Is Pop!_OS The Best Linux Distribution For Gaming?

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Intelligent Gaming

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Published on January 12, 2020 10:28:35 PM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUsdTqQifi4

Duration: 5:11

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In this video I cover Pop!_OS and it's suitability as a Linux distribution for gaming.

https://system76.com/pop

Pop!_OS comes with the Gnome desktop environment by default although it is possible to install several other desktop environments such as KDE and XFCE easily using the terminal.

https://support.system76.com/articles/desktop-environment/

The advantages of gaming on Pop!_OS are summarised below:

There are two Pop!_OS ISOs; one for nVidia GPUs and another for Intel / AMD GPUs. Both of these ISOs contain the latest driver which is installed automatically as part of the installation process. In addition, updated drivers in the future are included as part of the normal OS updates.

Vulkan / DXVK libraries are enabled by default which are essential for decent performance when using Wine to game on Linux.

Modesettings for nVidia drivers are enabled by default which can help with performance and FPS, although the same can be achieved by using Feral Gamemode.

If you have a laptop that features switchable graphics, and it is supported by Pop!_OS, you can toggle between the Intel and nVidia graphics via the Power Daemon.

Pop!_OS also features a software store where the latest version of Steam, Lutris, Wine, Discord and Gamehub can be installed with a single click.

Due to the nature of Linux gaming, it is expected that some games will not work on Linux, and therefore a dual boot with Windows 10 may be required to play your entire game library.

However this is where I found one of Pop!_OS’s biggest disadvantages, mainly because the recommended method for dual booting is to have Linux and Windows on separate hard drives.

This is not a problem for distributions that use the GRUB boot loader as it correctly identifies a Windows installation on another hard drive. But Pop!_OS’s systemd-boot does not.

This in my opinion is why I would not recommend using Pop!_OS for dual boot set ups.

https://pop.system76.com/docs/difference-between-pop-ubuntu/

In conclusion, although you could technically make all the above tweaks, the fact that this all available out of the box is a great selling point and makes it more attractive to new users of Linux that want to try out gaming.

The only thing holding it back is the lack of support for recommended dual booting.

#popos #linuxgaming #tutorials