So, the title pretty much said what this thread is about. I hope this thread is kosher with the subreddit’s rules.
Now, a little background on my history with Linux. I’ve maintained a Linux laptop for about fifteen years. I started on Ubuntu, distrohopped for quite sometime before settling on Debian with MATE. I used that for about eight or nine years. For the last two and a half years or so I’ve been using Arch Linux with MATE. However, on my gaming desktop I’ve stuck to using Windows. I’ve been growing more and more frustrated with Windows. Even with Start10, PowerToys, and a debloat script Windows 10 is getting more and more difficult to use. I don’t know if Windows is getting worse, I’m getting more used to Linux, less tolerant of Windows’ BS, or if it’s a combination of these factors. Either way, for the last several weeks, I’ve been seriously considering switching my desktop to Arch Linux as well.
I have few concerns. One is that my desktop has been through several upgrade cycles and has a bit of a mishmash of parts in it as well as some fairly odd parts. I don’t know for sure that it will be compatible. I’ve used Arch long enough to know that it’s pretty tolerant of most hardware configurations, but I want to check in with those who have been doing this longer than I have. Hardware configuration below.
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 5800X
Motherboard: Asus ROG STRIX X470-F Gaming ATX AM4
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600 CL18
Solid State Drive: Samsung 970 Evo Plus 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 3.0 X4 NVME (Primary drive)
Hard Disk Drive: Toshiba DT01ACA300 3 TB 3.5" 7200 RPM (Failing; needs replaced)
Video Card: Sapphire NITRO+ SE Radeon RX 6900 XT 16 GB
Optical Drive: LG WH14NS40 Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer
Primary Monitor: Asus VX238H 23.0" 1920 x 1080 60Hz
Secondary Monitor: Unknown model of HP 1600 x 900 60Hz
DAC: SMSL Sanskrit 10th High-end DAC USB Optical Coaxial Input
The DAC especially concerns me. It’s a bit of an odd piece of kit.
The other concerns are software related. I don’t stream (as in on Kick or Twitch) nor do I plan to, but I have heard conflicting things about the status of Discord on Linux. I use it via Flatpak exclusively for its text chat functionality on my laptop, but I use the native Windows version on Windows to hangout with my friends in chat. I also sometimes stream what I’m playing either for help with certain sections of a game or just to show a game to a friend. Can I expect the same functionality to work on Linux?
I also have three main sources of games. I know I don’t need to worry too much about my Steam library. Steam makes it easy to run games with Proton. I have also checked those games on ProtonDB. They’re all primarily in the Platinum or Gold categories. I also have a bunch of old games on disks. I know those are a crapshoot. What concerns me is that I have a reasonable library of games on GOG Galaxy. I know of no way to get the GOG Galaxy client running on Linux. Is there an easy way to get those games to run? Or should I just download the installers from GOG and try them through Wine, Lutris, etc?
Lastly, how is multi-monitor support on Linux these days? I know that MATE still uses xorg for its display server.
Thanks for the help. If I can provide anymore info on my situation to help better answer this question just let me know.