the same drive into Linux, can I easily and safely delete Windows once I have migrated my files into Linux?
Yep, you can delete your Windows partition once you no longer need it or any data within it. Then once you update your bootloader (usually GRUB, some distros do this automatically when updating the system), Windows will disappear from the boot options.
Then you can either create a new partition in its place to store data on, or extend an existing partition to fill the empty space.
I’d recommend also backing your data as a precaution in case something goes awry.
Just one piece of warning for dual booting, if the EFI portion for Linux and Windows is on the same drive Windows could decide to nuke the Linux bootloader with any update…
It’s not too difficult to create a redirect to the windows bootloader in Grub or similar, which is the solution I went with in the end.
I have to say, in general this doesn’t happen too often. But if you are afraid of this scenario specifically, my advise is either use a separate partition for the home folder (this is where all user installed things go, as well downloads, documents and pictures by default) and make a backup in some other drive with something like timeshift, or use something a bit more advanced namely immutable distro. I will give a bit of advise here: immutable distros can be extremely unintuitive, so if you want to try and understand it, go for a VM and take a weekend playing around. For gaming, bazzite comes to mind for this specific case.
Bazzite was a 15 minute experience for me, from first boot to playing X4 foundations and sea of thieves.
Take the leap.
Once you get it all setup and proud of your work, make a fucking backup image, because a single update that changes an obscure library in some forgettable package that was part of your install will break everything and you will be pulling your hair out kludging a CLI script to unfuck some other binary that was unimportant, but now has affected another thing that was crucial for a graphics card or network adapter to function.
This is why I really don’t want to have to use Linux, but Microsuck just can’t stop with the fucking greed and I’m absofucukinglutly not running anything with recall… :(
You’re either running Arch/some other bleeding-edge system without Linux experience (do not recommend) or you haven’t tried Linux in 10 years.
I promise you I’ve been using Linux likely for longer than you’ve been alive, and have used every permutation of Linux, from old school CLI-only shit, to fringe PowerPC YellowDog, to modern Ubuntu/Debian.
i dont know what you are using but the general linux experience hasn’t been like this in years. and even if there is a problem now and then a bit of googling generally is all it needs. the one thing you cannot get around is malware like kernel level anticheats. that’s windows only.
having a backup is good advice no matter what system you use
I don’t know, the last time I tried Linux the fucking Nvidia driver fucked my system a couple times before I said fuck it and went back to 10.
Going to try again with my amd card at some point
AMD support is baked into the kernel, so you really don’t have to do anything unless you’re on bleeding edge hardware and the drivers are in a version of the kernel your distribution doesn’t ship yet.
That’s fantastic news! Nvidia drivers are literally the reason I’ve abandoned Linux easily a half dozen times.
Linus Torvalds, creator of the Linux kernel, can’t control what support Nvidia offers for their own products, but he often shows his opinion of them:
Steam runs pretty smooth on Linux. Am currently using OpenSuse. Steam runs smooth. Games run smooth with one or two exceptions. For those exceptions I have a dual boot Windows 10 that doesn’t need Windows Update for anything I ask it to do.
Steam does, but that doesn’t necessarily mean your games will. I spent like an entire day getting comfortable and customizing some distro to finally fit my liking, only to later on realize that proton just doesn’t fucking work for shit on it.
Did you install Steam for Windows in Linux or Steam as a flatpak or something? My experience on many PCs is install Linux, install Steam from the distro’s repo, flip the compatibility switch in Steam settings, and only customize bits here and there because I’m busy gaming or doing work.
This has nothing to do with steam (as much as you can separate the two). Even through Lutris it Proton work. Even plain wine was janky but technically worked.
If you’re switching over with gaming in mind, then using Bazzite or Nobara will make it so you have no head banging. Bazzite has everything you need for gaming all ready to go, and since it’s an immutable distro, it’ll be difficult for a newbie to fuck up on accident.
can it run some emulator? like nintendo or ps or ps2?
