I'd gladly switch to Linux but...

Posted by FreshDisaster1852@reddit | linux | View on Reddit | 41 comments

okay, so I have oscillated between Windows and Linux or a long time now, and frankly, there have been many issues with the latter. now, my laptop has an old NVIDIA 920M GPU which supports the 470.xx drivers, but newer kernels of Linux can't compile it (I'm sorry if the terminology is not correct). I understand that it is not Linux's fault but rather NVIDIA just being lazy and dropping support, but it still is an issue.

Next, I do play some games from time to time, and do sail on the high-seas to install some of them; but the installation of these are very cumbersome on Linux: just too many convolutions to get something to just barely work.

Thirdly, my microphone sounds absolute dog-water on Linux for some reason. Don't get me wrong, it also sounds bad on Windows, but it sounds much much worse on Linux when using applications like Discord or something.

I'd gladly switch any day if these problems could be bid riddance, but I guess it is what it is.

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z3r0n3gr0@reddit

Why dont you start saving for another computer ?

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grem75@reddit

Which is still an abandoned card.

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Veprovina@reddit

I second this, i used 1060 on linux for a while and wouldn't recommend it, not a great expreience!

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FreshDisaster1852@reddit (OP)

I already am saving up for one. It will take some time, yes, but I'll get there gradually.

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Veprovina@reddit

Just, if you're going Nvidia, don't go with pascal or below. The GTX10X0 cards are also not that great on linux. AMD should be fine regardless of age, but also try not to push it.

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Veprovina@reddit

Your problem is not with "Linux" but your distro selection. You're trying out what, bleeding edge rolling distros with your GPU? Some can work, sure, but it's not ideal. Just find a distro which supports older packages and older kernels.

And yes, it's Nvidia's fault, but you should still be able to make use of your GPU.

Sailing the high seas isn't really a problem with game launchers existing which can install a separate prefix for each game, and install additional libraries if needed. It's never going to be as seemless as with windows but those programs were never meant to work on linux anyway. If you want to install games effortlessly, pay for them. Steam has slaes all the times, epic gives out games every few weeks, and sometimes AAA games. I understand sailing the high seas, but you have to know the tradeoffs here. Even on windows, it's not great when you do that.

Easyeffects for the microphone.

You'll never get rid of those problems because those are not linux problems, they are you problems. And nvidia to be fair.

So either stay on windows, use a distro more suited for your hardware, or buy a new laptop/PC with AMD components in it to avoid problems.

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FreshDisaster1852@reddit (OP)

thanks

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Veprovina@reddit

What distros have you tried?

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FreshDisaster1852@reddit (OP)

arch, mint, ubuntu and fedora.

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Veprovina@reddit

Yeah, you need a very old kernel for that GPU.

Arch, Fedora and Ubuntu would never work with your GPU, and Mint maybe if you get some older version and install a very old kernel.

Arch lists Kepler architecture as unsupported and notes that the drivers may not work on linux kernels above version 5.18. Current version is 6.19... That's VERY old. It even says that the drivers might not be supported by the current Xorg version, and since they're just legacy drivers, they're not getting updated to keep up with the current tech development.

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/NVIDIA

You can try using a distro with an older kernel, see how it goes, but honestly, just stay on windows with your specs. It's going to be very hard to get your GPU to work, that was before Nvidia cared about Linux so the drivers weren't great to begin with, and won't ever get better cause they're abandoned.

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rmyworld@reddit

Honestly, for such an old machine, I would probably just keep it on Windows 10 (or heck, maybe even Windows 7).

Try out Linux once you have a newer machine. For now, stay on Windows if that is what your hardware supports best.

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FreshDisaster1852@reddit (OP)

alright, thanks!

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martyn_hare@reddit

I'd gladly switch any day if these problems could be bid riddance, but I guess it is what it is.

It isn't what it is in this case. You want answers? I've got some.

my laptop has an old NVIDIA 920M GPU which supports the 470.xx drivers, but newer kernels of Linux can't compile it

Newer versions of Linux can compile it, you just need to apply patches or use a distribution which does that for you.

But why do that when you can also use a distribution using an officially supported kernel version. Ubuntu 24.04 LTS uses Linux 6.8 and will continue to be patched until April 2032 as part of a free (personal use) Ubuntu Pro subscription. Flathub has all the latest software, which can be installed either from the website, via a GUI or via the command line so you're not missing out on anything by doing this.

my microphone sounds absolute dog-water on Linux for some reason. Don't get me wrong, it also sounds bad on Windows, but it sounds much much worse on Linux when using applications like Discord or something.

EasyEffects, my friend. It lets you apply the same types of fixes Windows receives from OEMs to deal with cheap inbuilt microphones, but also gives you the ability to go even further and tune things to sound whatever way you want. There's even presets others have already made, for a wide variety of purposes.

I do play some games from time to time, and do sail on the high-seas to install some of them; but the installation of these are very cumbersome on Linux: just too many convolutions to get something to just barely work.

umu-launcher project makes it so all the automated changes Steam makes also apply to games not sourced on Steam, and it's integrated into most of the friendly launchers which (for the most part) don't care where your EXEs came from.

