Guide for gaming on Linux. Best distros for gaming, and for general use as well.

[Cyan]

after gaming on Windows once again, I decided to stop playing games on Linux for now because of the multiple issues that arise -sometimes you spend more time fixing things than playing-. It doesnt work well, it's not meant for games. I love Linux but not for gaming. That being said, a GPU passthrough to a KVM running Windows could fix any woes related to gaming on Linux.

https://github.com/bryansteiner/gpu-passthrough-tutorial

 

[BoardBonobo]

I'm currently running Win 11 (insider) on the 5900X\6900XT desktop machine so that I can use WSL2.0 with DirectML to access the (virtualised) GPU. It's working really well so far - very little impact on resource usage - and it's a simple task to have UB20 and Kali running side by side via Windows Terminal. Both are running Miniconda to run DirectML venvs and xrdp so I can RDP into the desktop if I need to. So much better than having to dual boot or run separate boxes and no where near as clunky as using VBox or something like that. Might even mean that I can tidy up my workspace (2 desktops, 3 laptops, and 6 Pi4's in Kubernetes cluster).

Be interesting to see how Proton works under this setup as well

 

[Cyan]

I'm currently running Win 11 (insider) on the 5900X\6900XT desktop machine so that I can use WSL2.0 with DirectML to access the (virtualised) GPU. It's working really well so far - very little impact on resource usage - and it's a simple task to have UB20 and Kali running side by side via Windows Terminal. Both are running Miniconda to run DirectML venvs and xrdp so I can RDP into the desktop if I need to. So much better than having to dual boot or run separate boxes and no where near as clunky as using VBox or something like that. Might even mean that I can tidy up my workspace (2 desktops, 3 laptops, and 6 Pi4's in Kubernetes cluster).

Be interesting to see how Proton works under this setup as well

maybe it's me but that looks like very unique approach to things. Since Windows 11 is the base OS that might work for me as well, 'cos I really like to use Linux as an OS. I've installed WSL 2.0 a few months ago for server side stuff, but never thought of it for other uses like gaming, and for those who prefer Linux for general use I find this approach a lot more hassle free, 'cos the dual boot can be a bit of an annoyance...sometimes you aren't in front of the computer and it launches Linux whether you wanted that or not, also issues related to the time and date on Windows arise if you launch it after a previous session where you used Linux. (this can be easily fixed, but still an annoyance)

I am very tempted to try GPU passthrough but the fact that my GPUs are the exact same model and can make things slightly confusing, also the "unnecessary" power consumption it implies, keep me on my leash.

Is there any guide on how to attain something like your setup?

 

[BoardBonobo]

maybe it's me but that looks like very unique approach to things. Since Windows 11 is the base OS that might work for me as well, 'cos I really like to use Linux as an OS. I've installed WSL 2.0 a few months ago for server side stuff, but never thought of it for other uses like gaming, and for those who prefer Linux for general use I find this approach a lot more hassle free, 'cos the dual boot can be a bit of an annoyance...sometimes you aren't in front of the computer and it launches Linux whether you wanted that or not, also issues related to the time and date on Windows arise if you launch it after a previous session where you used Linux. (this can be easily fixed, but still an annoyance)

I am very tempted to try GPU passthrough but the fact that my GPUs are the exact same model and can make things slightly confusing, also the "unnecessary" power consumption it implies, keep me on my leash.

Is there any guide on how to attain something like your setup?

Not really any all in one guides, I used a couple of M$ techdocs and the github notes for the directml package. But it's really quite simple, if you get Win 11, upgrade to WSL2 - update that to ensure the latest kernel is installed (5.x). For both Nvidia and AMD there are specific drivers that support WSL2 but as of yesterday I noticed that the current AMD driver works anyway. For directml anyway, I've hit a snag with xrdp where the rdp connection is crashing out and dmesg is showing a lot of red liners in the syslog. I'm going to have a look at that today to see if it's fixable.

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/ai/directml/gpu-tensorflow-wsl
https://www.nextofwindows.com/how-to-enable-wsl2-ubuntu-gui-and-use-rdp-to-remote - I have issues with this as lightdm is replaced with gdm3 and that's not working yet.
https://developer.nvidia.com/cuda/wsl

What you will notice is that once you have WSL2 enabled in Win 11 your linux installs will show up in file manager and programs you install in linux will be available via the start menu. So you can run linux apps natively in Windows... Well I suppose, if you can't beat them then absorb them like the borg

For reference my setup is:
Ryzen 9 5900x
XFX Merc 6900XT
64Gb 3600Mhz RAM
1TB Firecuda + 2 TB WD Black
4TB Barracuda
Win 11 + Ubuntu 20 + Kali + Debian