Do you have a separate computer that you can use to do a “test run” of using Linux? If not, I would at least play around with Linux in a virtual machine before committing to the bit (and I say this as someone who has been using Linux laptop / Windows desktop for 6-7 ish years now)
When you make an installer USB stick, it also doubles as a live preview (for most? all? distros).
So you just boot into it and you can play with it before running the installation.
Yeah, this was my strategy. Used Mint on a secondary computer until I got more comfortable with it, then made the plunge on my main computer. Made the transition so much easier, as I was able to learn the differences at a relaxed pace.
I might make the plunge soon as my desktop is just slightly too old—but, at the same time, I need Windows for a few things for work so it’s a little frustrating 🫠
Gaming wise I’m completely able to use Linux, but I also don’t really play competitive games with anti-cheat so it is not exactly surprising.
Just get another disk or partition and get it running on that. If it goes fucky, boot into Win and game, try again later.
I was dreading trying Linux as well and it was nowhere near as bad as I anticipated. Did full transition (I got new SSD for dual booting to try the waters) to it much faster than I ever anticipated.
I mostly just use the PC for gaming though so mileage may vary.
Honestly, just install Kubuntu 24.04. Install it and forget it. It’s super stable and has great support. Whatever people argue about the Snap packaging system, that will be almost invisible to you as the end user.
11’s been fine for me. I know this is a hot take around here but if any readers are dreading it because of things you’ve read, just try it out.
I’m not worried about functionality, I’m worried about ads, AI, and privacy. Win11 is actively hostile on all three points
Tried it on my laptop and work computer. Absolutely hate it. I refuse to upgrade my gaming PC to it. I’m planning on swapping to Linux Mint whenever I feel motivated.
Also, “end of life” doesn’t mean your computer bursts into flames, it just means you stop getting patches.
People around here are super excited about it being this momentous occasion, I guarantee the people that have lived with the “Activate Windows” watermark for a decade don’t care about the “patches are over” pop-up, either.
I mean, Windows 7 has more users than Linux Mint in the Steam survey.
It’s not the usability that’s the issue, it’s the spyware.
Windows 10 has had more or less all of the same spyware backported to it.
People said the same shit with windows 10 vs 7/8. I swear every other update is the same cope over and over again.
I moved my wife’s computer to Windows 11 because it was using a 12th gen Intel, and from what I had understood, the scheduler was better for the P-core/E-core nonsense.
Over the last year I’ve seen numerous popups, copilot being injected everywhere, nonstop bullshit. And plenty of benchmarks showing that Windows 11 is actually slower than Windows 10 on my particular hardware. I’d just really rather move to something with healthy support for Proton/SteamOS ecosystem and be done with MS forever.
I mean, I already use Linux elsewhere in life. I’ve got Proxmox set up with a bunch of VMs, so Linux isn’t a stranger to me - but I use a *cough* version of Solidworks and there’s just simply nothing that comes even close to its capabilities. Additionally, one of the games I play has a hard enough time not crashing on the system it was designed for - trying to figure out if it’s the game, or the system I’m playing on when it’s crashing would drive me absolutely bonkers.
CAD is certainly the most difficult shortcoming of FOSS.
Freecad is fine fine a single part and it’s actually stable unlike everything else, but doing assemblies requires an add-on. I don’t recall if those work in simulation though. Its workflow also needs more time. It has come a long way in the least several years though. I suspect it will get to be competitive in the next few. Especially as dassault and Autodesk keep trying to inject AI BS and force you further into their cloud services.
For me, I am concerned about Microsoft going fascist. Last thing I need is my PC to be a turncoat. Also, I hate being forced to update. I want to pick my updates and schedule.
Fascist? Really? Jesus Lemmy has really lost it…
From what’s been seen checks and balances no longer exists in the US and is moving towards authoritarianism, and threatening allies is not normal. And enemy in the west is more of a concern for a lot of people due to proximity.
Any country undergoing a huge purge and closures would be raising alarms, and it is more worrying because of the huge military and economic influence and power of the US.
