"i've always wondered if i could keep windows 10 after support ends..."

I was on windows 11 for a while. So long windows. Your ass is now grass that will feed a unicorn.

Take it offline

my biggest concern is getting vr to work on Linux reliably. if not for that I'd have switched long ago.

What Headset are you using? I use ALVR and find it as reliable as Windows was.
- I'm using Valve Index, slime vr trackers and a giggletech puck. I guess it's possible to get all of that to run on Linux but it's probably going to be a pain to set up.
That was the reason I installed win11 some time ago, only to realise that wmr would only work on 10, but after updates that wasn't the case either.., Linux it is then
- Ironic, Linux might have better WMR support than W.

Wow, I've been running Linux for 14 years already?

Yeah, it's Penguin time! 🐧

I'm the only computer user in my house. My son is starting to show interest, but only because of Minecraft, which also runs on Linux.

My son was convinced to use Linux by wobbly windows.
Although he does have a second SSD now with Windows to be able to play the big popular multiplayer game of the day with his friends. But they are back on Minecraft often enough.
Just tossing this out there, if your son hasn't seen it yet, show him Portal. I showed it to my son when he was starting to get into computers and its still one of his favorites in college.
- Show him The Stanley Parable. Prepare him for his future
I don't know if this still holds but, my experience is that minecraft works arguably better on linux
- Strangely enough, Bedrock is har to use on Linux. Java is so much better though.
Switch over to Luanti instead of Minecraft😉
You can show him the wonders of 3rd party FOSS linux minecraft launchers like polymc.
You can also be a good parent and not introduce him to a modded gaming addiction.
This is like the trolley prolem all over again.
- Prism launcher! Has a cat button too
- the owner/lead dev/github project creator of polymc kinda went crazy a while ago and put some malware or something on the launcher so most of the dev team got an older, unadulterated version of the launcher and created prismlauncher, which is up until now, the best launcher i've used. also, if you have flatpak it's really easy to find and install.
  and ehhh performance mods are basically necessary to run minecraft smoothly, so i'd really recommend the simply optimized modpack, which is the same as vanilla but has the best optimization mods (or the fabulously optimized modpack, which is basically the same thing but has some quality of life mods thrown in too)
the only computer user?!
- Yeah, my wife does everything on her phone.
my son only eats gushers gum
we have to hide his medicine in gushers gum

irm https://get.activated.win/ | iex

PSA: Never run random powershell scripts from the Internet unless you know exactly what they are doing
Typo
irm https://get.activated.win/ | iex
- Already fixed, thanks.
that sounds horrible.
- it's actually amazing. okay well it's a pity win, but it's good
  also widows 10 IoT is still getting updates for another decade if anyone gives a shit

Is there a good way to figure out what games do and don't work on Linux beyond just playing them? I use steam.

The biggest issue nowadays is kernel level anti cheat. For that developers have to turn on Linux support (where it won't be kernel level). You can see the status of games on that front at https://areweanticheatyet.com/.
Protondb
This is a great place to check out. https://www.protondb.com/
- Thanks
Protondb
really the only thing that gives us trouble on linux these days are brand new AAA's where the publisher is sometimes Linux-hostile or occasionally certain E-sports
if you run a John Deere tractor or a Cricut you might have to learn Docker
My understanding is the biggest issue is kernel level anti-cheat. I've never had a game fail to play well for me, but i also don't play stuff like battlefield or destiny or FIFA or whatever.
Worst bug I've had is War Thunder having a 5-second freeze at the start of ground realistic battles. But that's just bad support for the Linux client.
Other issues I've seen the most is forcing dedicated GPU (run parameters fix, e.g. DRI_PRIME=XXX) and connectivity with indie games on steam which is usually fixed with changing proton version, ensuring dedicated gpu, etc.
In the end, Finnish Cottage Simulator runs with proton 9.4 and that's the only game you will ever need.
Bauldur’s Gate 3 works and Rimworld works so that’s really all that matters.
Is there a good way to figure out what games do and don't work on Linux beyond just playing them?
I finally bought a SteamDeck to address this. Now I just use the "SteamDeck Verified" badge on Steam.
It is worth adding that I have found Valve to be very conservative with giving out "playable" and "verified" bages. (I have had to wait for a Nintendo Switch game to get a required emergency patch more times than I have had any issue with a "SteamDeck Verified" game on SteamDeck.)
With "Playable" your mileage may vary. A large number of "SteamDeck Playable" games would be fine on Linux Desktop, but are awkward on the SteamDeck smaller screen and need a hunch of controller mapping done.
But I happily play many games on my SteamDeck that are only badged as "playable".
I guess my recommendation is what I did:
buy a SteamDeck
Try various games I care about on the SteamDeck
Satisfied, throw out my last copy of Windows
Mostly forget that desktop gaming is a thing, because I'm busy and my SteamDeck let's me play on the go and from my recliner.
...?...
Declare this the year of the Linux ~~Desktop~~ Gaming to my friends.

