I've been working on converting my gaming PC to Linux for a few weeks, but everything is running, but it all is just a little jankier than I would like.
I have an 8th gen Intel i7 and an Rtx 2070, running Arch linux.
Sometimes I boot up and my mouse doesn't work and I have to restart. Sometimes I launch games and they just don't launch right.
It feels like I'm doing a lot of work for no benefit. In fact, Elden ring runs way worse on my Linux partition than my Windows partition.
I've tried GE proton, gamemode, steam compatibility, everything... I'm sorry but I'm going to have to stick with Windows for gaming.
Allow me to piggyback on this a bit, s'il vous plait.
Is there a Linux distribution that will run Adobe CC out of the box, games from Steam, and VR headsets? I need a new desktop badly, but I need to be able to use Adobe products as part of my job. (No, I can't switch to GNU products, because I get files from clients, and I have to be able to work to industry standards.) I've used Tails before, which is not a user-friendly product, and it doesn't play nicely with any other software.
Pretty much any major distro is going to have similar support for all of that. And for Adobe CC, that's going to be limited at best. You didn't specify which part of CC you need, but here's an option for installing Photoshop 2022 on Linux. Trying to get the latest is likely going to be painful, since WINE would probably lag with supporting all the new updates.
Steam works pretty well pretty much everywhere. I've used it on Fedora, Arch, and openSUSE, and I'm sure it works fine on any Debian-based distro. VR support is similar, you're going to have a much better time with SteamVR headsets. That said, here's a guide to VR on Linux, stick to "confirmed working" sections for minimal tinkering.
Tails
Yeah, don't use that for regular work, that's an uber-paranoid distro that's intentionally locked down, which means things are likely going to be more difficult to get working.
Try Linux Mint or Fedora (or Bazzite if you want gamer flavor), they're both solid and tend to work pretty well out of the box. Software and hardware support doesn't vary much between distros, so if it you can't get it working with one of those and it's not "officially supported" (i.e. instructions aren't in one of my links), distro hopping probably won't help.
I have to use Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, and Acrobat Pro every day for my day job. I have to keep up-to-date with my versions, because clients send me files that use features in the latest releases, and not being up-to-date means that things don't render correctly. (I'm super-pissed that I have to update since Adobe dropped all support for Pantone colors abut a year (?) ago.)
I use Corel Painter 2022 and a Wacom pen display for fun. My guess is that a pen display might get a little weird in Linux, but the one I have is not cutting edge at least.
Yeah, don’t use that for regular work, that’s an uber-paranoid distro that’s intentionally locked down, which means things are likely going to be more difficult to get working.
I know, I know, but I liked being functionally untrackable online, and not getting ads shoved down my throat (...despite working in advertising...) all the time. It's neat, but almost everything online seems to have privacy-invading features so deeply embedded that the browser built into Tails just can't use them at all.
Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, and Acrobat Pro every day for my day job
Probably easier to run a VM or dual-boot then. Trying to keep those up-to-date is going to be a nightmare.
Honestly, if I were in your shoes, I'd probably get an Apple device. Adobe works great, and macOS isn't as bad as Windows IMO.
I liked being functionally untrackable online, and not getting ads shoved down my throat
There are a lot of ways to get around that, such as:
uBlock Origin - blocks ads
use a VPN and switch locations periodically - limits efficacy of tracking
try Mullvad Browser - basically Tor Browser (i.e. the browser included w/ Tails), but without Tor, so fewer breakages
But honestly, the first two are really easy to do and solve 80% of the problem with a very small amount of breakage, and Firefox is installed by default in most Linux distros, and is available in the repositories on those where it's not the default.
Honestly, if I were in your shoes, I’d probably get an Apple device.
Sadly, I also don't like spending money. :P You used to be able to make Hackintoshes, but Apple tends to break them with every software update.
I had been thinking about getting an IoT Enterprise LTSC release of Windows and manually adding the components that I needed. Might still do that with dual boot.
There are a lot of ways to get around that, such as:
I'm doing all of that except the last one already. As has been noted in many other places, Windows itself is now in the business of serving ads directly, and it looks like that's getting harder and harder to disable. I managed to mostly lock down the Pro release of Win 10 that I'm on right now, but Win 11 will make that much, much harder. If it weren't for security issues surrounding end of product life, I wouldn't switch versions at all.
C'est la mort.
But yeah, I'll def. look for a user-friendly version of Linux when I build my next system in a few months.
Good luck! I also don't like spending money, so I don't blame you. Definitely consider a dual-boot w/ Linux though, it can at least help you separate work from play. :)