Sir, this is /c/PCGaming
America just lost a huge amount of federal workers, Elon has broken into the treasury, and Trump ended our foreign relations for no good reason.
America is splitting apart, and corporations will have to pick a side. Considering that Microsoft controls the most common OS in the world, it would be very strange if DOGE didn’t try to take control.
Sir, this is a gaming community. wtf are you on about now…
Think of it this way: Microsoft can use Copilot down the road to monitor what games and media you have. Considering that the Trump Regime has literally forced the disbanding of military cultural clubs, removal of posters featuring minorities or women, established a DEI watchlist, and so on…as someone who plays a great deal of Japanese games, I wouldn’t feel safe. Plus my PC has all of my passwords, documents, and so forth.
Ask yourself this: “Am I safe from persecution?”
Just because you have no interest in politics, it doesn’t mean that politics aren’t interested in you.
There are two things that hold me to Windows (10) as my daily driver: MS Office, and support for a virtual file synchronization a la Nextcloud (which I presume piggybacks off of what MS built for OneDrive.)
My secondary laptop, my 4 year old’s laptop, my gaming device (Steam deck), homelab, are all on Linux. It has been fun to learn Linux and it’s what I intend for my kid to grow up on.
Eventually, when I get a new laptop (current is 8 years old and I’m really hoping Framework gen 2 has a touchscreen) it’ll be Linux first… And I hope Nextcloud gets that virtual file sync going by then because a network share/WebDAV connection will make me sad.
and support for a virtual file synchronization a la Nextcloud (which I presume piggybacks off of what MS built for OneDrive.)
What’s a virtual file synchronization?
I may be pulling out the wrong term, but:
The Nextcloud application on Windows shows the entire contents of your Nextcloud account in Windows Explorer, as if they were on your hard drive. They are indexed in search. When you access a file, it dynamically downloads that to your hard drive where it stays and is kept in sync with any changes on the server and the server is updated with any changes to the local file.
Maybe on demand file sync is a better term.
Ah, like the Android app. I think the Linux Nextcloud version has an experimental option for it but I never gave it a try.
I assume the partial sync is not sufficient for your use case? I usually only sync the folders I need on that machine.
Already begun the switch to linux on smaller pcs. Moving to some larger ones this summer to verify initial impressions… big gaming pcs going in fall.
Well… BYE Felicia
Valve later this year:
Can anyone speak to the VR experience on Linux? I mainly use my desktop PC for VR nowadays, steam deck for everything else. From what I’ve heard, however, VR is still steaming garbage on Linux.
I got some good answers here
Sounds like it’s not perfect, but may be workable depending on what you’re trying to do
I was curious about this too, particularly if and how well the Meta Quest 3 mirroring/tethering or whatever they call it works.
People, I’ve already mentioned that Windows 10 LTSC is out there until 2027. Additionally, Windows 11 non-TPM is available out in the 'bay.
What is non-TPM? My main resistance to 11 is just enshittification / advert bullshit plus whatever the screenshotting privacy nightmare garbage was as well.
TPM is the Trusted Platform Module, a security chip in computers that can be used to verify the integrity of the boot process. Windows 11 requires a TPM 2.0 chip, which many older computers do not have. Windows 11 non-TPM is a pirated version with this requirement hacked out.
I know it’s still early but how do I grab LTSC? As far as I know my mobo has a home edition license and it defaults to it whenever I reinstall
I’m not going to Windows 11 or Linux. I found a copy of Windows 10 LTSC with support til 2027+.
Any advice for those of us wanting the same?
massgrave.dev has .isos and instructions
You need the enterprise edition? What about pro? I would rather switch to Steam OS if it was out.
The Enterprise LTSC versions will be supported for a few more years, regular support for Pro is ending in October same as Home. Some of the worst stuff like Co-Pilot hasn’t made it in to LTSC (yet).
IIRC, you can download the .iso from Microsoft themselves, then use a keygen program to create an auto-renewing key. WindowsKMS, I think it was?
I switched my desktop to mint a few weeks ago. Kept win10 on a separate drive, but I haven’t booted it since.