Windows 11 is much better in a VM

Sadly I had to install Windows 10 iot ltsc on a laptop I own.

I tried to install linux. Several distros. But I always ran into de same issue. I was unable to install nvidia drivers. Which was weird, because that laptop have been on linux a few years prior and I clearly recall installing nvidia drivers without any issues.

So I dug into the problem. And it seems that some new linux kernel had issues with older nvidia drivers, so most, if not all, distros dropped support for that old driver. Only given solution was to run some old lts distro. But por instance mint lts will end on 2027.

At the same time everything worked just fine on that version of windows that have support until 2032.

And, not, the laptop is not that usable with nouveau drivers, as those are incapable of doing hardware acceleration, so everything runs slower, specially games, but it can be noticed even in just the DE.

So it's weird. That in order to keep old hardware around I need to use Windows, because linux dropped support for this particular older hardware earlier than windows.

I know it's just an exception, and that is mostly Nvidia's fault. But I had to do what I had to do.

Still running linux on other of my machines though.

Is there no option to use the igpu? Or you need the dgpu for some reason?
You can run a new distro with an old kernel, I used to do that with slackware. you can get similar 10 year support (after kernel.org lts ends) for the kernel if you take it from rhel/rocky linux
- It is, same as nouveau drivers. But with a loss in performance, because not gpu hardware acceleration.
  The computer runs and linux with nouveau will be its final destiny. But as for now there are some games I play that are just on the edge that run very well with hardware acceleration but sluggish with igpu or nouveau.
  I will have to look into the new distro/old kernel thing. It may be a solution.
Oh dam, I just watched a vid yesterday about the different distros "Every Linux Distro Explained in 13 minutes" (obviously very very superficial) I'll see if I can find it in my history and post a link to it for you. there were at least 1 or 2 for "really old" hardware. I will change the name to a link when I get to my pc
Edit: added link
How old are we talking? The nvidia open-source drivers dropped support for everything prior to the 20-series i think? but the closed-source nvidia drivers still support older cards.
- 2013 I think. It's a 710M laptop gpu. The needed driver is the 390 something like that. Both fedora and ubuntu based distro had dropped support for it. I tried manual installation but indeed it failed because it doesn't seems to play nice with the kernel.
- I run a GTX 980 Ti; Maxwell architecture is still supported for three years. Older than that: Kepler support ended last year and Fermi support ended in 2023, and they won't play nice with kernels released since then.

You can, and there are ways to do it safely... but you probably shouldn't.

Just use different drives.
That's it. You are shielded.
- Every month or so the windows 10 install hijacks my bios (dual boot) and sets itself to the first boot option so it can try for updates.
  Hisssssssss
- My Linux install and Windows install were on different drives and Windows still managed to fuck my windows install by messing up the secure boot enrollment somehow when I did updates. I wasn't able to fix it and had to completly reinstall Linux. I turned secure boot off so it shouldn't happen again but still.... that happened.

Windows XP flashbacks

As for games, there's OpenRA: Combined Arms & Warzone-2100

you forgot luanti, supertuxkart, neverputt and neverball. then that's all the games you need.
- Does Mindustry and Lato's adventure count

It me!

Have multiple computers.

My house has Win 11, Win 10, Win 7 and Ubuntu on various machines.

Computers aren't super expensive.

I have multiple computers.
They're running Linux, Linux, Linux, Linux, Linux and Linux.
- Little bit disappointed that its not
- Yep. In my house it’s mint, mint, pi, pi, osx, osx, osx, and the work laptop running win 11 because argh.
  When I find out a) what distros are best for the older MacBook Pros that’s ideally not Gnome and b) what the best photography workflow/retouch tools are for Linux then it’ll be all except the work machine.
Have multiple computers
Must be nice..
Computers aren't super expensive.
They are if you want to play any games from the last decade on them. Hell, a top of the line graphics card alone costs as much as a decent used car!
- Hell, a top of the line graphics card alone costs as much as a decent used car!
  Spoken like somebody who hasn't shopped for a decent used car recently.
  "Cash for Clunkers" really fucked us over.
- That's not what a used car costs, if you want corinthian leather warmed seats and a personal driver! It would cost more like a small political campaign.
- Playing any games from the laat decade, lootbox roulette
- games from the last decade
  OK....
  top of the line graphics card
  Yeah, pick one...
- So i just looked it up. The best game of 2015 from a random website is witcher 3 wild hunt. The required setting are 8gb ram, a i7-3770, and a gtx 770. For reference i also looked at mtgs 5 and they are basocally the same requirement. The i7 and the 770 cost around 60-80$cad each on ebay.
  Cheers.
I have the most diverse mix of os ever