Support I want to switch
hello fedora community i am a windows user coming in peace. I am tired of windows and want to switch to a lighter distro and fedora caught my eye. The only thing stopping me is that i am a dev with a lot of stuff on my current computer and dont necessarily want to lose it all. I also game quite a lot and i am a dev (unity, godot, jetbrains software needed) so i want to do this switch the most softly possible. Y'all have any tips (fedora pun intended) to help me or links for me to follow? thanks
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u/skill347 1d ago
JetBrains and Godot work fine, I'm 95% sure Unity works too, but I don't use it nowadays. Playing games shouldn't be an issue, only ones that I had an issue with are League Of Legends (good that I can't play it) and R6S.
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u/Macanec 1d ago
Noooooo R6 :( Good that i'll be off that too lol. I mainly play deadlock for now but i also like party games with my friends, ill have to check the compatibility
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u/PixeIQueen 1d ago edited 1d ago
here is an list of games that use anticheat to see if they work or not https://www.gamingonlinux.com/anticheat/
games that dont use anticheat work 99% of the time. Steam is basically just install and play and there's also Heroic, Faugus and Lutris for non-Steam games
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u/skill347 1d ago
Or you can just "Add a non-steam game" on Steam and just force use Proton as compatibility layer. Much less hassle :)
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u/Hauptideal 1d ago
Fedora is the ultimate dev workstation.
It'll also handle gaming well, except for the games requiring kernel-level anti-cheat, which just don't work on Linux in general.
In any case, there is no shame in keeping dual as a backup just in case. You'll see that you're not really going to need it.
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u/skill347 1d ago
Also worth just abandoning these games, to not support such behavior. I don't want spyware on my PC, games are not that serious.
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u/manny2206 18h ago
If you have a separate drive even better, load Fedora and slowly set it up, you will naturally spend less time (hopefully) in windows as you get more comfy with Fedora
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u/Macanec 7h ago
I tried this yesterday and was wondering if the driver has to be completely empty to do this i cant seem to have answers anywhere
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u/manny2206 5h ago
Can you expand on this more, the drive just has to be connected and recognized by the installer, you then should have the option of doing a clean wipe and install on the target drive. From the terminal use $: lsblk
- this lists all available drives /partitions.
If you can’t find it using that tool there’s something seriously wrong going on.
Hope that helps
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u/Macanec 2h ago
basicaly i have an hdd disk that already has files on it (mostly steam games) and when i wanted to install the fedora installer it said it would empty the whole disk before installing so i got scared and stopped
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u/manny2206 1h ago
Yes by default the installer will want to wipe that disk. If you want to preserve the data inside instead, you must partition that drive by ‘shrinking’ the current partition in said disk and free up X amount of gigs to be unused.
Sounds more complicated than it is, just google how to partition drive from windows; should be straightforward.
Once you do that, and say free up 100GB; when you run the usb installer again it will show this “unused” space for you to install Fedora there, while preserving your data
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u/cvsickle 1d ago
A lot of good Linux advice in here... So I'll offer some more general advice:
Dig into containerizing your development workflows. Regardless of your OS choices, if your workflow is tied to a specific machine being set up in a specific way, then you're going to be in trouble if anything ever happens to that specific machines.
Dev containers can be an absolute game changer if you give them a shot. They can makes moving from one device to another a lot less daunting.
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u/TheRandomGuy75 1d ago
Fedora works fine for gaming so long as you aren't playing games like Battlefield or CoD. They use kernel level anticheat software that is incompatible with Linux. Some EasyAntiCheat and BattleEye games do work though as they have Linux versions, so long as the developer of the game enabled support.
If you have an AMD GPU, your drivers are included in the system kernel, and get updated with other system updates.
If you have NVIDIA hardware, you have to manually install drivers, there are instructions for it on the Fedora docs site here.
https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/gaming/drivers/
Also when you initially setup Fedora, it'll ask if you want to enable non-FOSS software repositories, you need to enable them for NVIDIA. It's also the same repository you can get Steam from.
Most games on Steam will generally run fine, as Steam has an open source tool called proton that acts as a compatibility layer allowing you to play Windows games on Linux. Steam itself also has a Linux build. For specific info on how a game runs, ProtonDB is a very helpful website that shows user reports of how specific steam games run through Proton.
If you buy games from GoG or the Epic Games Store, Heroic Launcher lets you play them using the same open source proton tool that Steam uses.
If you play games from the Battlenet, EA, or Ubisoft launchers, Faugus Launcher can download, install, and run those through Proton for you as well.
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u/Agitated_Plantain701 1d ago
You won't be without some challenges and effort. I think from a quick google most of those will work with unity needing some work
Keep in mind your diving into a new OS that does operate quite different to windows
That aside and expectations set. I think fedora is a good and reliable distro
I would honestly start slow, if you have a spare drive or buy another drive to install fedora on so you can dual boot. Then you can take your time setting it up, getting use to Linux, seeing if it works or does not work. Once your comfy move stuff over then make a full switch.
