Hey everyone! With the recent update to Windows 11, I'm reluctant to upgrade my CPU and motherboard that are still running perfectly fine but aren't supported anymore. So, I'm considering switching to Linux to avoid spending around €200 on unnecessary hardware replacements. I have a few questions before I make the leap:
1. I play several games on Steam, and I noticed that many of them are rated gold on ProtonDB. Will these games be easy to play on Linux?
2. I'm really dependent on Microsoft Office for my work, particularly PowerPoint for creating presentations and activity sheets for my students. Is there a way to run it on Linux? If not, what alternatives are worth considering? I'm skeptical about LibreOffice Impress, but I've heard about Canva—can I use that in a Linux distribution?
3. OneDrive is crucial for me since I rely on it to access my slides from different computers at my college. Are there cloud solutions on Linux that integrate seamlessly with the file manager like OneDrive does?
I'm not unhappy with Microsoft, but I'm open to breaking free. Thanks in advance for your help!
4 Answers
Check out the migration page on our wiki! There are plenty of tips and tricks to help you make the switch smoothly. Also, your Office programs can actually be used online via Microsoft 365, so you won’t completely lose access to those features. As for OneDrive, if you're on Ubuntu or any distro based on it, you can connect to your MS 365 account through the system settings under Online Accounts. This way, you can access all of your files there. If gaming is a priority, consider dual-booting Windows alongside Linux, keeping your gaming partition intact while using Linux for everything else!
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For the games, I personally dual boot Windows and Linux for that exact reason. I keep Windows 10 for the gaming side while handling everything else on Linux. It’s a good compromise until you figure out how well Linux works for you!
1. Most games on Linux run almost as well as they do on Windows, typically you’ll see around a 5% drop in performance, which isn't too drastic. For example, I play No Man's Sky using the native Steam app for Linux, and it works like a dream. You can also use Lutris to import games from GOG or ones you've already installed on Windows, and it operates well with Wine/Proton. Just keep in mind that DX12 games with Nvidia GPUs can lag a bit, dropping around 30-50% on performance due to some ongoing driver issues. Also, some anti-cheat systems might not work, but regular multiplayer should be fine (like in No Man's Sky).
2. Microsoft Office’s file formats like docx, xlsx, and pptx are supported by multiple applications including LibreOffice. You could also use Google Docs or Sheets online, which are decent alternatives. Just keep in mind that if you've got any VBA macros, they likely won't work outside of Microsoft Office.
3. If you’re using Gnome, it has a built-in cloud storage connector for Google Drive, OneDrive, etc. It may not be flawless, but it generally gets the job done. I’m not sure about KDE, probably has something similar, but I don’t use any cloud integration myself so I can't say for certain.
Thanks for your insights! For point 3, I’m cool with ditching OneDrive. The real question is whether there's a cloud option that integrates directly into the file manager like OneDrive does, and one that syncs effectively (I wasn't impressed with Google Drive in the past).
Is there no automatic translation or something?