Has anyone already tried Proton 11 Beta (released 2 days ago)? It relies on Wine 11, which moves Windows emulation support to the kernel level (/dev/ntsync)?
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Linux Discussion
- Thread starter maflynn
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Steve Adams
macrumors 68000
I am waiting to hear about this too. My son, who has autism, uses Steam to play Space Engine, I want it to run smoothly on Linux so that we can move him from window too. Once he gets used to Linux, we can install games using proton for him and he won't really see a difference. I may use the windows 11 Linux version for him so it's familiar for him.
throAU
macrumors G4
The best video/source of info for NEW non-technical users switching to linux is this:
I unironically say that as someone who’s used linux since 1995 both recreationally and professionally. His video is great.
TLDW:
pick one. it doesn’t matter, experiment. All the major ones are usable, they can all be customised, and they’re all subject to personal preferences which… guess what… are personal.
I unironically say that as someone who’s used linux since 1995 both recreationally and professionally. His video is great.
TLDW:
pick one. it doesn’t matter, experiment. All the major ones are usable, they can all be customised, and they’re all subject to personal preferences which… guess what… are personal.
Steve Adams
macrumors 68000
I have watched that it was a great video. I did a search on ProtonDB I think, and Space Engine is a no go. It has to run on windows, it won't work on Proton or steamDeck. So we are stuck on windows. Oh well. Make the most of it.
throAU
macrumors G4
Keep an eye on it.
There are MASSIVE strides in proton being made, i think even today proton 11 was released (or recently) which improves compatability a LOT.
Steve Adams
macrumors 68000
OH I am. Just got the latest numbers of market share percentage increase decrease for the big three.
Windows 10/11 market share drop 4.39 percent this quarter
MacOS 1.19 percent increase this quarter
LINUX 3.19 percent increase this quarter.
Windows users are jumping ship to linux, keeping their current hardware and running linux for a faster, more personal experience. Plus, software is free, private and YOURS. When you go from windows to mac, you still are at the whim of a mega corporation that will use your data to profit however they can. Linux is the breath of fresh private air.
throAU
macrumors G4
Yup. About 3 years ago i decided "no more". No windows in this house outside of a VM i use for some niche work related remote support stuff.
Steve Adams
macrumors 68000
We are tiptoeing that same line right now. I want to move, the wifey is a little more resistant. I just need to get her using her laptop with Zorin on it to get used to it. I think, once she sees how snappy and fast everything is even on her older low spec hardware, she will come around.
throAU
macrumors G4
If its only one app, i'd say just do it and make do without for now.
For me that one app was DCS World. It works now pretty trivially. Before it was a PITA.
Head tracking is something i'm working on, but its a sacrifice i'm willing to make for sanity.
Steve Adams
macrumors 68000
The only app for us is Space Engine for our son. That's a sticking point for us. Everything I do on the creative side and Kelly on the admin side we can completely do on Linux using opensource free stuff. This side of Linux is getting better daily. I still need to get my server up and running somehow, I think I can finally get into my workshop after being completely buried in snow for the past few months to the point I could not open the door and get in there.
I Need to get the video cable off the system down there and plug into a monitor up here and see if I can get it running. Once that's up running on the network and able to take data, I am removing all data off all our OneDrive accounts. Then I will figure out what's next.
If you still have a Mac, try the game on Crossover. Code Weavers offers a trial for Crossover, and while performance isn't on par with Linux, I find Crossover to be an excellent product to play games on the Mac.
throAU
macrumors G4
If it works in crossover, it probably works in Proton already, maybe with one of the third party proton versions (e.g., Glorious Eggroll).
Steve Adams
macrumors 68000
Awesome, I looked and it said unsupported. I will try it one day he's at school and check how it works. Then we will break the news to him. ha ha. He's resistant to change. But once moved on he's fine.
Its unsupported on the steam deck, and it does seem problematic on the steam deck. The best thing you can do it just try it, either on your linux box or the Mac. Performance will always be better on a Linux box, given that gaming on the mac, requires two levels of translation, i.e., Rosetta 2 for Arm to x86 and Wine.
Steve Adams
macrumors 68000
Yes, I will be trying it with Zorin on his MSI gaming laptop. I have to get it setup on a drive to test on his system while he's at school like I said. If it all works, We are golden. I want to really get away from all software except open source. I am also moving our phones to graphene OS. I am guessing steam deck is not the same as a computer running linux...am I correct on that?
Steam OS is based on Arch, but its an immutable OS meaning the core operating system files are read only. The user cannot accidently damage the system, nor can they try modifying it. All updates must come through Valve AFAIK.
Zorin is based on a LTS version of Ubuntu (which in turn is based on debian).
Steve Adams
macrumors 68000
Ok, I will give it a go and see how it works. I just tried Leo Ai on Brave to help generate a script for something. It works 100 times better than Co-Pilot for that given purpose. We are not going to miss windows at all.
Valve only tests on their official versions of Proton. Sometimes a game will be unsupported on Steam because it's broken somehow on the official Proton, but works just fine with one of the community versions. For example, a lot of the "unsupported" games I have run across use video codecs for cutscenes that aren't supported by Valve's version for licensing reasons, but otherwise the game is fine. The community versions like Glorious Eggroll just bundle those codecs in and they work no problem. So there is often a discrepancy between what Valve says and ProtonDB says. Sometimes a game might need other little tweaks and launch options to work as well.
Zorin OS 18.1 adds guided migrations, stronger app compatibility and wider hardware support, making switching from Windows far more practical for millions [clone]
The downsides of using Ubuntu LTS is that current versions tend to be on older versions of Ubuntu, for instance Zorin 18.1 is based on 24.04 even through Ubuntu is now on 26.04 LTS
PopOS is in the same boat, and largely why I moved on to CachyOS, though no knock on either distro
The downsides of using Ubuntu LTS is that current versions tend to be on older versions of Ubuntu, for instance Zorin 18.1 is based on 24.04 even through Ubuntu is now on 26.04 LTS
PopOS is in the same boat, and largely why I moved on to CachyOS, though no knock on either distro
throAU
macrumors G4
The other downside of Ubuntu in general is their lack of clear distinction between snap and regular installs, and its all well and good until you run into some compatibility problem with snaps.
I’ve been going through that hell trying to get head tracking to work with games in steam.
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I’ve been going through that hell trying to get head tracking to work with games in steam.
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Ubuntu native (not downstream) uses SNAP which proprietary and everyone seems to dislike. While you can use flat pack in ubuntu it seems Canonical pushes snap. That's one advantage of Zorin, and PopOS, that it foregoes snap, but I agree with you on flat pack. I avoid the use of them in cachyos
throAU
macrumors G4
Kernel 7.0 has been released
You can use Linux 7.0 on these 7 distros today - here's what to expect
CachyOS Rolls Out A Super-Charged Linux 7.0 Kernel
I'll probably wait a little while before updating my system, and take the time to review the cachyos forums for any possible issues
You can use Linux 7.0 on these 7 distros today - here's what to expect
CachyOS Rolls Out A Super-Charged Linux 7.0 Kernel
I'll probably wait a little while before updating my system, and take the time to review the cachyos forums for any possible issues