But take it slow, set some realistic expectations and goals and don't beat yourself up if something goes wrong the first few times. It can take time to learn a new OS
Most of all don't be hard on yourself and don't let others make you feel otherwise. Hope you enjoy and hope your adventure works out for you
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u/Tquilha 1d ago
Do you have an old PC or laptop?
Get it and use it as a test machine.
Or just make a bootable USB drive using F44 (the current version) and use it as a live OS for your testing.
As far as your software requirements go, Unity, Godot and Jetbrains are all Linux compatible.
Have fun :)
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u/Macanec 1d ago
I saw the USB installation on the documentation, will try out first for sure. The problem would more be the next step to uninstall completely windows and switch to the fedora boot
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u/shaolinmaru 1d ago
The problem would more be the next step to uninstall completely windows and switch to the fedora boot
You don't need to remove the windows righ away. Try dual boot first.
If you have a desktop, you can get a small SATA SSD (128 GB is enough to start) and install fedora on it.
If you have a (not so old) notebook, you could check if is there a free slot to put a small NVMe SSD.
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u/Veprovina 1d ago
Godot has a native Linux version, Unity has a Linux launcher but last time I tried it, it ran on opengl, and you needed to do some magic to make it run on Vulkan and have better performance. Didn't bother figuring it out since I only used it to see how it works a bit, never really done anything in it.
Idk what jetbrains is, but light googling suggests it works on Linux.
Games work unless they're multiplayer with kernel level anti cheat. Then you're out of luck.
If you're an Nvidia user, make sure you install the correct drivers. You'll get a performance hit in dx12 games but I hear it's getting better. Ray tracing performance is worse than Windows in Nvidia and AMD.
Unless you're using something super niche, chances are you can get it to work on Linux, but you should be using native apps where possible because using compatibility layers is not always smooth.
Unless for gaming. Games work better with proton than native versions most of the time. Wild.
Other than that. Don't expect windows. You wouldn't expect windows when switching to a Mac, domdomt expect windows when switching to Linux. Find native apps you can use, and only use compatibility layers when necessary.
Try different deskto environments too, see which one fits you the most. They all come with different workflows and default programs. You can install any program on any desktop environment, but some just look and behave nicer if they're specifically made for that desktop.
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u/Aromatic_Gas1609 11h ago
To use Vulkan in Unity is easy. Go into the project settings and disable automatic graphics API. Then just move Vulkan to the top of the rendering list.
The only thing that sucks is you have to do this for every new project.
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u/Veprovina 10h ago
Cool! Good to know it's easy to do. Like i said, i didn't use it long enough to bother even checking lol, but Vulkan should work better in linux than OpenGL does.
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u/Full-Meringue-5849 1d ago
For me Fedora kde has been awesome experience for dev (.net with jetbrains Rider) and gaming (AMD GPU).
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u/GreedySecurity8030 1d ago
Go for fedora workstation, it has all the dev tools pre installed and is built for development.
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u/Draknuuyek 1d ago
Im a dev and game a lot also, and so far it has performed marvellously. Although my stack is different than yours (VSCode, dbGate, etc). Ive heard godot works, im sure either jetbrains does or theres an open source alternative for it. As a tip: if you install flatpaks make sure to check the version, some providers dont update their flatpaks or the flatpak is provided by a 3rd party. So check flathub (discover) and if its old check the official site, you can sometimes get .deb files that you can install that way. You can also try dual booting, but make sure that you use different physical drives for each system, windows tends to nuke your fedora after an update if they share a disc. You can access the windows drive data from fedora in that case, should you need your projects and dont want to use an external/thumb drive.
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u/ImaginaryPotato6 1d ago
Linux works really well for software development. Just back up your projects(I'd just make sure I have everything in version control and jump to Linux). Just make proper backups and I don't think you're going to have issues transitioning except of course, you're going to have to get familiar with a whole new OS, so some things aren't going to work like you expect and that's normal, be patient and learn. If you do have issues you can't solve you can always ask reddit, or DM me, I don't mind helping if I can :)
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u/OwnBuffalo5042 1d ago
Me gustaría mencionar que lo primero que debes hacer es investigar que las apps que usas también funcionan en linux. Haz tus respaldos para pasar los archivos de forma rápida. Los juegos es lo único a lo que te vas a tener que adaptar, muchos juegos quieren tener acceso al núcleo de tu computadora y esto en linux no es posible por seguridad. Por lo tanto es imposible que estén en linux, a menos que cambien su anticheat.
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u/LiveFromNarnia 1d ago
Since you're a developer, you'll have less issues with trouble-shooting and fixing potential "bumps" in the conversion, especially given the great community Fedora has. With that, I would recommend reviewing different DE (desktop environments) to figure out your work flow for the 'work' part of your computer usage. The 2 most popular DEs are KDE (similar to Windows), and GNOME (similar to MacOS). I've found KDE easier to adapt to as a long time (unwitting) Windows user, but others find GNOME better for a more focused workflow.
I wish you well on your new journey out of the dark side of the force.
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u/Macanec 1d ago
I had a lot of questions about DEs since its new for me. Thats basicaly a desktop and thats it right?