For situations where the hard work hasn't already been done for you: Protondb is your best friend for knowing what games will "just work" before you download them, as well as what to do if they don't.

Of course, wouldn't know anything about that, we totally only use BitTorrent to download Linux ISOs us! Nooo sir, we don't ever let ourselves be seduced by fit girls packing very tight games! We're all way too cultured for that! ;-) ;-) ;-)

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FreshDisaster1852@reddit (OP)

I cannot thank you enough for this reply!

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Happy-Range3975@reddit

These are all skill issue problems.

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spectralblade352@reddit

Can you explain how?

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Happy-Range3975@reddit

I had a buddy. We’ll call him Steve. Back in the day Steve really wanted a good Mac computer, but he didn’t wanted to pay Apple prices. Steve decided to make a hackintosh computer. He cobbled all the parts and was successful in getting Mac OS on a home made computer. Then the problems came. Freezes, random crashes, updates breaking everything. Every time this would happen Steve would blame his computer and not MacOs. It’s kind of an opposite scenario to Linux/Nvidia. People keep trying to use proprietary garbage hardware on an open source OS then they blame the OS. That’s a skill issue. There are ways to get it functional, but it’s not a Linux problem. Why would it be?

I have no issues getting my warez working on Linux.

As far as his sound issue, again, sounds like user error. When resort to blaming Linux, it’s almost always a you problem. Linux owes you nothing.

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FreshDisaster1852@reddit (OP)

I do not say I am an expert, but apart from sailing the high-seas, the driver thing is still an issue, ain't it?

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PenaltyGreedy6737@reddit

I am in the same spot vis-à-vis Nvidia drivers and I have swallowed my pride and switched back to Windows.

The truth is, Windows 11 (which can be installed on old hardware without issue) does not come with as much bloat as it once did and any stuff you may not want is easily uninstalled. There is little differentiating Windows 11 from Windows 7.

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flucayan@reddit

Who cares? Tell me about why you chose a truck over a wagon.

Both are tools use them as you see fit.

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internet_safari_@reddit

I agree with this sentiment but I think as a Linux community we could make a statement that is more clear about the root cause, easily accepted by a frustrated new user, and is more honest with ourselves: "Yeah, Linux still sucks for gaming, graphics drivers, and audio."

I feel like in other communities some users complain "it sucks that I can't do xyz here" and they're actually looking for some help if possible if not to vent frustrated, and often they actually get it like in other comments here. But the Linux community frequently has defensive dismissive comments imo.

Truck over a wagon kind of makes sense but imo it's more like a Honda S2000 over a Bentley. The Honda S2000 has a loving community, it's bare-bones and extremely nimble and reliable, in some ways it's the best you can get for a production car such as NA HP/L, but it won't have massager seats. The Bentley is heavy AF, sucks at going quickly anywhere other than maybe a straight line on occasion, guzzles gas to do the basics (like Windows does with resources), but comes with a ton of bells and whistles that are actually appreciated by many such as massager seats, star lights in the roof, heated steering wheel, nice thick carpets. On Windows you can spend less time in config and more just working even if it's less optimal, such as with VS Code extensions like the Raspberry Pi Pico extension that integrates a build system, templates with checkboxes for architecture, etc, built in documentation, everything. So some of its stuff is useful not just wagon-like. Still hate it though and am almost done switching everything I own to Debian.

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ReFractured_Bones@reddit

For what it’s worth I have an old Fermi asus laptop with a gtx 560m. It uses the legacy 390 drivers. Rpmfusion on Fedora provides these and it successfully build kernel modules, the biggest hang up is that you need to use something other than Gnome or KDE so you can run with xorg instead of Wayland; these old cards just can’t run that. I run xfce on that 560m. Use steam to add non steam windows games to simplify use of proton to play games.

Otherwise though you need newer hardware, vulkan support is extremely useful and these old GPUs predate that.

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FreshDisaster1852@reddit (OP)

ohh, I see.

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matt0s1@reddit

Honestly these are totally reasonable problems. They're indeed annoying and at times difficult to solve.

I don't know much about your GPU to suggest a solution. But regarding games, they got much easier to install and run now. If you're having problems running games outside Steam, add them as Non-Steam games, it's much easier than other methods and saves some time.
Also, about your microphone, I happend to have a similar issue when I switched a while ago. But in my case, the solution was as simple as lowering the input volume and (in case of Discord) enabling echo cancelation.

In the end, your issues are all justifiable. Don't bother those who say it's all "skill issue" or whatever.

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FreshDisaster1852@reddit (OP)

thank you so much! couldn't appreciate this response more.

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ArsenicPolaris@reddit

newer kernels of Linux

Linux itself is a kernel, and there can only be one kernel.

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FreshDisaster1852@reddit (OP)

I meant newer versions. forgive me if my terminology is not on point.

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Revolutionary-Draw43@reddit

Hi! Can't help with the mic or the graphics drivers, but so you know, you can add a non-steam game to the steam library to use the steam compatibility layer. I don't get into that situation that often to be knowledgeable about it, but when I did, the process was rather easy and I could add both the installer and the windows executable to the steam lib.

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