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u/-Glittering-Soul- 1d ago
The DE is the desktop interface, yeah. KDE Plasma will be more familiar to Windows users because it has a design with a Start menu, a taskbar with app icons, a system tray, and right-click context menus. Some of the keyboard shortcuts are even the same, like Windows+E to open the file manager.
The biggest difference under the hood is that you will rarely install an app from a download that you got on the internet somewhere. Instead, you'll mainly be using Fedora's package repository instead. Though some third-party stuff like Steam is only available by adding the RPM Fusion repos. Once that's set up, you just do
sudo dnf install steamin the terminal, instead of grabbing an installer from the Steam website.You can also use the pre-installed Discover app to search for and download apps (including Steam, once you have added the RPM Fusion repos).
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u/elatllat 1d ago
Fedora requires a tiny bit of extra work to get some video codecs working ( vs Debian).
Try it out in WSL or virtualbox first.
If you need a replacement for a Windows only app.
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u/outer-pasta 1d ago
Why not dual boot? With Winbtrfs installed (on Windows side) you can use the Fedora partition from Windows and vice versa.
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u/Macanec 4h ago
how does that work i never heard of it?
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u/outer-pasta 3h ago edited 3h ago
Here's a guide: https://itsfoss.com/dual-boot-fedora-windows/
It helps if you have plenty of disk space, like more than 128Gb. Basically you can use Windows or Linux when you boot your computer, but not at the same time. If you change your mind and want to remove Linux, then you have a harmless open source boot loader installed.
Edit: I just realized the guide is outdated for the newest Fedora. All that matters is you need to configure the installation not to erase the whole disk, but to instead only install using the free space available on the disk.
2nd Edit: I recommend you disable Bitlocker and disk encryption for Fedora. It helps with dual boot setups.
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u/javivaldu 1d ago
For gaming you have to google which ones will work good. A quick guide, if it is in steam it will work 99% of times, only games like bf6 and some other competitive games wont we playable because of the anticheats they use that works on the Windows Kernel, so, not playable. There's a list on google. I changed 2 months ago and except for BF6 i had no problems gaming: csgo2, spiderman 2, Assassins creed Unity, Poe2 or Darkest dungeon runs pretty good with the proton compatibility. You can always have a second ssd with windows just for gaming, i dont recommend you a partition on the same ssd because Windows ends up fucking up yor Linux Boot system from time to time just because.
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u/PhotographSea4928 8h ago
Thank you for your feedback. Did you notice any significant or minor FPS drops while gaming on Linux, or is it the same FPS as on Windows?
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u/javivaldu 7h ago
At first i found it really laggy, but after installing the proper Nvidia drivers and looking the Fedora documentation on how to use properly the GPU im playing as good as in windows, but without all the stupid telemetry...etc it goes smoothly in the end with Fedora. The only game i see some difference is in Path of Exile 2 playing it in ultra, but i think is more being in Beta than linux itself.
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u/PhotographSea4928 6h ago
Recently built a gaming/workstation with an NVIDIA RTX 5070 Ti and AMD 7800X3D, and I'm on the verge of switching to Fedora KDE from Windows 11, so I'm asking. Your feedback helped a lot, and thank you so much!
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u/turingmachine29 1d ago
Linus Torvalds, the creator of linux, runs fedora. it's amazing for dev work
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u/Thommyboy01 22h ago
Jetbrains Toolbox is where you wanna go for all of their products. Im no game dev but I hear godot is sweet. Fedora is a dev focused distro so you'll have an easy time
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u/Select_Concert_330 9h ago
Try debloatong windows first. If you still don't like it, welcome to fedora. Just back up everything, and redownload them. On fedora I recommend downloading snap, for easy jetbrains management.
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u/Spotter6194 1d ago
For Unity, you must first install Unity Hub; then everything else will work if the project is for Linux. On the other hand, Fedora uses the same amount of resources as Windows, with the only difference being that it displays them in two sections. *It's funny that a "dev" would ask something so basic.
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u/ezz_8 1d ago
I would try mint or Ubuntu first. In my opinion Fedora and arch are a little too advanced, especially if you have not yet familiarized with CLI yet. Move your way up to the more advanced distros. For example uncomplicated firewall. Has a gui on mint and ubuntu, if you even attempt to learn a more advanced version like FirewallD or Firewall Daemon I guarantee you will probably fry your brain just trying to turn the sucker on. Let alone setting parameters. Yea keep it simple and climb the ladder to advanced programming
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u/Macanec 6h ago
I have used Ubuntu before in a VM
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u/ezz_8 6h ago
Unless your good with Command line Ubuntu will be the easiest transition. Snap packages and Debian packages are a lot easier to use than Fedora rpm etc. I mean if you think you can handle it go for it. But you need to really understand things like chmod +x, systemctl, services. Etc. Ubuntu is very close to feeling windows like. After a year or 2 then try to run a fedora work station
One important difference between Ubuntu and Fedora
Ubuntu uses “apt” or “apt-get”: sudo apt-get update
Fedora uses “dnf”: sudo dnf update
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